Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute at Brandeis (BOLLI)

Fall 2008 Course Descriptions

Mu2-F08

“Why Sing Plays – An Exploration of the Craft of American Musical Theater

 No specific musical skills are required, and this class is appropriate for all who enjoy the musical theater. The material for the class will build from week to week, and although written summaries of each session will be provided, it's important for members to try to attend regularly.  Finally, I hope to invite a few volunteers to offer short class presentations during the term.

(R) 1776 – Edwards, Stone – Penguin paperback

(R) Into the Woods – Sondheim, Lapine – Applause paperback

*I’ll provide necessary materials for She Loves Me, and selected other readings, and would expect class members to contribute $5-8 each to defray the costs of copying. 

2-4 hours, including reading, and listening to CD and/or watching video

Arthur Finstein holds both BA and MFA degrees in Music from Brandeis.  He’s a retired Massachusetts Music Educator and has music-directed more than 170 productions in the greater Boston scholastic, community and professional theater circuits.  He has presented at statewide, regional and national conferences on Music and Theater Education, and continues to advocate for increased appreciation of and support for the creative arts, especially for music and musical theater. 

The SGL is open to contact by email at finstein@verizon.net.

Wr1-F08

Creative Writing

People may write in any genre including memoir, fiction, essays, plays, humor, poetry, newspaper writing, writing for children, adolescents or events such as birthdays or graduations etcetera.  Members of the group and leader will make helpful suggestions for improving, perhaps publishing or sharing writings with family and friends.  Creative writing can help with living out lives being therapeutic and having less side effects than medications.  Topics will be suggested but not assigned.  Handouts will help and will be provided. Volunteers will read their writings in class. Books will be loaned by the Instructor or libraries.

No textbook-just my handouts and books I loan or they get from the library.

Variable - as some individuals write a lot, others less, a few just like to listen most of the time.

Not Necessary

Ruth Harriet Jacobs, a Brandeis University Ph.D. was a professor for 14 years at Boston University.  And then chair of the sociology department at Clark University.  Now she is a continuing research scholar at Wellesley College Wellesley Centers for Women.  She is the author of nine books including Be an Outrageous Older Woman and A.B.C.’s for Seniors, many published poems, plays, articles, and is a newspaper columnist.  She was won awards for her writing and has taught writing in many venues. Her memoir is Women who Touched My Life.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-237-1793, daytimes or early evening.

Lit4-F08

“Celebrate Freedom: Read a Banned Book” – The History of Book Censorship in America

“The number of people who want to prevent other people from reading or seeing certain things is truly amazing: amazing that is, unless we admit that there is a censorious impulse, latent or overt in most of us. Power gives the impulse free rein, but people without power are also tempted by the wish to censor, partly to obtain some measure of influence over others, and partly to strike out against something they fear.” (Haight & Grannis, Banned Books, Bowker, 1978). This course will explore the history of censorship and book banning in the United States from both the social and literary points of view.  Over the years books have been suppressed on political, religious, sexual and social grounds. After reading some history of these four areas we will read one representative book from each area, trying to understand why it was banned and what this says about the society which banned it. Possible examples (books which were actually banned or challenged at some time): Oliver Twist, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird, 1984.  Or perhaps other similar titles. The number of seemingly innocuous books which have been banned or challenged is truly incredible; selecting just a few to read will be a challenge. We will take a look at the Patriot Act and give a nod to TV and the Internet, but this is primarily a course about books.  Finally, what about censorship in 2008 and beyond?

(R) Purity in Print: Book Censorship in America from the Gilded Age to the Computer Age by Paul Boyer. 2^nd Edition, University of Wisconsin Press, 2002. ISBN: 0-299-17584-7 (pbk)

(R) 120 Banned Books: Censorship Histories of World Literature by Nicholas J. Karolides, Margaret Bald,  Dawn B. Sova, Checkmark Books, 2005. ISBN: 0816060436 (pbk)

(R) Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Ballantine Books, 1996. ISBN: 0345410017 (pbk)

(R) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, 1994, ISBN: 0486280616 (pbk)

(R) Oliver Twist  by Charles Dickens, Oxford, 2006, ISBN: 0199209499, (pbk)

All the fiction titles we will be reading are popular works readily available in any public library in the area, so there will be no need to purchase.  For those desiring to purchase very inexpensive paper editions are available online. Any edition is fine. The final syllabus will be sent to those who enroll in the course.

