Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute at Brandeis (BOLLI)

Fall 2008 Course Descriptions

SGL1-F08

Learn & Lead: How to Become a Study Group Leader

 This course is one effort to assist and support BOLLI members to:

1)      develop and/or explore their ideas into presentations and/or courses

2)     practice talking about their ideas in a supportive environment

3)     obtain the practical assistance and encouragement they need to do so

e.g., presentations by experienced SGLs and opportunities to observe SGLs in class

•         Examples of study group ideas and course proposals given at BOLLI and other lifelong learning institutes.

•         Members will be supported to do research to identify books/other resources that they might use for the presentations or courses they want to develop.

•         We will potentially develop an eboard for the class.

This course will offer members an opportunity to share the incredible knowledge that exists at BOLLI!

Received B.S. degree from Boston University and a M.ED from Lesley University.  I am the current Chair of the Curriculum Committee and past Chair of the Resource Committee.  Most of my professional work has been in the field of teaching, mentoring, and teacher training. I am presently a Wheelock College Supervisor, Consultant, and Site Placement Officer.  I retired from the Newton Public Schools in June 2003 and am actively involved in many community programs.

H&G1-F08

Creating the Bill of Rights: Origins and Interpretations

Did you ever wonder why we have a Bill of Rights in the Constitution?  The original drafters of the Constitution argued that they weren’t necessary.  Do you know your Constitutional rights?  Have you wondered where they came from and what they mean?  The course will address these and other questions.

The course will also focus on current issues.  Hardly a month goes by without some new Bill of Rights case being argued or decided in the Supreme Court.  Over 200 years after these Constitutional rights were enacted as the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution - the Supreme Court is still wrestling with the meaning of basic rights such as the Second Amendment right to bear arms, habeas corpus under the military tribunal procedures and the right to privacy under the Roe v. Wade abortion decision.  This is an introductory discussion course which aims at a middle approach between an elementary high school level and a complex graduate level.  No prior specialized knowledge is required.  We encourage active participation in discussions.  It is advisable to try to attend all sessions.

We plan to use several lively video Bill of Rights presentations by well known participants led by Harvard Law School professors.  The videos follow the question and answer Socratic law school format familiar to many from the “Paper Chase” movie and TV series.  These videos will probe the meaning of certain Constitutional rights by applying them to a series of related hypothetical cases.  Participants will be encouraged to make voluntary 10-15 minute class presentations on relevant topics.

(R) Handouts and/or eBoard posting of cases and explanatory materials: to come.

2-3 hours per week

 Barbara Benfield taught high school science at the same time that she engaged in cancer research as a molecular biologist at MIT and Boston University Medical School.  I became interested in the U.S. Constitution after taking a course in Constitutional Law.  During our overseas Fulbright experience I used the language of the Constitution to teach English.  My students and I examined the meaning of the Constitution and explored some First Amendment cases and controversial Supreme Court decisions. 

The SGL is open to contact by phone at or email at 781-444-3153 AFTER 7:30PM, or pbenfield02494@yahoo.com and bbenfld@yahoo.com.

H&G2-F08

Great American Speeches- Orators their times, styles, impact

 We will review specific speech(es) for each class. This is a highly interactive class and for each class a team of two students will: (1) provide a biography of the speaker(s) and (2) report on the impact that the speech(es) had upon historical events.   I will provide the historical setting for each of the speeches. No prior knowledge is needed for this course and the material will include comparisons with previous classes so it is important to attend every week in order to fully participate in the class. Students will be provided copies of the speeches as well as material on general rhetorical style and the style of many of the individual speakers. We will review individual and paired speeches.  Since great speeches should be heard and not just read where we cannot get recordings and videos of the actual speeches, BOLLI students with no pressure may volunteer to give individual speeches before the class.

ISBN 0393059316

 Other selected readings-TBA

The book list may change

The majority of the speeches can be read and or heard at

http://www.americanrhetoric.com/newtop100speeches.htm

1 hour

I have a B.A. in history and an M.B.A.  From Boston University and had a thirty year career in health care administration. I have taught at a “766” school and gave a monthly seminar in Health Care Finance at the Boston University Medical School.  In my professional and civic life I would give occasional talks. I have been active in local community affairs and have had a long-term interest in American history and politics. Since retiring in 2002 I have been digitally restoring and selling original urban maps.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 617-943-8795, 9 to 10 AM or 4 to 6 PM.

