Social Sciences   

This course will describe alternatives to our plurality or “first past the post” voting system. These alternatives will include: ranked-choice voting, as practiced in Australia and several states and municipalities in the US; mixed member proportional system, as practiced in Germany and other countries; jungle primaries, as practiced in some states; and the California “Top Two” voting system. In addition to describing the various systems, the class will discuss how well these systems have worked in practice.

Explore the news in NH, the US and the world with focus on the interests of the attendees. In a combination of multimedia presentations, participant contribution and discussion, we will look at the issues of the day, including historical perspectives and their implications for the future. There may be guest speakers to add depth to some of our topics. [Please note there are two sections of this course. The first dates occur in September and October. The second dates are in November and December. You may sign up for either or both.]

Explore the news in NH, the US and the world with focus on the interests of the attendees. In a combination of multimedia presentations, participant contribution and discussion, we will look at the issues of the day, including historical perspectives and their implications for the future. There may be guest speakers to add depth to some of our topics. [Please note there are two sections of this course. The first dates occur in September and October. The second dates are in November and December. You may sign up for either or both.]

The course will begin with an examination of the $1.9 trillion American Recovery Act and its affect on our region and our daily lives. The second session will concentrate on President Biden's post-pandemic agenda with emphasis on Medicare and prescription drugs. If COVID restrictions allow, there will be an optional "Graduation Party" at noon on Tuesday, October 19th at the Stark Brewery on Commercial Street in Manchester with a guest speaker.

Developed by the Foreign Policy Association to promote understanding of American Foreign Relations, "Great Decisions" provides the perfect opportunity to learn about issues concerning U.S. policy makers today and pose foreign policy challenges for tomorrow. Read, watch and join the discussion on contemporary international issues. The current topics for this year can be explored at fpa.org/great_decisions. You must obtain the "Great Decisions Briefing Book 2021" on your own. It can be purchased online from Foreign Policy Association at greatdecisions.org.

During the Trump years, immigration policy was front and center. It's still important, but now, following the 2020 election, it competes with climate change, the lingering effects of COVID-19, rebuilding America's infrastructure, and other Biden priorities. We'll explore the action at the southern border, the roll back of some of the hardline Trump policies, the latest on DACA, the crushing million-case immigration court backlog, the treatment of refugees, and other immigration developments. This presentation, by a former US Ambassador, is a report card on how the Biden Administration and a Democratic controlled Congress are tackling immigration. And the enduring question remains: when is Mexico going to pay for that wall?

Most non-Jews are amazed to learn which are the important Jewish holidays and which are the minor ones. Even many Jews aren't sure of the meaning or origin of certain holidays. This class explores the many dates on the Jewish calendar when Jews pause from their ordinary routines to consider, reflect, celebrate or commemorate. We'll find out which Jewish holidays fall into the internet description of Jewish holidays that circulated a few years back: "They tried to kill us, we won, let's eat." Class will include some of those recipes.

For over forty years Israel and Lebanon have had a tense relationship that has often broken into open warfare. As Lebanon's civil society collapsed in the late 1970s, Israel was confronted first by the Palestine Liberation Organization and later Hezbollah. Today, Lebanon is more divided than ever, and peace with Israel is unlikely as long as Hezbollah controls the country. This course will explore the Israel-Lebanon relationship over the past forty years and attempt to determine what future relations might bring in the next decade.

Who are the Jews today? What is the experience of Jewish people living in the United States, and how has that evolved particularly over the past century and a half? How do Jews approach other religions, particularly Christianity, which is built on the same Bible? Jews are sometimes a religious group, sometimes a cultural group, sometimes an ethnic group, and sometimes all of those at once. We'll talk about the various facets of Jews and Judaism, as lived in America today and with reference to major factors of modern Jewish life such as the Nazi Holocaust and the State of Israel.