Approximately 2-4 hours of reading.

After receiving a BA from Swarthmore College in Mathematics, Economics, and Philosophy, I worked for several years as a Mathematician at Lincoln Lab. Returning to school, I received an MLS from Simmons School of Library Science. I was a Reference Librarian at the Wellesley Free Library for almost thirty years, dealing as necessary with censorship issues. I have always had a particular interest in the subject and have read widely. Since retiring I have participated in many book groups and gone on many literary tour where these issues have been discussed.  This will be the ninth Study Group I have led at BOLLI.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-894-7754 or email at Nrawson@earthlink.net.

H&G9-F08

The Trial as History, Part II

This study group is a new version of one I led in the fall of 2007.  This time the theme is personal responsibility and moral judgment.  The trials range from the medieval period to the 20th century.  They include those of Saint Joan, Galileo, the Salem witches, Alfred Dreyfus, the Winslow boy and the Army/McCarthy hearings.  Class participation is encouraged and welcome!!!

(R) B. Brecht, Galileo (Grove Press, 1994)

(R) A Miller, The Crucible (Penguin, 2005)

(R) M Burns, France and the Dreyfus Affair (St Martin's, 1994)

(R) T Rattigan, The Winslow Boy

(R) T Wicker, Shooting Star: The Brief Arc of Senator Joe McCarthy (Norton, 2006)

2-3 hours

Desirable but not necessary

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 603 659-2779 before 9pm or email at marc.schwarz@comcast.net

H&G10-F08

The Jews in France, From an Historical Perspective to the Present

The Jews in the Modern World by R. Reinharz is another possibility.  It is second edition, Oxford Press ISBN 0-19-507453.

I will recommend other books available at the library to people who are making presentations.

1 hour of reading and 4 or 5 hours to prepare a presentation.

Desirable but not necessary, I will communicate by email and welcome communications but nothing more elaborate.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 617-735-9395.

YOGA1-F08

YOGA – Meets in Gosman Dance Studio

Sc3-F08

Story of Science from Antiquity to the Present

History of science and mathematics is a fascinating part of the intellectual development of mankind. In this course we will begin with the Babylonian creation story of Enuma Elish and the naming of the signs of the zodiac, and learn how the ancients observed the sun and the moon during the seasons. The class will be encouraged to download the free planetarium map of the sky from Stellarium.org.

The origin of the Greek science began with the pre- Socratics at about 500 BCE in the city of Miletus in Asia Minor, and continued in the school of Athens (Aristotle and Plato), and then in Alexandria until 200 CE. Greek science was then translated into Arabic in Baghdad, and to Latin in Europe in the Middle Ages, and was the foundation of science and mathematics until the time of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo. We will study the contributions of Greek, Islamic and Latin scholars, and the role of the church in responding to heretical ideas.

The birth of modern science began with Isaac Newton and his Principia Mathematica in 1687. He showed that the laws of motion of the planets and falling bodies are governed by the force of gravity. Next James clerk Maxwell in 1864 demonstrated that light was a form of electromagnetic energy which propagated with a given speed c in vacuum, and Einstein in 1905 proposed that mass and energy were related to each other by E=mc². We will study the impact of these concepts on science in the twentieth century, and the new technologies to study the nature of matter and the origin of the universe.

(R) The Great Ideas that Shaped our World, Pete Moore, ISBN 1-58663-699-5,

(R) Pendulum, Leon Foucault and the Triumph of Science, Amir Aczel, ISBN 0-7434-6478-8.