H&G3-F08

The USSR? Not!!

“Independent” Republics 18 Years After The Breakup

 These are many of the questions that we will study together, paying more attention to the main players of the former Soviet Union and the key issues they confront.  Class members will be expected to research 1 country according to a standard outline and to present their findings to the class. I also will facilitate active, informed participation by students in the discussions that will follow each presentation. Email access and the ability to use the Internet are required.

Lit1-F08

Time to Laugh

 No previous knowledge necessary. Class is appropriate for all.

(R) The Late George Apley

(R) American Dream

(R) I’d Rather Be Right

(R) Of Thee I Sing

(R) Odd Couple

2 hours

H&G4-F08

From Poland to Palm Springs in One Generation: The Jewish Movie Moguls and Hollywood’s Reaction to Anti-Semitism

This course will be held at the Wasserman Cinematique in the International Business School Building. Transportation will be provided to and from the parking lot and Gosman.

In addition to their quest for financial success and their efforts to distance themselves from their fathers’ failures the underlying force propelling the Eastern European Jewish immigrants (a.k.a. “Hollywood Moguls”) into the motion picture industry was the need for acceptance. Above all, these men desired to be regarded as Americans not Jews. In order to escape the past they waged war on their heritage, rejecting old- home customs, language, accent, and tradition. These men created “America” and American values. America the strong, the wholesome, the honorable, where fathers were strong, families stable, people attractive, resourceful and decent but definitely not Jewish, i.e. a mythic and fictionalized country. Hollywood was a place to escape from rather than celebrate their Judaism”. Their attempts to assimilate were nevertheless thwarted by this country’s anti-Semitism, accusations of Communism and, the Gentile world’s unwillingness to accept them as anything but “outsiders.”

 Film will be used to illustrate, amplify, and emphasize the material covered in the text, handouts, discussions, and reports that will be assigned to class members.

 While the film schedule has not been finalized one can assume that films (or scenes from films) will be chosen from among the following: Hollywoodism, The Jazz Singer, The Mortal Storm, Confessions Of A Nazi Spy, The Great Dictator, Bataan (scenes), Air Force (scenes), Objective Burma (scenes), Crossfire, Gentleman’s Agreement, Voyage Of The Damned, School Ties.

 Thus, the material to be presented is designed to be studied by the serious student who is interested in examining an unpleasant period of American history that still has a continuing impact on in today’s world. This course is not designed for or will it appeal to one who merely wants to watch a drama livened movie every week.

 CAUTION: This course will follow the chronology of events that took place in the movie industry. Therefore if a member plans to miss 3 or more consecutive or cumulative classes he/she will be hopelessly lost in tracing and questioning Hollywood’s behavior.

(R)  An Empire Of Their Own: How The Jews Invented Hollywood. Gabler, Neil. ISBN: 0-385-26557-3, Anchor Books (Doubleday) 1988 Edition.

(R) City Of Nets: A Portrait Of Hollywood In The 1940’s. Friedrich, Otto. ISBN:  13 978-0-520-20949-7, University Of California Press 1997 Edition.

(S) The Inquisition In Hollywood: Politics In The Film Community 1930-60. Ceplair, Larry and Englund, Steven.

Approximately 3+ hours per week

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 617-965-3377, before 8:00 P.M. weekdays (no weekend calls) or by email at rpalter@verizon.net.

H&G5-F08

The Changing Face of Africa

Africa is a part of the world about which Americans can no longer afford to be ignorant. To understand its present, one must understand something of the history of the pre-colonial period that is sometimes called “traditional” Africa, the history of colonial Africa, the momentous events of the independence movements, and the almost 50 years since most of tropical Africa gained its independence. In the time afforded to this class we can barely scratch the surface of the history of these events. We can, however, raise the level of our conscious awareness of and knowledge about this amazing continent. This course, primarily in lecture form, will include a weekly segment of current events or other factual information relating to a selected country in Africa.  Members of the class will be asked to volunteer to make a presentation augmenting classroom discussion. 

