In-Person   

Independence from Great Britain — a saga that began 250 years ago. This is not just a conversation about great battles, but a study of the power of a people to decide their future. Come explore these revolutionary events through the unique lens of a novel — Rise to Rebellion by bestselling author Jeff Shaara. We will explore the events that led to the outbreak of war on the village green of Lexington, meet the key personalities who issued the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, and conclude with an optional field trip to Concord and Boston where we will visit several of the historical sites from the course. (There will be an additional fee to participate in the field trip.) Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and film.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: Rise to Rebellion, Jeff Shaara, ISBN 0345452062

In partnership with Portland’s Irish Heritage Center, this course will lead us on a journey through Ireland’s rich literary, historical, and musical legacy. We will explore highlights in poetry, read James Joyce’s The Dubliners, consider key elements in Irish history as they relate to Portland, learn about musical and dance traditions, hear and speak Irish phrases, and be introduced to genealogical resources for personal enrichment. Designed for participants in the OLLI trip to Ireland in May 2025, this course is open to anyone interested in the vibrant heritage of Ireland. New hybrid course. Format includes lecture, discussion, film, and movement.

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Dubliners, James Joyce, ed. Terrance Brown, ISBN 9780140186475

In partnership with Portland’s Irish Heritage Center, this course will lead us on a journey through Ireland’s rich literary, historical, and musical legacy. We will explore highlights in poetry, read James Joyce’s The Dubliners, consider key elements in Irish history as they relate to Portland, learn about musical and dance traditions, hear and speak Irish phrases, and be introduced to genealogical resources for personal enrichment. Designed for participants in the OLLI trip to Ireland in May 2025, this course is open to anyone interested in the vibrant heritage of Ireland. New hybrid course. Format includes lecture, discussion, film, and movement.

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Dubliners, James Joyce, ed. Terrance Brown, ISBN 9780140186475

How can we experience peace in such turbulent times? “Happiness is your own treasure because it lies within you.” — Prem Rawat. This nine-week course features empowering videos of author Prem Rawat’s talks on ten themes: peace, appreciation, inner-strength, self-awareness, clarity, understanding, dignity, hope, and contentment. You will have the opportunity to discover, focus, and reflect on your own humanity and inner resources. The facilitators will involve participants with videos, activities, and meaningful interactions that explore the themes of personal peace and the art of living well.  Format includes lecture, discussion, and film.
SUGGESTED BOOK: Hear Yourself: How To Find Peace In A Noisy World, Prem Rawat, ISBN 9780063070745

This is a course for practicing artists to paint together in a great open space, sharing ideas and receiving instruction when requested. Format includes discussion and hands on learning.

If you’ve watched your parents or your college classmates play or if you’ve always wanted to learn but haven’t had the opportunity or time, or if you know some basics but don’t feel ready to play, join us. However, if you’ve been playing and want to practice, please join the OLLI Bridge SIG or take a more advanced class when it is offered. This class is for enthusiastic and possibly leery neophytes. After these eight weeks you will be playing bridge! Repeat in-person course. Format includes discussion and hands-on.

SUGGESTED MATERIALS: Bridge at a Glance, Audrey Grant, ISBN 9781944201401

Vienna Philharmonic in performances and recordings of nearly all of the orchestral works of Johannes Brahms, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth. Considered a landmark in the interpretation of the composer’s music, this new class will include videos of the four Symphonies, the two Piano Concertos, the Violin Concerto and Double Concerto, Serenade No. 3, the Tragic Overture, Academic Festival Overture, and the Haydn Variations. New in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and film.
 

Conflict is inherent in all relationships, including the one you have with yourself. Through awareness and our choice of language, we can overcome our habitual stress response patterns and turn our daily conflicts into opportunities for connection. In this class, we will learn and practice the four steps of nonviolent, or compassionate, communication as well as mindfulness meditation practices that support the awareness necessary to turn conflict into connection. New in-person course. Format includes discussion, lecture, hands-on learning.
REQUIRED BOOKS: Choosing Peace: New Ways to Communicate to Reduce Stress, Create Connection, and Resolve Conflict, Ike Lasater, John Kinyon, et al., ISBN 0989972003

Selected with a range of time periods and geographical settings in mind, this series of films e xplores diverse experiences of people during that liminal life-stage between childhood/adolescence and young adulthood, where old identities are shed and new ones not yet fully formed. We’ll discuss a broad sampling of “the American experience” in different cultures and eras, with one film addressing the immigrant experience: Carousel (Maine, 1888); The Man in the Moon (rural Louisiana, 1950s), Dead Poets Society (Vermont, 1959), Stand by Me (Oregon, 1959), The Namesake (Kolkata/N.Y., 1970s-90s), 8 Mile (Detroit, 1995), A Walk to Remember (Beaufort NC, 1990s-2000s). New in-person course. Format includes films and discussion. Two class meetings will be from 12:30–3:30 p.m., to accommodate longer-running films.