Average- 2 to 3 hours

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

Lit5-F08

Short Stories of Russia and Eastern Europe

Pursuing our interest in short stories of Russia and Eastern Europe, we will select 10 stories from a variety of authors from Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Lithuania, Austria, Albania and Yugoslavia. Generally, one story will be discussed by the class at each meeting, and a brief biography of the author will be presented by a volunteer.  Stories should be read and REREAD prior to the discussion.  Among the authors under consideration are T. Mann, L. Tolstoy, I. Kadare, I. Babel,B, Schulz, V. Nabokov, F. Kafka, J. Roth, S. Zweig, and I.B.Singer.  Volunteers will present brief biography of each author.

1 ½ to 2 hours

The SGL is open to contact by phone or by email from 7-9pm, Harriet and Richard Kahn: 617-527-6850 or rjk527us@yahoo.com.

Comp1-F08

Digital Photography: Organizing, Editing & Sharing Your Digital Photographs – Meets at OLD SOUTH STREET Building

PLEASE READ THIS SECTION CAREFULLY:

This course is intended for participants who are interested in acquiring the skills to manipulate and manage digital photographs on their home computers.  Prior experience with digital photography is not required.  However, applicants should own and be comfortable using a digital camera and should have access to a Windows PC at home.   

It is essential that class members have a solid understanding of Microsoft Windows and are able to install software, manage files and folders, send & receive email attachments and troubleshoot problems with a minimum of outside assistance.  Class lessons will be reinforced by exercises performed on the members’ home computers. 

This course is not recommended for members who do not expect to attend all ten sessions.  The work presented each week will build on topics covered in prior classes. 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In this course, we will learn about and use a variety of tools to manage, enhance, and share our photographic endeavors.  We will not discuss the issues of using a camera or the basics of working with PCs. 

The course will cover a process known as the “digital workflow”, which begins at the point immediately after a photograph has been acquired (i.e., from a digital camera, photo scanner, or email attachment) and proceeds to the point of  sharing edited photographs as photo prints, slide shows, and Web postings.  Each three-hour class session will comprise demonstrations and presentations by the SGL accompanied by “hands-on” exercises to be performed by class members.  Classroom lessons will be reinforced by weekly assignments to be performed on the member’s home PC.  Completion of these assignments is essential to understanding subsequent class lessons.  All class sessions will be conducted on Windows XP computers with software that is intended to operate on a Windows PC.

Individual class sessions will cover such topics as: (1) transferring photographic images into your computer; (2) organizing and managing images on your computer; (3) editing images using tools such as Picasa and Photoshop Elements (4) creating a safe and secure backup system; (5) sharing photos with friends and family using email and Web sites; (6) exploring creative ways of displaying photos with specialized slideshow software and Web sites; and, (7) creating quality prints.

This course will be highly interactive; all members will be expected to participate actively.

In addition, there will be a nominal fee to acquire various Web resources for use by class members.

Minimum of three hours, but more is always preferable to properly absorb the class lessons

Required, A home computer with Windows XP or Windows Vista will be essential to reinforce the lessons provided in class and to complete the homework assignments.   It is essential that all class members have experience with, and are comfortable using, email attachments and Internet browsing tools.

 Len graduated from NYU and the University of California.  He worked as a management consultant, an IT specialist, and owner of a network integration services business.  He has led a variety of technology, computer and digital photography courses at BOLLI and the BC ILR programs. 

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

Sc4-F08

Introduction to Cryptography

 No prior knowledge of cryptography is required.  However, the course will involve more than just the history of cryptographic methods, as we will learn the techniques used to create messages and to break the codes.

 A few voluntary presentations will be made relating to personalities or topics not delved into in detail in the assigned reading.  The presentations will typically be 5 – 10 minutes long.

 As the various coding methods were broken, their replacements improved upon the past.  Similarly, the material in this course will build from week to week, so attendance each week is recommended.

