TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  SUMMER  2005

 

 

 

  1. (BIL)  UNDERSTANDING  THE  BILL OF  RIGHTS

For some Americans the Bill of Rights -- the first ten amendments to the Constitution -- is a collection of lofty ideals and principles that seems to have little impact on their daily lives.  For others, the Bill of Rights is a guarantee of vital freedoms and Constitutional protections that the founding fathers considered crucial to our Republic.  Some of these amendments are scarcely known to many of us; others -- such as the First and Second amendments -- have fierce adherents and opponents.  Still others have had their meaning changed by a variety of judicial decisions.  Presentations for this S/DG would include: historical background of the amendments; an analysis of their meaning and protections; specific controversial Supreme Court decisions affecting the amendments.

Possible Common Reading:     In Our Defense, by Ellen Alderman and Caroline Kennedy (1991, $11)

2nd & 4th Wednesday, p.m.

 

 

  1. (BNY)  BOTANY  FOR  AMATEURS

Plants delight us with beauty and are essential for our survival.  Many of us have little knowledge of their inner workings or their interactions with the environment.  Botany (plant science) is a huge topic, so we will concentrate on the class of plants we usually grow.  We may use Brian Capon's well-illustrated book to learn about organization inside stems and leaves, control of growth, reproduction, and adaptations for survival.

Each participant will research and present on a topic such as soil analysis, nutrients, light responses, plant defenses, botany through the ages, carnivorous plants, or composting.  A field trip to the South Coast Botanical Gardens could be considered if the class is so inclined. (No gardening experience or science background is required.)

Possible Common Reading:        Botany for Gardeners, by Brian Capon  (1990, $17.95)

1st & 3rd Friday, p.m. 

 

 

 

  1. (CHN)  CHINA:  A  NATION  IN  TRANSITION

A nation of one-and-a-half billion people is undergoing massive political, economic and social change -- much of it not yet realized by outsiders.  This S/DG would, through presentations and discussion, explore these changes and their ramifications for the Chinese people, and for the world.  Topics could include: how President Hu Jintao and other "fourth generation" leaders are dealing with internal and external pressures for less rigid government control; how the Internet is forcing freer communications; China's huge consumer market and the impact of Western products and ideas; is the "one child" rule giving way to the pressures of demographic change;  how traffic jams and skyscrapers are changing urban life; the significance of social changes (from drab Mao jackets to jeans and miniskirts; rock music on cell phones; sex education in high schools).

Common Reading:     TBD

1st & 3rd Thursday, p.m.

 

 

4.   (FIF)  THE  FIFTIES:  TIME  OF  SERENITY  OR  FERMENT?

Do you find yourself talking about the “good old days”?  Do you tune into Nickelodeon TV Channel to enjoy old reruns of “I Love Lucy”?  Do you daydream about cruisin’ in your ‘55 Chevy?  This course is an opportunity to spend a trimester looking at the range of political, historical and cultural events of “The Fifties” that defined the post-war period in the United States and set the stage for the raucous Sixties.  This S/DG will read and discuss David Halberstam’s bestseller, The Fifties, and consider his thesis that below the placid surface of this decade, great social ferment was occurring, setting the stage for such major events as the civil rights movement, the sexual revolution and even the rise of rock-and-roll.  Members can research a broad array of topics such as: the Cold War, McCarthyism, race relations, Ozzie & Harriet and the nuclear family, becoming wired for television, the Korean War, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Nikita Krushchev, the rise of Castro and writers of the 50’s (Kerouac, Huxley, Ellison etc.)  So, get out your pair of fuzzy dice and poodle skirts and join the group in recalling and analyzing the major events and personalities of this decade

Common Reading:       The Fifties, by David Halberstam (1993)

2nd & 4th Friday, p.m.

 

 

5.      (FOO)  FOOD,  GLORIOUS  FOOD! 

“Food has played a part in religion, science, technology, medicine, war, class distinction …  Reay Tannahill’s sparkling and erudite narrative thoroughly illuminates the essential role of food  in world history, showing how humanity’s quest for food has shaped the development of society.”  So reads the review on the back of Reay Tannahill’s intriguing book. It’s a romp through the history of food from the prehistoric world to the 1980’s with a lot of side trips into your favorite cuisines.

Presenters will find a wealth of subjects for further investigation and Tannahill provides many sources for their exploration. This is a course for people who love history and plain food, not to say that gourmets would not find a wealth of inspiration, but gourmands will love this.

Presentations might look at the role of various  foods in history (salt, rum, spices, chilies), how the quest for food and fuel to cook it affected human settlement, the growth of cuisines of the world, present day American food concerns ( the changing  food pyramid, the battles over genetically altered foods, the changing food industry, etc.)

Common Reading:     Food In History, by Reay Tannahill

1st & 3rd Monday, p.m.