Boston has always been a fertile ground for crime fiction. Think Whitey Bulger, sure, but what can you say about a city that reelects its mayor from Federal prison? A city with a history of petty and major crime, corrupt politicians, cheating law enforcement types, and a long list of bad actors with respect to race? In this course, we will read and discuss eight crime novels set in and around Boston, including such classic authors as George V. Higgins and Dennis Lehane. New in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

Did you experience folk music at an early age? This instructor’s Mom sang lullabies like “Tura, Lura, Lura,” to him. Such a song comes from folk tradition and is passed down from generation to generation. This course will explore folk music via lecture, discussion, videos of performers, live music, and singing. Special attention will be given to American folk music, but world folk songs will be heard too. We’ll delve into the 1960s folk music craze. The course will end with a folk music party. Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and watching film.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: Introducing American Folk Music, Christopher and Kip Lornell, ISBN 9781617032653

Enjoy six narrated walks through Portland’s historic neighborhoods exploring the city’s history, architecture, and people since Europeans arrived. Discuss historic structures, immigrant populations, and locally and regionally famous architects and view their works. All walks will be on pavement, with side trips to two grassy cemeteries. Rain or shine. Instructor will contact students about the meeting place prior to class.  Format includes movement.

This is an invitation to everyone who’s played a few improv games (at OLLI or elsewhere) and wants to play more. I call improv “play for intelligent adults.” And play deserves a lot of respect! Humans (and loads of other critters) are biologically wired to play. And like all other universally held biological characteristics, the urge to play exists to increase our chances of survival. Having said all that, the objective of this class will not be to discuss fun, but to make it. Please join us if this sounds like your cup of tea!
Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, film, hands-on, movement.

Say “healing” and most think “biomedicine,” which
mainly targets disease and injury. Bad stuff. Social healing
provides another way to heal. We look at two such
practices: Atul Gowande’s rejoinders to ravages of aging;
and Theater Of Witness’ rejoinders to myriad ravages of
our world. Each complements — does not bid to replace —
biomedicine. Each does heal. How so? New in-person
course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

The aim of this repeat course is to enjoy Huck’s odyssey on the Mississippi River for the story itself. We look beneath the surface, focus on the vernacular (all dialects) and the literary devices, such as irony, humor, and satire, to criticize the staid, hypocritical mores and religious views of 19th century America. Who was Mark Twain and how did he differ from Samuel Clemens? Was Huck’s refusal to turn in Jim as a runaway slave the greatest act of moral courage in American literature? Who is truly noble? What has been Twain’s effect upon American and world literature? Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.
REQUIRED MATERIAL: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain, ISBN 9780486280615

Continuation of a conversation class conducted entirely in French. This course is intended for those who have a good command of the French language and will continue to emphasize increasing vocabulary and learning principles of grammar. Some reading of literary passages and writing will also be incorporated. Format includes discussion.

The course will introduce the basics of African history and contemporary African politics. We will consider non-political variable to help explain African politics. In addition, the course will use case studies to illustrate political struggles in some African countries. Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

Line dancing keep us moving and is loads of fun. Join returning and new dancers to learn several dances in various modes (cha cha, samba, country, easy listening, rock, etc.). Participants need to be steady on their feet and able to move for two hours (with breaks for water).  If you can walk a mile or two comfortably this will likely work for you. Beginners welcome. Format includes movement.

The Middle East has a richly-developed film industry that delves into social and political issues from the early twentieth century to the present. We will view films touching upon themes of social class, gender, and politics in diverse settings from Morocco to Iran. Some are documentaries and some are commercially made. Discussion will follow the showing of the films. This course may be taken without having taken “Middle East on Film I” (Spring 2014) and “Middle East on Film II” (Fall 2014) and there will be no repetition of the films in I and II courses. Repeat remote course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and watching films.

This course will examine how we know the facts of the universe, from the unimaginably distant and old to the incredibly small and strange. No math unless requested! No books required. New in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

Four great mystery writers — three British and one American — examine crimes committed in the aftermath of the two World Wars, revealing the lingering presence of war long after the fighting has stopped. We will read Dorothy Sayers’s The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club (1928), Margery Allingham’s The Tiger in the Smoke (1952), Peter Dickinson’s The Glass-Sided Ants’ Nest (1968), and Donna Leon’s Willful Behavior (2002). New in-person course. Format includes discussion.