TBA.

30 minutes per week

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 617-969-6878 from 7:30 to 11:30 p.m. or email at Robertcohen34@comcast.net.

Lit2-F08

Honor thy father…??  Sons and the fifth commandment

This course will explore the son-father relationship as viewed by (mostly) Jewish sons through memoirs or pseudo-letters. We shall be exposed to a wide range of feelings, from love, pity, condemnation, ambivalence, to outright hatred. We shall start with an exploration of Freud’s Oedipus Complex. Then go on to Kafka’s canonical explosive Letter to his Father. By the third (and fourth) session we are ready for the book that sparked the wish to teach this course, Lost in America written by Sherwin Nuland about the pitiful life of father Meyer Nudelman. The different names signal the gap between the generations.  Adam Hochschild had a super-privileged childhood and we learn, in Half the Way Home how he find his way to becoming a liberal activist, rebelling against his father’s ill-begotten wealth and values while also trying to understand his father (sessions fifth and sixth) The next  book will be very different but worthy of inclusion in this son-father theme. Niklas Frank In the Shadow of the Reich had the obsessive (I think) need to explore his father’s murderous life. His father, Hans Frank was Governor General of Poland in W.W. II , executed at Nürenberg for his war crimes. It is a passionate pseudo-letter of rejection that provoked much controversy in Germany. We shall end the course with Philip Roth’s memory of his father’s death and life, Patrimony the author’s only book that is full of tenderness—a far cry from Portnoy’s constipated father. And hopefully we can fit in a short story called The Boat from a collection called Island by Alistaire McLeod.  This course needs no prior knowledge. I hope some sons will want to enroll in it. There will be volunteer class presentations of the authors’ lives.

(R)Adam Hochschild. Half the Way Home. A Memoir of Father & Son. Viking, 1986.  0-670 80960-8

(R) Niklas Frank. In the Shadow of the Reich. N.Y. Knopf, 1991. ISBN 0-394-58345-0

(R)Philip Roth. Patrimony. A True Story. Simon & Schuster, l991. paperback

Four to six hours reading time

I was trained and worked as a clinical social worker in the first twenty years of my adult life.  Went to the Heller School at Brandeis in my mid 40’s for a Ph.D. and became a professor of social work at Simmons College School of Social Work where I taught psychological and psychotherapeutic theories for the next 30 years.  I have also taught for 15 years in the Harvard Extension and Radcliffe Seminars programs where I combined my background of psychology and interest in literature as would be the case in this proposed course. I have taught 7 different courses at BOLLI several of them dealing with memoirs and just wrote a memoir of my family and have thus a special interest in authors’ memoirs. Interest in books, as a reader, writer, book reviewer and teacher has always been at the center of my life.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-259-9729, 4 to 5:45  in the evening is a time when I am often home, or email at sophiefr@verizon.net.

Hum1-F08

The purpose of this course is to explore how mature men and women, (those of us in BOLLI) identify and create meaning at this stage in our lives where, currently, there are few guidelines or role models. Through readings, other media, discussions and presentations, we will address new challenges, obstacles and opportunities in this stage of life - which literally does not have a name yet. We will look at issues for men and for women and their differences and similarities in: identity, roles, relationships of many types (e.g. as parents, spouses, significant others), economics, housing, volunteerism, health, social milieu, and generativity.   No prior knowledge is needed.  Yes, it is important that you plan to attend every week, do the readings and be an active class member, giving feedback, input and summaries throughout the semester.

We will provide materials to students.

1 hour

Desirable

 Esther Scharfman: I share with the other leaders a passionate interest in and curiosity about the intricate complexities of our life journeys. Mine tracks across time, involvement in varying aspects of education: learner (always, thanks to BOLLI now) teacher of Junior High and High School, teaching fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Education, systems psychologist for Brookline Public schools, statewide speaker and legislative lobbyist for establishing Community Colleges in Massachusetts representing the state board of directors of Massachusetts League of Women Voters.  I have served on the BOLLI Lunch and Learn and Curriculum committees and on the Governing Council, and co-led Elderquest II in Spring 2007. I have a B.A. in literature and psychology, M.Ed. and abt (all-but-thesis) Doctorate in Ed. from Harvard.

