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Z Online Class: A Zoom invitation link will be sent one day before each class session begins.
Come join us as we hit the streets of one of the most densely populated cities in the world, Kolkata, India. Louder, smellier, and more colorful, it is all of Asia with the volume turned up! Roam the unpredictable streets by rickshaws, yellow taxis, packed buses, and hand-pulled carts. Explore the daily life of tea stalls, beggars, street food, and people everywhere. Join Joy, a baby boomer, and her millennial daughter Lori, for a cross-generational adventure in a city both had visited before, some forty years apart. Together they returned to Kolkata in 2018. With two backpacks, two iPhones, and a lot of guts, they spent six weeks soaking up the vibrant city. We will meet their Indian friends and have a first-hand look at life through the eyes of local people. Joy will share a fascinating look at housing, infrastructure, water, electricity, wealth distribution, population density, and poverty in this one-of-a-kind bustling city.
Ramona “Joy” Smith has a master’s degree in mental health counseling, and retired after working 30 years in Northern Michigan. She is a lover of nature, a photographer, researcher, dessert connoisseur, and world traveler. She is active in her local church and is passionate about peace and justice issues. Joy currently lives in Tucson, Arizona with her daughter Lori.


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Fee: $30.00
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Instructor(s): Ramona Smith
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Dates: 3/6/2023 - 3/13/2023
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 2
Days: M
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Classroom via Zoom
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C In-Person Class: This class will be taught in person, in the classroom at the Vineyard Church.
Enrollment: Pandemic protocols may limit the enrollment for this class.
Registrants will be informed in advance, and a waitlist will be available.
Join George Jabol as he shares a slide presentation of his 2010 expedition to four Central American countries, where he spent two weeks visiting El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Belize in search of ruins of the once flourishing Mayan civilization. With a dozen fellow travelers, George explored Mayan locations at Joya de Cerén in El Salvador, Copán in Honduras, the famous sites of Tikal and Yaxha in Guatemala, and Lamanai in Belize. We will visit open-air markets and see how modern descendants of the Maya live today. Other highlights include the Spanish colonial city of Antigua, a macadamia nut plantation, a death-defying zip line flight above Guatemala’s trees, and a courageous ride on a Guatemalan chicken bus. Be prepared to see ancient historic places, gorgeous scenery, and beautiful citizens in a distinctly different world.
George Jabol received his B.A. degree from Ohio’s Muskingum University, and a Ph.D. in English language and literature from the University of Michigan. Fully retired now from a career with the federal government, George creates photographic slide shows as a way to remember his travels and share them with others.
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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): George Jabol
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Dates: 2/8/2023 - 2/8/2023
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: W
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Building: Vineyard Church
Room: Classroom at the Vineyard Church
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Z Online Class: A Zoom invitation link will be sent one day before class begins.
Sit back in your armchair while travelling through the southern region of Spain known as Andalucía, a sunlit landscape where Islamic, Judaic, and Christian cultures overlapped for many centuries. Linda will share her recent self-guided travel adventure, with facts, impressions, iconic sites and sights, both majestic and quaint: white hillside villages, churches at every turn, and major historic attractions. From sophisticated Sevilla, the port city and launch place of Christopher Columbus and the great Age of Discovery, to Córdoba with its May flower festival, Royal Stables and the Mezquita Mosque-Cathedral, to Grenada with its towering Alhambra and fascinating Gypsy caves, to the village of Rhonda clinging to the top of a magnificent gorge in the rolling, olive tree and poppy covered countryside.
Linda Gintowt holds an M.A. in drama from the University of Toronto. She has a passion for history and the preservation of art and culture. Linda served as the Elderwise Program Coordinator for five years.

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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): Linda Gintowt
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Dates: 2/28/2023 - 2/28/2023
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: Tu
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Classroom via Zoom
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Z Online Class: A Zoom invitation link will be sent one day before class begins.
By the start of 2019, more than 26 million consumers had added their DNA to four leading commercial ancestry databases, with that market doubling in 2021 for the fifth year in a row. What is going on? To what extent have we come to regard identity as a genetic condition – and what are the implications of this idea? Citing geneticist and science journalist Adam Rutherford: “I am unaware of any group of people on Earth that can be defined by their DNA in a scientifically satisfactory way.” In this class Michael will address the concepts of race, ethnicity, gender and, more broadly, the celebrated opposition of nature vs. nurture (spoiler alert: he thinks the “vs.” is the problematic part) and will invite participants to weigh in with their own perspectives and life experiences. Come join us for an opportunity to collectively share and explore ideas regarding this most fundamental of ideas.
Michael Fahy holds a Ph.D. degree in anthropology from the University of Michigan and currently teaches in the University’s School of Education. He is an anthropologist of the Middle East, where he lived and pursued research for several years. Since 2004 Michael has offered presentations on Middle Eastern history and culture to American military personnel across the United States and Europe.

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Fee: $15.00
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Instructor(s): Michael Fahy
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Dates: 3/31/2023 - 3/31/2023
Times: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
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Sessions: 1
Days: F
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Classroom via Zoom
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Z Online Class: A Zoom invitation link will be sent one day before each class session begins.
In this class we continue our series with more fascinating documentaries of UNESCO World Heritage Sites across the world. Starting in 1972, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) has designated as World Heritage Sites more than 1,000 locations valued for their outstanding cultural and/or natural significance to humanity. The sites include archaeological excavations, masterpieces of religious or secular architecture, monumental sculptures, and paintings. Many sites also represent the earth’s most magnificent features of physical and biological formation. This class, adopted from The Great Courses series, features lectures by Justin M. Jacobs of American University, and breathtaking visuals from six of the most outstanding World Heritage Sites. We invite and encourage a lively discussion of the selected sites.
March 7: Samarkind, Crossroads of Central Asia
Tibet’s Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple
Mt. Fuji, the Symbol of Japan
March 14: Ancient Egypt, Thebes
The Mogao Grottos and Manuscripts, China
Afghanistan’s Lost Bamiyan Buddhas
Toby Teorey is the current Vice-Chair of the Elderwise Council. He is retired from the College of Engineering at the University of Michigan and in retirement pursues his enduring love of world history, music, and culture.
 
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Fee: $30.00
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Instructor(s): Toby Teorey
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Dates: 3/7/2023 - 3/14/2023
Times: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
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Sessions: 2
Days: Tu
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Building: Online Course
Room: Online Classroom via Zoom
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- ONLINE REGISTRATION FOR THIS CLASS IS NOW CLOSED. If you are trying to register the day before this class starts or the day of the class, please email or call the office. This close to the class start date, we need to register you over the phone and provide you with any important information and send you the Zoom Link if the class in online. Thank you!
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Z Online Class: A Zoom invitation link will be sent one day before each class begins.
Alexander the Great, student of Aristotle, extended the horizon of the Greek world as far as India, but when he founded Alexandria, he envisioned a new Athens. Becoming a melting pot of Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Jews, Christians, and Muslims, the city was the intellectual capital of the world for 1,000 years. Alexandria was the site of antiquity’s largest library, a magnet for scholars, scientists, and early theologians. It was, indeed, the supreme example of the diaspora of Hellenistic culture. Alexandria lost power as Cairo, to its South, became the new capital of Egypt. In this session we will wind our way through Egypt’s fantastic history, and then weave together the history of the ancient town and modern city, now a Mediterranean resort town, with a new library to showcase Alexandria’s move to modernity.
Gerlinda Melchiori is a life-long student of history and art. Her 20 years as international consultant for universities around the world, and her many years as lecturer on cruise ships, have offered her opportunities to explore civilizations and their evolving cultures.



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