OLLI at Tufts Fall 2024 Catalog

SEPTEMBER – NOVEMBER 2024 Registration begins July 1, 2024 and runs through September 5, 2024.

To our Tufts Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Community Members,

Welcome to our new membership year! We are excited to offer you a wide variety of courses, Lunch and Learn Talks, and special events in-person and virtually on Zoom in our upcoming Fall term.

Our new membership year will kick off with an OLLI at Night event on July 25 (see more details on pg. 46) and continues on with a great line-up of 35 Fall courses, half being held in-person at Tufts, our community partners at Brookhaven at Lexington and Brooksby Village in Peabody, and half virtually on Zoom. Our Fall registration period will open on July 1 and run through September 5, with class meetings beginning on September 9. This fall you have the option to explore Africa and topics in Religious Studies through a variety of courses, or learn about the Boston Athenaeum and the Antebellum period, tour Paris without leaving the Tufts campus, or examine the importance of the Battle of Gettysburg. Our wide range of options has something for everyone! Additionally, we are delighted to have our Fall courses led by many of our own Tufts OLLI members, Tufts graduate students, faculty, and alumni, as well as new and returning outside experts.

As a reminder, our OLLI program follows the Tufts University calendar. As such, we will not hold class meetings on October 14 in observance of Indigenous People’s Day, or on November 11 in observance of Veteran’s Day.

Lastly, we’d like to thank our Curriculum Committee, Lunch and Learn Committee, and all of our members who volunteer to be course instructors and classroom assistants who make our Fall 2024 term possible. We could not do it without you!

As always, our team is available to answer any questions via phone, email, Zoom, or inperson. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us, and we look forward to seeing you during our 2024-2025 membership year!

Your Tufts Osher Lifelong Learning Institute Team,

Callan B. Moody Associate Director Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Kathy Scanlon Program Administrator University College

Lunch and Learn Talks

All talks will be 12:15 - 1:15pm ET.

Wednesday talks will be exclusively on Zoom. Friday talks will be in-person at Tufts University as well as streamed by Zoom for our members at home. If you are joining us in person, feel free to bring your lunch. Coffee and tea will be provided.

New England Lighthouses and the People Who Kept Them

Jeremy D’Entremont

Historian, U.S. Lightouse Society

You’ll Do – The History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love

Marcia Zug

Professor of Law, University of South Carolina, School of Law

The Sanctions Response to Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine

Christine Abely

Assistant Professor of Law, New England Law, Boston

Expeditionary Aviation in the Antarctic: An Aircrewman’s Personal Account of Danger, Whiteouts, Crashes, and Near Death Experience

Fred Santino

Professor of Management, Boston University

2

Walking the Camino de Santiago with Meg Holmes

Meg Holmes

Camino Pilgrim, Retired School Librarian

How to Manage Your Microbiome: Lessons from Human and Food Microbial Communities

Benjamin Wolfe

Associate Professor, Biology, Tufts University

Connecting Sustainability Theory to Action – Products, Technologies, and Systems for Environmental and Ecological Balance

Dr. John E. Fernandez

Director, MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative

4

Margarita Barresi

Author A Delicate Marriage – A History of the Relationship Between Puerto Rico and the U.S.

Celebrating Toys: The Latest from the National Toy Hall of Fame

Christopher Bensch

Chief Curator, Vice President of Collections, the Strong Museum of Play, Rochester, NY

Indigenous Activism in the Mid-20th Century U.S.

