Who would have thought that laws and executive orders directed toward the Japanese in WWII would find their way back into current events?  We will learn what were the reasons why nearly 120,000 Japanese, 2/3 of whom were US citizens, were placed in incarceration camps, without trials, without habeas corpus, simply for looking like the enemy.  From the perspective of a third generation. Japanese American, we will experience the effects of Executive Order 9066 and the events that followed with emphasize on current applications of the laws that affected the Japanese in WWII.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1 - Background, anti-Asian sentiment, exclusion laws, Executive order 9066
• Week 2 - Registering, leaving for assembly centers, then on to the camps
• Week 3 - Camp life - sports, art music.  Resistance at camp
• Week 4 - 442nd RCT, post camp life, legal cases present daylocations

Suggested Readings: None

Instructor Details: Born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, Denny Kato is third generation Japanese American, or Sansei.  He graduated from Walnut Hills High School, received a BA from the University of Cincinnati in 1971, and   served in the US Army as a 1LT in military intelligence. After retirement from restaurant management, what started out for Denny as curiosity about his family history, grew into thoroughly researching how people of Japanese descent were forced from their homes during World War II and placed in internment camps. Like the seventeen members of his family who were incarcerated, most were American citizens.   He and his wife, Janet, have visited all ten of the internment camps from the Pacific west coast to the rural southeast of Arkansas. Since 2019, Denny has lectured both live and via zoom for the Art Institute of Cincinnati, nearly a dozen for OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute) at the University of South Florida, Carnegie Mellon University, Rochester Institute of Technology, and the University of Cincinnati, Japan America Society of Greater Cincinnati, Harriet Beecher Stowe House in Cincinnati.

This course is designed to ease the aches and pains of ageing by mindfully attending to the functioning of the joints – spine, hips, knees, shoulders, neck, knees and feet. The class will begin with a lecture component, in which we study anatomy to provide a deeper understanding of the functioning of the joints, followed by a practice combining yoga postures with soft, gentle flow-patterns from dance. By understanding your own alignment patterns and the anatomical functioning of joints, this class will enable you to confidently and safely practice simple, effective exercises at home or in yoga classes in the community.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Class #1  Introduction to anatomy • Balancing anatomical principles of strength and flexibility within yogic concepts of sthira (steadiness) and sukha (ease)
• Class #2  The Spine • Understanding the dynamic curves of the spine • Moving energy through the spine to support disc functioning
• Class #3  The Head/Neck • Releasing tension in head/neck • Jalandhara Bandha (toning energy) to support efficient alignment of head/neck
• Class #4 The Lower Back  • Understanding integration of the pelvis and spine • Stabilizing and stretching to support lower back in everyday movements • Uddiyana Bandha (toning energy in pelvis) for core support
• Class #5 The shoulders/scapula • Understanding the relationship between the scapula and shoulder joint • Extending your wing span utilizing principle of reach and pull
• Class #6  The Pelvis/hip joints • Strength and flexibility exercises for all three planes of the hip joint • Working with principles of yield and push, reach and pull.
• Class #7  The knee joints • Stabilizing the knee joints with strength exercises • Releasing tension with tai-chi based exercises and stretching the IT band
• Class # 8  The feet • Working with principles of grounding • Self-massage of the feet

Suggested Readings:

• Farhi, Donna. 1996. The Breathing Book, Good Health and Vitality Through Essential Breath Work. St. Martin’s Press. New York, NY.
• Franklin, Eric. 1996. Dynamic Alignment Through Imagery.  Human Kinetics. Champaign, IL.
• Gates, Rolf and Kenison, Katrina. 2002. Meditations on the Mat – Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga. Anchor Books.
• Kraftsow, Gary. 1999. Yoga for Wellness, Healing with the Timeless Teachings of Viniyoga. The Penguin Group. New York, NY.  
• Long, Ray MD, FRCSC. 2005. The Key Muscles of Yoga, Your Guide to Functional Anatomy of Yoga. Bandha Yoga Publications, LLC.

Instructor Details: Jan Erkert is an embodied practitioner, educator, author/writer, and choreographer. She is professor emerita and former Head of the Department of Dance at University of Illinois. As Artistic Director of Jan Erkert & Dancers she created over 70 works that garnered national and international awards. Throughout her career, she has researched and taught dance, vinyasa yoga, kinesiology, and somatic practices, receiving an Excellence in Teaching Award from Columbia College, and a Leadership Award from University of Illinois. Certified by Yoga Alliance (500 Hour RYT) her classes emphasize efficient movement practices, movement flow, and our collective capacity for joy.

This course will cover the medieval background to the Renaissance, then cover various aspects of the Renaissance including the Printing Press and its impact, the birth of capitalism, the Renaissance in Italy, focusing largely on the art, and the rise of the nation state, including the military revolution that took place.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: War, plague, depression, heresy, schism, and death: the late medieval background
• Week 2: The printing press and its effects
• Week 3: The birth of capitalism
• Week 4: The Italian Renaissance
• Week 5: The revolution in art during the Renaissance
• Week 6: The Northern Renaissance
• Week 7: The rise of the nation state during the Renaissance
• Week 8: The military revolution  during the Renaissance

Suggested Readings: 

• Eltis, David, The Military Revolution in Sixteenth-century Europe, Barnes and Noble Books, 1995
• Fagan, Brian, The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850, Basic Books, 2000
• Hibbert, Christopher, The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1980
• King, Ross, Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
• Wyman, Patrick, The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World 1490-1530, Grand Central Publishing, 2021

Instructor Details: John (Chris) Butler taught history at University High School in Urbana for 42 years. He was awarded numerous teaching awards, notably the Beveridge Family Award, the only teaching award given to K-12 teachers by the American Historical Association. He has taught a number of courses at OLLI on modern history.

This course will cover the medieval background to the Renaissance, then cover various aspects of the Renaissance including the Printing Press and its impact, the birth of capitalism, the Renaissance in Italy, focusing largely on the art, and the rise of the nation state, including the military revolution that took place.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: War, plague, depression, heresy, schism, and death: the late medieval background
• Week 2: The printing press and its effects
• Week 3: The birth of capitalism
• Week 4: The Italian Renaissance
• Week 5: The revolution in art during the Renaissance
• Week 6: The Northern Renaissance
• Week 7: The rise of the nation state during the Renaissance
• Week 8: The military revolution  during the Renaissance

Suggested Readings:

• Eltis, David, The Military Revolution in Sixteenth-century Europe, Barnes and Noble Books, 1995
• Fagan, Brian, The Little Ice Age: How Climate Made History, 1300-1850, Basic Books, 2000
• Hibbert, Christopher, The House of Medici, Its Rise and Fall, Morrow Quill Paperbacks, 1980
• King, Ross, Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture
• Wyman, Patrick, The Verge: Reformation, Renaissance, and Forty Years that Shook the World 1490-1530, Grand Central Publishing, 2021

Instructor Details:John (Chris) Butler taught history at University High School in Urbana for 42 years. He was awarded numerous teaching awards, notably the Beveridge Family Award, the only teaching award given to K-12 teachers by the American Historical Association. He has taught a number of courses at OLLI on modern history.

The Republic is written as a dialogue - a conversation between Socrates and five of his acquaintances on the nature of justice. The Republic is one of the all-time classics in the history of philosophy and is considered by most scholars to be the best example of Plato's mature thought on reality, knowledge, and goodness (virtue), in addition to justice.

Participants in this course will do a careful reading and discussion of Plato's classic work on the nature of justice. Plato (428 BCE to 348 BCE) was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Introduction to Plato's doctrines and Book 1 of The Republic
• Week 2: Books 2 and 3
• Week 3: Books 4 and 5
• Week 4: Book 6
• Week 5: Book 7
• Week 6: Book 8
• Week 7: Book 9
• Week 8: Book 10 and course summary

Suggested Readings:

• Enter Plato by by Alvin Gouldner
• "The Collected Works of Plato"

Instructor Details:

Prior to his career in Human Resources management, Bob Strauss completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in philosophy. His areas of study included the history of philosophy.

Norman Mark Klein, M.A.H.L., D.D., is retired as the emeritus rabbi at Sinai Temple in Champaign.  After retirement at Sinai he served as Interim Rabbi at Temple Beth Orr, Coral Springs, FL, Temple Israel, Ottawa, Canada, and at Temple Beth Torah in Wellington, FL, 2013-2017. Before becoming Rabbi Emeritus at Sinai Temple, Champaign, IL, he served as rabbi from 1995-2013. Rabbi Klein was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985. He was rabbi of Temple Ohav Shalom, Allison Park, PA, in the North Hills of Pittsburgh from 1985 to 1991, and the rabbi of Temple Rodef Shalom, Waco, Texas, from 1991 to 1995. Rabbi Klein also studied 5 years in the Ph. D. program in the English Dept. at Indiana University with a minor in Film Production. He also taught there and elsewhere.

Together, Rabbi Klein and Bob Strauss have facilitated many study groups and taught many courses at OLLI.

The Republic is written as a dialogue - a conversation between Socrates and five of his acquaintances on the nature of justice. The Republic is one of the all-time classics in the history of philosophy and is considered by most scholars to be the best example of Plato's mature thought on reality, knowledge, and goodness (virtue), in addition to justice.