When Lewis & Clark reached the Mandan villages in what is now North Dakota in November 1804, there to greet them was Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebecois fur trapper who had preceded them by more than a decade. Charbonneau had just purchased (or won) a Shoshone girl – Sacagawea – as his second wife. Lured by accounts of Lewis & Clark’s expedition, American frontiersmen singly, in pairs and in small groups soon followed suit. But it was not until 1823 when a ragged band of 100 men out of St. Louis ventured up the Missouri and into the mountains that a new era was born. Sometimes as free agents and sometimes as contractors for the fur companies, approximately 3,000 men went west over 30+ years discovering, exploring and mentally mapping the valleys, crags and basins of the northern Rocky Mountains while enduring extreme physical hardships and fighting off hostile indigenous tribes and wildlife, particularly the dreaded grizzly. For two decades, they would congregate annually at their rendezvous in and around Pierre’s Hole in southeastern Idaho where they would sell their pelts for essential supplies and drink and gamble themselves into oblivion before returning to the wilderness for another year of dangerous, isolated trapping. We will explore the origins, lifestyles, hardships and legacies of these intrepid men (some of whom are household names; many of whom you’ve never heard of). The plan is to end the class sessions with excerpts from the movies “Jeremiah Johnson” and “The Revenant.”

Each community needs more young people to renew the labor force as older residents retire or are no longer able to work. New Hampshire’s rapidly rising cohorts of aged residents need a full array of labor-intensive health and support services. No group has a greater interest in the presence of working-age adults than the aging. In favoring the old, communities are inadvertently diminishing the care and services available for the elderly. The consequences of our state's unbalanced demography does not bode well for our future. Suggested reading is “Communities & Consequences II, Rebalancing New Hampshire’s Human Ecology” (ISBN# 978-1-942155-33-1), which is available for $14.95 at Water St. Books in Exeter.

If the prospect of planning for nursing and long-term care seems overwhelming, come to this class where Jenny Rivard will help you develop a basic understanding of how to create a sound financial plan. She provides estate planning services, which include wills, trusts, powers of attorney and advanced directives. Additionally, American Wealth Protection Legal focuses on Elder Law and Medicaid Planning to help protect your assets from being spent down to qualify for nursing home care. Jenny is also a licensed financial advisor giving her a unique perspective in protecting assets. There are many tools that can be used to help ensure not all of your assets are spent down on the cost of care. She will explain the options in easy terms to help you navigate through the crisis.

Unless you are a student of British African imperialism or have seen the move “Zulu,” you have probably never heard of Rorke’s Drift. Yet it was perhaps the most celebrated event of British Arms in the mythology of the 19th Century British Empire. Imagine for a moment that the battles of the Alamo and the Little Big Horn had occurred on consecutive days and how that would have magnified the American mythology surrounding those two events. Yet that is precisely what happened to the British Army over barely 24 hours in January 1879 in South Africa. At Isandlwana on the first day, the British Army suffered one of its most devastating defeats between the Crimean War and World War I when 1,300 troops were massacred by a Zulu army numbering an estimated 20,000 warriors. Yet on that very night and the following morning, some 150 men – a quarter of them “walking wounded” hospital patients – formed an improvised barricade of “mealie-bags” and held off repeated attacks by some 4,500 Zulu warriors, thus earning 11 Victoria Crosses – the largest number of that highest British military decoration ever awarded to a single regiment in a single engagement. We will explore the events leading up to these two engagements, both from the British and Zulu perspectives, how both battles unfolded, and their aftermath. The course will conclude with a showing of the movie “Zulu,” if possible.

What does it mean to be an ally? How can we help dismantle systemic, anti-black racism? In this three-part, online workshop with Anne Romney, we will look at racism in all its forms - internalized, interpersonal, institutional and systemic. Topics will include white privilege, understanding the toll of microaggressions and what it means to be an ally/accomplice in the fight for social justice – with emphasis on concrete actions people can do, small and large. Reading and videos will enhance your experience. Total time commitment will be nine to twelve hours over the course of three weeks. There will be ample time for discussion for the whole class and in smaller, break out groups.