**This class will be taught In-Person**
**Note that this class will skip July 5 and end on July 19.**
Each week brings a vast array of important and complex political and social developments. Analysis and coverage by print, social, and mass media sometimes clarify but often obscure what is really going on and why. It is hard to navigate through this maze. The stakes are particularly high during a presidential election year.
After positive feedback from when this class was last given pre-covid, OLLI is offering a six-week facilitated discussion of important issues facing us as citizens. The goal is to select the most critical international, national and local topic(s) in each of the above weeks and to discuss these in-depth.
Participants will be expected to be up on the latest major issues covered by the media during the weeks of the course. If participants have a specific topic in the news that they would like to discuss, they will be expected to let the instructors know by email to OLLI at least four days before the next meeting. The facilitators will work with the results of these selections to choose the topics, identify discussion questions, and to facilitate the analysis of the class.
There are two ground rules:
1. Any topic in the week’s news may be suggested; and
2. In the discussions, all opinions need to be respected.
While we may and should disagree, we must not become disagreeable!
Each week’s facilitated discussion will depend on current events and/or breaking news. For example, if the course were being held this week, selected topics might be the Arizona abortion law, US support for Ukraine, and the expanding field of San Francisco mayoral candidates. Certain themes might run through the discussions every week such as the difficulty of citizens to obtain accurate, timely and balanced information, the emerging role of AI, and polarization in the US.
