Course Descriptions, Fall 2013

Courses 1-14

1.    BOOK CLUB (Suzanne Haff , suzhaff@gmail.com, and Abbie Tom,  abtom@mindspring.com, Moderators.)
1st Fridays:  Oct. 4, Nov. 1, Dec.6.  11:00-12:30, Room SS.  For everyone who loves to read and discuss a good book.  Books selected for the Fall are: Oct. 4: Please Look After Mom by Kyung-sook Shin; Nov. 1: The Demon Under the Microscope by Thomas Hager; Dec. 6:  Shallows by Nicholas Carr.   

2.  CONTEMPORARY WRITERS’ RESPONSE TO THE MODERN WORLD:  An International Look at Aging (Moderators: Emily Lees (960-3737, emilylees@bellsouth.net) and Kathy Kling (402-1609, KKling14@gmail.com).  Fridays (except 4th Friday) 11:00-12:30, Rm. 1,2,3.   This is a continuing class which looks at responses to contemporary issues through literature and non-fiction. New participants are welcome. This fall, aging throughout the world will be approached through short stories (Vital Signs: International Stories on Aging, edited by Dorothy Sennett and Anne Czarniecki), with additional understanding coming from a series of extended and open-ended interviews conducted by a cultural anthropologist (Composing a Further Life: The Age of Active Wisdom by Mary Catherine Bateson).  Additional readings may be duplicated in the form of a course pack for which a modest fee will be charged.   

3.  CONTROVERSIES IN THE WORLD  (Hank  Becker, 932-7356, hjbecker@uci.edu and Alan Tom. 933-8972, alantom@mindspring.com, Moderators.)  Monday, 11:00-12:30, Rm. 1,2,3.   In this seminar-type course built around one or two books, each participant is responsible for presenting a brief overview and critique of one week’s reading selection. The books for the Fall semester are What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets by Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel along with selected chapters from Conscious Capitalism: Liberating the Heroic Spirit of Business by Whole Foods president John Mackey.

4.   CREATIVE ART (Larry Nielsen, Don Wood, Moderators)
Tuesday, 9:15-12:30, Room 1,2,3.  Painting, sketching, sharing ideas, critiques.  Formal instruction is not provided but sharing is encouraged.  Beginning or experienced artists are welcome. Bring your own material.  Expand your creativity.

5.    ENJOYING MUSIC: THE OPERA (Pat DeTitta, moderator)
Monday, 11:00-12:30, Room SS.   A must for opera fans! We shall study the history of opera, as well as analyzing some of the operas, in this DVD class given by Robert Greenberg who has taught several other music classes for us. Excerpts from selected operas will also be shown. A break and discussion are included in each class.  The course will extend into the Spring 2013 semester.  Come and enjoy! Enrollment limited to the first 15 members enrolled.

6.  FOUNDATIONS OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION (Carol Schachner, moderator)
Thursday,  9:15-10:45, Room MP.   The course begins by explaining the geographical, philosophical, political, religious, and economic background to the modern Western world. It then examines, in turn, the crisis of the 17th century, absolutism and constitutionalism, the wars of the 18th century, the Enlightenment, the French and American Revolutions and the spread of liberal ideas, nationalism, the industrial Revolution, socialism, imperialism, the Russian Revolution, two world wars, communism, fascism, de-colonization, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, democratization, and globalization and other issues confronting contemporary Western society.

7.  FRENCH ROUND TABLE  (Margaret Bailinson, 933-2053, Moderator.)  Friday (except 4th Friday of the month) 11:00-12:30, Rm. MP.  This is not a conventional class, but an opportunity to interact informally with others who would enjoy improving their French language skills - conversation, reading, etc.  Fairly good knowledge of French required. 

8. GOTHIC/MEDIEVAL CATHEDRALS  (David Jackson, Moderator.)  Thursday,  11:00-12:30, Rm.1,2,3.  The medieval cathedral has been called the greatest artistic accomplishment in the history of humanity. This course, using a variety of DVD lectures, will discuss and illustrate these magnificent structures from the early to the late middle ages and place them within their historical and cultural context.   