Participants in this course will do a careful reading and discussion of Plato's classic work on the nature of justice. Plato (428 BCE to 348 BCE) was the student of Socrates and the teacher of Aristotle.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Introduction to Plato's doctrines and Book 1 of The Republic
• Week 2: Books 2 and 3
• Week 3: Books 4 and 5
• Week 4: Book 6
• Week 5: Book 7
• Week 6: Book 8
• Week 7: Book 9
• Week 8: Book 10 and course summary

Suggested Readings:

• Enter Plato by by Alvin Gouldner
• "The Collected Works of Plato"

Instructor Details:

Prior to his career in Human Resources management, Bob Strauss completed Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in philosophy. His areas of study included the history of philosophy.

Norman Mark Klein, M.A.H.L., D.D., is retired as the emeritus rabbi at Sinai Temple in Champaign.  After retirement at Sinai he served as Interim Rabbi at Temple Beth Orr, Coral Springs, FL, Temple Israel, Ottawa, Canada, and at Temple Beth Torah in Wellington, FL, 2013-2017. Before becoming Rabbi Emeritus at Sinai Temple, Champaign, IL, he served as rabbi from 1995-2013. Rabbi Klein was ordained at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in 1985. He was rabbi of Temple Ohav Shalom, Allison Park, PA, in the North Hills of Pittsburgh from 1985 to 1991, and the rabbi of Temple Rodef Shalom, Waco, Texas, from 1991 to 1995. Rabbi Klein also studied 5 years in the Ph. D. program in the English Dept. at Indiana University with a minor in Film Production. He also taught there and elsewhere.

Together, Rabbi Klein and Bob Strauss have facilitated many study groups and taught many courses at OLLI.

In this course, participants will learn how storms of winter form and evolve, how disastrous ice storms develop, how lake-effect storms pile up snow downwind of the Great Lakes, and the impact of winter weather on society. You will also learn how winter storms are forecast today, and how the storms of winter will change as our climate changes in the future.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Class 1: Basics you need to know: Airmasses, fronts, and the jet stream. Forces that drive atmospheric flow.  The formation of high and low pressure systems.
• Class 2: Winter storm formation, evolution, and associated weather including ice storms and snow storms
• Class 3: Weird Winter weather: thundersnow, flight turbulence, cold air outbreaks, wind chill, lake effect storms, and Nor'easters
• Class 4: Winter storm forecasting and the future of winter storms in a warming climate

Suggested Readings:

• Rauber, R. M., J. Walsh and D. Charlevoix, 2022: Severe and Hazardous Weather, an Introduction to High Impact Meteorology, 6th Edition, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. 682 pp. (Chapters 7-15)
• Marshak, S., R. M. Rauber, and N. Johnson, 2022: Natural Disasters. Norton, Inc. 624 pp. Chapters 8 and 10

Instructor Details: Bob Rauber has been a professor of Atmospheric Sciences for 38 years.  For all of that time, he has conducted research on winter storms. He has also written several textbooks used in undergraduate general education courses that cover winter weather.

In this course, participants will learn how storms of winter form and evolve, how disastrous ice storms develop, how lake-effect storms pile up snow downwind of the Great Lakes, and the impact of winter weather on society. You will also learn how winter storms are forecast today, and how the storms of winter will change as our climate changes in the future.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Class 1: Basics you need to know: Airmasses, fronts, and the jet stream. Forces that drive atmospheric flow.  The formation of high and low pressure systems.
• Class 2: Winter storm formation, evolution, and associated weather including ice storms and snow storms
• Class 3: Weird Winter weather: thundersnow, flight turbulence, cold air outbreaks, wind chill, lake effect storms, and Nor'easters
• Class 4: Winter storm forecasting and the future of winter storms in a warming climate

Suggested Readings:

• Rauber, R. M., J. Walsh and D. Charlevoix, 2022: Severe and Hazardous Weather, an Introduction to High Impact Meteorology, 6th Edition, Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. 682 pp. (Chapters 7-15)
• Marshak, S., R. M. Rauber, and N. Johnson, 2022: Natural Disasters. Norton, Inc. 624 pp. Chapters 8 and 10

Instructor Details: Bob Rauber has been a professor of Atmospheric Sciences for 38 years.  For all of that time, he has conducted research on winter storms. He has also written several textbooks used in undergraduate general education courses that cover winter weather.

Artists live in a specific cultural context. Their works reflect the influence of the dominant ideas of that culture, and often serve as a conscious commentary on those ideas. In this course, we will study the relationship between ideology and visual art in a variety of times and places, with an emphasis on the Western tradition. We will examine a series of concepts -- divinity, power, humanity, conscience, nature, passion, equality, subjectivity -- and explore how each influenced the arts during a particular period of European history.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1 --  Divinity: Conceptions of the divine in Medieval Europe and their influence on manuscript illumination, painting, sculpture, and church architecture
• Week 2 -- Power: Theories of Medieval kingship -- and queenship -- and their expression in painting, tapestry, coinage, and statuary
• Week 3 -- Humanity: The ideas of Italian Renaissance Humanism and the celebration of human potential in Renaissance art
• Week 4 -- Conscience: The emphasis on individual conscience in Northern Humanist thought and in the Protestant Reformation, and the expression of such ideas in Flemish and Dutch painting in the 16th and 17th centuries
• Week 5 -- Nature: The examination of the natural world in new ways during the 17th and 18th centuries, the rise of scientific thinking, and the influence of these concepts on Dutch painting, French and English publishing, and Neoclassical architecture
• Week 6 -- Passion: The ideas of Rousseau, the rise of Romantic poetry, and the parallels between such literary works and the Romantic painters of the late 18th and early 19th century
• Week 7 -- Equality: Views of equality from Thomas Hobbes, to John Locke, to Mary Wollstonecraft, to Karl Marx, to first and second wave feminism -- and their influence on painting in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
• Week 8 -- Subjectivity: Modern philosophy reacts to Enlightenment confidence, while French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism challenge traditional artistic conventions. Ultimately, the art of the early 20th century redefines notions of space and beauty -- or dismisses them as irrelevant

Suggested Readings:

• Renaissance Humanism by Donald R. Kelley
• Ingenious Pursuits by Lisa Jardine
• The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
• From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun

Instructor Details: Robert Kiely has served on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for 32 years, where he offers courses on the History of Ideas. He has recently published a cultural history of mathematics.

Artists live in a specific cultural context. Their works reflect the influence of the dominant ideas of that culture, and often serve as a conscious commentary on those ideas. In this course, we will study the relationship between ideology and visual art in a variety of times and places, with an emphasis on the Western tradition. We will examine a series of concepts -- divinity, power, humanity, conscience, nature, passion, equality, subjectivity -- and explore how each influenced the arts during a particular period of European history.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1 --  Divinity: Conceptions of the divine in Medieval Europe and their influence on manuscript illumination, painting, sculpture, and church architecture
• Week 2 -- Power: Theories of Medieval kingship -- and queenship -- and their expression in painting, tapestry, coinage, and statuary
• Week 3 -- Humanity: The ideas of Italian Renaissance Humanism and the celebration of human potential in Renaissance art
• Week 4 -- Conscience: The emphasis on individual conscience in Northern Humanist thought and in the Protestant Reformation, and the expression of such ideas in Flemish and Dutch painting in the 16th and 17th centuries
• Week 5 -- Nature: The examination of the natural world in new ways during the 17th and 18th centuries, the rise of scientific thinking, and the influence of these concepts on Dutch painting, French and English publishing, and Neoclassical architecture
• Week 6 -- Passion: The ideas of Rousseau, the rise of Romantic poetry, and the parallels between such literary works and the Romantic painters of the late 18th and early 19th century
• Week 7 -- Equality: Views of equality from Thomas Hobbes, to John Locke, to Mary Wollstonecraft, to Karl Marx, to first and second wave feminism -- and their influence on painting in the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th centuries
• Week 8 -- Subjectivity: Modern philosophy reacts to Enlightenment confidence, while French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism challenge traditional artistic conventions. Ultimately, the art of the early 20th century redefines notions of space and beauty -- or dismisses them as irrelevant

Suggested Readings:

• Renaissance Humanism by Donald R. Kelley
• Ingenious Pursuits by Lisa Jardine
• The Age of Wonder by Richard Holmes
• From Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun

Instructor Details: Robert Kiely has served on the faculty of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for 32 years, where he offers courses on the History of Ideas. He has recently published a cultural history of mathematics.

The course will explore Tolstoy's acclaimed novel in detail through both the text and the epic (over seven hours in length) 1967 Academy-Award-winning Russian film, broken into eight installments of about an hour each. Each class session will view a segment of the film, discuss how the novel differs or agrees with the film, and study the progress of plot, characters, and theme, as well as Tolstoy's attention to historical accuracy. Students are encouraged to read the novel, but it is not required. Content will be aimed at both those familiar with the material and interested in a deeper look and hose coming to it for the first time.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• WEEK 1 - Introduction and Overview. Russian high society, the first clashes in Austria. Text: Books 1, 2 (1805) Film: Part I, scenes 1-10
• WEEK 2 - Pierre rises in society, the Battle of Austerlitz and its aftermath, Pierre’s duel. Text: Books 3, 4 (1805-1806) Film: Part I scenes 11-22
• WEEK 3 - Pierre joins the Freemasons, Andrei’s depression, visit to the Rostóvs, Natasha’s engagement to Andrei. Text: Books 5, 6 (1806-1810) Film: Part II scenes 23-28
• WEEK 4 - Financial difficulties of the Rostóvs, the wolf hunt, Natasha’s seduction and disgrace. Text: Books 7-8 (1810-1812) Film: Part II scenes 29-33
• WEEK 5 - France invades Russia, Pierre’s love of Natasha. Text: Books 9 (1812) Film: Part II scenes 34, Part III scenes 35-39
• WEEK 6 - The Battle of Borodinó. Text: Book 10 (1812) Film: Part III scenes 40-43
• WEEK 7 -The flight from Moscow, Pierre’s decision to stay, his rescue of a child, then arrest, death of Andrei. Text: Books 11, 12 (1812) Film: Part IV scenes 44-52
• WEEK 8 - French retreat from Moscow, Pierre’s rescue, reunited with Natasha. Aftermath.Conclusion, Text: Books 13, 14, 15 (1812), Epilogues (1813-1820) Film: Part IV scenes 53-58

Suggested Readings: Give War and Peace a Chance by Kaufman, Andrew D. (2014)

Instructor Details: Frank Chadwick is a published novelist, best-selling military historian, and game designer. He has been an OLLI member for fifteen years in which time he has taught courses on Writing the Novel, The Writer's Portrayal in Film, Ancient Greece and Persia, World War Two, the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, the Ukraine War, and others, as well as facilitating the OLLI Writers Cafe and a variety of other study groups.

