Course Descriptions by categories:

• The Arts
• Appreciation
• Finance/Investing
• History and Culture
• Languages
• Literature
• Philosophy and Religion
• Politics/Current Events
• Psychology
• Writing Courses
• Computer Workshops

Schedule

Register Online

The Arts

In the first film course Dr. Huston has taught at The Women’s Institute in quite some time, the class will examine a group of movies of a very different type. 

We will begin the course with Crash, probably the best movie produced in the last three years—the film is powerfully acted, brilliantly plotted, and often shocking in its events.  In a sense, it is the reverse of Love Actually, which deals with a number of different love plots that come together to form a happy ending; this film deals with a number of racial plots, most of which end unhappily, often violently.  After Crash the order of works we will examine is less certain but included is The Blind Side, which is partly a sports movie but much more a film about race and deep human commitment that differs radically from Crash.  Mansfield Park, a wonderful movie made from a Jane Austen novel, will provide our one journey into the classic romance form in the course.  And then we will look at two different versions of the mystery, The 39 Steps, one the great Hitchcock film, and the other an interesting variation on the story that ran this year on the BBC network.  Then, if times allows, we will study Almost Famous, a movie that The Houston Chronicle selected as one of the ten best of the decade.  Finally, we will conclude with Up in the Air, a film focused, among other things, on the present economic slump and also on the loneliness of a life without family commitment.

12 weeks

$225

Tuesday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting September 7, 2010

In this course we shall examine the increasingly central presence women artists have taken in the last 150 years.  Prior to the Renaissance we have no way to determine how much art and how many artifacts women produced (I suspect much more than we will ever know).  But, from the Renaissance forward we inherit much more tangible information about women artists, slow at first but increasing through the 17th and 18th centuries until the mid-19th century when there is rapid growth of significant work by women artists.  We shall take Impressionism as our point of departure—that group including Berthe Morisot and the American Mary Cassatt—and by the turn of the 19th to the 20th century, the number of prominent artists increases incrementally to the present day.  Among the many artists whose work we shall examine, some familiar and many much less so, include the following:  Käthe Kollwitz, Hannah Höche, Georgia O’Keefe, Varvara Stepanova, Alexandra Exter, Suzanne Valadon, Gwen John, Tamara Lempicka, Florine Stettheimer, Frieda Kahlo, Lee Krasner, Helen Franken-Thaler, Roslyn Drexler, Eva Hesse, Bridget Riley, Ida Applebroog, and many more.  As usual, rarely seen works will illustrate this series.

12 weeks

$225

Wednesday afternoons, 1:00-3:00

Starting September 8, 2010

American musical theatre evolved from operetta and vaudeville into a rich tradition fusing popular song, theatre, and dance.  In this course we will consider this expansive genre in terms of its history and creative and production processes.  We will examine the basic chronology of American musical theatre and discover how a musical is brought to life, from its earliest creative inception to its production and reception.  Most musicals begin as adaptations of other source material.  We will consider numerous examples, including adapting Shaw's Pygmalion (based on the Greek myth itself) to My Fair Lady, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to West Side Story, and Puccini's La Bohème (itself an adaptation of a novel) to Rent.  We will learn how Sondheim revolutionized the musical, popularizing such concepts as the thematically-driven "concept musical" and advancing a case for rhythmically and metrically challenging music.  We will also consider what makes a show succeed or fail in production, as we attempt to account for how a show like Babes in Arms had little historical traction when it featured some of the best-loved songs of musical theatre, including "Where or When" and "My Funny Valentine."  The musical has been a tremendously influential genre, as much of the core jazz vocal repertoire (the so-called Great American Songbook) is taken directly from musical theatre.  In the last quarter century, musical theatre, like classical music, has been apparently struggling to find its voice.  There have been an increasing number of revivals, more Disney films being converted into stage versions, and a declining commitment to new and challenging works as investors hope to tap into the American popular music market with well-known shows and shows influenced by rock and pop music.  By studying musical theatre, we find reason to recommit to the future of this dynamic genre.