 Bunny Duhl, Ed.D.: As Co-Director of the Boston Family Institute, my focus was family systems and therapy, This included extensive consultation and teaching about these issues in North America, Europe and the Far East. I wrote a book on training and systems thinking. I spent 12 years on the faculty at Harvard, specifically at Cambridge Hospital. As a former potter and sculptor, I helped found the Brookline Arts Center. I have a lifelong interest in "creativity and the human spirit" and a passion for and expertise in "experiential learning" developed and honed through my work at the Family Institute. I co-led Elderquest II in the Spring of 2007. I graduated from Brandeis in the first class in 1952, having transferred from Oberlin. I am still practicing as a psychotherapist, part-time.

 Charlie Raskin:  Gradulated from Delaware College of Agriculture and Science as a Food Technologist and spent two years with the Army Quartermaster Core. The next 45 years were spent selling men's accessories throughout New England. I stopped working for a living at 63 and decided to work to live. I got involved with Housing for Elderly and Handicapped and have spent 15 years as an elected Commissioner with the Wayland Housing Authority. I also served on the Conservation Preservation Agency. I maintain a free medical equipment distribution service for the local Nursing Association, Council on Aging, and Hospice. I serve with a Free Medical Clinic at our Congregation Beth El in Sudbury and am a driver for medical appointments. I have been involved 8 years at BOLLI and 8 years with a Men's Retirement group. I would like to share my experiences with attendees plans and possibly improve our futures and life.

 Judy Abrahams:  I graduated from Brandeis in 1964, obtained a Master's Degree in Social Work from Boston College in 1966 and a second Master's Degree in Public Administration at Harvard University's mid-career program at the Kennedy School of Government.  As a social worker and social work administrator I worked extensively with and on behalf of parents and children in the Massachusetts Child Welfare system. In retirement, I have been fortunate to find the same degree of excitement, stimulation, continuous learning and meaningful connections with others that colored my very satisfying professional life. Finding meaning in retirement is essential to my life. My interest in this quest has opened new and wonderful doors.

The SGLs are open to contact by email at:

Sharon Sokoloff:   sokoloff@brandeis.edu  

Charlie Raskin:  ckraskin@comcast.net  

Esther Scharfman: scharfmanesther@yahoo.com

Bunny Duhl:   bunduhl@gmail.com

Judy Abrahams:  newg4ff@rcn.com

Sc1-F08

This course will endeavor to teach principles of chemistry: what is an atom, the elements, compounds, mixtures, organization of the elements, the mole is not an animal, what holds atoms together, how fast (or slow) does a reaction go, equilibrium, how gases behave, what a molecule looks like, is it a solid or liquid or gas, properties of solutions, acids and bases, the special chemistry of carbon, radioactivity, plastics, etc.  Emphasis will be on understanding principles; memorization of reactions will not be required; there will be little math.  Relations and application to every day life will be shown.  Knowledge of chemistry is not required.

(R) Complete Idiot’s Guide to Chemistry, Ian Guch, ISBN 1-59257-514-5, Pub. Penguin, Second Edition 2006

At least an hour.

The SGL is open to contact by email at martyi@comcast.net.

H&G4-F08

From Poland to Palm Springs In One Generation: The Jewish Movie Moguls and Hollywood’s Reaction to Anti-Semitism (CONTINUED)

This course will be held at the Wasserman Cinematique in the International Business School Building, transportation will be provided to and from the parking lot and Gosman.

H&G13-F08

New Archaeology and Ancient Maya

The past 50 years has seen a transformation in the practice of Archaeology that has changed our understanding of the Ancient Mayan culture.  This class will explore the new developments in archaeological research that have led to reinterpretations of the Mayans.  Breaking the code of the Mayan hieroglyphs is an exciting part of this story.