With few, if any, legal or ethical guardrails, "Trump Inc." has used the second presidency as a launch site for a rush of business enterprises and partnerships across the world . This course will look at how to keep track of the major deals, the profits,the potential conflicts of interest and controversies. It will also examine how these deals impact domestic and foreign policies.

Topics (subject to change):

• Class One: The overview of the deals and enterprises. Where they are and who the key players are. What laws and ethical guidelines are being ignored
• Class Two:Digging into the most controversial deals and the investigations and blowback from specific countries.
• Class Three: An examination of what the leaders and business people want from the U.S. in exchange for opening up their borders to  "Trump Inc." How Trump Inc. blends in with international MAGA political campaigns.
• Class Four: How it all adds up. Tallying the profits for Trump Inc and its associates.
   

Instructor Details: Brant Houston holds the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Houston teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism. He also oversees the online newsroom at Illinois, CU-CitizenAccess.org, which serves as a lab for digital innovation and data journalism. Houston is the author of Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide, co-author of The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook, and author of Changing Models for Journalism: Reinventing the Newsroom. He teaches regularly at OLLI and receives excellent evaluations.

With few, if any, legal or ethical guardrails, "Trump Inc." has used the second presidency as a launch site for a rush of business enterprises and partnerships across the world . This course will look at how to keep track of the major deals, the profits,the potential conflicts of interest and controversies. It will also examine how these deals impact domestic and foreign policies.

Topics (subject to change):

• Class One: The overview of the deals and enterprises. Where they are and who the key players are. What laws and ethical guidelines are being ignored
• Class Two:Digging into the most controversial deals and the investigations and blowback from specific countries.
• Class Three: An examination of what the leaders and business people want from the U.S. in exchange for opening up their borders to  "Trump Inc." How Trump Inc. blends in with international MAGA political campaigns.
• Class Four: How it all adds up. Tallying the profits for Trump Inc and its associates.
   

Instructor Details: Brant Houston holds the Knight Chair in Investigative Reporting at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Houston teaches investigative and advanced reporting in the Department of Journalism. He also oversees the online newsroom at Illinois, CU-CitizenAccess.org, which serves as a lab for digital innovation and data journalism. Houston is the author of Computer-Assisted Reporting: A Practical Guide, co-author of The Investigative Reporter’s Handbook, and author of Changing Models for Journalism: Reinventing the Newsroom. He teaches regularly at OLLI and receives excellent evaluations.

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) grew up in the Jewish quarter of Amsterdam, learned Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, and enjoyed the company of highly educated friends. As he studied and matured, he expressed ideas that led to his expulsion from his synagogue and a place as one of the bravest and most controversial thinkers of Western philosophy. An advocate of democracy in a monarchial world, a man of spotless virtue condemned for heresy, Spinoza has attracted the admiration of Pierre Bayle, Albert Einstein, and Bertrand Russell, and many more. This course will show why.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Survey of Spinoza's Life. Why read Spinoza today? Spinoza and Descartes. Spinoza’s friends. His letters.
• Week 2: The Retreat of the Supernatural and the Historical Interpretation of the Bible. Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, “one of the most important books of Western thought ever written” (Steven Nadler).
• Week 3: The Virtuous Atheist. Spinoza on God and Nature, especially human nature. The Ethics.
• Week 4:  Freedom and Democracy. The Treatise on Politics. Course summation.

Suggested Readings:

• Stuart Hampshire. Spinoza and Spinozism. Oxford University Press, 2005.          
• Jonathan Israel. Spinoza: Life and Legacy. Oxford University Press, 2023.      
• Susan James. Spinoza on Philosophy, Religion, and Politics. Oxford University Press, 2012.      
• Baruch Spinoza. The Collected Works of Spinoza, edited and translated by Edwin Curley, 2 vols. Princeton University Press, 1985 and 2016.      
• Wiep Van Bunge. Spinoza Past and Present: Essays on Spinoza, Spinozism, and Spinoza Scholarship. Brill, 2012.

Instructor Details: Willis Regier retired in 2015 as the Director of the University of Illinois Press, having previously been Director of the University of Nebraska Press and Director of the Johns Hopkins University Press. He has published four books. His articles have appeared in American Academic, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Erasmus Studies, French Forum, Journal of Scholarly Publishing, Modern Language Notes, and other journals. He has previously taught OLLI courses on Aesop, Hannah Arendt, Emerson, Erasmus, and the Enlightenment. 

As the third decade of the twenty-first century unfolds, traumatic economic and social change, mass cross-border migration, and the breakneck advance of technology are discombobulating societies across the global North and South. A worldwide rebellion against the entrenched, neo-feudalistic guilds and cliques that rule the roost is afoot, led by charismatic politicians of the left and right. These mesmerizing spellbinders and storytellers differ ideologically, but they all share a passionate populism as well as a talent for channeling their followers’ resentment and rage.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• WEEK ONE. The three types of authority and five categories of charisma. 
• WEEK TWO. Donald Trump as a seminal figure of American and world history. 
• WEEK THREE. A West African epic: Burkina Faso from Thomas Sankara to Ibrahim Traoré.
• WEEK FOUR. How Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia employs the stylistics of charismatic rule to remodel the tribal and monarchical authority he inherited.
• WEEK FIVE. Caudillismo as a historical practice and twenty-first century promise. 
• WEEK SIX. The People’s Republic of China and its decades-long charisma taboo.
• WEEK SEVEN. Elon is from Mars, Greta is from Earth: Global charismatics operating outside the political box.
• WEEK EIGHT. French President Emmanuel Macron loses his mesmeric mojo. Vladimir Zelensky vs. Vladimir Putin, and the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Suggested Readings:

• Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton, 2020
• Chan, Alfred L. Xi Jinping: Political Career, Governance, and Leadership 1953-2018. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022
• Short, Philip. Putin: His Life and Times. New York: Penguin/Vintage, 2023
• Mudde, Cas & Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017

Instructor Details: Richard Tempest is a scholar and writer who is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Senior Editor at the Journal of Political Marketing (Chicago). He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Oxford and has published on Russian and world culture and history in English, Bulgarian, Russian and French. Tempest’s study Overwriting Chaos: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Fictive Worlds (Boston: Academic Studies Press) came out in 2019. The focus of his current book project is the poetics of charismatic leadership. Tempest is the author of the novel Golden Bone (Zolotaia kost’), which he wrote in Russian and published under the pseudonym Roland Harrington (Moscow: NLO, 2004).

As the third decade of the twenty-first century unfolds, traumatic economic and social change, mass cross-border migration, and the breakneck advance of technology are discombobulating societies across the global North and South. A worldwide rebellion against the entrenched, neo-feudalistic guilds and cliques that rule the roost is afoot, led by charismatic politicians of the left and right. These mesmerizing spellbinders and storytellers differ ideologically, but they all share a passionate populism as well as a talent for channeling their followers’ resentment and rage.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• WEEK ONE. The three types of authority and five categories of charisma. 
• WEEK TWO. Donald Trump as a seminal figure of American and world history. 
• WEEK THREE. A West African epic: Burkina Faso from Thomas Sankara to Ibrahim Traoré.
• WEEK FOUR. How Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) of Saudi Arabia employs the stylistics of charismatic rule to remodel the tribal and monarchical authority he inherited.
• WEEK FIVE. Caudillismo as a historical practice and twenty-first century promise. 
• WEEK SIX. The People’s Republic of China and its decades-long charisma taboo.
• WEEK SEVEN. Elon is from Mars, Greta is from Earth: Global charismatics operating outside the political box.
• WEEK EIGHT. French President Emmanuel Macron loses his mesmeric mojo. Vladimir Zelensky vs. Vladimir Putin, and the Russia-Ukraine war. 

Suggested Readings:

• Ben-Ghiat, Ruth. Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present. New York: W.W. Norton, 2020
• Chan, Alfred L. Xi Jinping: Political Career, Governance, and Leadership 1953-2018. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022
• Short, Philip. Putin: His Life and Times. New York: Penguin/Vintage, 2023
• Mudde, Cas & Cristóbal Rovira Kaltwasser. Populism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017

Instructor Details: Richard Tempest is a scholar and writer who is a Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Senior Editor at the Journal of Political Marketing (Chicago). He holds a BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Oxford and has published on Russian and world culture and history in English, Bulgarian, Russian and French. Tempest’s study Overwriting Chaos: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s Fictive Worlds (Boston: Academic Studies Press) came out in 2019. The focus of his current book project is the poetics of charismatic leadership. Tempest is the author of the novel Golden Bone (Zolotaia kost’), which he wrote in Russian and published under the pseudonym Roland Harrington (Moscow: NLO, 2004).