Southeast: Cold War Politics, Racial Segregation, and Tribal Sovereignty

Denise E. Bates, PhD

Dean, University College, Professor Department of History, School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University

America’s Epidemic of Gun Violence and What Can Be Done to Stop It

John Rosenthal

Founder, Stop Handgun Violence, Friends of Bostn’s Homeless, Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative, America is Calling; President, Meredith Management Real Estate Development Firm

Katrina Burgess

Professor of Political Economy and Dreictor, Leir Institute for Migration and Human Security, the Fletcher School, Tufts University

Alison O’Leary

Author, Speaker, Journalist, Editor The Best Small Museums in Massachusetts

Jeanne Martin, Ed.D

Haiku Poet, Teacher, Retreat Leader the length of one breath: haiku now

Patti Steinman (she/her)

Senior Teacher/Naturalist, Arcadia, Massachusetts Audubon Society

Note: There is no Lunch and Learn Talk on November 1st as we will be holding our ‘end-of-term’ Lunch in-person at Tufts instead.

At A Glance

All times listed are in Eastern Standard Time.

Virtually on Zoom

Course Title

“The Death of a Beautiful Woman”: Poe’s Dying Woman Tales

Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco

Practical Purposes: Readers in Experimental Philosophy at the Boston Athenaeum

Botswana and Zimbabwe: A Comparison of Two Neighbors (Virtual)

Comparative Islamic Civilization: Part 2

Comparative Monotheism: A Survey of LesserKnown Religions

Current Events and News Media

Doris Lessing: African Stories

Guided Meditation

Sessions Leader Day and Time

Jared Pence 4

Jay Sherwin 1

Scott Guthery 8

Cleo D’Arcy, Steve D’Arcy 3

Lark Escobar 8

Lark Escobar 8

Devon Wickens, Tom Wickens 4

Petra Bittner 4

Dates

Tuesday, 6pm - 8pm 9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1

Thursday, 10am - 12pm 9/26

Thursday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm

9/12, 9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31

Tuesday, 10am - 12pm 9/10, 9/17, 9/24

Wednesday, 10am - 12pm

Tuesday, 10am - 12pm

9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30

9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29

Thursday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31

Tuesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15

Yolanta Kovalko 6 Monday, 5pm - 6pm 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/21

Course Title Leader

Self Discovery in Foreign Films

Setting the Scene: Place, Persona, and Plot (Virtual)

Sessions Day and Time Dates

J. Adrian Zimmer 8

Tuesday, 10am - 12pm

9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29

Jane Katims 5 Thursday, 10am - 12pm 10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31

Smartphone Photography Steve McGrath 3 Thursday, 7:30pm - 9:30pm 9/12, 9/19, 9/26

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (Virtual) Emese Soos 7

The Exploration of Africa: Significant Explorers Who Opened Africa

Tuesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm

9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22

Robert Rotberg 5 Wednesday, 10am - 12pm 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30

The Films Of Elia Kazan: Master Director Of Social And Personal Issues Allan Elfant 6 Tuesday, 1pm - 5pm 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5

The Scramble for Africa or How the African Countries Got Their Shapes

L. Jon Grogan 5 Monday, 10am - 12pm 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7

Traditional World Textiles Linda Agerbak, Valarie Poitier 4 Wednesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2

Viking Arts Dénia Lara 4 Monday, 4pm - 6pm 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30

in-person at tufts medford/somerVille Campus

Course Title Leader

A Walk Through Paris: Part III

Sessions Day and Time Dates

Valerie Sutter 4

Friday, 10am - 12pm 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4

Cleo D’Arcy, Steve D’Arcy 3

Friday, 10am - 12pm 9/13, 9/20, 9/27

Forecasting in International Relations Arik Burakovsky 8

Ida B. Wells – Shining a Light of Truth (Tufts)

Le Cinéma Français: A Journey through French Culture

Bill Saunders 2

Valerie Sutter 4

Our Environment, Our Future - Role of Individuals and Communities Kwame Ababio 6

Powerful Connections: How Sensory Communications

Shape Status and Community Culture

Thea Curtin 4

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 11/1, 11/8

9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1 Botswana and Zimbabwe: A Comparison of Two Neighbors (In-Person)

Science Fiction at the Drive-In, 2024 Edition Jim Gallagher 6

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 9/13, 9/20, 10/4, 10/11, 10/25, 11/1, 11/8, 11/15