8 weeks

$175

Wednesday afternoons, 1:00-3:00

Starting September 8, 2010

Accessories are the finishing touch in every décor.  They are the defining elements that tie a room together and can make (or break) the look of a room. This course will offer a multitude of creative ideas on how to accent the home and express a decorating personality with accessories.

Starting with proportion, scale and balance, we will discuss how to create dramatic focal points over fireplace mantels, on tabletops, in bookcases, and niches.  We will learn which accessories are the "staples" or critical building blocks in accessory groupings and which ones are the "attention getters."  We will explore traditional and contemporary artwork, discuss picture arrangements, and correct picture framing and learn how these artistic elements create drama in a room.  We will discover the quiet power of traditional accessories such as antique porcelain, china, imari and murano crystal on tabletops, on walls and in bookcases, and observe the dramatic effects contemporary artwork and accessories add to a room. We will discuss the importance of book collections in terms of accessorizing and how to artistically arrange and display them.  We will look at which flowers, fruits, and vegetables to use with traditional, casual, contemporary, or eclectic decors and how to arrange and combine them to add drama and sophistication to our homes.

This course will provide participants with the skill to think creatively and accessorize artistically so that the accessories we choose to display add "something special" to our homes and make it memorable.  Field trips will be an integral part of this course as well as class lectures.   

6 weeks

$150

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting September 9, 2010

Until the rise of modernism, about 1860, the backbone of Western art dealt with storytelling of one sort or another.  From the Greek and Roman periods to the Middle Ages, most art subjects invariably came from the textual sources of mythology and its heroes and religious matter—in other words, art made the word visual.  From the Renaissance forward, Classical and Christian subject matter dominated Western art until the 18th century when other narratives were used—nationalist subjects, imaginary narrative, and contemporary history, for example.  In the first half of the 19th century, major artists such as Ingres, Delacroix, and Géricault explored many diverse sources of narrative art with great originality, drawing from the Classical age, Christianity, literature, and contemporary events.  Progressive art, however, (from Manet and Impressionism forward) abandoned the “narrative” and pursued other paths.  Modernism developed new ideas of the narrative, particularly Surrealism, in which the inner world becomes a rich new source of telling a story.  This trend continues to the present day into Post-Modernism.  People have always needed to see stories and so in this class we will do just that!

12 weeks

$225

Thursday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 9, 2010

This course continues the examination of extraordinary works of art started in our study in fall 2009.  A general introduction to the main ideas of the course will be provided in the first session; hence, a person may take this course without having taken the previous ones.  Again, in this course, we shall examine works of art that are unprecedented, extraordinarily new, and highly original.  We will attempt to understand how each work originated and what the artist was thinking as each was created.  We shall marvel and delight at these works, examine them and question their origin, nature and novelty.  Furthermore, the course as a whole constitutes a philosophical attempt at articulating the nature of originality in the arts.  In chronological order we will study works from the 19th century through the 20th century including the following artists: Turner, Bierstadt, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Van Gogh, Munch, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, Duchamp, Pollock, Rothko, Judd, Newman, Serra, Freud, Bacon, Maya Ying, Kiefer, and Turrell.

12 weeks

$225

Monday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting September 13, 2010

Beginning in the 7th century, the world of Islam rapidly extended over all of the Near East, into Central Asia, across North Africa, and beyond.  As the empire of Islam spread, so, too, did the culture of the Arab, from a nomadic and tribal society to a sophisticated and powerful one.  Islamic art encompasses a range of original and adapted forms, from the written to the sculpted, from the finely detailed to the monumental.  Among the most highly respected, calligraphers practiced their skills in both the religious and the secular spheres.  Artisans also created masterworks in paint, ceramic, metal, wood, ivory, glass, and other media.  Most importantly, Muslims glorified their mosques, creating some of the world’s amazing places of worship.  We will explore the art of Islam and learn about a culture and its religion along the way, a culture that even now continues to spread around the world.