Using the new archaeological model, power shifts between key Mayan sites will be examined.  Why did these sites change culturally over time?  How did innovations in astronomy impact the lives of the different social classes?  How complex were their political and economic systems?  How did the society adapt to environmental changes?  Why did the ancient Maya dynasties fall?  Where are the Mayans today?

Class members will present reports on Mayan sites, Mayan innovations, prominent archaeologists and new archaeological tools.  Videos and slide shows will supplement our discussions.  Additional reading materials will be provided through handouts and emails with links to websites on the Internet.

(S) The Maya, 7^th Edition, (Ancient Peoples and Places) by Michael D. Coe.  ISBN 0500285055 (paperback).  Publisher: Thames & Hudson, 2005.

3 hours/week

The SGL is open to contact by phone from 10AM to 5PM at 617-969-6786 or email at emitmail@verizon.net.

H&G6-F08

America at the Fair: The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition

The 1893 World's Columbian Exposition was held four centuries after Columbus discovered the New World.  The Fair celebrated the tremendous growth of Chicago, the host city as well as the emergence of the United States as the world's leading agricultural and industrial power.  The Fair had 65,000 exhibitors (two-thirds American) and attracted 27 million visitors.  It was called “The Blueprint of the American Future” and marked the beginning of a national economy, the consumer society and popular culture.  The Fair introduced the Age of Electricity and the move from steam to gasoline power.  Many foreign nations as well as most of the states displayed their history and their goods.  Concerts, art and conferences competed with the fun along the Midway Plaisance with its Ferris Wheel, belly dancing, camel rides, Algerian swordsmen, Houdini, Gentleman Jim, coffee houses and the sharp-shooter Phoebe Ann Oakley Mozee, better known as Annie Oakley.  We will show how far America advanced from the 1876 Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia.  By the time of the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Fair (better known as the St. Louis Fair) electrical power was everywhere and the gasoline-fired automobile was becoming commonplace.

(S) The Chicago World's Fair by Stanley Appelbaum, Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-23990-X about $12

Ten minutes  per member (two presentations a session)

I worked for many years as a psychiatrist.  While employed in Lynn, New Bedford and Brockton I became interested in fate of the great mills that were so much a part of nineteenth-century Massachusetts.  After retiring from medicine, I have devoted my time to understanding the importance of industry in the growth of the United States.  My earlier books The Great Workshop and Goods for Sale describe Massachusetts before it lost its industries.  Textiles moved to the South but most of the other industries moved to the Mid-West, hence my focus on Chicago and its great Fair.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-449-8706 or email at chaimrosenberg@aim.com. 

Lit3-F08

The Victorian Web is an award winning web site of the University Scholars Programme Project. It offers a plethora of excellent material on the Victorian Age in Great Britain. The course will be designed utilizing this site. We will cover all aspects of Victorian society; political, economical, social and philosophical, as well as literature, theatre and the visual arts. The assigned readings will be on an introductory level since there is so much to cover, but hopefully it will inspire many in the class to delve deeper into areas of their particular interest. Each member of the class will be required to give an oral report of 10 to 15 minutes on their chosen topic. The Victorian Age is one of the most complex, paradoxical, fascinating periods in British history and profoundly affected the new nation, the United States of America. We’ll come to know it through historical, literary and artistic primary sources, as well as interpretations of it in 20th century films.

(R) The SGL will provide an extensive syllabus for the course, which should cost between $5 and $7 maximum.

3 hours

Required 

I received a BA in English Literature from Hunter College, a Master’s degree in Library Science from Simmons, and in Religion from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge. After many years in public libraries, from 1989 to 2001 I was Librarian and Director of Outreach at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard. I have led numerous study groups on literature, world religions, and the Middle East at HILR and BOLLI. Reading about the Victorian Age has been an interest of mine for many years.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 508-653-4054 (5 AM to 9 PM ) or  email at cjshedd@comcast.net.

