Summer Study Groups 2007
Institute for Continued Learning

Also see: Past Study Groups

July 10th through August 9th

@ Denotes peer led format

# Denotes lecture or video format with interaction between Participants and coordinator or visiting speaker

Tuesday 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

     “CLASSIC FILMS”           -@-              
(Note that start time for Film Study is 9:00 a.m. to allow for discussion)

     Jack McKee and Gordon Palmer, Coordinators

This is a class for those who want to expand their film watching through lively discussion. We will watch and discuss unique works of the cinema that have transcended time and trends – films that hold up after repeated viewing.  The films will be your choice among a list of the greatest films of all time.

     “JAMES PATTERSON-THE AUTHOR”   -#- -@- 

     Bob Allen, Coordinator

Patterson’s suspenseful mysteries, including ‘Along Came A Spider’, ‘Hide and Seek’ and ‘Kiss the Girls’, will be studied along with 2 movies of his works.  A round-table ‘seminar style’ will be used.  There will be required readings of 5 books (one per week).  Open-ended questions will be used to structure discussions-a use of the Socratic method.

There is a limit of 12 in the group (if necessary, a lottery will be used to select participants).

Tuesday 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

     “TRAVELING THE HISTORICAL WEST”  -#-  -@-

     Don Demski, Coordinator

Saddle-up, buck-a-roos, we’re off for adventure in the Great American West.  Along the trail we’ll be meetin’ Wild Bill, Calamity, Kit, Jesse, Billy, Wyatt, Davy and other legends of the Old West.  We’ll be bunkin’ in storied places like the Alamo, the Little Big Horn, Deadwood and Tombstone.  We’ll be eatin’ and drinkin’ at some of the best chuck wagons and watering holes from the Mexican border to Alaska.  Belly up to the bar for a blast from the authentic past.  Lectures, discussions, DVD’s.

     “INFLUENTIAL JOURNALISTS OF OUR TIME”  -@-

     Gloria and Katherine Kinney, Coordinators

With stories ranging from harrowing war reports to lighthearted social commentary, journalists have informed us, shaped our opinions, and occasionally changed our world.  We will explore the careers and contributions of many prominent print and broadcast journalists such as Edward R. Murrow, David Halberstam, Barbara Walters, Bill Moyers, Bob Woodward and Mike Royko.  Study group participants will have the opportunity to present a profile of a favorite journalist.

     “COMPUTER WORKSHOPS”  -@-

     Mike Thompson, Coordinator

Five individual computer workshops are offered with a limit of 24 participants per workshop.  Each workshop will be a one-day-only study group and require a separate registration.

July 10, Week #1 is PowerPoint Basics-software used to make computerized slide presentations.

July 17, Week #2 is Adding Pictures and Graphics to PowerPoint.

July 24, Week #3 is Animating Text/Graphics and Automating PowerPoint Presentations.

July 31, Week #4 is Computer Housekeeping (either lecture or hands on depending on number of participants).

August 7, Week #5 is Troubleshooting Windows Problems (either lecture or hands on depending on number of participants).

If you are registering for more than one workshop, please  rank by number in order of preference (e.g., Week #3 is 1, Week #1 is 2 and so on).  A lottery will be used on any workshop with over 24 registered participants.

  

Wednesday 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

     “BASEBALL ICL STYLE: IT’S A WHOLE NEW SEASON”  -@-

     Tom Dooley, Joe Maladra and Carolyn Simons, Coordinators

The insides and outsides of America’s favorite pastime.  Guest appearances, managerial strategies, quizzes to test your baseball knowledge, favorite all time game, “Dugout Dope”, peanuts, Cracker Jack and lots of fun-PLAY BALL! 

     “EXPLORING SCULPTURE SINCE 1945”  -@-

     Ruth McCormick and Betty Morley, Coordinators

What is it?  How do we look at it?  Who are the famous names in the current world of sculpture?  Bring an open mind.  The goal is to gain appreciation and knowledge of contemporary sculpture through lectures and peer presentations.

   “THE WORLD THROUGH LITERATURE”  -@-

     Carol and Christopher Melby, Coordinators

This class, based on the book Words without Borders-The World Through the Eyes of Writers, will take us on a tour of the world through the exploration of short stories, poems, essays, and excerpts from novels * translated for the first time into English.

These works are challenging and thought provoking and discussions will center on what we can learn about these cultures and humanity--our own and others.

The book is edited by Samantha Schnee, Alane Salierno Mason and Dedi Felman and published by Anchor books. It may be ordered on Amazon.com. Participants will be encouraged to lead the discussion on a piece of their choice from the this book with the help of suggested questions.