Friday, 1:30pm - 4pm 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4

Friday, 10am - 12pm 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1

Friday, 1:30pm - 4pm

in-person at tufts medford/somerVille Campus

Course Title

Setting the Scene: Place, Persona, and Plot (In-Person)

The Battle of Gettysburg, PA: July 1-3, 1863

Jane Katims 5 Friday, 10am - 12pm 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1

John Flynn 3 Friday, 10am - 12pm 10/11, 10/18, 10/25

World Philosophies

Write What You Know: A Memoir Workshop

Eric Chatterjee 8 Friday, 10am - 12pm 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1

Alisa Wolf 4 Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4

in-person at BrooksBy Village

Course Title

Drawing On Nature

Ida B. Wells – Shining a Light of Truth (Brooksby Village)

Sustainable Solutions for Our Global Warming and Plastic Pollution Crises

Dates

Rebecca Geekie 6 Monday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 9/9, 9/16, 6/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/21

Bill Saunders 2 Monday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 10/28, 11/4

Rob Martin 5 Monday, 10am - 12pm 9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7

in-person at BrookhaVen at lexington

Course Title

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (InPerson)

The Dynamics of Jewish Communities and their Resilience – A Socio-physics Approach

Leader Sessions Day and Time Dates

Emese Soos 7 Wednesday, 10am - 12pm

9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23

Joseph Livini 8 Wednesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm 9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30, 11/6

Course Descriptions & Instructor Bios

Virtually on Zoom

“The Death of a Beautiful Woman”: Poe’s Dying Woman Tales

Jared Pence, Tufts Alum

Tuesday, 6pm - 8pm (9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1)

4 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$100

Edgar Allan Poe famously wrote, “The death, then, of a beautiful woman is, unquestionably, the most poetical topic in the world.” In this course, we will explore some of the many tales Poe wrote about beautiful women who fall ill, die, and sometimes come back to life. In reading about dead and dying women, we will unpack what the stories reveal about ideals of femininity in the 1830s and1840s, as well as how they can inform our modern understandings of beauty, death, gender, and horror. We will explore these topics and more as we read some of Poe’s most disturbing gothic tales including “Berenice,” “Morella,” “Ligeia,” “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “Eleonora,” and “The Oval Portrait.” Each week, we will read 1 or 2 short stories totaling about 20 pages. Links to electronic copies of all the stories will be provided. This is the same course offered in Summer 2024.

Jared Pence received his Ph.D. in English literature from Tufts University in 2023. He has B.A. and M.A. degrees from Brigham Young University and has taught college literature and writing courses for 10 years at Tufts, BYU, Emerson College, and Bentley University. Dr. Jared Pence grew up in Utah and Iowa and when he is not teaching, reading, and writing, he likes to run half marathons, cook Chinese food, and sing choral chamber music. He lives in Montreal, Canada and is trying to learn French. His doctoral dissertation on 19th-century American literature of the city focused in part on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.

Virtually on Zoom

Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco

Jay Sherwin, Outside Instructor

Thursday, 10am - 12pm (9/26)

1 Sessions, Minimally Interactive - Mostly Lecture

$25

Alfred Hitchcock loved San Francisco and used its elegance, beauty, and mystery to great effect in many of his films. In this virtual tour, you’ll see brief scenes from Vertigo, The Birds, and other Hitchcock classics filmed on location in the San Francisco Bay Area. You’ll hear great stories about how Hitchcock chose those locations and how he filmed them. It’s a treat for Hitchcock fans and lovers of the City by the Bay.

Jay Sherwin is a writer and consultant who has been watching, studying, and enjoying Hitchcock films for decades. As a resident of the San Francisco Bay Area, he created and led a walking tour of Alfred Hitchcock’s San Francisco that continues to attract Hitchcock fans from around the world. He created this virtual tour to share his favorite stories and photos with anyone who loves Hitchcock films or loves San Francisco, no matter where they live.

