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- 10901 Art Theft and the FBI
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Dates: 4/15/2026 - 4/22/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: W
Sessions: 2
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Deborah Pierce
Fee: $0.00
Deborah Pierce is a retired Deputy Assistant Director and former Special Agent in Charge of the Minneapolis FBI. At FBIHQ, she had authority over the FBI Art Crime Team. Since her retirement in 2006, she has given numerous presentations about art theft including at Mia. UNESCO estimates art crime loss is $10 billion per year, and only 10% of property is ever recovered. The course will include types of art theft, successful cases, and efforts at recovery and repatriation. Recommended reading: Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures by Robert K. Wittman, Penguin, 2010; The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finked, Vintage, 2024.
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- 10903 Great Photographers - Focus on Color
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Dates: 3/31/2026 - 4/28/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: Tu
Sessions: 5
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Larry Greenbaum
Fee: $0.00 (if any, due after allocation)
Let color speak and guide your perception as we view the images of Alex Webb, Susan Meiselas, Eve Arnold, Gordon Parks, and Melissa O’Shaughnessy. Their street and documentary photography brings us subjects ranging from whimsy to war and more. Mainly color, the few black and white images we’ll also visit add to and enhance each photographer’s experience of seeing – the primary skill for both making and viewing photographs.
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- 10904 Pride and Prejudice Reimagined
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Dates: 4/10/2026 - 4/17/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: F
Sessions: 2
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Dr. Norma Noonan
Fee: $0.00 (if any, due after allocation)
In recent years, many authors have reimagined Pride and Prejudice (P & P) and written engaging alternatives. There are likely well over 2000 such novels. In this course, we shall use P & P as the base to examine the amazing varieties of alternative scenarios that have emerged, just in novels about the regency period. (No zombies or more unusual variations.) Recommended reading: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, any edition.
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- 10905 Music from France for Voices and Organ
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French music for voices and organ is regarded as being some of the most eloquent in history. Philip Brunelle will share his thoughts about this music and provide a demonstration on the pipe organ to show why a pipe organ makes it so special!
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- 10906 Greco-Roman Women
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Lectures and discussion of poets Sappho of Lesbos and Sulpicia of Rome, Greek tragic power-brokers, Ovidian victims, and their afterlife in the poetry of Rita Dove and the fiction of Toni Morrison.
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- 10907 OLLI Scholar: Appreciation of Chinese Music
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Students will discover how Chinese music embodies the nation’s history, philosophy, and cultural values, while examining its regional diversity and global influence. The course features guided listening to both traditional and modern works, demonstrations of instruments such as the guqin, pipa, erhu, and hulusi, and opportunities for students to experience basic playing techniques and rhythmic participation. No prior musical training is required—students will learn through active engagement and creative reflection. No class on April 22nd.
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- 10908 Favorite Sports Movies about Women & Men
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Join us for discussions of favorite sports movies about women and men facilitated by Tom Rooney, George Dow, and Bonnie Nelson. Viewing parties will take place on Wednesday evening before each Thursday class discussion. The tentative lineup will include these movies: Nyad, Hoosiers, Chariots of Fire, Million Dollar Baby, Borg Vs. McEnroe, Changing the Game, and I, Tonya.
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- 10909 Jim Croce: Singer, Songwriter, Storyteller
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This course traces the music career of Jim Croce from his early years singing with wife Ingrid to his short but seminal career with Maury Muehleisen, his tragic death in an airplane crash, and the legacy carried on by the music of his son, A.J. Croce.
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- 10910 Act One to Encore, Take Two: The Past, Present, and Future of Twin Cities Theatre
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This program will build on our “pilot” from last fall. Your feedback taught us that you want another session, more time in small groups, and to add an actor to the mix. Done! This time we will again explore the rich history and vibrant future of live theater in the Twin Cities. We will offer insights into today's theater scene, explore what’s on the horizon, and give you more time to share your own local theater experiences and recommendations. A veteran Twin Cities actor will also give you a peek behind the curtain.
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- 10911 The History of Theater
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This survey of theater history will explore the stages, plays, and performing styles of theater past and present from Ancient Greek and Roman theatre to the medieval, Elizabethan, Restoration comedy and melodrama up through modern drama.