Participants are asked to read two stories from the anthology for the first class: “The Chareron Inheritance” by Evelyne Trouillet and “The Uses of English” by Akinwumi Isola.

Minimum participants---10

 

Wednesday 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

     “SKIRTING THE GLOBE WITH FOREIGN FILMS”  (End time for Film Study is 3:30p.m. to allow for discussion)  -@-

     Anne Schneider and Harry Trumfio, Coordinators

Want to experience a film without buildings exploding, guns blazing, blood spouting, or cars spinning in circles?  Want a taste of life from a different point of view?  Join us as we watch and discuss selected subtitled films from Europe and Asia.  The coordinators will present the first two films and lead the discussion.  The last three weeks we will invite group participants to select and discuss films of their choice.  To facilitate the selection process, an annotated film list will be available at the first session.

     “PHARMACEUTICALS – WHAT THE CONSUMER SHOULD KNOW”  -#-  -@-

     Peter Marron, Coordinator

All pharmaceuticals are foreign substances to the human body and can have both a beneficial and deleterious effect.  Balancing the risk/reward ratio is the physician’s challenge.  The purpose of this study group is to convince the participants of these facts and suggest ways to maximize the benefits of prescribed drugs while minimizing the risk of errors by the user.  The history and role of the FDA and its response to public health problems will be discussed.  Current newspaper articles on drug approvals/non-approvals and adverse pharmaceutical related events will be discussed.  Participants will be asked to share their experiences.

     “AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT”  -@-

     Carolyn Simons, Coordinator

Join the fun as we cross the pond to meet the funny blokes and ladies of British comedy.  Stay a while at ‘Fawlty Towers’, toe ‘The Thin Blue Line’, be blessed by ‘The Vicar of Dibley’, and look ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ as though you were ‘To the Manor Born’.

Thursday 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.

     “HOW TO BE A RESPONSIBLE PATIENT”  -@-

     Sue Harty and Cathy Jensen, Coordinators

This study group will be based on the book, ‘The Patient’s Guide to the Complete Medical Examination and the Prevention of Medical Errors’ by Sheldon Cohen M.D.  We will explore various aspects of the book to enable you to gain an understanding of your medical examination and assist the medical practitioner in the appropriate diagnosis.  As Dr. Cohen states in his book, ‘It has been estimated that a well-taken medical history will provide the diagnosis eighty percent of the time.

     “TELLING IT LIKE IT WAS: WRITING YOUR FAMILY STORIES”  -@-

     Jan Biegert, Coordinator

Every family has stories to tell; funny, heartbreaking, amazing, stories that bring Great Grandpa to life or stories of our own experiences growing up in times of great changes.  Unfortunately, many of these stories are lost to the younger generations because no one wrote them down.  Share your stories in a non-threatening environment and as a bonus, get to know your fellow group members better than you ever imagined.  Our focus will be getting stories on paper rather than perfecting writing skills.

     “THE EARLY MODERN MIND IN THE EARLY MODERN NOVEL“  -#-  -@-

     Kathleen Miller, Coordinator

One role of fiction is to illuminate current intellectual controversies, and another is to identify social issues that will come to crisis in future decades.  This study group will view excerpts from 19th century fiction, through film adaptations, to focus on the philosophical ferment of the 18th century Enlightenment and the early industrial revolution.  Novels may include: LeClos, Les liaisons dangereuses; Austen, Sense and Sensibility; Scott, Ivanhoe; Stendhal, LeRouge et Le Noir; Dickins, Oliver Twist; C. Bronte, Wuthering Heights; A. Bronte, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; Thackeray, Vanity Fair; and/or Eliot, Middlemarch.

Thursday 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.

     “FLOURISHING RELATIONSHIPS”  -@-

     Kathryn Black, Coordinator

We have a need to be close to others in order to be healthy.  Why is this?  What can bring about this sense of closeness?  How can we make it likely that relationships will flourish?  We’ll consider past and present relationships with relatives, friends, romantic partners, animals, and the non-corporeal.

“O …IS FOR OPERETTA”  -#-

     Ed Biegert and Bob Gilden, Coordinators

Webster defines Operetta as ‘a light, amusing opera with spoken dialogue’.  Operettas were a highly popular form of musical theater in the last half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth, serving as a bridge between European opera and the emergence of the American Broadway musical.  We will give brief consideration to the historical development of the operetta - the main European examples; Paris (Offenbach), Vienna (Johann Strauss, II) and London (Gilbert and Sullivan).  The American – composed operetta was markedly different from the European variations.  They were more realistic and plots contained struggles and triumphs of the common man rather than antics and affairs of royalty.  We will examine operettas through film and recordings.  At the final session, we hope to have invited singers perform operetta selections.

Revised May 19, 2007

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