6 weeks

$150

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting October 21, 2010

Do you know the difference between a monastery and an abbey, a convent and a nunnery?  Can you tell a Benedictine from a Cistercian?  What did St. Bernard have against St. Benedict?  Did “charity” really begin at home?  How did Bede become Venerable?  If you were a guest in a monastery, would you know how to distinguish the Cellerarium from the Neccessarium (you had better)?  Why did the pilgrim cross the road?

If you have been staying awake nights puzzling over the answers to the above and similar questions, then you will want to enroll in this course.  From their establishment in Egypt, we will follow the fascinating history of the religious houses of medieval Europe:  the orders, their practices, their buildings, and eventually their demise.  We will look at the great houses of France, Cluny and Mont Saint-Michel; Austria’s Melk; Spain’s Montserrat and El Escorial; Greece’s Mt. Athos; Scotland’s Iona and Melrose.  We will look at those in Ireland, Wales, Germany, and Switzerland and in the Italian cities of Florence, Venice, and Rome.  And, of course, no study would be complete without England’s Fountains, Westminster Abbey, and many others.  We will conclude with the story of the dissolution of the English houses under Henry VIII, along with consideration of the surviving (and surprising) remains.

10 weeks

$200

Monday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 13, 2010

Appreciation

The world of wine has changed dramatically over the past 25 years.  Today wonderful wines come from previously unknown sources.  Competition has led to unparalleled quality and superb values.  With this series of classes, we will discover and taste the quality and value that is available to us today.  Each class will consist of 30 minutes of lecture, and the remaining time will be spent in tasting six wines per class and discussing each selection.  The wines we will discuss and taste are listed below.
•   The Wines of Tuscany:
No visit to Italy that did not include Florence would be complete.  The same can be said of the wines of Tuscany.  Here, the grape Sangiovese is king.  In this session we will look at what today’s Italian wine makers are doing with this noble grape.
•   Wines of Australia and New Zealand:
The “down under” world of wine has exploded in recent years.  Shiraz has brought world fame to Australia as Sauvignon Blanc and their screw tops have to New Zealand.  Cabernet Sauvignon, Semillon, and Riesling are quality Aussie wines and New Zealand’s Pinot Noir gets better with each vintage.
•   Spain without the Rioja:
When one thinks of Spanish wine, the first region that comes to mind is the Rioja.  However, many of Spain’s finest wines are produced elsewhere.  Tempranillo and its cousin Tinto Fino lead the red wine grapes in non-Rioja regions.  Their Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are becoming increasingly popular.
•   Sparkling Wines:
Champagne is the beverage of celebration.  We will conclude this session with a discussion and tasting of sparkling wines from around the world.  Is there difference between Champagne and sparkling wine?  Join us and find out. (The fee includes the cost of six different wines for tasting per class.  Dates for this class are September 19, 26, October 10 and 17.)

4 weeks

$200

Sunday afternoons 4:00-6:00

September 19 & 26, and October 10 & 17, 2010

American musical theatre evolved from operetta and vaudeville into a rich tradition fusing popular song, theatre, and dance.  In this course we will consider this expansive genre in terms of its history and creative and production processes.  We will examine the basic chronology of American musical theatre and discover how a musical is brought to life, from its earliest creative inception to its production and reception.  Most musicals begin as adaptations of other source material.  We will consider numerous examples, including adapting Shaw's Pygmalion (based on the Greek myth itself) to My Fair Lady, Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet to West Side Story, and Puccini's La Bohème (itself an adaptation of a novel) to Rent.  We will learn how Sondheim revolutionized the musical, popularizing such concepts as the thematically-driven "concept musical" and advancing a case for rhythmically and metrically challenging music.  We will also consider what makes a show succeed or fail in production, as we attempt to account for how a show like Babes in Arms had little historical traction when it featured some of the best-loved songs of musical theatre, including "Where or When" and "My Funny Valentine."  The musical has been a tremendously influential genre, as much of the core jazz vocal repertoire (the so-called Great American Songbook) is taken directly from musical theatre.  In the last quarter century, musical theatre, like classical music, has been apparently struggling to find its voice.  There have been an increasing number of revivals, more Disney films being converted into stage versions, and a declining commitment to new and challenging works as investors hope to tap into the American popular music market with well-known shows and shows influenced by rock and pop music.  By studying musical theatre, we find reason to recommit to the future of this dynamic genre.