 

 

  1. (ISB)  ISAIAH  BERLIN:  UNDERSTANDING  OUR  HUMANITY

Sir Isaiah Berlin (1907-1997) is one of the most important philosophers of the twentieth century.  His writings are concerned with the history of ideas and with the role of ideas in political action.  The New York Times describes his essays as a "history of ideas that has all the drama of a novel, all the immediacy of headline news."

The class will critique essays by Berlin that include The Pursuit of the Ideal, The Existence and Nature of Political Theory, Freedom and Determination, The Nature of Liberty, The Divorce between the Sciences and the Humanities, and Utopianism and the Myth of the Ideal World.

Possible Common Reading:       The Proper Study of Mankind, by Isaiah Berlin

2nd & 4th Tuesday, p.m.

 

 

  1. (LAA)  L.A.  ARCHITECTURE

Architecture has generally been a succession of distinct styles. This changed in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when revivals became the style. Near the middle of the twentieth century a growing distaste for this condition resulted in a dramatic shift in theory and slowly in practice, and we will be examining this as seen in Los Angeles.

We will survey the built environment and building styles preserved in the Los Angeles area. Individual presentations can include reports on single buildings with the members' critiques. The group can decide on trips to specific sites or schedule some L.A. Conservancy walking tours of key architectural sites.

Possible Presentation Topics:

L.A.’s tall buildings – technology and motivation; L.A.’s favorite architectural styles – 1900 to 1945 – Art Deco, Beaux Arts, Craftsman; Architecture in L.A.’s historic core; L.A.’s fantasy architecture; Angeleno modern/international modern architects – Rudolph Schindler and Richard Neutra; Art & Architecture magazine’s Case Study Program of experimental houses; Eames, Soriano, Ellwood, Koenig – the steel and glass architects; The Wright tradition of organic architecture in L.A.; Historic Preservation Overlay Zones – pros, cons, how they get formed, and the 20 in L.A.; Architecture of museums, bridges and freeways, religious structures, libraries, performing arts spaces– the movie palaces, the Music Center, Disney Hall, and the other 30+ designated theater historic-cultural monuments;

Possible Common Reading:

Land-Mark L.A. - Historic-Cultural Monuments of Los Angeles, edited by Jeffrey Herr, City of Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Department, Angel City Press (2002)

LA Lost & Found – An Architectural History of Los Angles, by Sam Hall Kaplan (1987)

Los Angeles – The Architecture of Four Ecologies, by Heyner Banham (1971, repr. 1978)

Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City, by Neal Bascomb

                        (2003; $18.20)

2nd & 4th Wednesday, p.m.

 

 

8.      (LST)  LANDS  OF  THE  LOST

Have you ever wondered how a civilization or city could just die?  Ever come across the name of a place in your readings that no longer exists?  This S/DG will try to answer some of the mysteries of famous and "never heard of again" places on this planet.  Ideas for investigation might include:  Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in China, Tiahuanaco in Bolivia, ancient ruins in the Central American jungles, Paestum in Italy, Anurahadpura in Sri Lanka, the Valley of the Crusaders, Angkor Wat, Meroe and Kush in Africa.  Let's not leave out the great American ghost towns such as Chloride, New Mexico and Wolf Hole, Arizona.  Here's an opportunity to be an armchair traveler.

Possible Common Reading:       Collapse:  How Societies Choose to Fall

                                                     by Jared Diamond (2004)

LS1:    1st & 3rd Thursday, p.m.

LS2:    1st & 3rd Wednesday, p.m.

 

 

  1. (PLA)  PLATO

Few men have had greater influence on Western ideas than Plato.  This course will deal with Plato's Dialogues and Epistles.  In this intensive introductory level course, participants should develop a new awareness of Plato's ideas, a better perspective of classical Greek times, a new appreciation of Plato's effect on the world of ideas today, and, particularly, a philosophical approach to the examination of ideas.  The reading is expected to stimulate lively examination of the underlying ideas.

Possible Common Reading:       The Collected Dialogues of Plato, Including the Letters, edited by Edith Hamilton and Huntington Cairns

                                                     (1989, $45)

2nd & 4th Thursday, p.m.

 

 

10.     (PMD)  POSTMODERNISM:   PROGRESS  OR  DERAILMENT?

By most accounts we have entered a new intellectual age.  We are postmodern now.  Leading intellectuals tell us that modernism has died, and that a revolutionary era is upon us – an era liberated from the oppressive strictures of the past, but at the same time disquieted by its expectations for the future.  Even postmodernism’s opponents, surveying the intellectual scene and not liking what they see, acknowledge a new cutting edge.  In the intellectual world, there has been a changing of the guard.

Over the last fifty years, postmodern viewpoints and approaches have come to affect many aspects of our culture – philosophy, literature, art (and particularly art and literary criticism), education, law, and government.  Like many cultural revolutions, this has happened slowly and was only vaguely noticed by many of us.  This course will examine the thrusts of postmodernism and participants will evaluate this major intellectual trend to decide if it constitutes progress or is a derailment of civilization or, possibly, is a mixed blessing.

