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- Across Life Stages: Self-Writing Workshop for the Over 50s
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Speaker: Rita Cavigioli
Dates: 8/28/2024 - 9/25/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:50 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
Increased life expectancy, an emphasis on active aging, and the coexistence of many generations have opened uncharted territories to all ages. Consequently, new possibilities of configuring and combining present experiences, memories, desires, projects, and legacies have become available, particularly to older adults. The main goal of this course is to offer tools and stimuli that will allow participants to reexamine their life paths in a creative way and learn how to move fluently across life stages. Following many suggestions and prompts (songs, objects, readings, and paintings), participants will create short written texts, which will be shared and commented on.
This course will meet in person August 28, September 4, 11, 18, and 25.
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- Before Dracula: Vampire Folklore, Stories, and Legends
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Speaker: Eleni Anastasiou
Dates: 10/16/2024 - 11/13/2024
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
Dracula is the vampire who has dominated our imaginations since his creation in 1897; when asked to picture a vampire, most think of a tall, dark haired aristocratic man wearing evening dress and a long black cape. But what of the vampires that came before him? Bram Stoker, the author of Dracula, openly noted the influence of a vampire novella written by his fellow Irishman, Sheridan Le Fanu, called Carmilla. This course will explore various genres to examine vampires' origins in Eastern European Orthodox folklore to its Western Gothic transformations. Along the way, we’ll meet a couple of historical vampires: Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth Bathory.
This course will meet in person October 16, 23, 30, November 6, and 13.
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- Carson McCullers, Trans-Genius
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Speaker: Cliff Johnson
Dates: 8/27/2024 - 9/24/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:50 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
From reading The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and The Member of the Wedding, participants will learn much about McCullers and her themes. McCullers explores the immense complexity of love in all its permutations and combinations, long before gender diversity became a culture wars battleground. She takes us into the lives of literary characters not typical of the time, including the deaf and non-verbal, alcoholics, and cross-dressers. Without becoming preachy, McCullers shows Black characters attaining dignity in the face of an abusive system, basing her narratives on growing up in Columbus, Georgia long before the Civil Rights Movement.
This course will meet in person August 27, September 3, 10, 17, and 24.
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- Ekphrastic Poetry: Poems About Art
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Speaker: Rebecca Carpenter
Dates: 10/16/2024 - 11/13/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:50 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
Ekphrastic poetry is inspired by a work of art, either real or imagined. It can be a poem about the beautiful subject of a portrait, the thoughts of a dog in a landscape, a child outside the frame of a picture, or a plum in a still life sink. In this course, we will discuss the interrelation between the artist and the artwork, and the poet and the poem. Some of the artists we will look at include O'Keefe, Rembrandt, Brueghel, and Klimt; the poets include Sasha Pimentel, I.A. Fanthorpe, May Swenson, and W.H. Auden. To conclude the course, students who wish to write an ekphrastic poem will have the chance to present it and the artwork on the last day of class.
This course will meet in person October16, 23, 30, November 6, and 13.
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- Empower Writing with Poetry: Rhyming Poems
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Speaker: Sandra Gould Ford
Dates: 10/17/2024 - 11/14/2024
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Days: Th
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
In this course, students will learn, examine, and practice a special few of the over 60 types of poems. Students will practice tools essential to poetry, understanding that these techniques improve all writing. Specific forms to be covered include clerihew, couplet, triplet, quatrain, limerick, rap, rondeaux, and sonnet.
NOTE: This in-person course will take place at the Community Engagement Center in Homewood.
This course will meet in person October 17, 24, 31, November 7, and 14.
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- Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird
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Speaker: Michael Mariani
Dates: 8/28/2024 - 9/25/2024
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird can enthrall, educate, change, and yet always remains relevant. Its appeal comes from lively, iconic characters, Harper Lee’s understanding of humanity, and her brilliant choice to offer a child’s point of view. By reading an average of six chapters per week, we will see with Scout’s innocent eyes bigotry and racism, friendship and loyalty, and truth and secrets revealed. Whether reading this novel for the first time or enjoying a reread, members’ epiphanies and appreciation can increase with reflection and discussion of this acclaimed American masterpiece.
This class will meet in person August 28, September 4, 11, 18, and 25.
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- Mini-Course: Reimagining Yourself Through Creative Writing
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Speaker: Laurie McMillan
Dates: 8/6/2024 - 8/20/2024
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 3
Modality: Online
Fee: $0.00
This creative writing workshop helps you refocus, reimagine, and reinvigorate your life through writing from prompts and discussion designed to employ imagination and insight. Participants can write in any genre they wish, and no writing experience is necessary. The course will give you the space and encouragement you need to enhance your creativity and your life. Writing tools and ideas to continue your work in class and inspire further discovery will be offered.
This online mini-course will meet on August 6, 13, and 20.