(R) “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle  [available on the internet or in any Sherlock Holmes collection]

(R) “The Gold Bug,” by Edgar Allan Poe [available on the internet or in any collection of Edgar Allan Poe stories]

Mu3-F08

This course will be an overview of three operas, La Traviata, Tosca and Turandot.  Each opera will be covered separately over three to four sessions using DVD's with sub-titles featuring different productions and performers from around the world. This approach gives attendees a variety of interpretations of characters, settings, and period costumes. Background information, discussion and question and answer sessions will be an integral part of the program.  Handouts will include a Synopsis of Opera being presented plus lists of performers for each DVD.   Please note that 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.  Finally, expect to experience excitement, sadness, and wonderful enjoyment from this great art form, which will be relaxing and stress free.

Handouts:  Synopsis of Opera being presented plus lists of performers for each DVD.

1 hour

Not necessary

Opera has been part of my life for over 50 years.  Studying opera has been a passion using librettos and recordings, reviewing documentaries and histories, listening to expert lectures on radio television, and in classrooms. I have attended many opera in this country and abroad.

I taught elementary school in California and high school in Arkansas. Further, I have presented this program in Quincy Adult School, OLLI at UMass Boston, and the Cape Cod Community College.

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

Lit6-F08

From classical antiquity onward dramatists have explored the dynamics of the Dysfunctional Family.  Most recently we have studied plays which focused on the child as the central figure in the Dysfunctional Family.  In this session we will study four plays that focus on the Woman:   Euripides’ Medea, William’s The Glass Menagerie, Ibsen’s A Doll House, and Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.

Euripides’ Medea; William’s The Glass Menagerie; Ibsen’s, A Doll House; Albee’s     Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

2 to 3 hours.

Lois Ziegelman, PH.D.  Brandeis, ’73 is a Professor Emeritus at Framingham State College where she taught World Literature and Drama for 31 years.  A recipient of five fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, she has studied, taught and performed works ranging from classical antiquity through the 20^th Century. 

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-237-4086 in the evenings.

H&G11-F08

The Immigration Crisis on the U.S.-Mexico Border; How did we get into it?  How can we resolve it?

The U.S. and Mexico share a 2,000 mile border and a complex history between our governments, peoples, and economies.  Today an estimated 12 million undocumented Mexicans live in the U.S., and our extraordinarily long border is still a porous one.  The U.S. government has been unable, to date, to create a comprehensive immigration policy.  This course will review our shared history, while highlighting Mexico’s unique political and social history, and target the effects of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Association) and globalization on our immigration crisis.  How will our present actions – and inactions – effect our future?  Refugee crises are worldwide.  We will briefly review the ways other nations deal with their poorer neighbors.  Finally, how does and how will the U.S. meet the multiple social and economic challenges that our growing Hispanic population is creating?  What will the future hold? 

Prior knowledge is not needed. The course is appropriate for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students.  All are welcome. The material for this course will build from week to week. It is important that you plan to attend every week. Oral presentations are welcome and voluntary.

(R) A Different Mirror – A History of Multicultural America; author: Ronald Takaki, Little Brown &Co., 1993, chapters 7 and 12 – required. ISBN-0-316-83112-5.

(R) The Mexico Reader – History, Culture, Politics, edited by G. Joseph and T. Henderson, Duke University Press, 2006; Chapter 8 – “The Border and Beyond”. Pages 687-755 – subject to change if pages can be copied and distributed. ISBN – 0-8223-3042-3.

(R) Other readings will be found through use of the computer at no cost.  For example:  “NAFTA’s Promise and Reality”, Carnegie Endowment.

One to two hours.

 Professionally (and sequentially), I have been a high school teacher of English, a guidance counselor primarily in the Lexington school system, and a social worker/psycho-therapist.  I am currently a research associate at the Brandeis Women’s Research Center.  I have taught two prior courses about immigration at BOLLI; this one is different.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 617-670-9799 or email at ejaffe80@aol.com.

Sc5-F08

The Coming Energy Crisis

The availability of energy resources is probably the most important short-term issue facing humanity.  Agriculture, manufacturing, heating, cooling, and transportation all depend on the availability of affordable energy in the right form.  In particular, trains, planes, ships, and automobiles all depend on fuel made from oil.  The impending shortage of oil for transportation and other uses and the problems associated with alternative fuels (coal, natural gas, nuclear) will have a significant impact on the world economy. 