REQUIRED MATERIALS:

The Unpleasantness at the Bellona Club,
Dorothy Sayers, 9780062311917;

The Tiger in the Smoke, Margery Allingham, ISBN1911295217;

The Glass-Sided Ants’ Nest, Peter Dickinson, ISBN0140058648;

Willful Behavior,
Donna Leon, ISBN 9780802128515

Gale Rhodes is on a lifetime mission to see things whole —
to find connections between his interests in science, and
other ways of knowing, including poetry, art, and music.
The fruits of his quest comprise the website “One Culture:
Science and the Humanities.” Join him to learn more
about how physical and life scientists think and work
together to make new knowledge. Then we will seek out
connections between science and other ways of knowing
by reading and discussing selected materials at One
Culture. Is this course for you? Find out by exploring the
website. New in-person course. Format includes lecture,
discussion, and film.

This course is for everyone who wants to read, discuss, and write poetry, whether you’ve written before, or not. Each class will be divided among workshopping participant poems, discussing the topic of the week from The Poetry Home Repair Manual, and examples of poetry. Writing prompts will be offered for in-class writing and optional sharing. We believe that writers learn best with both praise and friendly honesty in a nurturing setting of fellow learners. Requirements: An open mind, a sense of fun and discovery, and a readiness to read and write during and in-between the classes.  Format includes discussion and hands-on.
REQUIRED BOOK: The Poetry Home Repair Manual, Ted Kooser, ISBN 0803259786

By challenging Europe’s dehumanizing aristocratic values, Shakespeare’s “tragicomedies” pose conceptions of humanity that seek the common good, dignify productive labor, and evoke emotions of awe and discovery. These plays converge, in surprising detail, with republican currents among Puritan activists (who also embraced the revolutionary new sciences), and similar impulses embedded in England’s American colonial projects, where Captain John Smith led in the sharpening cultural clash. With equal parts history and drama, Europe and America, we explore Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Smith’s popular writings, and contemporary Puritan texts, revealing their common, America-focused hopes for a truly “New World.” REPEAT hybrid course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and film.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: The Tempest, William Shakespeare, any edition.

By challenging Europe’s dehumanizing aristocratic values, Shakespeare’s “tragicomedies” pose conceptions of humanity that seek the common good, dignify productive labor, and evoke emotions of awe and discovery. These plays converge, in surprising detail, with republican currents among Puritan activists (who also embraced the revolutionary new sciences), and similar impulses embedded in England’s American colonial projects, where Captain John Smith led in the sharpening cultural clash. With equal parts history and drama, Europe and America, we explore Shakespeare’s The Tempest, Smith’s popular writings, and contemporary Puritan texts, revealing their common, America-focused hopes for a truly “New World.” REPEAT hybrid course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and film.
REQUIRED MATERIALS: The Tempest, William Shakespeare, any edition.

The vast extent of popular music available on YouTube is truly awesome, and it’s all for free! In this course, we’ll spend eight weeks exploring six decades of pop music of multiple genres. Remember The Ed Sullivan Show, Perry Como Show, Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, British Broadcasting System’s Top ‘o’ the Pops, etc.? We’ll tune in. Big bands of the 1930s? Check. Crooners of the 1950s? Yessiree. Girl groups of the early 1960s? Yup. Late 1960s British Invasion? Got ‘em, mate. Singer-songwriters of the 1970s? You betcha. We’ll cover about six decades of pop music from the 1930s to the 1980s. Special emphasis will be given to the 1960s, with its happy mashup of rock, folk, soul, gimmick songs, and many others. Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

This course challenges the commonplace view of Van Gogh as a consummate painter of nature. In Michael Lobel’s book, Van Gogh and the End of Nature, the author argues Van Gogh was engaged in the transformation of the environment wrought by the industrial revolution, pollution, and modern technologies. Following Lobel’s chapter organization — Introduction, Air, Earth, Fire, Water, and Color — the class will examine Van Gogh’s work in the context of the elements, environmental conditions, and motifs. Art History, as well as stylistic development, are subtexts. New course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED MATERIALS: Van Gogh and The End of Nature, Michael Lobel, ISBN 9780300274363

Starting with a review of 20th Century Modernism up to 2023, this course will cover the explosion of Perpetual Contemporary Art to the present. We will use The Metropolitan Museum guided tour format of viewing thematic exhibitions with dialogue between a “facilitator” and participants. This will include worldwide players and explore reactionary movements and attitudes. This is a “shared inquiry” course where knowledge of Art History is not required. It is about viewing art and having a discussion. Format includes lecture and discussion.