With growing popularity of ballroom dancing and more exposure on TV, new studies have been conducted to test the benefits of this activity. The multidimensional benefits of dancing include all areas of health-physical, mental, social, and emotional. In this course, you will learn the basics of popular ballroom dances, simple routines, and ways to create your own patterns so you can have fun improvising. No partner required. Dances taught in this session will include American Rumba and International Samba.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week One: Introduction; American Rumba
• Week Two: American Rumba
• Week Three: American Rumba
• Week Four: American Rumba
• Week Five: Samba & American Rumba review
• Week Six: Samba & American Rumba review
• Week Seven: Samba & American Rumba review
• Week Eight: Review and practice American Rumba and Samba

This outline is a subject to change depending on the pace of the class.

Suggested Readings:

• Scrivener, L. and Bryan Allen. Just One Idea: Ballroom Dancing Analyzed. Revisionist Press, 1985
• Irvine, B. and Bobbie Irvine. The Dancing Years. W.H.Allen/Virgin Books, 1970

Instructor Details: Alex Tecza is a third-year MFA student in the Department of Dance. He spent over thirty five years of his career as a competitive ballroom dancer and teacher. His professional achievements include titles of US National and World Finalist, two Dancers Cup Tour Couple of the Year awards, and over thirty wins in American Smooth, International Standard, and Showdance divisions. Alex often serves as a ballroom dance and partnering expert for the Lyric Theatre @ Illinois productions at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Aside from performing and choreographing, Alex is also a certified Alexander Technique teacher. He maintains a private teaching practice in both Champaign-Urbana and Chicagoland area.

Often as the focal point of a band, vocalists can bring a unique perspective and flavor to a group. We will dig into a several remarkable singers who have their own sound that has reached the masses, discovering their roots, development, and how their voice has influenced and shaped the vocal jazz idiom.

Topics (subject to change):

• Joe Williams was part of the Count Basie band and brought a swagger and swing feel that is still exciting and modern.
• Frank Sinatra - with his impeccable phrasing and emotive delivery, he is often considered the peak of the vocal jazz tradition.
• Jon Hendricks, dubbed the Poet Laurate of Jazz, is a force of not only keen lyrics but also an eight-decade career of pushing the genre forward.
• Gregory Porter’s rich baritone voice spills out his inspiration through re-imagined standards and brand-new original compositions.
• Al Jarreau - known for his pop hit, his musical roots start in the church and ended up with a successful career including multiple Grammys.
• Bobby McFerrin is an eclectic singer, with innovations in jazz, blues and classical music.
• José James can be heard combining and innovating hip-hop, jazz, soul and funk. His collaborations and presentations bring in audiences from many aspects of music.
• Kurt Elling combines vocal technique and prowess with deep feeling to every song he performs. He continues to revolutionize and captivate with some exciting new projects.

Suggested Readings:

• Jazz Vocal Interpretation: A Philosophical Analysis. Jerrold Levinson, 2013
• Jazz Improvisation: Differentiating Vocalists. Wendy Hargreaves, 2014

Instructor Details: Jenelle Orcherton is a jazz performer and educator, with training in Education and a Masters' in Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of the annual Champaign-Urbana Jazz Festival, that just celebrates it’s 10th anniversary season.  She has served on many jazz and community organizations including Music Defying Boundaries and the Urbana Public Arts Commission. Jenelle has over fifteen years of education experience and is passionate about giving all audiences the opportunity to engage with jazz.

Often as the focal point of a band, vocalists can bring a unique perspective and flavor to a group. We will dig into a several remarkable singers who have their own sound that has reached the masses, discovering their roots, development, and how their voice has influenced and shaped the vocal jazz idiom.

Topics (subject to change):

• Joe Williams was part of the Count Basie band and brought a swagger and swing feel that is still exciting and modern.
• Frank Sinatra - with his impeccable phrasing and emotive delivery, he is often considered the peak of the vocal jazz tradition.
• Jon Hendricks, dubbed the Poet Laurate of Jazz, is a force of not only keen lyrics but also an eight-decade career of pushing the genre forward.
• Gregory Porter’s rich baritone voice spills out his inspiration through re-imagined standards and brand-new original compositions.
• Al Jarreau - known for his pop hit, his musical roots start in the church and ended up with a successful career including multiple Grammys.
• Bobby McFerrin is an eclectic singer, with innovations in jazz, blues and classical music.
• José James can be heard combining and innovating hip-hop, jazz, soul and funk. His collaborations and presentations bring in audiences from many aspects of music.
• Kurt Elling combines vocal technique and prowess with deep feeling to every song he performs. He continues to revolutionize and captivate with some exciting new projects.

Suggested Readings:

• Jazz Vocal Interpretation: A Philosophical Analysis. Jerrold Levinson, 2013
• Jazz Improvisation: Differentiating Vocalists. Wendy Hargreaves, 2014

Instructor Details: Jenelle Orcherton is a jazz performer and educator, with training in Education and a Masters' in Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois. She is the Artistic Director and Founder of the annual Champaign-Urbana Jazz Festival, that just celebrates it’s 10th anniversary season.  She has served on many jazz and community organizations including Music Defying Boundaries and the Urbana Public Arts Commission. Jenelle has over fifteen years of education experience and is passionate about giving all audiences the opportunity to engage with jazz.

An examination of the way in which the world ocean factors in American security.  The course framework will consist of the four needs of national security: defense of the homeland, economic well-being, a favorable world order and the promotion of values.  The global geography of security, a history of the sea and American security, and the principal theories of sea power will also be covered.  Sessions will consist of a 45 – 60 minute lecture followed by discussion.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Course introduction and the Geography of American Security. 
• Week 2: A History of American Security and the Sea.
• Week 3: Theories of Sea Power. 
• Week 4: Maritime Security / Defense of the Homeland.
• Week 5: Economic Well-Being and the Sea. 
• Week 6: Naval Strategy and a Favorable World Order.
• Week 7: Exporting Security and the Promotion of National Values.
• Week 8: Going Forward.  

Suggested Readings:

• Robert C. Rubel “Exporting Security: China, the US and the Innovator’s Dilemma,” (Naval War College Review, Spring 2017)
• Robert C. Rubel “National Policy and the Post-Systemic Navy,” (Naval War College Review, Autumn 2013) 
• Robert C. Rubel “Navies and Economic Prosperity,” (Kings College, The Corbett Centre, Paper No. 11)
• Robert C. Rubel “Canary in the Coal Mine: The Navy’s Dilemmas as an Indicator of a Culminating Point in US Grand Strategy,”  (Journal of Political Risk, April 10, 2020.)
• Robert C. Rubel “The Transnational Navy: A New Strategic Focus,” (US Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 150/11/1,461, November, 2024) 

Instructor Details: Captain Robert C. Rubel USN (Ret), Prof. Emeritus US Naval War College. Career naval officer; aviator and educator. Twenty years flying and twenty years on the faculty of the Naval War College.

An examination of the way in which the world ocean factors in American security.  The course framework will consist of the four needs of national security: defense of the homeland, economic well-being, a favorable world order and the promotion of values.  The global geography of security, a history of the sea and American security, and the principal theories of sea power will also be covered.  Sessions will consist of a 45 – 60 minute lecture followed by discussion.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Course introduction and the Geography of American Security. 
• Week 2: A History of American Security and the Sea.
• Week 3: Theories of Sea Power. 
• Week 4: Maritime Security / Defense of the Homeland.
• Week 5: Economic Well-Being and the Sea. 
• Week 6: Naval Strategy and a Favorable World Order.
• Week 7: Exporting Security and the Promotion of National Values.
• Week 8: Going Forward.  

Suggested Readings:

• Robert C. Rubel “Exporting Security: China, the US and the Innovator’s Dilemma,” (Naval War College Review, Spring 2017)
• Robert C. Rubel “National Policy and the Post-Systemic Navy,” (Naval War College Review, Autumn 2013) 
• Robert C. Rubel “Navies and Economic Prosperity,” (Kings College, The Corbett Centre, Paper No. 11)
• Robert C. Rubel “Canary in the Coal Mine: The Navy’s Dilemmas as an Indicator of a Culminating Point in US Grand Strategy,”  (Journal of Political Risk, April 10, 2020.)
• Robert C. Rubel “The Transnational Navy: A New Strategic Focus,” (US Naval Institute Proceedings, Vol. 150/11/1,461, November, 2024) 

Instructor Details: Captain Robert C. Rubel USN (Ret), Prof. Emeritus US Naval War College. Career naval officer; aviator and educator. Twenty years flying and twenty years on the faculty of the Naval War College.

The discovery of ancient Mesopotamia's civilization over the past 150 years has revealed that its culture influenced every region of the eastern Mediterranean, including ancient Israel. The recovery of the Mesopotamian creation epics has forever changed the way we understand the famous creation stories of the Book of Genesis.  This course will introduce those epics and explore how the ancient Israelites both adopted key elements from them and changed others to make them fully their own.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Introduction; The Old Babylonian Atrahasis Epic ca. 1800 BCE
• Week 2: Examine the close relationship between the Atrahasis Epic and the creation/flood story in Genesis 2-9.
• Week 3: The Babylonian Creation Epic (ca. 1300 BCE).
• Week 4: Reflections of the combat myth in the Psalms and prophetic writings are discussed.Closing with a look at the great creation story of Genesis 1 and how it reshapes the Babylonian myth into a distinctively Israelite tale.