Virtually on Zoom

Practical Purposes: Readers in Experimental Philosophy at the Boston Athenaeum (1827-1850)

Scott Guthery, Outside Instructor

$175

Thursday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/12, 9/19, 9/26, 10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31)

8 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

Embark on a scholarly exploration of antebellum Boston’s scientific and technological landscape in the book and course entitled “Practical Purposes: Readers in Experimental Philosophy at the Boston Athenaeum (1827-1850).” Authored by your instructor, this course offers an in-depth analysis of the reading habits of Boston’s scientists, engineers, and technologists, as revealed through the records of the Boston Athenaeum’s books borrowed registers. Receive a complimentary copy of the book and immerse yourself in the rich tapestry of Boston’s intellectual history. Engage in vibrant discussions as we delve into selected chapters, uncovering the technological focus, the notable personalities, and the historical backdrop of Boston. Note: Course participants will be expected to read 11-25 pages per week.

Required reading: Guthery, Scott. Practical Purposes: Readers in Experimental Philosophy at the Boston Athenaeum (1927-1850). Docent Press, 2017. Supplied gratis to enrollees.

Scott Guthery has a PhD in Probability and Statistics. He worked for Bell Laboratories, Schlumberger, Assa Abloy, and Microsoft during his career and co-founded a startup that was acquired. He’s written books about the history of mathematics and mobile technology, and he founded and currently runs Docent Press, which publishes books in the history of mathematics and technology. He’s also a current patent analyst for InQ-Tel. He is a proprietor of the Boston Athenaeum as well as the Salem Athenaeum, the Philadelphia Athenaeum, and the Library Company of Philadelphia. He’s also on the board of the Boston Authors Club.

Virtually on Zoom

Botswana and Zimbabwe: A Comparison of Two Neighbors (Virtual)

Cleo D’Arcy, Steve D’Arcy, OLLI Members

Tuesday, 10am - 12pm (9/10, 9/17, 9/24)

3 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$75

Botswana and Zimbabwe are landlocked neighbors in South Central Africa which share a border of over 800 kilometers. They also share a history with the British which resulted in English as an official language, a rich variety of natural resources, and superb national parks filled with magnificent scenery and amazing wildlife. They differ in many ways, including population density and ethnic groups, climate and environmental concerns, and their infrastructure development and political systems. In this study group, we will examine these similarities and differences while we enjoy some of the scenic wonders of these neighboring countries.

Cleo and Steve D’Arcy are retired professors who taught at the University of Illinois for over 30 years. While they enjoyed teaching college students, they really enjoy sharing their interests with their contemporaries. They have co-taught OLLI courses on a variety of subjects, including several about travel around the U.S. Cleo and Steve made their first trip to Africa this summer and will share their experiences and observations about Botswana and Zimbabwe in this course. We hope you will join them for their first OLLI international travel trip.

Virtually on Zoom

Comparative Islamic Civilization: Part 2

Lark Escobar, Tufts Alum

Wednesday, 10am - 12pm (9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30)

8 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

In this follow-up course to Part 1 offered in Spring 2023, we continue to explore Islamic cultural practices across countries including Algeria, Bahrain, Kuwait, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Oman, and Yemen. This class will survey diverse Islamic societies and their respective cultural and religious practices using a comparative case study approach. Each class will include a lecture and time for Q&A and whole class discussion. Participation in Part 1 is not required to participate in Part 2.

Lark Escobar is both an international educator and scholar, interested in genocide prevention, cultural memory, religious heritage, human rights, international law, terrorism studies, and human security in MENA, Central Asia, and South Asia. Her religious ethnographies foci include Yezidi, Sikh, and Indian Kashmiri minority populations. She has taught in seven countries in higher education contexts, including creating and implementing an American English and Culture degree at the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, where she was an Academic, Gender, and Culture Advisor, heading the English department for NATO headquarters and designing and conducting university faculty professional developing and secondary educator training throughout the Middle East. She most recently completed her Master’s in International Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School at Tufts University and holds a dual Master’s degree in International Education and ESL, as well as Bachelor’s in English Language and Literature Education, Middle East Studies, Arabic Language and Culture, and Psychology.

