Tuesday Session 1   

This course explores the rich musical traditions of Latin American music, from Argentina's tango to Mexico's mariachi, examining their historical development, cultural significance, and musical characteristics of each country and the musical influences in our American music. Members will study the fusion of indigenous, African, and European roots that shaped these diverse musical expressions.

This course will use Rembrandt van Rijn's painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr.Tulp as a point of departure to explore the Dutch Golden Age in art, letters, science, medicine, and commerce. Historical figures discussed will include philosopher René Descartes, artist Johannes Vermeer, physician and naturalist Herman Boerhaave, and rebel aristocrat William of Orange. From the rise of middle-class domestic art to the frenzied economic bubble of the Tulip Mania, from philosophy to piracy, from coffee to cannabis, we will discover a tiny nation that in many senses invented modernity and launched the European enlightenment.

 

This course guides members on a deep dive into some particular sets of propaganda practices by different regimes throughout history. In particular we will focus on Imperial Japan, North Korea, Post-Soviet Russia, and the United States. Members will gain a basic familiarity with the tools and practices of propaganda and specific knowledge about the character of propaganda activities of those four regimes.

Black children and adults are greatly over-represented in traffic and pedestrian stops, frisks, searches, uses of force, and arrests by police in urban areas. This course will give a brief history of the problem of racial disparities and discrimination in Pittsburgh and other cities, provide current data, and analyze causes, effects, and solutions. Many sources will be used, including a RAND study in 2023, reports by Dr. Bangs in 2024-2025, and investigations by the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Note: This course will be hybrid, meeting in the Community Engagement Center in Homewood and on Zoom.

The objective of this course is to enable members to be more productive on their Macintosh® computers. This course will cover the operating systems currently being used by Macs that are 8 years old or newer (roughly OS X 10.13 through MacOS Big Sur 11). Participants will explore the intricacies of the Finder and many of the current Apple applications.

Romanticism emerged in the late 1700s in England and Europe in defiance of the dominance of reason, objectivity, and industrialism in the 18th century. Its main themes have become intrinsic to our culture and literary traditions and include individualism, human rights, and the power of the imagination. In this course, we will first explore the philosophical roots of Romanticism and its themes presented in poems by significant English poets. We will then read and discuss selected chapters of Mary Shelley's legendary novel Frankenstein (1818) as it reflects Romantic ideas and cautions readers of its time and our own about the perils of the unbounded scientific imagination.

This course, appropriate for members of any level, begins by teaching the basic figures used in English country dancing and practices them in the context of beautiful historic and modern dance compositions. Members will explore the grace, elegance, and playfulness of this dance form (think of Pride & Prejudice). No partner or experience necessary. Participants will regularly switch partners in our dance sessions. Be prepared for physical, mental, and social stimulation! The focus will be on dancing and enjoying moving with the music.

This course will be held at the Allegheny Observatory in Riverview Park. Each class will include both a presentation and discussion about a person or a discovery at the observatory and a short tour of a portion of the building. At the end of the five classes, we will have explored the entire building and looked at how John and Phoebe Brashear, Samuel Langley, and James Keeler impacted both the field of astronomy and the city of Pittsburgh. We will use the 13" telescope to view sunspots and the moon (weather permitting).

Please Note: This historic building is only partially handicapped accessible. Some of the tours will require steps. Parking is free.

Members will read and discuss two to three poems each week, taken from the anthology You are Here: Poetry in the Natural World edited by Ada Limon, U.S. Poet Laureate. Poems will be provided for students. We will look at the myriad ways poets write about nature, how language evokes imagery and mood, as well as the craft of writing, i.e., line breaks, rhyme, and form. The instructor will provide optional writing prompts each week for members. Members will also be given a list of books written by the poets read in class.

This 10-week course is appropriate for participants who are comfortable and successful at communicating in Spanish and want to further develop their reading and conversational skills. Participants are expected to be able to use present, past and future tenses, and have significant vocabulary and understanding of syntax (or have successfully completed Intermediate Spanish). The course is taught in Spanish and focuses on analyzing and discussing reading material. Weekly class material is provided. NOTE: This course is often taken several times. This is a versatile course that includes different class material under the same goals and objects every term.

Members may only take one Spanish course at a time.

In this course, designed for members with minimal prior knowledge of French, our focus will be on mastering phrases and set structures that may be useful for communicating across a variety of situations. Members will be encouraged to develop strategies to try to make themselves understood where language proficiency may be lacking. The material presented in this course will vary each term according to the needs of the participants.

Note: Members may only take one French course at a time.

This course aims to engage participants in an in-depth exploration of Jennifer Egan's innovative narrative techniques, complex character development, and thematic explorations in A Visit from the Goon Squad and The Candy House. Through the lens of these two interconnected novels, particpants will examine how Egan uses non-linear storytelling, multiple perspectives, and experimental forms to capture the complexities of human experience in the digital age. The course will focus on key themes such as memory, identity, technology, and the search for meaning in a rapidly changing world.

The arrival and evolution of the first people in the Americas is a story that continues to reveal itself from mystery to majesty. From the time hominids began traversing the earth until they arrived at Turtle Island, one theory after another is undone by new discoveries. This course looks at the pathways to and through the Americas, the cultures of the Indigenous peoples who populated the Americas, and their encounters with each other and an alien race that tried to subjugate or exterminate them.

Jim Morrison was most famously known for his contributions to his band, The Doors. However, as an academic, his poetry and written works transcend space and time. Through the biographical, historical, psychoanalytical, and reader-response literary criticism theory lenses, members will experience an in-depth analysis into Morrison's poetry and other written works, including lyric investigation throughout his albums with The Doors. Members will also be immersed into the culture of the era and witness the influences it had on the artist, as well as the listeners.

In this introductory course, members will become familiar with some of the most famous works of art from the Renaissance. This course will highlight Florence of the 14th and 15th centuries, as it was established as the intellectual and artistic center of Europe. We will overview art history and talk about the elements of style, the artistic techniques, the historical context, and the role of the artist and patron. We will cover Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, and more.