Suggested Readings:

• Myths from Mesopotamia, revised edition. Stephanie Dalley. Oxford University Press. 2000.
• Stories from Ancient Canaan, Second Edition. Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith, 2012.
• The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Michael D. Coogan.  2006 (or later editions)

Instructor Details: Wayne T Pitard received his PhD from Harvard University in 1982 and taught from 1983 to 2016 in the Department of Religion at UIUC. He also served as director of the Spurlock Museum on campus from 2007-2016, when he retired. He is the author of Ancient Damascus, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, Watchman, Tell Us: John J. Bird and Black Politics in Post-Civil War Illinois, as well as over seventy articles.

The discovery of ancient Mesopotamia's civilization over the past 150 years has revealed that its culture influenced every region of the eastern Mediterranean, including ancient Israel. The recovery of the Mesopotamian creation epics has forever changed the way we understand the famous creation stories of the Book of Genesis.  This course will introduce those epics and explore how the ancient Israelites both adopted key elements from them and changed others to make them fully their own.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Introduction; The Old Babylonian Atrahasis Epic ca. 1800 BCE
• Week 2: Examine the close relationship between the Atrahasis Epic and the creation/flood story in Genesis 2-9.
• Week 3: The Babylonian Creation Epic (ca. 1300 BCE).
• Week 4: Reflections of the combat myth in the Psalms and prophetic writings are discussed.Closing with a look at the great creation story of Genesis 1 and how it reshapes the Babylonian myth into a distinctively Israelite tale.

Suggested Readings:

• Myths from Mesopotamia, revised edition. Stephanie Dalley. Oxford University Press. 2000.
• Stories from Ancient Canaan, Second Edition. Michael D. Coogan and Mark S. Smith, 2012.
• The Old Testament: A Historical and Literary Introduction to the Hebrew Scriptures. Michael D. Coogan.  2006 (or later editions)

Instructor Details: Wayne T Pitard received his PhD from Harvard University in 1982 and taught from 1983 to 2016 in the Department of Religion at UIUC. He also served as director of the Spurlock Museum on campus from 2007-2016, when he retired. He is the author of Ancient Damascus, The Ugaritic Baal Cycle, Volume II, Watchman, Tell Us: John J. Bird and Black Politics in Post-Civil War Illinois, as well as over seventy articles.

There are more British Isles than just Great Britain and Ireland.  This class will explore the history, nature, art, music and archaeology of eight small islands and groups: the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, Anglesey, the Scilly Isles, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands.  Each has its own unique character, scenic atmosphere, cultural influence from Celtic, Norse, or Norman French sources, and quirky relationship with the United Kingdom.  All have local-history museums with information that can’t be found elsewhere. The class will examine prehistoric sites like the Broch of Mousa and the Ring of Brodgar, spectacular natural features like Fingal’s Cave, medieval castles like Beaumaris and Carisbrooke, the lush vegetation of Tresco Abbey Gardens and the Franklin Chine, royal estates like Queen Victoria’s Osborne House, and German fortifications in the occupied Channel Islands.  This will view the British Isles from unusual and interesting directions.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

1. Introduction and basic themes of the course / The Shetland Islands.
2. The Orkney Islands.
3. The Hebrides.
4. The Isle of Man.
5. Anglesey.
6. The Isles of Scilly.
7. The Isle of Wight.
8. The Channel Islands / Conclusions and main themes of the course.

Suggested Readings:

• David W. Moore, The Other British Isles: A History of Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, Isle of Man, Anglesey, Scilly, Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands (2011)
• Paul Murton, The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland (2019)
• Mairi Hedderwick, An Eye on the Hebrides: An Illustrated Journey (2nd ed., 2021)
• Sara Goodwins, A Brief History of the Isle of Man (2011)
• R. L. Bowley, The Fortunate islands: The Story of the Isles of Scilly (9th ed., 2004)

Instructor Details: Fred Christensen is a former History Instructor at the University of Kentucky and Assistant Professor of Military Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He teaches noncredit classes for OLLI and other venues in five areas of history and archaeology: Britain, Germany, early America, Israel/the Holy Land, and military history in general. Fred is the current president of the East Central Illinois Archaeological Society (ECIAS). He has taught OLLI courses regularly since 2008.

There are more British Isles than just Great Britain and Ireland.  This class will explore the history, nature, art, music and archaeology of eight small islands and groups: the Shetlands, the Orkneys, the Hebrides, the Isle of Man, Anglesey, the Scilly Isles, the Isle of Wight, and the Channel Islands.  Each has its own unique character, scenic atmosphere, cultural influence from Celtic, Norse, or Norman French sources, and quirky relationship with the United Kingdom.  All have local-history museums with information that can’t be found elsewhere. The class will examine prehistoric sites like the Broch of Mousa and the Ring of Brodgar, spectacular natural features like Fingal’s Cave, medieval castles like Beaumaris and Carisbrooke, the lush vegetation of Tresco Abbey Gardens and the Franklin Chine, royal estates like Queen Victoria’s Osborne House, and German fortifications in the occupied Channel Islands.  This will view the British Isles from unusual and interesting directions.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

1. Introduction and basic themes of the course / The Shetland Islands.
2. The Orkney Islands.
3. The Hebrides.
4. The Isle of Man.
5. Anglesey.
6. The Isles of Scilly.
7. The Isle of Wight.
8. The Channel Islands / Conclusions and main themes of the course.

Suggested Readings:

• David W. Moore, The Other British Isles: A History of Shetland, Orkney, the Hebrides, Isle of Man, Anglesey, Scilly, Isle of Wight and the Channel Islands (2011)
• Paul Murton, The Viking Isles: Travels in Orkney and Shetland (2019)
• Mairi Hedderwick, An Eye on the Hebrides: An Illustrated Journey (2nd ed., 2021)
• Sara Goodwins, A Brief History of the Isle of Man (2011)
• R. L. Bowley, The Fortunate islands: The Story of the Isles of Scilly (9th ed., 2004)

Instructor Details: Fred Christensen is a former History Instructor at the University of Kentucky and Assistant Professor of Military Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He teaches noncredit classes for OLLI and other venues in five areas of history and archaeology: Britain, Germany, early America, Israel/the Holy Land, and military history in general. Fred is the current president of the East Central Illinois Archaeological Society (ECIAS). He has taught OLLI courses regularly since 2008.

Chair yoga has been shown to be an effective practice to achieve greater flexibility, strength, balance, and inner calm. For the movement portion of the class, we will be seated in a chair half of the time doing poses, movements, and breathwork based on “Get Fit Where You Sit^TM,” a chair yoga program developed by nationally renowned teacher Lakshmi Voelker. In the second half of the movement section, we will be standing, as we safely focus on improving our strength, posture, and balance while using support of the chair. Mindfulness will be a core principle taught throughout.

Each class will include a discussion of the connections between body, mind, and spirit, along with how yoga principles can be applied in class and in our daily life. This presentation will be followed by a yoga movement session, half of which will be done while sitting, and the other half will be done standing while holding on to the chair. The instructor will discuss how to do these movements safely and offer modifications for differing levels of flexibility.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Benefits of Yoga and Postural Alignment
• Week 2: Balance
• Week 3: Breath 
• Week 4: Mindfulness
• Week 5: Choosing a Mantra and the Healing Power of Gratitude
• Week 6: Chakras
• Week 7: Fostering Compassion and Relaxation
• Week 8: Bringing Yoga Principles into Everyday Life

Suggested Readings:

• Get Fit Where You Sit: A Guide to the Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga Method, by Lakshmi Voelker and Liz Oppedijk, 2023.
• Accessible Yoga - Poses and Practices for Every Body, by Jivana Heyman, 2019.
• Yoga for Healthy Aging, by Baxter Bell and Nina Zolotow, 2017.
• Chair Yoga for Seniors Over 60, by Robiert H. Warren, 2023.
• Relax into Yoga for Seniors, by Kimberly Carson and Carol Krucoff, 2016.

Instructor Details: Robin Goettel has practiced many yoga styles for 45 years. After retiring in 2014, she became more involved in promoting improved health and wellness through certification as a Lakshmi Voelker Chair Yoga Teacher. Robin received additional training on yoga therapy benefits by participating in the 2016 National Yoga Alliance Conference and subsequent Yoga Webinar Workshops. She has taught chair yoga classes since 2014 at Clark-Lindsey, Mettler Center, Urbana Park District, Windsor of Savoy, Villas of HollyBrook, and Sinai Temple. She has led OLLI Chair Yoga classes in various formats many times and have enjoyed engaging with other OLLI members. Her participants have shared that the postures, mindfulness, and breathing techniques Robin teached have created a greater sense of knowing the importance of how they move their bodies, while also inspiring peace, happiness, and balance in their daily lives. She has added standing postures and flow movements to her instruction.

English has a reputation for being irregular, with messy spelling. How did English “get this way”? In this course, we will trace the 1600-year path of a language now used as a lingua franca throughout the world.  Additional questions covered include: What types of changes have occurred over the centuries? How do linguists learn about early versions of English? Why and how did English undergo such massive changes? How do dialects develop? Audio samples of Old and Middle English, text examples of each stage of English’s evolution, and maps showing migration patterns will be included.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Introduction to Language Study
• Week 2: The Roots of Old English, pre-450 CE
• Week 3: The beginnings of Old English (450 CE)
• Week 4: The transition to middle English (1100 – 1500 CE)
• Week 5: Conquest, Plague, and Migration: Impacts on Middle English
• Week 6: Invention, Standardization, and Prestige: Emergence of modern English in 1500 – 1600 CE 
• Week 7: American English
• Week 8: English Around the World

Suggested Readings:

• McWhorter, John. (2009). Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue.
• (others may be added)

Instructor Details: Sue Ingels recently retired from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she taught for UIUC’s Intensive English Institute and the Linguistics Department and coordinated oral English proficiency testing for international graduate students. She completed a master’s in teaching ESL and a PhD in educational psychology, both at UIUC. Prior to her academic career, Sue worked in educational publishing. This will be Sue’s third time teaching a language-related course for OLLI.