Virtually on Zoom

Comparative Monotheism: A Survey of Lesser-Known Religions

Lark Escobar, Tufts Alum

$175

Tuesday, 10am - 12pm (9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29)

8 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

In this course, we compare the beliefs and traditions of these “lesser-known” religions: Amish, Bahai, Chaldeans, Druze, FLDS, Mennonite, Mandaean, Sikh, Yezidi, and Zorastrianism. Each class is a mixture of lectures and discussions over Zoom. There is no required preparation outside of class. This is the same course that was offered in Fall 2023.

Lark Escobar See previous page for Instructor Biography.

Virtually

on Zoom

Current Events and News Media

Devon Wickens, Tom Wickens, OLLI Members

Thursday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31)

4 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$100

Each week of this course, we dive into relevant topics like National News, International Affairs, Science, Business, and more. Our goal? To thoughtfully dissect current events from diverse sources, unraveling their significance in our global community. Engage in lively discussions, where every voice is valued and respected. We sift through top news outlets, digesting key stories together, and unraveling their complexities. Plus, we’ll tackle hot-button issues suggested by you, the class. Prep with teaser questions, then dive into detailed analyses. Expect a blend of overview and deep dives, with ample room for your insights. In this inclusive environment, diverse perspectives fuel enriching debates. Join us to navigate the 24/7 news cycle, decoding media’s impact on our society. Whether you’re a seasoned news aficionado or just curious, all are welcome to join this vibrant exploration of our world’s unfolding narratives.

Devon Wickens has spent her career in Media & Communications. Devon worked in radio and TV as an executive producer, host, and writer. Her daily NBC drive-time radio show featured celebrities, New York Times best-selling authors, politicians, and industry movers and shakers. Devon also spent many years in IBM corporate communications as an executive speechwriter and speech coach. Most recently, Devon taught Media & Communications at Post University in Connecticut.

Tom Wickens spent 38 years at IBM in IT security. In retirement, Tom enjoys being active with Osher Lifelong Learning and current events.

Virtually on Zoom

Doris Lessing: African Stories

Petra Bittner, Outside Instructor

Tuesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15)

4 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$100

Long considered Doris Lessing’s best collection, African Stories is an homage to her twenty-five years spent in Africa. In this anthology, she explores the complexities, the agonies and joys, and the textures of life in Rhodesia. First published in 1965, the book contains much of the Nobel Prize winner’s most extraordinary work. Note: Course participants will be expected to read 11-25 pages per week.

Required reading: Lessing, Doris. African Stories (Simon and Schuster Paperbacks). ISBN-13: 978-1476767154.

Petra Bittner is a German native from Berlin who holds degrees in English literature (Ph.D.) and teaching German as a second language (MA/Staatsexamen). She lived in Boston from 1998 to 2007, teaching language and cultural studies classes for Boston University, Harvard University, and MIT. Between 2007 and 2020, she taught cultural studies and business communication courses for various universities in Munich. At the same time, Petra Bittner was a literature docent and language instructor for the adult education center in Munich (Münchner Volkshochschule). Since 2020, she has been teaching English and German literature classes for the Cambridge Center for Adult Education. In 2022, she started teaching for Tufts OLLI.

Virtually on Zoom

Guided Meditation

Yolanta Kovalko, Tufts Alum

Monday, 5pm - 6pm (9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/21)

6 Sessions, Minimally Interactive - Mostly Lecture

$75

In this class Yolanta, a Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health certified yoga teacher and meditation practitioner, will introduce participants to Yoga Nidra, a form of meditation and transformation grounded in the wide and deep field of yogic tradition. Students will be guided through what Yoga Nidra teaches are the five levels of being: Physical Body, Energy Body, Emotional Body, Mental Body, and Intuitive/Spiritual Body. In the process, they will have the opportunity to experience becoming more aware, and to explore the deepest place within themselves, their true Self. Participants will be encouraged to find a place to recline or lay down while participating in the course.