8 weeks

$175

Wednesday afternoons, 1:00-3:00

Starting September 8, 2010

Finance/Investing

With interest rates at historically low levels, income investors have been frustrated as their investment income has declined.  In this course we will focus on ways to increase investment income and control risks should inflation and interest rates begin to rise.  In addition, the class will analyze attractive investments in the stock market that provide the possibility of rising income streams and future growth of capital.  A broad range of income and growth investments will be presented to diversify an investment portfolio including a wide variety of index funds.  This course is for novice investors as well as for longtime investors who wants to sharpen their skills.
Topics include the following:
•   Dividend stocks that can provide rising income streams including real estate investment trusts (REITs)
•   Strategies to protect income portfolio against inflation, rising interest rates,
and a falling dollar
•   Tips—Treasury bonds that protect against rising inflation
•   Tax law changes:  Influence on investment strategies
•   Attractive areas in the global stock and bond markets—and what to avoid
(Fee includes course material.)

5 weeks

$145

Wednesday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting October 27, 2010

History and Culture

In this course we will explore the Mediterranean world, especially the Aegean cultures, from the Early Bronze Age to the end of the Late Bronze Age.  Topics will include the art of the Cycladic Islands, the cultures of Minoan Crete and the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece, and the legendary site of Troy.  We will look at the world of international diplomacy in the Late Bronze Age, and how the kings of Egypt, the Hittites, and Mesopotamia maintained cordial relationships, or at times, failed to.  Finally, we will look at the end of the Bronze Age, a time marked by invasions, climate change, and the collapse of most of the Bronze Age civilizations.  Topics include the following:
• The Cycladic Islands
• Minoan Crete
• Mycenaeans
• Troy, in legend and reality
• The Late Bronze Age world around the Mediterranean
• The end of the Bronze Age

6 weeks

$150

Tuesday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 7, 2010

At the end of the 19th and the first three decades of the 20th century, Germany seemed to have reached the pinnacle in culture and science.  A considerable number of Jews played a crucial and very often innovative role in these fields—in science as well as in music, literature, publishing, theater, and the emerging movie industry.  The mutual stimulation seemed only to rival the “Golden Era” of pre-reconquista Spain.  In this course we will examine the 2,000 years of common history between Gentiles and Jews on German soil, where the latter settled as part of the Roman colonization, where periods of prosperity and relative security alternated with persecution and marginalization, where the ears of seclusion and withdrawal gave way to the enlightenment when Moses Mendelssohn opened the doors of the self-inflicted mental ghetto.  Germany and Jews were bound together.  We will look at the development of Yiddish as a language, which resulted when in the Middle Ages, Germany’s Jews fled from persecution to asylum in Eastern Europe.  Clinging to their native tongue, they enriched medieval German with Hebrew and some Slavic substrates.  Moving toward modernity, we will ask—and try to answer the questions—was the highly acclaimed “German-Jewish symbiosis” reality, illusion, or self-deceit and how could the brutal and abrupt exclusion of Jews after 1933 be explained in light of their historical contributions to Germany?

Please note that the first class only will meet on Tuesday, Sept. 7, at 10:00 a.m.

6 weeks

$150

Thursday mornings, 10:00-

Starting September 9, 2010 12:00

First class only: Sept. 7, 10:00 a.m.

