Tuesday PM   

Welcome to Da Bronx, it is a wonderful place. “Wonderful” in the literal sense: full of wonders. Wonders everyone’s heard of, like the Bronx Zoo and Yankee Stadium; wonders that make presidents cry, as Jimmy Carter famously did in 1977, standing in the rubble of the South Bronx; and wonders only Bronxites seem to know about, like Wave Hill, City Island, and Arthur Avenue. From the South Bronx to Fordham Road, from the Bronx Zoo to Lehman College, from Sedgwick Avenue to yuppie Riverdale, it’s all here. Crime stories that hint at the cultural, social, and economic range of the only New York City borough on the mainland of North America. New in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED BOOK: Bronx Noir, Ed. S J Rozan; ISBN 9781933354255

Use your natural speaking voice for commercials, films, and more. Learn a unique way to break into the lucrative voice-over industry on your own terms. Concludes with a professional voice evaluation with your instructor.

Repeat remote workshop. Format includes lecture and discussion.

Based on the book by the same name, this one-time workshop will inspire attendees to take steps to:

• Rediscover who they are, what they most enjoy, and how to overcome obstacles that get in the way of living the life they desire.

• Reclaim their power that they may have unknowingly been turning over to others.

• Be themselves — completely. How to do it and why that’s OK.

• Set boundaries that will free them to live more enjoyably.

• Strengthen relationships and make new ones.

New in-person workshop. Format includes lecture.

SUGGESTED BOOK: Finding Your Spunk in Your 60s, 70s, 80s, Christine Klein, ISBN 9798254710516

 

In stressful times, it’s of utmost importance to create opportunities for happiness and pleasure. PLAY is an excellent way to do this. We are wired to play, and with good reason: play substantially reduces stress, enhances brain function, and builds social bonds. In this class, we will engage in “play for intelligent adults” with group games drawn from the world of improv. No, we won’t try to be actors or comedians, and no one is “put on the spot.” Most of the games are played with the whole group, and it’s perfectly fin — actually a lot of fun — to simply watch and applaud your classmates. Laughter and loads of surprise are absolutely guaranteed. If you’re a former child, you’re a born expert at play.

Repeat in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, film, hands-on, movement.

In this course, we will explore the three fascinating realms of the cosmos: nearby planets and moons; the stars; and the galaxies (the great island of stars that turn out to be the building blocks of the universe.) Our discussion will be in everyday language, without any math, and will be accompanied by remarkable color images from the latest space probes and the world's largest telescopes, including the latest breathtaking images from the James Webb Space Telescope.

America has provided fertile ground for new and alternative religions to sprout and grow. Some prosper and eventually become accepted as part of the normal religious landscape, some wither away and are forgotten, and some detonate, creating public scandal and in the worst cases, national tragedy. This course will examine New Religious Movements, popularly known as "cults", within the US context. We will examine these religious movements both from insider perspectives and outsider perceptions. We will analyze the history, practices, and beliefs of these organizations to better understand them and deconstruct misconceptions. This course covers the 18th and 19th centuries.

Mexicans celebrate a remarkable diversity of peoples, music, food, festivals, and historical traditions, expressed through fiestas that bring communities together across the calendar year. In this course, we will explore Mexico City as a cultural and historical crossroads shaped by centuries of continuity and change. We will trace the legacies of Indigenous civilizations, the transformations of Spanish colonial rule, the struggles for independence and revolution, and the emergence of modern democratic politics, culminating in the 2024 election of Mexico’s first woman president. We will see how culture, power, and celebration remain deeply intertwined in the life of this extraordinary city.

The road movie uses physical travel to explore psycho logical, social, and moral movement. These films ask what happens when characters leave familiar structures behind—and whether motion itself is liberation, escape, illusion, or transformation. This course explores seven road movies as modern myth. Across these films, travel becomes a way to question national ideals, challenge inherited roles, and confront cultural boundaries of gender, class, race, and belonging. Some journeys seek liberation; others drift, flee, perform, or play. Some end in reckoning, others in transformation, and some refuse resolution altogether. New in-person course. Format includes film.

The Woman in White (1860), by Wilkie Collins, is an early mystery novel, a sensational Gothic tale, and a discussion of the legal rights of women in Victorian Britain. Collins was a friend, colleague, employee, and competitor of Charles Dickens, with a more liberal political and social outlook. A popular and prolific novelist, Collins sought to entertain but also to illuminate social issues he found important. The novel uses many of the sensational tropes of the period — Kidnapping! Insanity! Mistaken identity! Sinister foreigners! Inheritance theft! — and, of course, also, many kinds of love stories. New in-person course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

REQUIRED BOOK: The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins, ISBN 9780141439617

We are on the cusp of a new age in science. The tools and concepts of cognitive science are being applied to biological and computational systems. Intelligence, as the ability to solve problems, appears to be more broadly descriptive than usually assumed. The course will survey some of the pioneering work from the Levin Lab at Tufts University. The discoveries being made in biology bring light and hope to the understanding of our world in an unusual and profound framework. I invite you to explore this ground- breaking work and share a fresh view of nature and the nature of mind. New remote course. Format includes lecture and discussion.

The history of life is punctuated by major transitions and inventions. Fins became limbs; fish moved onto land. Scales became feathers; reptiles took to the air. How did these and other transitions of structure and function happen? The answers, which will surprise and astound, are found in key insights that are emerging as scientists use modern methods to probe classical ideas. This class, suitable for those with some experience and those new to the study of evolution and developmental biology, will help you see how innovations in life evolve. New in-person course. Format includes discussion.

REQUIRED BOOK: Some Assembly Required, Neil Shubin, ISBN 9781101972687

World War I transformed the modern world while devastating an entire generation. This eight-week course will explore the origins, battles, political decisions, and human experiences that shaped what many hoped would be “The War to End All Wars,” from the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo in 1914 to the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. Using discussion, selected film clips, and the novel To the Last Man by Jeff Shaara as our central text, we will examine shifting alliances, trench warfare, collapsing empires, and the uneasy peace that helped shape the modern age. New in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and film.

SUGGESTED BOOK: To The Last Man, Jeff Shaara, ISBN 13: 9780345461346

Groundbreaking research over the past three decades has quietly revolutionized gerontology: the years after sixty are not a winding down but a rich final chapter of development that can bring some of the most significant growth of a person’s lifetime. Over eight sessions, participants will explore their life through the lens of six areas of growth using experiential exercises, brief spontaneous writing, and small group conversations. What you share is entirely your choice. No credits. No pressure. Just learning — and perhaps a few surprises. New in-person course. Format includes lecture, discussion, and hands-on learning.