Monday Session 1   

This course is geared for those new to yoga, those interested in a slower and more gentle practice, or those recovering from illness or injury. It includes a combination of meditation, breath work, and flowing movement intended for all abilities. Participants will move from seated on the floor (or a chair) to standing and then will return to mats. Participants will experiment with balance, strength, flexibility, and stillness while practicing mindfulness and meditation techniques. 

NOTE: The Gentle Yoga A and B classes are companion courses. Members can just register for both or just one. 

This course will teach members how to play the guitar. Session topics will include tuning the guitar, basic chords, single-note playing, and basic note-reading. Members will learn a handful of songs from the American popular tradition, as well as scales and musical notation.

NOTE: This will be a hands-on group session, and members should have their own guitar.

Get to know Pittsburgh urban farms! Our food system is a multifaceted network of interconnected systems and relationships. In order to be able to feed ourselves well into the future, it must be sustainable. This course includes time outside meeting urban farmers. There may be opportunities to get dirty, hold a chicken, and eat fresh, organic produce right from the vine. Participants should dress ready to garden.

NOTE: Each week, class will be held at a Pittsburgh urban farm location; travel is on your own.

This course will acquaint members with the remarkably long, diverse, and widespread use of strategies of terror to advance political, economic, religious, and social agendas. Beginning with issues of defining terrorism, exploration will range from ancient societies to the present, and the class will examine terror as it occurred around the globe. Revolutionary terrorism and reactionary terrorism as well as terror by state and sub-state actors will be considered. The course will be thematic rather than strictly chronological.

From World War II to current times, governments have exercised their power over media to influence public opinion, at home and abroad. We will explore why propaganda is effective, who uses it, and why. We will look at how “news” media become collaborators in influence campaigns and how media sometimes resists. Topics include the origins of contemporary propaganda, and why social media, artificial intelligence, and the decline of journalism make propaganda efforts more effective than ever.

Traveling to China? Or need a refresher course on tones and customs in Mandarin Chinese? Join us for a five-week session on travel phrases commonly used if you are planning a trip or if you would like to learn the basics of a new language. This course is designed for all levels of learners.

The artist Georges Braque said, "my sketchbook serves as as a cookbook when I am hungry." In this generative workshop, the notebook will be the garden where members will plant word-seeds inspired by responding to reading model poems on a specific theme each week and sketching and sharing notebook writings. Just as an artist's process of sketching can magically transform into a work of art, our daily writings, carefully nurtured through class conversation and suggestion, can magically transform into poems.

This course surveys the most distinguished classical pianists in history. Members will experience masterful performances and learn about the lives, styles, and legacies of legendary pianists, such as Lizst, Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, and many more. Through the examination of musician backgrounds, audio and video recordings, and performance techniques, this course will trace how pianists have interpreted and performed major works by composers like Beethoven, Bach, Chopin, Debussy, and more.