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- 10912 Writing & Publishing Your Op-Ed
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Dates: 4/2/2026 - 4/2/2026
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Day of Week: Th
Sessions: 1
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Julie Knopp
Fee: $0.00
Op-eds are a powerful way to share your voice and advocate for the issues you care about. In this class, you’ll develop the skills you need to craft a compelling op-ed and get it published in mainstream news. This class will cover: why op-eds are effective tools for change, tips and tricks for compelling readers to take action, and how to pitch your op-ed to editors and increase your chances of getting published. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned writer, this class will help you get your ideas in front of a wider audience and make an impact.
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- 10913 Life is a Work of Art
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Dates: 4/28/2026 - 4/28/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: Tu
Sessions: 1
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Lucy Rose Fischer
Fee: $0.00 (if any, due after allocation)
It can happen in a moment. You notice a deep crease on your forehead or a blossoming of gray hairs or someone mentions the term “elderly” and you realize they are talking about you. How can we live creatively and make the most of our years? There is a “use it or lose it” principle for cognitive ability—if we stimulate our brains, we continue to grow dendrites, even in old age.
Recommended reading: LIFE IS SHORT AND SO AM I by Lucy Rose Fischer, Temuna Press, 2024.
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- 10914 I Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo
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Dates: 5/7/2026 - 5/7/2026
Times: 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Day of Week: Th
Sessions: 1
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Daniel Freeman
Fee: $0.00
Ruggero Leoncavallo’s opera I Pagliacci of 1892 is the best-known representative of a trend in late 19th century opera known as verismo (“realism”). Whereas earlier operas in serious style typically depicted the emotional struggles of royals and aristocrats who lived in the distant past, there was suddenly a desire to craft operatic settings in contemporary times that explored the harsh living conditions of the underprivileged. In this case, the murder of the wife of a clown on suspicion of infidelity is the basis for a musical setting famed for its direct appeal and emotional intensity.
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- 10915 Minneapolis History: The House on Chute Square - a City Finding its Roots
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Dates: 4/10/2026 - 4/10/2026
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Day of Week: F
Sessions: 1
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Linda Andrean
Fee: $0.00
The little yellow house on Chute Square at University and Central Aves in Northeast Minneapolis has the unique history of being the first frame house built in what is now the city of Minneapolis. How did this all come about? What can this house teach us about the city's origins?
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- 10916 Bookend: Sleuth at the Guthrie
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Detective writer Andrew invites young travel agent Milo to his home and proposes a high stakes game of dubious legality in which both will benefit financially. But nothing is quite as it appears when Andrew’s endgame is a moving target. With every new revelation a test of intellect, Andrew has met his match in Milo and each needs to level up to before its game, set, and match. Discuss the play in advance of seeing the production and again afterwards.
Course Full and Waitlist Closed.
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- 10917 Film Adaptation: The Short Story
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This course will combine short fiction and film to examine some common questions of adaptation: how “faithful” to the literary source should a film be? What is gained or lost when moving from the written word to images? We will explore in depth three short stories by Canadian Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro from her collection Runaway, stories which were adapted into a film by the Spanish director Pedro Almodovar (Julieta, 2016). The instructor will provide PDF copies of the stories and we will view the film together in class. Required reading: Alice Munro, Runaway, Vintage, 2004.
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- 10918 Masculine Crises
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Arthur Schlesinger’s 1958 essay in Esquire, “The Crisis of Masculinity,” reminds us that our contemporary concerns with men in crisis have a long history. To better understand today’s perspective, this course examines the history of men in postwar America, focusing on the World War II generation that settled in suburbia. Discussions will interrogate both contemporary and historical interpretations.
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- 10919 The Art of Seeing
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Dates: 4/2/2026 - 4/30/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: Th
Sessions: 5
Building: Amira-Minnetonka
Room: Community Room
Instructor: Carol Veldman Rudie
Fee: $0.00
This five-session class is designed to help nonartistic professionals see paintings more clearly through an understanding of the visual vocabulary that artists use. Each session focuses on a distinct aesthetic element: perspective, light, color, and composition. The capstone fifth session is done at TMORA to allow each participant an actual experience with an art piece. Attendance at all five sessions is required as content from each session builds on the previous.
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- 10921 It's a novel! It's a poem! It's a NOVEL in VERSE!