Do you know the difference between a monastery and an abbey, a convent and a nunnery?  Can you tell a Benedictine from a Cistercian?  What did St. Bernard have against St. Benedict?  Did “charity” really begin at home?  How did Bede become Venerable?  If you were a guest in a monastery, would you know how to distinguish the Cellerarium from the Neccessarium (you had better)?  Why did the pilgrim cross the road?

If you have been staying awake nights puzzling over the answers to the above and similar questions, then you will want to enroll in this course.  From their establishment in Egypt, we will follow the fascinating history of the religious houses of medieval Europe:  the orders, their practices, their buildings, and eventually their demise.  We will look at the great houses of France, Cluny and Mont Saint-Michel; Austria’s Melk; Spain’s Montserrat and El Escorial; Greece’s Mt. Athos; Scotland’s Iona and Melrose.  We will look at those in Ireland, Wales, Germany, and Switzerland and in the Italian cities of Florence, Venice, and Rome.  And, of course, no study would be complete without England’s Fountains, Westminster Abbey, and many others.  We will conclude with the story of the dissolution of the English houses under Henry VIII, along with consideration of the surviving (and surprising) remains.

10 weeks

$200

Monday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 13, 2010

What an incredible era—America’s 20th century—through which many of us have lived!  From the hand-crank phone to the cell phone, from the idyllic small-town life of rural America to life in the city, from the Model T to the SST, from snail mail to e-mail, from the Saturday Evening Post to the E-Mag, from the compass to GPS, from the encyclopedia to Wikipedia, “change is the name of the game.”  Changes in our personal lives have been mirrored in our country’s life.  We have Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation and the Baby Boom Generation, the turmoil of the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war protests, the social upheaval ushered in by Woodstock and the Hippies’ Love-Ins, and the “me generation” that led us into today’s political conservative ascendancy and resurgence of the “religious right.”  In this course, we will have fun reviewing American cultural and social history.  There will be a large dose of reminiscing and nostalgia in recalling our heritage and past.  In addition, however, to such enjoyment, we will also recall the wars, the pain and anguish of assassinations, and a society divided by protests.  We will look at the underlying societal trends and the meanings that were hidden to us both by the “busyness” of our daily lives and the enticement of constant change.  Each session will cover approximately one decade, ending with the 1990s.

6 weeks

$150

Tuesday afernoons 1:00-3:00

Starting October 19, 2010

Beginning in the 7th century, the world of Islam rapidly extended over all of the Near East, into Central Asia, across North Africa, and beyond.  As the empire of Islam spread, so, too, did the culture of the Arab, from a nomadic and tribal society to a sophisticated and powerful one.  Islamic art encompasses a range of original and adapted forms, from the written to the sculpted, from the finely detailed to the monumental.  Among the most highly respected, calligraphers practiced their skills in both the religious and the secular spheres.  Artisans also created masterworks in paint, ceramic, metal, wood, ivory, glass, and other media.  Most importantly, Muslims glorified their mosques, creating some of the world’s amazing places of worship.  We will explore the art of Islam and learn about a culture and its religion along the way, a culture that even now continues to spread around the world.

6 weeks

$150

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting October 21, 2010

In this class we will learn about Supreme Court decisions that Professor Buchanan will characterize as good, bad, and some that are downright ugly.  We will compare decisions in important areas of Constitutional law, including racial, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination; advocacy of violence; the use of corporate money in political campaigns; government power to regulate working conditions; and the treatment of our “enemies.”  We will explore the historical, political, and socio-economic context of the decisions, such as the impact of current events and the influence of particular justices.  For example, what factors motivated the Court to make its “bad” 1896 decision in Plesssy v. Ferguson, the case that established the “separate but equal” doctrine in relation to access to facilities such as public schools, public hospitals, and courthouses?  In contrast, what led the Court to make a dramatic shift in the 1954 “good” decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, the case that held the “separate but equal” doctrine to be unconstitutional?  Through vigorous and informed discussion, class members will be encouraged to make up their own minds about whether the Court’s important decisions are among the good, the bad, or the ugly.  Finally, it is again rumored, and not denied, that Professor “Sing-Along-With-Sid” Buchanan will, from time to time, sing familiar tunes with his own “con law” lyrics.  (Note: Mr. Buchanan is well known in his classes for his musical interpretations.)