This course will review the evidence that world energy production is about to peak and the reasons for the range of views on this subject.  The remainder of the course will consider unconventional sources of oil (oil shale, tar sand), renewable energy sources (biomass, wind, solar, geothermal) and hydrogen that may be available during the next 15 years.  The course will focus on the location, production, and transformation of all these raw materials into the products we use every day.  The course will briefly review the constraints of carbon footprints on fossil fuel energy production and consumption and the limited availability of other critical resources (water, farmland, forests), but will not forecast the political and economic consequences of energy shortages.

The material for this course will build from week to week. It is important that you plan to attend every week.   Study group members will be encouraged to give a 10-15 minute presentation during the course.  The study group leaders will be available to help with the preparation of presentations.

2 hours

Prior to partially retiring in 2005 I had worked as a systems analyst evaluating and improving designs for inertial navigation, missile guidance and aircraft logistics systems.  During my career I served as the in-house applied mathematics consultant to a 1200 person high tech company, managed many small groups, made numerous slide presentations and authored many technical reports and proposals.  During the last energy crisis 30 years ago I completely renovated our home to be a solar heated house that consumes one third of the original amount of oil and have been following energy related issues since then.  I have been attending OLLI classes here at Brandeis and at UCSD for the past two years.

 Alden Carpenter:

I began my career in 1962 as Professor of Geology at the University of Missouri where I taught and worked on the impact of metal and coal mining and processing of uranium ore on local environments.  I joined Chevron Oil Company in 1981 and worked on oil fields in the US, Canada, the North Sea, Indonesia, and Angola.  I retired from Chevron in 1998 and became a laboratory instructor in environmental science at Harvard University (1999-2005) and conducted field trips to coal and nuclear power generating stations.

The SGLs are open to contact by email at allankleinman@rcn.com or abcarpenter@rcn.com.

CE1-F08

No books will be assigned. Access to magazines i.e. The Economist, or US News Report, or The New Yorker etc., and/or newspapers, and/ or web sources will be necessary.  The current events information can be derived from a variety of different resources.

1 -2 hours

Desirable, it would be particularly desirable for interclass communication.

I have been a teacher of children and adults for 25 years. My undergraduate degree is from Boston University and my masters from Lesley College. The bulk of my professional years were spent in the Newton Public Schools where I taught children and was a consultant to teachers.  I have been an educational consultant to schools throughout New England. After retirement, I again became a student, and a writer of short stories. Four of my short stories have been published: one in a literary journal, and three on the WEB.  I co- led the Current Events course this spring and found it a most enjoyable and worthwhile experience.

 Martin Greenfield

Spending over fifty years in the computer field, I was a systems manager, software developer, and engineer for Honeywell’s EDP division. I received a BS degree from the undergraduate part of MIT’s Sloan business school and an MS degree in Engineering Administration from Northeastern University. I was vice chair of the committee that produced the American and International standards for the Fortran programming language. I was a core leader in the Oracle database user group in New England. I have been an SGL for two current event courses at BOLLI and organized three.

The SGLs are open to contact by email at: lsockol@comcast.net or Greenfield@alum.mit.edu.

H&G12-F08

This course will present basic informationon third world development and foreign aid to provide the participants with background to help them in evaluating the issues involved in this complex subject.

 The list of magazines and newspaper sources tentatively includes:  Economist, Foreign Affairs, New Yorker magazines, NY Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the Miami Herald news papers and the Associated Press and Reuters wire services. Government and Institutional sources includes the: US Government, USAID, United Nations agencies, and the World Bank. (NGO and foundation sources at this writing are too numerous to list).

A definite listing of references will be available at the time of the welcoming letter is sent. 

