Renaissance Academy Winter/Spring 2013 Lectures & Life Enrichment Program

Assessing Media Bias and Why You Should Care Option #1 – NC4172 – Naples Center February 14 at 1:30pm – 3pm, Thursday – 1.5 hours

$20 / $25 Option #2 – AT4173 – Atrium (Ft. Myers) March 5 at 1:30pm – 3pm, Tuesday – 1.5 hours

Choose one of the course options above. Join a 5-time Emmy Award winner who was on the frontline of the news wars as they began. We will discuss how to best assess media bias and why you should care. Join this highly interactive class by bringing your own examples of media bias for the class to evaluate and discuss. Moderator: Mr. Bill LaPlante II

Philosophical Salon: The 21st Century Megatrends Reshaping America Option #1 – NC4174 – Naples Center – 9 hours Feb 18, 25, Mar 4, 11, 18, 25, at 1:30pm – 3pm, Mondays

$70 / $85

Option #2 – AT4175 – Atrium (Ft. Myers) – 9 hours Mar 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, Apr 5 at 1:30pm – 3pm, Fridays

Choose one of the course options above. Enrollment is limited to 22 participants. Become a member of the Academy’s Philosophical Salon! Be part of a vibrant, contemporary discussion group focused on honest, intellectual discourse of the 21st century megatrends reshaping America’s culture, economics, and politics. The Philosophical Salon is a gathering of articulate, socially conscious, committed individuals. A focus of the Philosophical Salon will be to identify and discuss the numerous mega-theme attitudes, programs, and spending patterns rooted in 20th century America which no longer meet 21st century realities. America confronts numerous 21st century present and emerging issues of urgency. Our nation’s cultural economic future is at stake. Countries across the world exhibit grave social economic crises. New and compelling professional, political, and personal policies must emerge. David Rosen of the Greenville Post asserts: “Amidst the long drawn out recovery of the [recent] Great Recession, a new intellectual culture is taking shape throughout the country. It signals a rebirth of ideas in America.” American Salon conversation among leadership professionals is well known to have begun in the mid-18th century with Benjamin Franklin. Salon conversation is where emerging ideas matter, and social life finds new voice with Salon discourse. Join us for a lively discourse of the compelling mentality-of-ideas confronting American consciousness. Supplied by the Moderator and participants, newspapers, books, and electronic media from reputable sources and writers will be discussed. Salon participants may write their own essays based on their personal study or knowledge base. Documents will be duplicated for sharing and discussion. For a shared Salon knowledge base, participants will be requested to purchase and read Hot, Flat and Crowded, by Thomas L. Friedman, Second Edition, 2009. Moderator: Dr. William Dietzel

Money and Political Power

$34 / $39

NC4176 – Naples Center – February 20, 27 at 10am – 11:30am, Wednesdays – 3 hours A discussion of growing tensions between the regulatory state and multinational corporations, and what this means for ordinary Americans. Are those who vote with ballots at odds with those who vote with money? Moderator: Dr. Braxton Hinchey

National Debt, Deficits, Bailouts, and Stimulus

$20 / $25

NC4177 – Naples Center – February 20 at 1:30pm – 3pm, Wednesday – 1.5 hours Is the $16 trillion national debt leading us to financial ruin? How did we get here? Have the bailouts of Fannie, Freddie, GM, Chrysler, AIG, and hundreds of banks and corporations worked? Is the Stimulus Plan worth the costs? Join a lively, non-partisan talk and discussion to follow on these confusing, complex, and sometimes controversial subjects. Instructor: Mr. Steven Mutart

Excess in America: A Crisis of Common Sense and Self Discipline Option #1 – NC4178 – Naples Feb 20, 27 at 1:30pm – 3pm, Weds

Option #2 – BR4179 – Brooks Mar 6, 13 at 10am – 11:30am, Weds

$34 / $39 Option #3 – FG4180 – FGCU Campus Mar 20, 27 at 10am – 11:30am, Weds

Choose one of the course options above. Enrollment is limited to 15 participants. Excess Materialism – Excess Government – Excess Waste – Excess Spending – Excess Consumption – Excess Debt – Excess Body Weight – Excess Political Posturing – Excess Commercial Real Estate – Excess Residential Real Estate – Excess Environmental Contamination – Excess Litigation – White Collar Greed – Political and Corporate Narcissism – Excess Exported Manufacturing – Excess Foreign Oil Dependence – The Deindustrialization of America – Excess Media – Excess Trivia – Excess Petroleum Cost – Excess Entitlement – Excess Medical . . . Excess in America: Is there any doubt? Moderator: Dr. William Dietzel