English has a reputation for being irregular, with messy spelling. How did English “get this way”? In this course, we will trace the 1600-year path of a language now used as a lingua franca throughout the world.  Additional questions covered include: What types of changes have occurred over the centuries? How do linguists learn about early versions of English? Why and how did English undergo such massive changes? How do dialects develop? Audio samples of Old and Middle English, text examples of each stage of English’s evolution, and maps showing migration patterns will be included.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Introduction to Language Study
• Week 2: The Roots of Old English, pre-450 CE
• Week 3: The beginnings of Old English (450 CE)
• Week 4: The transition to middle English (1100 – 1500 CE)
• Week 5: Conquest, Plague, and Migration: Impacts on Middle English
• Week 6: Invention, Standardization, and Prestige: Emergence of modern English in 1500 – 1600 CE 
• Week 7: American English
• Week 8: English Around the World

Suggested Readings:

• McWhorter, John. (2009). Our Magnificent Bastard Tongue.
• (others may be added)

Instructor Details: Sue Ingels recently retired from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she taught for UIUC’s Intensive English Institute and the Linguistics Department and coordinated oral English proficiency testing for international graduate students. She completed a master’s in teaching ESL and a PhD in educational psychology, both at UIUC. Prior to her academic career, Sue worked in educational publishing. This will be Sue’s third time teaching a language-related course for OLLI.

This course will cover the divisive and at times vicious nature of the American Revolution. In popular portrayals of the conflict it is shown as a fight between patriots and an occupying British Army. However, this portrayal belies the extremely personal struggle between those fighting to fulfill the American Revolution and their loyalist neighbors fighting for King and Country. This course will follow the broad arc of history, but each lecture will look at a specific theme or topic rather than a strictly chronological approach.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Lecture 1: The English Civil War and the Glourious Revolution
• Lecture 2: The Enlightenment and European Imperialism in the 1700s
• Lecture 3: George Washington and the roots of the American Revolution
• Lecture 4: The American Loyalists
• Lecture 5: France and foreign intervention in the American Revolution
• Lecture 6: American Slavery and the Revolution
• Lecture 7: British Imperial views of the American Revolution
• Lecture 8: The Federalists and the Constitutional Convention

Suggested Readings:

• The Last King of America, Dr. Andrew Roberts
• The Pursuit of Glory, Dr. Tim Blanning
• American Slavery, American Freedom, Dr. Edmund Morgan
• The Marquis, Dr. Laura Auricchio
• American Revolutions, Dr. Alan Taylor

Instructor Details: Connor Monson is an archivist and public historian. He received a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Illinois in 2021 and is in the process of completing a Master of Science degree in American history at Illinois State University. He is the co-founder of the Champaign County Newspaper Digitization Initiative (CCNDI) and has worked in administrative roles at the Champaign and McLean County History Museums. Connor’s area of focus is American history, and he has published several research articles and online exhibits for accredited institutions.

This course will cover the divisive and at times vicious nature of the American Revolution. In popular portrayals of the conflict it is shown as a fight between patriots and an occupying British Army. However, this portrayal belies the extremely personal struggle between those fighting to fulfill the American Revolution and their loyalist neighbors fighting for King and Country. This course will follow the broad arc of history, but each lecture will look at a specific theme or topic rather than a strictly chronological approach.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Lecture 1: The English Civil War and the Glourious Revolution
• Lecture 2: The Enlightenment and European Imperialism in the 1700s
• Lecture 3: George Washington and the roots of the American Revolution
• Lecture 4: The American Loyalists
• Lecture 5: France and foreign intervention in the American Revolution
• Lecture 6: American Slavery and the Revolution
• Lecture 7: British Imperial views of the American Revolution
• Lecture 8: The Federalists and the Constitutional Convention

Suggested Readings:

• The Last King of America, Dr. Andrew Roberts
• The Pursuit of Glory, Dr. Tim Blanning
• American Slavery, American Freedom, Dr. Edmund Morgan
• The Marquis, Dr. Laura Auricchio
• American Revolutions, Dr. Alan Taylor

Instructor Details: Connor Monson is an archivist and public historian. He received a Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of Illinois in 2021 and is in the process of completing a Master of Science degree in American history at Illinois State University. He is the co-founder of the Champaign County Newspaper Digitization Initiative (CCNDI) and has worked in administrative roles at the Champaign and McLean County History Museums. Connor’s area of focus is American history, and he has published several research articles and online exhibits for accredited institutions.

This course will examine the career of actress Barbara Stanwyck and chart how her persona changed over the course of her career, making her a transcedent figure in the industry.

Films to be shown:

• Baby Face
• Stella Dallas
• Meet John Doe
• Ball of Fire
• Double Indemnity
• My Reputation
• The Strange Love of Martha Ivers
• The Furies

Suggested Readings:

• Barbara Stanwyck: Steel True by Victoria Wilson
• The Cinema of Barbara Stanwyck by Catherine Russell
• Star Studies: Barbara Stanwyck by Andrew Klevan

Instructor Details: Chuck Koplinski has been a film critic for over 25 years, writing for various newspapers in the community. He currently reviews films for The News-Gazette, The Illinois Times, and CBS 58 in Milwaukee. Chuck is a member of the Critics Choice Association and the Chicago Film Critics Association. This is his 19th offering at OLLI.

This course explores editorial cartoons as political and social commentary, as art and as provocation. Course begins with the history of caricature and French and English cartoons before they migrate to the US in time for the Revolutionary War and eventual creation of common symbols employed by cartoonists. Topics include cartoons centered on individuals, on war, on insult by identity and other controversies. The decline of print has changed the artistic and economic landscape for editorial cartoonists. But the internet has provided more access to newer audiences. The class will see and talk about dozens of cartoons by myriad artists.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Wk 1. Introduction to OLLI course and history of the medium from France to England to the U.S. 
• Wk 2. Begin themes: Leaders and other notable/notorious figures; war and peace--Civil War and Abe, WWII, Willie & Joe, Theodore Seuss Geisel; post-war: Ike and successors; culture, politics, identity rises.
• Wk 3. Stories vs commentary; symbols = shorthand; commonest ones and their historical context.
• Wk 4. Insult by identity: race, gender, nationality, religion, immigration, etc. Powerful and sometimes ugly.
• Wk 5. And the winner is... the Pulitzers. The best and most powerful cartoons.
• Wk 6. Big international cartoon controversies, deadly and otherwise. 
• Wk 7. Create a cartoon. Six elements of art. No artistic skill needed...it's the idea that counts.
• Wk 8. Style and substance of The New Yorker cartoons and covers. The future of editorial cartoons in newspapers and magazines. The role of the internet; consolidation of cartoon syndicates; editorial pressures.

Suggested Readings:

• The Art of Controversy: Political Cartoons and their Enduring Power by Victor S. Navasky, 2013, Knopf
• The Art of Ill Will: The Story of American Political Cartoons by Donald Dewey, 2007, New York University Press

Instructor Details: Alexis "Lex" Tate is a former newspaper reporter, editor and columnist, later a public relations professional  for three U of I presidents and after for 17 years post-retirement a journalism and advertising adjunct instructor. She also co-authored a book, An Illini Place: Building the University of Illinois Campus, about planning, architecture and life on campus  from 1867 to 2017, published by the U of I Press. She has also written for the U of I alumni magazine.

Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is not struggling to reconcile tension between modernity and tradition so much as reinventing the very concept of state and society. NEOM, the Saudi model "city of the future," is both a physical and social experimentation in engineering that proposes a radically different ordering of human life. This class examines the many projects of Mohammed Bin Salman since he gained power in 2015. His maneuvering within the Saudi royal family and his campaigns against elite rivals, his efforts to rebrand Saudi Arabia with world class entertainment, and also the ruthless control he exerts over dissident journalists, rebellious neighbors and international critics.

Topics (subject to change):

1. Origins of the Saudi State (Ibn Saud, post WWI, history of the Wahhabi movement and role in the state) about 1890-1950s.
2. Oil wealth, the 1979 Siege of Mecca and the transformation within Saudi Arabia.
3. Saudi Arabia as a "pillar" of US Cold War and GWOT policy. 1977-2011.
4. The Rise of Mohammed Bin Salman and the transition to 21st century, post Arab Spring and post US role in the region.
5. Rebranding Saudi Arabia: Golf, Race Cars and Movies.
6. Dealing with Dissent.
7. NEOM and the Saudi vision of the ideal society.
8. Foreign entanglements and allies.

Suggested Readings:

• Karen Eliot House and Susanne Koelbl: Behind the Kingdom’s Veil: Inside the New Saudi Arabia under Mohammed Bin Salman, 2020.
• Ben Hubbard, MBS, The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman, 2021.
• Michael Darlow and Barbara Bray, Ibn Saud: The Desert Warrior who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2012.
• David Commins, On Saudi Arabia: A Modern History, 2025.

Instructor Details: Janice Jayes teaches Middle Eastern History at Illinois State University and enjoys the opportunity to explore new writing on the field while preparing OLLI classes.

Saudi Arabia under Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is not struggling to reconcile tension between modernity and tradition so much as reinventing the very concept of state and society. NEOM, the Saudi model "city of the future," is both a physical and social experimentation in engineering that proposes a radically different ordering of human life. This class examines the many projects of Mohammed Bin Salman since he gained power in 2015. His maneuvering within the Saudi royal family and his campaigns against elite rivals, his efforts to rebrand Saudi Arabia with world class entertainment, and also the ruthless control he exerts over dissident journalists, rebellious neighbors and international critics.