Possible Research/Presentation Topics:

§         What was modernism that postmodern views are trying to replace?

§         Do Einstein’s relativity theory and/or Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle support postmodernism?

§         How has art and literary criticism changed in recent decades?

§         How does postmodernism manifest in the American education system?

§         What are the postmodernist positions on economics, particularly globalization?

§         How does the environmentalist movement relate to postmodernism?

§         Do postmodernist political positions contribute to the stresses between Europe and America?

§         How might a postmodernist rewrite the Constitution of the USA?

 

Possible Common Reading:       There will be two books, one con and one pro:

                                                     1.     Explaining Postmodernism:  Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault, by S.R.C. Hicks (2004)  This book is definitely anti-postmodernism, and

                                                     2.     Teach Yourself Postmodernism, (2003).

1st & 3rd Monday, p.m.

 

 

11.     (SCI) THE ONE SCIENCE COURSE TO TAKE IF YOU'RE TAKING ONLY ONE

Science has a critical bearing on many issues we face today.  This S/DG will address some of those with broad impact, ranging from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization as we know it today.  Some of the topics are light and fanciful and some are deep and profound.  Most have no definite answer, but are ripe for discussion and speculation. 

Possible S/DG topics for presentation include: Does science matter?, Is war our biological destiny?, How does the brain work?, What is gravity, really?, What are our replaceable parts?, When is the next ice age?, What came before the Big Bang?, Could we live forever?, What is the next plague?, Why do we sleep?, Is evolution truly random?, How did life begin?, Can drugs make us happy and smart?, What's the hardest math problem?, Where are those aliens? No prior scientific background is required, but neither is it unwelcome.

Possible Common Reading:       A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson 

                                                     (2003, $27.50)       

2nd & 4th Monday, p.m.

 

 

12.     (TBG)  THE  BLOOMSBURY  GROUP

The Bloomsbury group has left a greater impact on the literary world of today than most people realize.  They were, in many ways, the avant garde of the 20th century and bridged the gap from Victorianism to the modern.  Virginia and Leonard Woolf, Maynard Keynes, Roger Fry, Lytton Strachey, E.M. Forster, Duncan Grant, Vita Sackville-West and Vanessa Bell led the parade, followed by others of slightly lesser genius.  The group began as a social clique of a few Cambridge grads and their closest friends.  They were committed to the rejection of what they felt were the strictures and taboos of Victorianism on religious, artistic, social and sexual matters.  With this group we cover art, literature, politics, and economics of the first half of the twentieth century.  Their tangled personal relations have provided much interest to biographers.  If you want to meet some of the most interesting, brilliant people who ever lived, this S/D group is for you.  Presentations will be made on the lives and writings of the members of the Bloomsbury group

Common Reading:     TBD

1st & 3rd Tuesday, p.m.

 

 

13.     (TNK)  FREE  THINKERS

How did the idea of "no established religion" develop in colonial America so that it became part of the Bill of Rights (the First Amendment)?  What was Thomas Paine's influence?  What idea from the Virginia Assembly made its way into the First Amendment and what did Thomas Jefferson have to do with it?  What were the beliefs and non-beliefs of Abraham Lincoln?  When was the Golden Age of Free Thought?  What was the impact of Darwin?  Who was Robert Ingersoll?  Why was Walt Whitman important in this issue?  Why does the battle continue today?  This S/DG could lend itself to some great debates. 

Possible Common Reading:       Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism

                 by Susan Jacoby  (paperback, $16)

TN1:   2nd & 4th Tuesday, a.m.

TN2:   1st & 3rd Tuesday, p.m.

 

 

14.     (WRI)  THE  WRITING  MIND:  WRITING  FOR  PLEASURE

Discover the pleasure of sharing your writing with supportive colleagues.  This S/DG concentrates on fostering creativity and improving techniques of the writer through the production of original pieces, literary critique and presentations by each group member.  Presentations are on literary topics or on the philosophy and subtleties of writing.  Each member will be responsible for a presentation, at least two submissions of original work which may be fiction, non-fiction, poetry, or other form of writing, and for reading and critiquing submissions.

No Common Reading.

2nd & 4th Monday, a.m.

 

 

15.     (WSS)  SHORT  STORIES  BY  WOMAN  WRITERS

Examine most collections of short stories and you will find the majority of them have been written by men.  This study group will NOT focus on feminist writing but on great short stories and essays written by women, whose insights into the crises of their characters will reflect a different approach.  We will examine how women writers differ from the male writers who are their contemporaries and explore the similarities and differences among the authors and their characters.  The literature itself is rich and engrossing because these writers excel in the short story form. 

Possible Common Reading:       Women and Fiction: Stories by about Women, edited by Susan Cahill

                                                     New Women and New Fiction: Stories by and About Women, edited by Susan Cahill

WS1:   2nd & 4th Thursday, p.m.

WS2:   1st & 3rd Wednesday, p.m.