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Dates: 4/3/2026 - 5/15/2026
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Day of Week: F
Sessions: 7
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Stephanie Anderson
Fee: $0.00
Join us to explore the fascinating genre of literature that is the novel in verse! Novels written in verse are engaging and accessible. The poetry format allows readers to immerse themselves in a special way in the story, feeling - not just reading - each word. We'll read 3-5 novels in verse over the course of our time together, specific numbers and titles dependent on group interest and hopes for the session. This course will focus primarily on young adult novels in verse written by authors of color with protagonists of color. Remember, YA Lit is NOT just for young adults! Required reading: Mascot by Charles Waters and Traci Sorell, Charlesbridge, 2023; The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo, Quill Tree Books, 2018; The Leaving Room by Amber McBride, Feiwel & Friends, 2025.
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- 10922 OLLI Scholar: Writing the Life Story
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Dates: 4/2/2026 - 5/14/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: Th
Sessions: 7
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Rebecca Kilroy
Fee: $0.00
What are the stories we tell about ourselves? How do we craft our life stories into compelling narratives? In this workshop, we'll consider examples by published authors and generate our own pieces using guided prompts. The course will introduce students to multiple modes of creative nonfiction including the personal essay, memoir, braided essays, and hybrid forms. We'll cover craft elements including setting, dialogue, pacing, and voice to encourage students to unlock their creativity and share their stories. Recommended reading: Bluets by Maggie Nelson, Wave Books, 2009; Long Live The Tribe of Fatherless Girls by T Kira Madden, Bloomsbury, 2019.
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- 10923 Music of the American Revolution: More than Yankee Doodle
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As we prepare to celebrate our country’s 250th birthday, this class will explore the music of the American colonists. More than entertainment, music-making was a communal effort shared in the instrumental music composed and played for gatherings and battlefields, and in the songs the colonists sang in church, in pubs, on the streets, and in encampments. We’ll also look at European musical influences and the beginnings of a uniquely American compositional style. No musical experience is necessary to enjoy this class.
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- 10924 Gwendolyn, Louise, and Two Roberts: Four Great American Poets
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The twentieth century produced an abundance of great poets. In this course, we will explore four singular and vital voices in the American dialogue: Gwendolyn Brooks, Louise Glück, Robert Frost, and Robert Hayden. Each of our four sessions will be dedicated to one of these poets and will include opportunities for both full class and small group discussions. Neither experience nor comfort with poetry is necessary to enjoy these discussions–just a desire to ponder ideas, ask questions, welcome discovery, and embrace uncertainty. A course packet will be provided.
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- 10925 OLLI Scholar: On Keeping a Notebook: Writing Creatively Through the Journal
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Dates: 3/31/2026 - 5/12/2026
Times: 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Day of Week: Tu
Sessions: 7
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Sadia Khatri
Fee: $0.00
This creative writing class will introduce you to the journal as a site of play, process, and catharsis. Whether you are journaling for the first time, or you have kept a diary for decades, you will be introduced to a range of methods to try in the journal. Through guided exercises and weekly prompts, we will write poetry and fiction in our diaries and dig into a deep reflection of our private lives. We will also read the notebooks of famous writers, and think about the ways the journal can help us be more present and alive in the world around us. Recommended reading: “On Keeping a Notebook” by Joan Didion from Slouching Towards Bethlehem, FSG, 2008; Reborn: Journals and Notebooks 1947-1963 (journal excerpts) by Susan Sontag, Picador, 2009.
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- 10926 OLLI Writes! Lit Reading + Discussion
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Dates: 4/10/2026 - 4/10/2026
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Day of Week: F
Sessions: 1
Building: Liberal Arts Engagement Hub
Room: Pillsbury Hall 120
Instructor: Briana Smith
Fee: $0.00
Join the OLLI community for a literature reading and panel discussion featuring OLLI Scholars, Course Leaders, and current members who write. Hear them read from their recent works of poetry, fiction, and memoir and discuss their writing process, sources of inspiration, and any other questions from the audience. The Liberal Arts Engagement Hub is located at 120 Pillsbury Hall, 310 Pillsbury Dr. S.E., Mpls, MN 55455. Parking information will be shared with participants ahead of the event. Option to meet for coffee and cake afterwards at Northrup.
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- 10927 Holocaust Destination: Ecuador
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Dates: 5/4/2026 - 5/4/2026
Times: 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Day of Week: M
Sessions: 1
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Doris Rubenstein
Fee: $0.00
This presentation follows the history of Jews in Ecuador from their escapes from the Spanish Inquisition to their flight from Hitler during the WWII Holocaust to the present day. It describes their contributions to Ecuador’s economy and culture, often through the words of the people who lived through these experiences. The contributions of these people to the only country that offered them refuge cannot be overstated. Recommended reading: The Boy with Four Names by Doris Rubenstein, iUniverse.com, 2021.