Topics (subject to change):

1. Origins of the Saudi State (Ibn Saud, post WWI, history of the Wahhabi movement and role in the state) about 1890-1950s.
2. Oil wealth, the 1979 Siege of Mecca and the transformation within Saudi Arabia.
3. Saudi Arabia as a "pillar" of US Cold War and GWOT policy. 1977-2011.
4. The Rise of Mohammed Bin Salman and the transition to 21st century, post Arab Spring and post US role in the region.
5. Rebranding Saudi Arabia: Golf, Race Cars and Movies.
6. Dealing with Dissent.
7. NEOM and the Saudi vision of the ideal society.
8. Foreign entanglements and allies.

Suggested Readings:

• Karen Eliot House and Susanne Koelbl: Behind the Kingdom’s Veil: Inside the New Saudi Arabia under Mohammed Bin Salman, 2020.
• Ben Hubbard, MBS, The Rise to Power of Mohammed Bin Salman, 2021.
• Michael Darlow and Barbara Bray, Ibn Saud: The Desert Warrior who Created the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2012.
• David Commins, On Saudi Arabia: A Modern History, 2025.

Instructor Details: Janice Jayes teaches Middle Eastern History at Illinois State University and enjoys the opportunity to explore new writing on the field while preparing OLLI classes.

This course incorporates necessary elements for a complete practice to bring strength, mindfulness, and body awareness into your daily living. While the foundations of the course are rooted in yoga, other modalities will be included to increase strength, mobility, flexibility, and balance.The primary objectives of the course are to:

• Increase integrated muscle engagement to preserve/increase muscle power
• Increase strength to support the joints, ligaments, and tendons
• Improve body awareness, alignment, and postural habits
• Improve fascial (connective tissue) health
• Incorporate dynamic movement practices into daily life to promote confidence and reduce fall risk

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1 -  Building a Solid Foundation
• Week 2 -  Body Awareness: The Key to Posture, Balance, Strength, and Confidence
• Week 3 - Lumbo-Pelvic Hip Complex as the Core of Balance and Strength
• Week 4 - Strengthening the Upper Back: Its role in good posture
• Week 5 - Abdominal Strength without Spinal Curvature: Build strength from the inside out
• Week 6 - Spinal Rotation: The Importance of Safe Spinal Rotation
• Week 7 - Just Breathe… 
• Week 8 - Strong Body, Calm Mind: Aging with Resilience

Suggested Readings:

• Yoga for Healthy Aging: A Guide to Lifelong Well-Being, by Baxter Bell and Nina Zolotow
• Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing, by Yoga Journal and Timothy McCall

Instructor Details: Kim Green has been practicing yoga and meditation since the 1990s. She has studied yoga for bone health and aging extensively and enjoys teaching a variety of yoga styles, self-myofascial release, and meditation. She has a particular interest in teaching yoga for strength, balance, and healthy connective tissues (including the bones). Kim teaches group yoga and self-myofascial release classes, workshops, and themed courses, and works individually with private clients. She is a certified Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-200; pursuing RYT-500), as well as a certified Level II Reiki practitioner.

The course begins with brief surveys of the art of premodern India and of European modern art. Modern art proper begins with early 20th-century work of Abanindranath Tagore and the Bengal School, and artistic experiments at Shantiniketan. Several pre-Independence (1947) artists are examined. The course considers the post-Independence “schools” of painting, especially the Bombay Progressive Artists Group, and studies examples of modernist architecture and sculpture. The last three weeks of the class highlight individual artists working from 1980 till the present, with focuses, besides painting, on women artists, tribal and popular art, photography, and installation.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1. Premodern India, Modern Europe, Prelude to Indian Modernism
• Week 2. Early Modernism
• Week 3. Before Independence: Modernist Artists & After Independence: Bombay Progressive Artists Group
• Week 4. Baroda School 
• Week 5. Other Schools, Architecture, Sculpture
• Week 6. Late 20th Century through Contemporary I
• Week 7. Late 20th Century through Contemporary II
• Week 8. Late 20th Century through Contemporary III

Suggested Readings:

• Brown, Rebecca M. Art for a Modern India, 1947-1980. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.
• Dalmia, Yashodhara. Indian Contemporary Art: Post Independence. New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 1997.
• Dalmia, Yashodhara. The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Mitter, Partha. The Triumph of Modernism: India’s Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1922-1947. London: Reaktion Books, 2007.
• Sinha, Gayatri. Voices of Change: 20 Indian Artists. New Delhi: Marg, 2010.

Instructor Details: Bernard Cesarone retired in 2015 after a career working on information and data projects in the UI’s College of Education. During this time, he pursued his decades-long interest in art, receiving a doctorate in art history, with a specialization in Spanish colonial art, though his interests range widely, to the art of India and elsewhere. He has owned and operated a gallery showing folk art from India and Latin America, and he has curated exhibitions of folk art at Krannert Art Museuem (KAM) and at the Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University (EIU). He has taught art history courses at EIU and previously at OLLI.

The course begins with brief surveys of the art of premodern India and of European modern art. Modern art proper begins with early 20th-century work of Abanindranath Tagore and the Bengal School, and artistic experiments at Shantiniketan. Several pre-Independence (1947) artists are examined. The course considers the post-Independence “schools” of painting, especially the Bombay Progressive Artists Group, and studies examples of modernist architecture and sculpture. The last three weeks of the class highlight individual artists working from 1980 till the present, with focuses, besides painting, on women artists, tribal and popular art, photography, and installation.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1. Premodern India, Modern Europe, Prelude to Indian Modernism
• Week 2. Early Modernism
• Week 3. Before Independence: Modernist Artists & After Independence: Bombay Progressive Artists Group
• Week 4. Baroda School 
• Week 5. Other Schools, Architecture, Sculpture
• Week 6. Late 20th Century through Contemporary I
• Week 7. Late 20th Century through Contemporary II
• Week 8. Late 20th Century through Contemporary III

Suggested Readings:

• Brown, Rebecca M. Art for a Modern India, 1947-1980. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009.
• Dalmia, Yashodhara. Indian Contemporary Art: Post Independence. New Delhi: Vadehra Art Gallery, 1997.
• Dalmia, Yashodhara. The Making of Modern Indian Art: The Progressives. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Mitter, Partha. The Triumph of Modernism: India’s Artists and the Avant-Garde, 1922-1947. London: Reaktion Books, 2007.
• Sinha, Gayatri. Voices of Change: 20 Indian Artists. New Delhi: Marg, 2010.

Instructor Details: Bernard Cesarone retired in 2015 after a career working on information and data projects in the UI’s College of Education. During this time, he pursued his decades-long interest in art, receiving a doctorate in art history, with a specialization in Spanish colonial art, though his interests range widely, to the art of India and elsewhere. He has owned and operated a gallery showing folk art from India and Latin America, and he has curated exhibitions of folk art at Krannert Art Museuem (KAM) and at the Tarble Arts Center at Eastern Illinois University (EIU). He has taught art history courses at EIU and previously at OLLI.

Since its publication in 1939, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath has enjoyed a complicated reputation. Both lauded and reviled, the novel has been called “the Great American Novel” by some and rejected and banned by others. Who decides? We do. Let’s explore The Grapes of Wrath by riding along with the Joad family as they travel from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to California. We may discover why this American saga continues to touch a national nerve.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1:  Introduction to John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath
• Week 2:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 1-9
• Week 3:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 10-16
• Week 4:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 17-20
• Week 5:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 21-23
• Week 6:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 24-26
• Week 7:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 27-30
• Week 8:  The Grapes of Wrath and media adaptations

Suggested Readings:

Anything by John Steinbeck. Ken Burns's documentary on the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Instructor Details: Parley Ann Boswell graduated from the University of Illinois a Urbana Champaign just months after Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece The Godfather Part II was released.  Now Professor Emerita of English, at EIU in Charleston she taught Film Studies and American Literature—from colonial through early 20th-century—for thirty years.  She has been teaching OLLI courses at U of I since 2018.

Since its publication in 1939, John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath has enjoyed a complicated reputation. Both lauded and reviled, the novel has been called “the Great American Novel” by some and rejected and banned by others. Who decides? We do. Let’s explore The Grapes of Wrath by riding along with the Joad family as they travel from Dust Bowl Oklahoma to California. We may discover why this American saga continues to touch a national nerve.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1:  Introduction to John Steinbeck and The Grapes of Wrath
• Week 2:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 1-9
• Week 3:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 10-16
• Week 4:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 17-20
• Week 5:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 21-23
• Week 6:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 24-26
• Week 7:  The Grapes of Wrath chapters 27-30
• Week 8:  The Grapes of Wrath and media adaptations

Suggested Readings:

Anything by John Steinbeck. Ken Burns's documentary on the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

Instructor Details: Parley Ann Boswell graduated from the University of Illinois a Urbana Champaign just months after Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece The Godfather Part II was released.  Now Professor Emerita of English, at EIU in Charleston she taught Film Studies and American Literature—from colonial through early 20th-century—for thirty years.  She has been teaching OLLI courses at U of I since 2018.

