December Mini Courses   

As unlikely as it seemed in 1967, Rolling Stone magazine was recently described as “the journalistic voice  of its generation.” How did an undercapitalized Bay Area rock publication, edited by a 21-year-old college dropout, become one of the most important magazines of the 1970s? This course answers that question  by situating Rolling Stone in its place and time, tracking its turbulent development during its first decade in San Francisco, and mapping its immense influence on American culture. 

**This class will be taught In-Person**

When most people think of the Blues, the first image that comes to mind is a man and his guitar.  Yet the truth is that women were the early carriers of this music – certainly the first popularizers of it. Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Memphis Minne, Etta James, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Nina Simone, Bonnie Raitt – each of these women used this ‘truth-telling’ art form to challenge how we think of women, and allow us to hear their frank and powerful voices.

With project photo archives, film, audio clips and sing-a-longs, instructor and Blues vocalist Pamela Rose will give much historical and cultural context to America’s enduring art form, while celebrating the lively, ribald, poignant music created by these feisty Blueswomen!

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

In the first half of the 20th century, Alfred Stieglitz did more to introduce modern art to  an American public than any other single individual. Known for his photography, he will also  be remembered as an art dealer. From 1907-1917, the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession,  known as 291 staged some of the most important early exhibitions of modern art held in  America. Rodin, Matisse, Cézanne, Picasso, and Brancusi, had the first showings of their work in New York at 291.  

The famed 19th-Century opera composers Giuseppe Verdi and Richard Wagner were born the same year (1813), and respectively they represent the pinnacle of achievement in Italian and German opera of their time.  San Francisco Opera's Dramaturg Emeritus Kip Cranna will explore how these two masters got their start and look at some of their early formative works that hint at the mastery to come. 

For millennia, we lived directly by the rhythm of the sun, but now our lives are measured by two essential tools: the clock and the calendar. These two technologies have become so familiar to us that they seem invisible, but they each have history. How did they come about? And what does their evolution tell us about our changing relationship to our societies and the natural world?

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

Religion believes there’s an all-powerful, omniscient being; comedy believes that a priest, a rabbi  and a gecko walk into a bar. In comedy, accept the premise and you get a laugh – in religion,  accept the premise and you get eternal life. So, about the same.