6 weeks

$150

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting October 21, 2010

Languages

This course is intended for people with little or no previous knowledge of French.  Dr. Urrutibeheity will introduce short conversations about everyday situations that a visitor to France may need to be familiar with.  Grammar will be presented incidentally and the day’s lesson will be recorded and posted on the instructor’s web site.  Participants are encouraged to listen to these recordings and practice repeating words and sentences as often as they can.  Samples of conversation topics will be taken from a French textbook co-authored by Dr. Urrutibeheity and include “Arriving in France,” “At the Hotel,” “Ordering Meals,” “At a Department Store,” “At the Train Station,” “Meeting People,” etc. (A limited enrollment class)

6 weeks

$275

Wednesday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting October 20, 2010

Literature

War and Peace and Anna Karenina are two of the world's greatest novels. A.N. Wilson, Tolstoy's recent biographer, sometimes let slip that they are the two greatest, period.  (It is a wonderful biography and when I am reading War and Peace, I think he may be right.)  We will read them at a stately pace, over 12 full weeks, in the new translations by Pevear and Volokhonsky, which are extremely smooth and lucid.  This immersion experience will be, I hope, transporting for all of us.  As Tolstoy becomes a part of daily life, over any period of time, life changes.

The Wilson biography would be a terrific companion, and the movie The Last Station is an accurate account of the Tolstoy family and his last days.

12 weeks

$225

Thursday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 9, 2010

More is known of Shakespeare’s family and his friends than of the families of any of his famous contemporaries, and much of what is known illuminates both the private life of this most private man, and the dramatic relationships in his plays.  In this course we will look at some of the fascinating details about Shakespeare’s family members and his friends:  the school friend who fought in the Armada action and who may have inspired Romeo and Juliet; the glamorous young man to whom the sonnets were addressed; the financial scandal which ruined Shakespeare’s father; Shakespeare’s good daughter and Shakespeare’s difficult daughter; Shakespeare’s wife and his secret love, the Dark Lady of the Sonnets; Shakespeare and his brothers.  We shall examine how these relationships in Shakespeare’s private life find haunting echoes in his great plays.

6 weeks

$150

Wednesday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting September 15, 2010

This class will meet once a month, the fourth Tuesday of each month, except December, from September to May, to discuss eight literary works.  The selections have been made from novels, collections of short stories, and memoirs that have received critical acclaim from peers, reviewers, and the reading public.  Led by author and writing instructor Nancy Geyer, the course will differ from a lecture format in that class members will be encouraged to participate in the discussion of the monthly book assignment.  It is patterned on the classic formula of book clubs that became popular in the early 20th century and continue to the present day.  Emphasis will be placed on characterization, plot, structure, dialogue, style and atmosphere.  The book selections and dates follow:
•   September 28,Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah’s Key 
•   October 26, Ian McEwan's   Saturday
•   November 23, Brad Kessler's Birds in Fall
•   January25, Edward Rutherford's New York: The Novel
•   February 22, Penelope Lively's The Photograph
•   March 22, Irene Nemirovsky's (translated by Sandra Smith)Suite Française
•   April 26, John Berendt's The City of Falling Angels
•   May 24,  Chris Cleave's  Little Bee
(A limited enrollment class)

