-Session B Courses   

The process of photography offers individuals with many potential decisions that must be made in the process of capturing a quality image. There are technical decisions that are critical to the quality of the photograph, such as focus, sharpness and depth of field, as well as the exposure triangle of ISO, shutter speed and aperture. There are also aesthetic decisions less technical in nature that truly makes the difference in one's effort to capture a dramatic and interesting image that attracts the viewer. Examples of the aesthetic decisions include choice of subject matter, timing, composition, quality of light, and angle of view. This three-day workshop will provide the participants with the opportunity to learn how to improve their decision-making skills resulting in stronger, more dramatic images. Notes: The instructor will have material prepared that can be shared with participants in advance to help prepare them for the class. Each participant shall have access to a digital camera to use during the class on Saturday afternoon.

SCHEDULE:

Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 1 - 5 p.m.

Reading Shakespeare carefully, attending to dramatic texture and poetic nuance, and seeing and thinking about productions are the main class activities, along with examining the design of ideas and the progression of feelings as they build. 

Suggested:  The inexpensive Signet editions of the plays have useful introductions and critical commentary. The "Time-Life/BBC" production of Measure for Measure has been available on Prime video. I'll bring my favorite production of Much Ado (Branagh's), along with scenes from other versions for comparison.

This course will examine the basic beliefs and practices of Islam, the second largest religion in the world today. Our focus will be on the most universal traditions (the “Five Pillars”}, but we will also consider the major differences between Islam’s major branches (Sunni, Shi’ite and Sufi) and the various ways the “sixth pillar,” Sharia, has been developed. Some comparison with other faith traditions will be considered briefly, including both shared and conflicting beliefs and practices. You might be surprised how much overlap there is between Christianity, Judaism and Islam! 

Recommended Reading: 

The shortest introduction is Islam: A Very Short Introduction, by Malise Ruthven (Oxford UP paperback). For more depth, you might consider Karen Armstrong’s Islam: A Short History, or Reza Aslan’s No god but God (with the advantage of offering a Muslim’s perspective). No reading is assumed, but any will be helpful! The class will have an opportunity to decide whether or not to visit a nearby mosque together. 

Familiarity with several of Germany’s best known and creative authors from the 18th-20th centuries broadens our understanding of the rich and complicated cultural history of Germany and helps situate Germany in its broader European context. We will meet these writers — Goethe, Schiller, Heine, Rilke, Hesse, Thomas Mann, and Brecht in their contemporary circumstances and against the backdrop of modern German history. Our course will function in a seminar format with short reading assignments, informal introductions and discussion. It is taught in English with bilingual texts and resources. Knowledge of some German is welcome and helps in the appreciation of our texts but is neither expected nor necessary.

This course is about three American Presidents and a British Prime Minister, all of whom had single terms (or less) in office that are often assessed as mediocre at best, disastrous at worst. But do Herbert Hoover, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Neville Chamberlain deserve their unenviable places in history? This course will take a revised look at their achievements and failures, both real and imagined, and a broader look at their impact on their respective countries and the world, both during and outside their terms in office. 

Each class will feature a live 60-minute performance of music by composers such as Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Brahms, and others. There will also be 30 minutes of discussion about the composer and each piece. 

We live in a time of partisanship. How can poetry help us? In this course we’ll consider some poems, old and modern, on issues about which poets have disagreed, sometimes disagreeing with themselves. Is America a great country? Is love between men and women really possible? What is a home? Does nature bring spiritual inspiration? Poems will be screened in class and available to read or print online. I will lecture only briefly, and count on the class to argue wisely.

The Civil Rights movement in America was sustained by the music that turned its message of freedom into singable protests.  These songs were rooted in the black experience and culture, as spirituals and gospel music became the framework for the protest songs of the 1950’s and “60’s. The class “The Soul of Civil Rights” explores the connection between the spiritual expressions of African - American culture and the protest music of the Civil Right era. This exploration will focus on how black music influenced the creation and delivery of many genres of music written and composed during this tumultuous time of American history.

The course will examine the current day competition between the United States, China, Russia and France for influence in Africa, as well as the ambitions of the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey for influence in Africa. It will look at the impact of the fall of the Gadaffi regime in Libya and the rise of militant Islam in the Sahel; the recent coups d'etat in Guinea, Mali, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger and Gabon; the influence of Russia's Wagner Group in Mali and the Central African Republic; the decline of Francafrique; China's economic and political ambitions in the continent; and the influence of the United Araba Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Turkey on the continent.

From June 6th, 1944 to May 8th, 1945, US and Allied Armies destroyed the Nazi war machine in a series of land campaigns on the Western Front that covered millions of square miles and changed the course of history. This course will examine the Men, Women, weapons and battles that ended Nazi rule in Western Europe.