This course looks at the origins, initial public and critical reception, and enduring appeal of Jane Austen’s great novel, Pride and Prejudice. The first half of the course will look directly at the novel’s origins within the literary and historical trends of the late 18th century. Particular attention will be paid to the rise of professional female writers and the social and political world of Regency England amidst the turmoil of the Napoleonic Era. The latter half of the course will look at the numerous film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and the novel’s enduring influence on popular culture in the 21st century.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Section I: Historical origins
  • Week 1:  England in the Age of Revolutions
  • Week 2: Popular literature in Regency England
  • Week 3: Social class and the dawn of industrialization
  • Week 4: Austen and her 19th century readership
• Section II: Austen in film and modern popular culture
  • Week 5: The first Pride and Prejudice movie (1940)
  • Week 6: The BBC’s Pride and Prejudice (1995)
  • Week 7: A sleeker Pride and Prejudice (2005)
  • Week 8: Pride and Prejudice in popular culture

Suggested Readings:

• Copeland, Edward and McMaster, Juliet; eds. The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen.Cambridge University Press, 1997.
• Mattix, Micah. “Why is Jane Austen So Popular?” The American Conservative, 27 January 2014.
• Thorpe, Vanessa. “Britain's Love Affair With Braces and Bonnets.” The Observer, 6 January 2008.
• Potter, Cherry.  “Why Do We Still Fall for Mr. Darcy?” The Guardian, 29 September 2004.

Instructor Details: Bao Bui he received his doctorate in history from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 2016. His dissertation examined personal privacy and letter-writing during the American Civil War. He is currently working on a book manuscript titled, Mail Intimacy: Gender Roles and Epistolary Privacy during the Civil War. He holds degrees in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and in English literature from Pomona College. He has taught courses in food politics, military history, foreign relations history, women and gender history, human rights, Jane Austen, and film and media studies. An avid tango dancer, he has visited communities of Argentine tango dancers throughout the world.

This course looks at the origins, initial public and critical reception, and enduring appeal of Jane Austen’s great novel, Pride and Prejudice. The first half of the course will look directly at the novel’s origins within the literary and historical trends of the late 18th century. Particular attention will be paid to the rise of professional female writers and the social and political world of Regency England amidst the turmoil of the Napoleonic Era. The latter half of the course will look at the numerous film adaptations of Pride and Prejudice and the novel’s enduring influence on popular culture in the 21st century.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

Section I: Historical origins

• Section I: Historical origins
  • Week 1:  England in the Age of Revolutions
  • Week 2: Popular literature in Regency England
  • Week 3: Social class and the dawn of industrialization
  • Week 4: Austen and her 19th century readership
• Section II: Austen in film and modern popular culture
  • Week 5: The first Pride and Prejudice movie (1940)
  • Week 6: The BBC’s Pride and Prejudice (1995)
  • Week 7: A sleeker Pride and Prejudice (2005)
  • Week 8: Pride and Prejudice in popular culture

Suggested Readings:

• Copeland, Edward and McMaster, Juliet; eds. The Cambridge Companion to Jane Austen. Cambridge University Press, 1997.
• Mattix, Micah. “Why is Jane Austen So Popular?” The American Conservative, 27 January 2014.
• Thorpe, Vanessa. “Britain's Love Affair With Braces and Bonnets.” The Observer, 6 January 2008.
• Potter, Cherry.  “Why Do We Still Fall for Mr. Darcy?” The Guardian, 29 September 2004.

Instructor Details: Bao Bui he received his doctorate in history from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in 2016. His dissertation examined personal privacy and letter-writing during the American Civil War. He is currently working on a book manuscript titled, Mail Intimacy: Gender Roles and Epistolary Privacy during the Civil War. He holds degrees in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and in English literature from Pomona College. He has taught courses in food politics, military history, foreign relations history, women and gender history, human rights, Jane Austen, and film and media studies. An avid tango dancer, he has visited communities of Argentine tango dancers throughout the world.

The arts are often grouped together as fields of human expression, although specific arts move through our lives in distinctive ways. Seldom do we contemplate how artists in one particular discipline draw inspiration from another, although this borrowing often fuels creativity. We will explore artistic pairings that cross this bridge of inspiration, addressing questions such as: Which artists and composers have celebrated these relationships? What forms do these bridge-crossings take? How does juxtaposing works with shared histories deepen our experience (or does it)? The only prerequisite is enthusiasm to search for connections across the arts.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: The landscape of connection in the early 20th century. 
• Week 2: The most musical painter in art history (and some of his friends).
• Week 3: Bridge-crossing portraits in mid-century America.
• Week 4: Strengthening connections: Setting up cross-arts triptychs.

Suggested Readings:

• Janet Revell Barrett (2023). Seeking connections: An interdisciplinary perspective on music teaching and learning. Oxford University Press. Section III, “Cultural archives of awe” from Dacher Keltner (2023). Awe: The new science of everyday wonder and how it can transform your life. Penguin Press.
• Brenda Leach (2015). Looking and listening: Conversations between modern art and music.
• Rowman & Littlefield. Chapter 6, “Flourishing,” from Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross (2023.
• Your brain on art: How the arts transform us. Random House.Adam Moss (2024).
• The work of art: How something comes from nothing. Penguin Press.

Instructor details: Dr. Janet Revell Barrett is Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she has taught a variety of courses for undergraduate and graduate students. An early encounter at the Art Institute of Chicago awakened her lifelong quest to explore art inspired by music and music inspired by art. Her recent book, Seeking Connections: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music Teaching and Learning (Oxford University Press, 2023), encourages music teachers to explore these relationships as they create educational experiences for their students, valuing the ways that the study of music is complemented by engagement with other art forms, history, and culture.

The arts are often grouped together as fields of human expression, although specific arts move through our lives in distinctive ways. Seldom do we contemplate how artists in one particular discipline draw inspiration from another, although this borrowing often fuels creativity. We will explore artistic pairings that cross this bridge of inspiration, addressing questions such as: Which artists and composers have celebrated these relationships? What forms do these bridge-crossings take? How does juxtaposing works with shared histories deepen our experience (or does it)?  The only prerequisite is enthusiasm to search for connections across the arts.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: The landscape of connection in the early 20th century. 
• Week 2: The most musical painter in art history (and some of his friends).
• Week 3: Bridge-crossing portraits in mid-century America.
• Week 4: Strengthening connections: Setting up cross-arts triptychs.

Suggested Readings:

• Janet Revell Barrett (2023). Seeking connections: An interdisciplinary perspective on music teaching and learning. Oxford University Press. Section III, “Cultural archives of awe” from Dacher Keltner (2023). Awe: The new science of everyday wonder and how it can transform your life. Penguin Press.
• Brenda Leach (2015). Looking and listening: Conversations between modern art and music.
• Rowman & Littlefield. Chapter 6, “Flourishing,” from Susan Magsamen and Ivy Ross (2023.
• Your brain on art: How the arts transform us. Random House.Adam Moss (2024).
• The work of art: How something comes from nothing. Penguin Press.

Instructor details: Dr. Janet Revell Barrett is Marilyn Pflederer Zimmerman Professor Emerita at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she has taught a variety of courses for undergraduate and graduate students. An early encounter at the Art Institute of Chicago awakened her lifelong quest to explore art inspired by music and music inspired by art. Her recent book, Seeking Connections: An Interdisciplinary Perspective on Music Teaching and Learning (Oxford University Press, 2023), encourages music teachers to explore these relationships as they create educational experiences for their students, valuing the ways that the study of music is complemented by engagement with other art forms, history, and culture.

In the 1930s Agatha Christie emerged as the Queen of mystery writers, but she was followed by a set of competors: Ngaio Marsh, Marjorie Allingham, and Dorothy L. Sayers. Adaptations of their novels soon spun off into films and later TV, and those adaptations are the subjects of this course.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot
• Week 2: Agatha Christie's Miss Marple
• Week 3: Dorothy L. Sayers' Lord Peter Whimsey
• Week: 4: Lord Peter Whimsey, continued
• Week: 5: Margery Allingham's Albert Campion
• Week 6:  Albert Campion continued
• Week: 7: Ngaio Marsh: Inspector Roderick Alleyn

Suggested Readings:

• The individual novels upon which the adaptation is based.

Instructor details: John Frayne; education: Fordham College, B.A.; Columbia University, M.A. and Ph. D; taught English Literature at UIUC from 1965 to 1997, later, taught in retirement.

Whether you have osteoporosis, osteopenia, or want to prevent these diseases from developing altogether, this course gradually introduces all of the necessary elements for a complete yoga practice that helps holistically to build bone and muscle strength. This progressive series has the primary objectives of accelerating increases in bone mineral density; increasing integrated muscle engagement for strength; and protecting the joints, ligaments, and tendons while stimulating the bones.

Topic Schedule (subject to change):

• Week 1: Overview of Yoga for Bone Health
• Week 2: Body Awareness - Feet, Knees, Pelvis, Spine
• Weeks 3 and 4: Strengthening the Lumbo-Pelvic Hip Complex 
• Week 5: Strengthening the Back
• Week 6: Abdominal Strength without Spinal Curvature 
• Week 7: Spinal Rotation without Flexion
• Week 8: Consolidation & Confidence: Healthy Bones for Life

Suggested Reading:

• Yoga and Osteoporosis: The Do’s and Don’ts, Amber Burke, Yoga International
• Yoga for Osteoporosis, Loren Fishman, MD, and Ellen Saltonstall

Instructor details: Kim Green has been practicing yoga and meditation since the 1990s. She has studied yoga for bone health and aging extensively and enjoys teaching a variety of yoga styles, self-myofascial release, and meditation. She has a particular interest in teaching yoga for strength, balance, and healthy connective tissues (including the bones). Kim teaches group yoga and self-myofascial release classes, workshops, and themed courses, and works individually with private clients. She is a certified Experienced Registered Yoga Teacher (ERYT-200; pursuing RYT-500), as well as a certified Level II Reiki practitioner.