8 weeks

$350

Tuesday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 28, 2010

Philosophy and Religion

In the beginning is the Book of Genesis.  Of all the books of the Bible none is quite as fascinating.  Genesis includes the widest range of disparate materials and summarizes the greatest span of Biblical history known to any Bible book.  Its background comes from the land of Mesopotamia to the east and the land of Egypt to the west.  It includes not only legends of prehistory but family stories of the patriarchs, the rise of the Israelite tribal society, and also a complete novella featuring the inimitable Joseph.  Forget the Bible stories you think you know and take a new, in-depth look at the actual stories of Genesis, not just as they appear to our modern eyes, but as they were heard and felt by those for whom the Book of Genesis was actually composed.  In this course, we will consider the origins and archaeology of Genesis, its backdrops and landscapes, its major figures and their struggles, and its meaning within the context of biblical, medieval, and modern times.

12 weeks

$225

Tuesday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 7, 2010

Philosophy, when “done” properly, makes a tangible difference in everyday life.  In this class, we will review some of the central ideas of four very different thinkers:  Lao tzu, Buddha, Epicures and Sartre—to glean from them "truths" that can bring equilibrium, joy and energy to our lives. (Class filled; call 713.529.7123 for wait list status)

4 weeks

$150

Monday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 13, 2010

In this class we will examine the origins of the Gospels and their role in the development of the Jesus tradition.  Today, we tend to view the New Testament Gospels as written texts in light of our text-oriented culture.  Originally, however, they were intended to be “performed” as dramatic oral readings in the context of early Christian worship.  Rather than biographies or histories in modern terms, their goal was to promote faith in Jesus in the light of their own times and situations.  The early followers of Jesus did not own Bibles.  Copies of the Biblical books did not begin to become available for roughly 200 years after the death of Jesus.  As a result, they could not just “read” the Gospels as the principal means of learning about Jesus.  Thus, in this class, we will travel back to the first few centuries of the common era in order to understand how they came about, how they “imagined” Jesus, and how the dynamic effects of oral story telling became extremely important as author and audience joined in dramatic presentation.  (Note:  Class lectures will be based on Dr. White’s recent book Scripting Jesus: The Gospels in Rewrite)

4 weeks

$120

Monday afternoons

Starting November 1, 2010

Politics/Current Events

Most analysts expect the 2010 midterm elections to be very difficult for Democrats across the country.  Historically, a party that controls the presidency and both houses of Congress loses Senate and House seats in non-presidential elections.  Seasoned observers like Charley Cook, Stuart Rothenberg, and Larry Sabato say that pattern is sure to repeat itself this year, with the only question being the extent of Republican success.  But the Republican tide may not be as strong in Texas as elsewhere in the country.  Democrats, and some neutral observers, think former Houston Mayor Bill White has a decent chance of ending his party’s 16-year losing streak and recapturing the governor’s office.  Others see ten-year incumbent Governor Rick Perry riding the Republican wave to an easy victory that could launch a 2012 presidential bid.  We’ll see who is right.

This eight-week class will track the Texas election and national elections as the fall campaigns build to a climax on November 2.  Aside from analyzing who won and lost, we will address questions such as what impact did the Tea Party Movement have in this midterm cycle, what are the implications of the election outcome for the Republican nomination fight that will commence the morning of November 3, 2010, and can the GOP follow up its likely successes this year and recapture the White House in 2012?    

8 weeks

$175

Monday mornings 10:00-12:00, starting September 13, 2010

or

Wednesday mornings 10:00-12:00, starting September 15, 2010

In this class we will learn about Supreme Court decisions that Professor Buchanan will characterize as good, bad, and some that are downright ugly.  We will compare decisions in important areas of Constitutional law, including racial, gender, and sexual orientation discrimination; advocacy of violence; the use of corporate money in political campaigns; government power to regulate working conditions; and the treatment of our “enemies.”  We will explore the historical, political, and socio-economic context of the decisions, such as the impact of current events and the influence of particular justices.  For example, what factors motivated the Court to make its “bad” 1896 decision in Plesssy v. Ferguson, the case that established the “separate but equal” doctrine in relation to access to facilities such as public schools, public hospitals, and courthouses?  In contrast, what led the Court to make a dramatic shift in the 1954 “good” decision in Brown v. the Board of Education, the case that held the “separate but equal” doctrine to be unconstitutional?  Through vigorous and informed discussion, class members will be encouraged to make up their own minds about whether the Court’s important decisions are among the good, the bad, or the ugly.  Finally, it is again rumored, and not denied, that Professor “Sing-Along-With-Sid” Buchanan will, from time to time, sing familiar tunes with his own “con law” lyrics.  (Note: Mr. Buchanan is well known in his classes for his musical interpretations.)