One and a half to two hours (not including special report preparation). Most weeks will be closer to the lower time estimate

Required, the reading for several weeks not planned for distribution as hard copies will be sent as attachments to e-mail, posted on the  class e-board (if used), or by referencing the pertinent web sites in e-mails. This procedure will be repeated so that class participants will be notified of the required readings 2 to 3 weeks ahead of the class in which they will be discussed.  Computer use for presentations would ease burden on the presenters. (SGL intends to recommend web sites, articles etc. and enormous amts. of material are available on the net.)

Dave Laredo has 42 years of experience as a civil/sanitary engineer encompassing work on hundreds of projects in the USA and abroad, including projects in over 30 developing countries, and long-term residence in Thailand, Turkey and Pakistan. He worked at Camp Dresser McKee, an International consulting firm in Cambridge Mass., for 33 years before his retirement in 2002. He holds a Masters Degree in Civil Engineering from New York University and a CSS in Finance and Administration from Harvard. His deep interest in International development stems from his experience and long-standing interest in foreign affairs. He has been a member of BOLLI since the Fall of 2002. This is the first course he has given.

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 781-862-6376 or email at lindave2@aol.com.

Comp2-F08

This course is for members who have an elementary knowledge of computers and who wish to enhance their capabilities.  A basic objective of the course is to provide members with enough information to perform the most common tasks of computer usage and pursue study on their own or through more advanced courses.

The course starts with basic hands-on desktop and window maneuvers to enable you to control what is displayed on the screen.  There will be a brief description of the hardware and the organization of data and storage on the computer; there will also be a discussion of and practice creating and using files and folders.  This course will provide hands-on practice with word processing and presentation software, e-mail, and Web browsing on the Internet.  An introduction to eBoard use will help participants get ready for the remainder of the course and other courses that use the eBoard.  There will be hands-on use of our eBoard – how to reach it and retrieve material from it.

 The material for this course will build from week to week. It is important that you plan to attend every week.  Students will not be required to make class presentations.  Students should have access to a PC with the Windows XP operating system and Microsoft Word 2002 or 2003.  Students considering this course and not having Windows XP or the listed versions of Microsoft Word should contact the Study Group Leaders for possible alternatives.

1-2 hours per week

Required, It is expected that each student will do their homework on his or her computer.  Thus, each class member must have access to a PC preferably with a Windows XP Operating system, a word processor program (preferably Microsoft Word), an e-mail address, and access to the Internet.  Students considering this course and not having Windows XP or Microsoft Word are asked to contact one of the Study Group Leaders because some substitute software may be acceptable.

 Joel Freedman is a retired engineer with 25 years of experience in personal computers and peripheral equipment, as well as office and photo applications. As a member of the BOLLI Technology Committee, he has held round table computer discussions at BOLLI and provided training for SGLS on computers and AV equipment.

The SGLs are open to contact by phone at or email at:

Joel: joelfreedman@comcast.net, 508-879-7350, 7:00 to 10:00 evenings

Rel1-F08

“Here comes the judge”-Samuel I- the Last Judge of Israel

No prior knowledge is required for this course.  Any student at BOLLI is welcome to join.  The course will focus on Samuel's great influence over the Israelites: his judgments, leadership-religious as well as political.  It is important and interesting to study about Samuel in order to learn how different Jewish kings were from other kings- such as that they always had "to answer to a higher power" and weren't absolute dictators.  In fact the book always gives the reader the feeling of how every action and thought of man is continually subject to "a higher power's" aegius.  As a believing and committed person, I choose to regard this as man's aspiration to holiness and special creation.  Given other sources and commentaries either by me I or the internet, volunteers assigned different chapters, will thereby contribute to and enrich class discussions.  There are 31 chapters.  We will plan to cover about 3 chapters each week.  If a week is missed, careful reading of the missed chapters should help the student to understand the new work.  Volunteers will be assigned the following week’s chapters.  They will be expected to join the group leader in furnishing enriched class discussion.

(R) The Book of Samuel Book 1-published by the Soncino Press (British The book is both in English as well as Hebrew and contains many cogent commentaries)

1 hour

The SGL is open to contact by phone at 508-877-2981, or email at IFShear@msn.com.