Hum2-F08

Many dance performances of the past 60 years have been captured on film and video.  We will use a collection of these video resources to study the works of prominent choreographers, including Martha Graham, George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, Twyla Tharp, and Mark Morris. Performers include some of the above, as well as Mikail Baryshnikov, Suzanne Farrell, and Peter Martins.   In addition, we will look at dance in Hollywood and on Broadway (Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly, Jerome Robbins, Bob Fosse) and will speak with a retired dancer about her own experiences in the world of dance.  Reviews and articles of dance criticism from The New Yorker magazine and other publications over the years, as well as writings by some of the choreographers themselves, will form the main body of reading for this course, and class discussion will touch on similarities, differences, and influences among the artists.  This study group is aimed at all lovers of dance as an art form, whether they are revisiting some of their favorite dancers and choreographers or encountering them for the first time.

(S) Ballet and Modern Dance by Susan Au (June 2002 ISBN-13: 978-0500203520).

1 to 2 hours

Originally trained as a physicist, I taught Computer Science at Brandeis in the 1970’s and 1980’s and then worked for 16 years at both Brandeis and MIT in the field of Academic Computing.  My love for ballet and modern dance stems from my undergraduate and grad student years in New York City, where one could obtain very reasonably priced tickets to the New York City Ballet Company.  In the intervening years I have collected a number of videos of performances and choreographers’ profiles, as well as many articles from the New Yorker magazine and other publications, and it occurred to me that there are probably BOLLI members who would enjoy them as much as I do, thus the impetus for this study group.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 617-527-2610 (any time before 9 pm) or by email at naomischmidt@comcast.net

Sc2-F08

 Along the way, we’ll explore the birth of the scientific method, the struggle between Galileo and the Church, our everyday Newtonian world and determinism, the importance and impact of Maxwell’s Equations, Einstein’s Special Relativity in some detail, and the strange and uncertain world of quantum mechanics.

 Additional information:  The course will contain substantial lecture-style content, with enough time for questions, discussions and voluntary presentations by class members.  Previous exposure to some science is helpful but not necessary.  Each of the five physicists will be covered in a two-week segment, so it is best to be able to attend both weeks of a given segment.

Other readings, some from original sources, will be selected and distributed by the SGL

H&G7-F08

Beginning with the revolutionary political theory of the “founding fathers,” we will consider the historical development of our federal republic from its constitutional origins in the eighteenth century to its purpose and function today.  In the process, the following topics will be covered in study group sessions:  the purpose and function of government in general, the foundation of our government in particular, linking the people governed with our government, the institutions of our federal republic, civil liberties and civil rights, and making public policy.  Throughout the semester, we will consider whether or not our federal republic functions in the interest of the majority or the minority.  For example, did our “founding fathers” constitute a majoritarian or a pluralistic democracy?  And, how does the answer to that question help us explain the outcome of the November 2008 presidential election? 

The material for this course will build from week to week so that it is important to attend study group sessions regularly.  Class participation is encouraged.  In addition to the discussion of textbook material, short (approximately ten minute) presentations about relevant information from reliable in print and/or online news sources as well as from official government websites are welcome.  

(S) Supplementary reading will be available online at recommended news and official government websites discussed in the first and subsequent study group sessions.

2 hours

The SGL is open to contact by email at estorel@comcast.net.

Rel2-F08

This will be a follow up to "What's Going On Here, Introduction to Hebrew Scriptures".  The initial course presented a critical approach to the text and dealt with several great ideas developed in Bible: contrasting world views, conscience, justice, monotheism, philosophy.  In the second course we shall focus on literary considerations and ideas as we read narratives in Genesis and the "historical books.”

1 hour

Bible has been my passionate pursuit since college.  I have had wonderful teachers: Brandeis – I have had wonderful teachers: Brandeis – Simon Ravidovich, Nachum Glatzer, Cyrus Gordon; Hebrew Union College – Sheldon Blank, Julius Lewy, William B. Hallo, Matityahu Tsevat, Ellis Rivkin; Hebrew University – Shmaryahu Talmon, Abraham Malamat, Nechama Leibowitz; Columbia University Graduate School – Issac Mendelsohn, Edith Porada.  I chose in 1966 to devote myself to the pulpit and did not complete PhD at Columbia, but teaching has been a treasured part of my life.

Early on I was interested in archaeological/historical studies.  I focused on the origins and early development of the people of Israel.  University classes moved me in the direction of literary criticism and theology.  I teach Bible as world class literature and a treasure of ideas that remain current today.