6 weeks

$150

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting October 21, 2010

Psychology

The Baby Boomers are living so well and so long, that they have virtually created a new stage of life—the years between 50 and 75.  The years that used to be encompassed by retirement and old age are now often the beginning of a new endeavor, opportunities for change and personal development never even considered by our parents’ generation.  This 12-week course will provide a structure for participants to examine this new stage of life, its meaning for them, and how to conceptualize life’s purpose.  We will explore the meaning of reaching our 50s and 60s, caring for parents who are aging, responding to children who may be struggling, and coping with the loss of friends, siblings or spouses, while also embracing personal growth, spiritual development, and a seeking renewed sense of purpose.  As a text, we will use the book, A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckert Tolle (paperback available from Penguin Press, 2008; also available in audio CD and on Kindle.)  (A limited enrollment class)

12 weeks

$450

Tuesday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting September 7, 2010

Writing Courses

Wednesday mornings 10:00-12:00

Starting September 8, 2010

This course is designed for those who wish to express themselves in writing.  Participants are encouraged to write in the genre most comfortable for them— poetry, fiction, or non-fiction.  They are also encouraged to experiment in new forms in order to build a stronger writing foundation.  Participants will have regular assignments, critique each other's work in a receptive atmosphere, and receive written critiques from the instructor.  Publication opportunities will also be discussed. (A limited enrollment class)

Thursday mornings 10:00-12:00 or afternoons1:00-3:00

Starting September 9, 2010

Wednesday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting October 13, 2010

Computer Workshops

This workshop will allow class participants to journey through time online to explore their family roots and create a family-tree book. Using today's state-of-the-art web sites and sofware tools, we will learn the techniques that will help document our family's ancestry and heritage by using census records, marriage licenses, passenger lists, wills, deeds, and more.  We will learn how to create family-tree books on the computer, making charts, inserting records, stories, and photos that we can pass down to our family. We will also explore traditional sources at the Clayton Library, our local genealogy resource. (Class size limited to six; please notify the office if you will bring your own laptop computer.)

4 weeks

$300

Monday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 13, 2010

This class is designed for those wishing to preserve memories and life's important events such as births, weddings, graduations, etc. by creating professional looking animated slide shows using software that is easy to learn and already present on computers. We will learn how to load photos and videos into the computer, how to touch up photos, and how to create slide shows that include transitions, music, text, and credits. We will learn how to make keepsake CDs and DVDs of these slide show for friends and family.  (Class size limited to six; please notify the office if you will bring your own laptop computer.)

4 weeks

$300

Tuesday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting September 14, 2010

Your kids and grandkids are doing it.  Your friends and clients are doing it. Everyone is getting in on the new Internet explosion in social networking!  Where once Internet communication involved only e-mail, game playing, and live chats, today social and business networking means using the enhanced power of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Linked-In and more. During the 2009 presidential debates, Charlie Gibson included Facebook in reporting, and what once was a small photo-storing Web site became a national sensation.  Blogging, Facebook, and Twitter are just a few of the newest ways that users are taking full advantage of the interactive capabilities of the Internet, where enhanced communication with family and friends is just a mouse-click away.  (Class size limited to six; please notify the office if you will bring your own laptop.)

4 weeks

$300

Monday afternoons 1:00-3:00

Starting October 18, 2010