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- Introduction to Austrian Literature
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Speaker: Orin James
Dates: 8/26/2024 - 9/30/2024
Times: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Days: M
Sessions: 5
Modality: Online
Fee: $0.00
In this course we explore literary texts representative of some of the major Austrian writers. Using both texts and films, we will navigate cultural history during various time periods, namely the Holy Roman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the First Republic.
This course will meet online August 26, September 9, 16, 23, and 30. There is no class September 2nd.
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- J.R.R. Tolkien: Life and Works
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Speaker: Alan Irvine
Dates: 8/29/2024 - 9/26/2024
Times: 3:15 PM - 5:00 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
Once looked upon as simply a writer of fantastic adventures, J.R.R. Tolkien is increasingly acknowledged as one of the 20th century’s most important literary figures, one who used the genre of fantasy to examine important issues of religion and morality. In this course, we will examine Tolkien’s key works as well as some other writings and discuss his influence on fantasy and popular culture. The course is ideal for long-time Tolkien fans who want to explore his works in more depth, as well as those who have never read him and are curious.
This class will meet in person August 29, September 5, 12, 19, and 26.
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- Narrative Poems
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Speaker: David Walton
Dates: 10/17/2024 - 11/14/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Th
Sessions: 5
Modality: Online
Fee: $0.00
We will read and discuss a variety of narrative poems past and recent. Some will be longer, most will be brief, but many come with their own story attached. We will look at a range of ballads and some longer poems by Chaucer, Keats, and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Subjects range from the shield of Achilles to actress Hattie McDaniel. Sorry — no ravens, aged mariners, or dead duchesses.
This course will meet online October 17, 24, 31, November 7, and 14.
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- Palestinian Literature: Representations of a Silenced People
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Speaker: Kenneth Boas
Dates: 10/15/2024 - 11/19/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: Tu
Sessions: 5
Modality: Online
Fee: $0.00
This course will look at the stories, novels, poetry, and essays of a few of the important voices in contemporary Palestinian literature. This will be a discussion class that will enable members to express their analyses and appreciation of a people's literature very rarely brought to their attention. The course is akin to a class in Black American, Native American, or women's literature in that the texts represent the voices of a peoples' struggle for equality and freedom that constitute the core of these literatures.
This course will meet online October 15, 22, 29, November 12, and 19. There is no class November 5th.
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- Reimagining Yourself Through Creative Writing
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Speaker: Laurie McMillan
Dates: 10/14/2024 - 11/11/2024
Times: 3:15 PM - 4:45 PM
Days: M
Sessions: 5
Modality: Online
Fee: $0.00
This creative writing course will help members refocus, reimagine, and reinvigorate their lives through writing from prompts and discussion designed to employ imagination and insight. Participants can write in any genre they wish, and no writing experience is necessary. The course will give members the space and encouragement they need to enhance creativity. Writing tools and ideas to continue work in class and inspire further discovery will be offered.
This course will meet online October 14, 21, 28, November 4, and 11.
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- Shakespeare's Macbeth
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Speaker: Norma Greco
Dates: 10/16/2024 - 11/13/2024
Times: 1:00 PM - 2:30 PM
Days: W
Sessions: 5
Modality: Online
Fee: $0.00
Shakespeare’s tragedy Macbeth depicts Macbeth's murderous quest for political power in medieval Scotland while reflecting on Shakespeare’s early 17th century England. First performed in 1606, the play presents the dangers of “vaulting ambition” that leads Macbeth to sacrifice moral duty in his pursuit of power. But the play, which still speaks to audiences today, raises broader questions about moral responsibility and the search for meaning that deepen and complicate the play’s political theme. We will read Macbeth carefully and explore these questions as they relate to the course of the tragedy. Participants will be encouraged to view notable productions.
This course will meet online October 16, 23, 30, November 6, and 13.
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- The American Dream: Arthur Miller and Thornton Wilder
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Speaker: Anne Faigen
Dates: 10/17/2024 - 11/14/2024
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Days: Th
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
What do we mean by the American Dream? Has the concept changed from its historical ideas to 21st century ones, and what does that imply about our contemporary lives? In Arthur Miller's All My Sons and Thornton Wilder's Our Town, we explore conflicting views about what that iconic phrase means to us now. We will read, analyze, and discuss the motifs in the plays, the dramatists' perspectives, and how they may or may not resonate with our own reactions.
This course will meet in person October 17, 24, 31, November 7, and 14.
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- You're Not Dead Yet; Write About It
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Speaker: Frank Lehner
Dates: 10/18/2024 - 11/15/2024
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:50 AM
Days: F
Sessions: 5
Modality: In-Person
Fee: $0.00
We all have something to express while we still have the chance. These can be a letter or remembrance to family or relatives, a message to a teacher or friend, or maybe an open hand to someone with whom you’ve lost contact. Maybe you just want to write something creative and meaningful for yourself. In this course, you will identify and create a written piece (or pieces) to ease the itch to say what you want to say before it is too late. Join us in a refreshing and safe space spiced with a bit of philosophy, psychology, spirit, humor, and community.
This course will meet in person October 18, 25, November 1, 8, and 15.
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