The SGL is open to contact by email at davidlkline@gmail.com

Hum3-F08

This course will go into much greater technical depth as we look at the subject of wine from a world-wide point of view.

1. We will look at the history and evolution of wine and how it spread throughout the world.

2. The course will cover the science and technology of growing wine grapes and the processes that go into the making of wine.  This will include, for example, the concept of terroir and the chemistry of fermentation.

3. The course will study wines and wine areas of the world and what makes certain areas ideal for particular grapes.

4. We will also spend time considering the elements of tasting wine.

Interspersed throughout the course will be stories, articles, essay, etc… by various wine writers that will illustrate, in a more personal way, the subjects we will be studying.

There will be weekly wine tasting assignments for homework, as well as, the reading requirements, and we will taste relevant wines in class.  It is also my intention to have a winery visit and tour and a more comprehensive wine tasting.

Class members will have the opportunity to research and report on wine areas and/or wines of particular interest.  Prior knowledge is not necessary, but would be beneficial.

(S) Kramer, Matt.  Making Sense of Wine. ISBN 0-7624-1579-7, Running Press, Revised and updated Edition, 2003.

(R) Oldman, Mark.  Oldmand’s Guide to Outsmarting Wine.  ISBN 0-14-200492-8, Penguin Books, First Edition, 2004.

(S) Sommers, Brian.  The Geography of Wine. ISBN 978-452-28890-4, Penguin Books, 2008.

(R) Goode, Jamie.  The Science of Wine.  ISBN 0-520-24800-7, University of California Press, 2005.

2 – 3 Hours

Desirable for email for communication and websites containing wine information.

My academic background is in Physics from Arizona State University.  My professional career spanned 35 years in the semiconductor industry involved first in engineering and development, and later in management.  Wine research and collecting wine has been a long time hobby.  I have an extensive library on the subject and subscribe to a number of relevant magazines and websites.  I have completed a U.C. Davis course on viticulture and enology, and have personally visited several hundred wineries across the U.S.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 978-369-1605 after 7PM or email at re.caldwell@verizon.net.

H&G8-F08

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. - The Justice from Beacon Hill

“The Justice from Beacon Hill” will be a study of Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr, the 59th Justice of the US Supreme Court. Holmes came from an intellectual and influential family with roots back to colonial days and to Brahmin Boston.  His father Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr. was a physician, lecturer known throughout the world as the author of “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table”. Among the Holmes’ family friends were the literati of Boston at the end of the 19^th century.  We will study Holmes’ family and his background, his talents, the times he lived in and how all these factors determined the positions that he took while on the Supreme Court.  Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes is known as a great and liberal Justice.  He was a close friend and ally of Louis Dembitz Brandeis while they both served on the Supreme Court.  The course will emphasize Holmes’ Supreme Court years and include some of his well known opinions.  We will also discuss whether the issues that he thought so important in those days are still those we are grappling with today.

This course is appropriate for all levels of students.  No prior knowledge is needed.  The material for this course will build from week to week.  It is important that you plan to attend every week.  I expect volunteers from the class for seven presentations from a list of topics that I will provide.  These topics have been selected to enhance class members understanding of the material.

2-3 hours per week

Desirable, I would like to email class members questions for classroom discussion.  Also, the internet can be used for independent research for course related material.

I lead a course at BOLLI in the fall of 2004 on Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis, his time and his friends.   The following term I presented a similar course at HILR.  I have also lead a course entitled “Water and the Politics of Water” twice at BOLLI and twice at HILR.  I have a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering and a Masters in Environmental Engineering.  

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-652-8999 or email at njtaub@rcn.com.

Mu1-F08

Great Composers in Stylistic and Historical Context

This course will be a basic survey of classical music from the middle ages up to the present. Emphasis will be on stylistic differences and similarities from period to period and also on the cultural context in which the various styles arose. Concepts will be communicated by lecture and illustrated by numerous musical examples played in class. Questions will always be very welcome.

The course is appropriate for a beginning student. The material for this course will build from week to week. It is important that you plan to attend every week.

1-2 hours depending upon time spent listening to music outside of class