September Mini Courses   

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

English, like all other languages, changes over time and varies according to place and social setting. The way a person sounds—such as with the “southern drawl” or dropping their “r”s—immediately conjures up a sense of the place where they come from. But the way we speak is influenced by many factors: not only our geographical roots, but our social and educational background, our working environment, our friends, our own sense of identity, and even our political views all affect how we sound.

In this course, we will examine English dialects and accents around the world, and how they changed over time. We will wonder what Shakespeare really sounded like, and how we can know that. We will observe how English speakers can manipulate the way they speak to emphasize their identity. We will contemplate how Bostonians and New Yorkers, posh and working-class Londoners, Scots and Irishmen, Canadians and Australians speak. Led by an expert on linguistics and history Asya Pereltsvaig, Ph.D., this course will open your eyes - and your ears! - to the great diversity of Englishes around the world.

 

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

When the Bay Bridge opened on November 12, 1936, its debut was celebrated with five days of parades, a Navy air show, and a regatta. Yet within months, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge captured the world’s imagination with its graceful design and iconic International Orange color, leaving its hardworking sister bridge largely overlooked.

“They were like twin sisters,” says Ben Davis, the civic visionary behind The Bay Lights. “One was celebrated for her beauty, while the other did the hard work. The Bay Bridge was our Cinderella—with ashes on her cheeks. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if, just for one night, she could put on a gown and become the belle of the ball?”

That dream became The Bay Lights, the monumental public artwork created by internationally acclaimed artist Leo Villareal and produced by Davis. More than 25,000 LED lights transformed the western span of the bridge into a living work of art, delighting millions of residents and visitors while permanently changing San Francisco’s nighttime skyline.

How did such an improbable idea become one of the world’s most beloved public artworks?

Join art curator, artist, and OLLI instructor Hugh Leeman as he interviews Ben Davis about the inspiration, setbacks, partnerships, and perseverance behind The Bay Lights. Together they will explore how one ambitious idea grew into a movement that has helped redefine San Francisco through art, light, music, and public space.

The conversation will also feature stories behind the illumination of the Conservatory of Flowers for the 50th Anniversary of the Summer of Love; Grace Light, the immersive light and music installation at Grace Cathedral; the transformation of JFK Promenade into a vibrant cultural destination filled with public art, music, gardens, and its iconic yellow chairs; Illuminate LIVE, the free concert series that now brings more than 125 performances each year to the Golden Gate Bandshell ( at the Golden Gate Park’s Music Concourse) and the recent 7×7 Pride laser installation, which filled the night sky with 49 beams of light—one for each of San Francisco’s 49 square miles.

 

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

Public transit is in the news. In San Francisco, two ballot measures will be decided in November. This course will provide background in the history and operations of Bay Area transit systems  (with focus on BART and Muni) in the first hour. The second hour will be devoted to the on-going financial woes of public transit and to an analysis of the measures on the San  Francisco ballot.

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

This two-hour PowerPoint lecture and discussion, including production  stills and film clips, revisits Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon (1952), a Western classic  that reflects its historical moment during the Hollywood blacklist while raising a  timeless question: where do we draw the line between being brave and being foolish?  Using Aristotle’s “golden mean,” we examine courage as a balance between cowardice  and recklessness, and explore how the film’s divided community, its female  characters, and its lone marshal reveal a spectrum of moral choice. Registrants are  expected to view the film in advance via a streaming service or library of their  choosing.

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

AI scams and Deepfakes are becoming more convincing, personal, and emotionally manipulative. This practical class helps participants recognize how these scams work, why they succeed, and what to do when something feels suspicious. We’ll look at real-world examples of voice cloning, AI-generated video, romance scams, and family emergency scams, then build a simple digital self-defense playbook.  

Participants will leave with clear warning signs, verification strategies, and practical tools to protect themselves and the people they love. 

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

Futurism was a politically charged art movement starting in the early 20th Century. It was a group of (mostly)men who looked to speed, technology, and action to create wonderful art. Unfortunately, they were also fascists, war-mongers, and misogynists who thought of war as a way to cleanse society of its past. Burn the museums! Burn the libraries! These were the mottos of Filippo Marinetti, who led the group. Not a nice bunch of folks, but if art museums were only filled with nice people, they'd be empty. Let's look at this controversial group together and see what artistic movements led to their creation.

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

In postwar San Francisco both Abstract Expressionism and Figurative painting had powerful presences. Over time, the two points of view competed and co-mingled. The result was a hybrid style: BAY AREA FIGURATION.

**This class will be taught In-Person, (One class in the classroom and one walking. In addition to the September 10 classroom talk, there are two walking tour dates and you will choose only one. A link to choose will be sent to you. The two dates are: Thursday, September 17, 1:30 - 3:30 and Friday, September 18, 1:30 - 3:30.)**

San Francisco's Lower Nob Hill was obliterated by the 1906 earthquake and fires, to be rebuilt as a masonry apartment and hotel district consisting almost entirely of 3 to 7 story multi-unit residential buildings which fill their entire front lot lines and share a single stylistic orientation. The vast majority were designed by the city's most prominent architects and constructed between 1906 and 1925. This two-session class will consist of an in-class session presenting a visual overview of the built environment, and a second session walk of the district's two main east-west streets, Bush and Sutter. 

**This class will be taught on Zoom**

If you enjoyed the new film of The Odyssey or want to know more about Homeric epics, this lecture will introduce you to The Iliad. Homer's epic tells the story of one climactic episode in the Trojan War—the conflict between two Greek leaders, Agamemnon and Achilles. It's a poem about fighting and dying in war, and also about life—ambition, love, friendship, sorrow, and loss. OLLI instructor Prof. Nicholas Jones, whose July lecture for OLLI introduced many to Homer's Odyssey, will be our guide to The Iliad for this one-time Zoom lecture.