9. HISTORY OF HITLER’S EMPIRE  (Donald Holloway, Moderator).  Wednesday,11:00-12:30, Rms 1.2.3.   We will attend 12 lectures by Dr. Thomas Childers, Univ. of PA -- a renowned German and European scholar and author and award-winning teacher -- that will paint a full picture of the Nazi party and Hitler. The first six lectures discuss the instability and problems of Germany, that start from its unification in 1871 and include:  a) how the German state, reacted as it rose and fell during WW I; b) how the peace treaty and the Weimar government both failed; and c) how the National Socialist Democrats shrewdly campaigned to win power.  The second six lectures examine the infiltration of the Nazi Party (National Socialist German Workers' Party) into all aspects of German society and psyche and the emergence, power and defeat of Hitler, his supporters and the Nazi Party.   

10. LEONARDO DA VINCI AND THE ITALIAN HIGH RENAISSANCE  (Jane Misch and Elayne Bernstein, Moderators.)  Monday,  11:00-12:30, Rm. MP.  Leonardo is one of the most recognized figures in history: a master of art, science and engineering, the consummate "Renaissance Man". His name is synonymous with inventiveness, curiosity and creative genius. This course examines his life and work and also considers the context in which he lived -- the High Renaissance, an age of intellectual advancement, geographic exploration and political intrigue. The lecturer, Professor George Bent of Washington and Lee University, will analyze Leonardo's paintings, his drawings and writings, his interests and his innovations.  

11. LOST WORLDS OF SOUTH AMERICA  (Margareta Thompson Moderator.) Tuesday, 11:00-12:30, Rm. MP.   The dramatic terrain of South America is one of the great and thrilling frontiers of archaeology. Buried by the centuries on soaring mountain slopes and beneath arid deserts and lush jungles, the remains of extraordinary, majestic civilizations—many completely unknown until recent decades—are now coming to light and raising tantalizing questions about what else may be awaiting discovery.

12. MAJOR POETS FROM 1865-1970 (Pat Poret,  Moderator)
Tuesday, 11:00-12:30, Room SS.  Among the poets to be read and discussed are: Robert Frost, Carl Sandburg, Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, T.S. Eliot, W.H. Auden, Theodore Roethke, and Dylan Thomas. Texts: The Classic Hundred Poems and The Top Five Hundred Poems, both edited by William Harmon.

13. MEDICAL  MYTHS  (Judy Barrett and Alice Parsons , Moderators)   Thursday, 11:00—12:30, Rm. MP.   What We Think We Know May Be Hurting Us. In today's information age, when supposedly accurate medical advice and diagnoses can be found online, medical myths are all around us. But much of this information isn't true, and using misinformation to make decisions about your own health can be harmful, even deadly. Professor Steven Novella of the Yale University School of Medicine has designed this DVD’s 24 lectures to empower you make knowledgeable health decisions that save you time, money and worry. The lectures will give you evidence-based guidelines for good health and will include topics such as diet, herbs, hypnosis, acupuncture, and placebos. Discussions will follow the DVDs.

14. MODERN AMERICAN ESSAYS  (Louis  Levy,  Moderator)   Friday, 9:14-10:45, Rm. SS.   We discuss, with vigor and often jollity, American essays of the 20th and 21st centuries. We examine them with a textural analysis and from a personal perspective formed from our own considerable experience. We shall be reading the collection Best American Essays of 2011. 

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Shared Learning Association      Celebration Assembly of God Church    114 Weaver Dairy Road, Chapel Hill, N.C.

(919) 642-0606, amparson@uci.edu

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Shared Learning Association of Chapel Hill

Fostering intellectual sharing in the humanities, sciences, and fine arts

Classrooms:  We have three classrooms: SS (Sunday School), MP (Multi-Purpose), and Room 1,2,3.  Room assignments may be changed depending on class enrollment. Check Bulletin Board.

Several courses have limited enrollment:   Enjoying Music &  Spanish/Intermediate.

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