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- 10928 OLLI Reads! Debra J. Stone's The House on Rondo
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Join local author Debra J. Stone for a reading and conversation about her recent book, The House on Rondo (University of Minnesota Press, 2025). OLLI Scholar and course leader Stephanie Anderson will facilitate a discussion with Stone about her work and research for the book, which will be available for purchase at the event. Recommended reading: The House on Rondo by Debra J. Stone, University of Minnesota Press, 2025.
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- 10929 Watercolor in Nature
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Expand on your knowledge or start from the beginning as we create art from our environment by creating a sketchbook journal. You will learn a sampling of watercolor and layout techniques to apply to your own art practice. Course materials fee: $15. Participants need to provide their own watercolor paints.
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- 10930 Seduction & Symbolism: The Scandalous History of Flowers
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Dates: 5/12/2026 - 5/12/2026
Times: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Day of Week: Tu
Sessions: 1
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Diana Pierce
Fee: $0.00
From forbidden meanings to royal obsessions, flowers have whispered secrets through history. This course explores the dark, dazzling stories behind blooms—how they’ve symbolized lust, power, betrayal, and rebellion across cultures and centuries. Join award-winning photographer and storyteller Diana Pierce as she unveils how petals have shaped art, politics, and romance. A vibrant journey into the most seductive garden you’ve never seen.
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- 10931 Free Your Writing
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Dates: 4/2/2026 - 5/14/2026
Times: 2:30 PM - 4:00 PM
Day of Week: Th
Sessions: 7
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Mary Jo Robinson-Jamison
Fee: $0.00
This course provides participants with opportunities to engage in playful experiments with words on the page during free writing. By slowing down and paying attention to whatever turns up, participants can expect to hone their observational skills. Opportunities to share writing are provided but not required. The last three sessions will center on free writing done by participants between classes. Listeners will be asked to tell us exactly where in the piece they felt surprise, interest, wonder or the desire to ask the reader a question.
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- 10932 Saint Paul Origins: Selected Topics
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This course presents a history of the city of Saint Paul centered around the people, places, and processes that conventional narratives have too often relegated to the margins of Minnesota’s history. All talks will be presented from St. Paul’s historic C.S.P.S. Hall at 383 Michigan Ave. St. Paul. Parking in lot off Michigan Ave. and free street parking. Take the elevator to the second floor.
April 3: History of Origins, the book (Joe Landsberger)
April 10: The French Connection: Selkirk migration/ metis settlement; Early Saint Paul (Mark Labine)
April 17: Streetscapes of the 19th and 20th Century April 24: River views: the Mississippi, Shepard Road neighborhoods, Navy code breakers to Sperry Univac
May 1: St. Paul Underground: caves, tunnels and geology (Greg Brick)
May 8: 19th Century brewing and derivative industries along West Seventh Street
May 15th: Volunteers: The City as Adversary; the City as Advocate
Recommended reading: Origin Story of Fort Road, West Seventh Street, the Township, City of Saint Paul, the Territory, State of Minnesota, Glacial Age Forward by Joe Landesberger, 2024.
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- 10933 A Global History of the American Revolution
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When we think of the American Revolution, we picture 13 colonies squaring off against the British Crown in a spirited bid for independence. But this version of the story is only half the truth—and perhaps not even the most interesting half. In this riveting program, historian and author Richard Bell invites us to rediscover the Revolution as a world war that unleashed chaos, opportunity, and transformation across six continents—from the sugar fields of the Caribbean to the court of the King of Mysore, from refugee camps on the Canadian frontier to political uprisings in Sierra Leone and Peru. Recommended reading: The American Revolution and the Fate of the World by Richard Bell, Riverhead, 2025.
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- 10934 The Technology of World War II: Buzz Bombs, Bazookas, Blimps, and More
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Dates: 4/10/2026 - 5/15/2026
Times: 12:30 PM - 2:00 PM
Day of Week: F
Sessions: 6
Building: Online
Room: Zoom
Instructor: Steve Simon
Fee: $0.00
Both the Allies and the Axis Powers made tremendous advances in technology during World War II. Scientists and engineers were called on to develop new technologies, solve emerging problems, and address the technology needs of the military. This course examines how technology changed the face and dynamics of war, including the development of radar, codebreaking, synthetic rubber, mass-produced penicillin and many more.
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