Yolanta Kovalko has been teaching for OLLI since fall 2018 and is thrilled to be part of their team of course instructors! She is a certified yoga and meditation teacher and has taught yoga and meditation in her Somerville studio, Ball Square Yoga, for the last 8 years. She has been practicing yoga for the last 15 years. In addition to being certified in Hatha Yoga and Chair Yoga, she is also certified as a Guided Meditation teacher with a specialization in Yoga Nidra (Sleep Yoga), a form of meditation grounded in yogic traditions.

Virtually

on Zoom

Self Discovery in Foreign Films

J. Adrian Zimmer, Outside Instructor

$175

Tuesday, 10am - 12pm (9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, and 10/29)

8 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

In this virtual course, we will discuss eight films which you will stream on your own time. These subtitled foreign-language films are from Scandinavia, France, India, Japan, and Israel/Palestine. They all have protagonists who discover something about themselves. Preparation for each class involves watching and thinking about the film. For each session you will be provided with a link to a source for streaming and a short online introduction with some things to think about. The films we’ll be viewing are: Wild Strawberries (1957, Ingmar Berrgman); Charulata (1964, Satyajit Ray); Woman in the Dunes (1964, Hiroshi Teshigahara); Three Colors: Blue (1993, Krzysztof Kie_lowski); Mifune (1999, Søren Kragh-Jacobsen); Departures (2008, Yôjirô Takita); Parched (2015, Leena Yadav); The Attack (2012, Ziad Doueiri). Each film is available to stream online for no more than $5. They are between one and a half to two and a half hours long.

J. Adrian Zimmer entered this world during WWII. He was raised in Nebraska and has since lived in other states and in three other countries. That didn’t stop him from returning to the American prairie twice before settling in Massachusetts. Educated through a post-doc in mathematics he spent most of his career teaching and writing about the art of computer programming. Since age 13, he has been interested in how we humans fit into different cultures. Throughout the years, foreign films have been a major way he has pursued that interest. A couple years back he started obsessing a bit about where he will live out his remaining years. This year, he grew tired of that, picked a retirement home in Canton, Massachusetts, moved in, and continue to share his interests with others. Learn more about the instructor at http://jazimmer.net.

Virtually on Zoom

Setting the Scene: Place, Persona, and Plot (Virtual)

Jane Katims, OLLI Member

Thursday, 10am - 12pm (10/3, 10/10, 10/17, 10/24, 10/31)

5 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$125

The dictionary defines “setting” as: “The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place.” We will explore the active role settings play in narratives, how they provide atmospheres that bring into focus characters and events. In addition, we will discuss character development and conflict, as well as compare authors’ styles of writing and storytelling strategies. Study group members will be assigned 50 - 90 pages of reading per week. For our first class, please read the stories “Rock Springs” and “Great Falls” in the collection Rock Springs.

Required readings: Ford, Richard. Rock Springs.; Groff, Lauren. Florida.; Remnick, David. Wonderful Town, New York Stories, 2001.

Jane Katims has written and co-produced six radio series for Wisconsin Public Radio, one earning her a Peabody Award in Broadcasting. She is the author of the poetry collection DANCING ON A SLIPPERY FLOOR and UNTIL NOW, a collection of short stories. As well as teaching at OLLI, she teaches literature and creative writing at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Jane is a member of the Friends of the Center for Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives with her family near Boston, Massachusetts.

Virtually on Zoom

Smartphone Photography

Steve McGrath, Outside Instructor

Thursday, 7:30pm - 9:30pm (9/12, 9/19, 9/26)

3 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$75

This class is dedicated to helping you with understanding how to use your smartphone for photography, how to take a create great images on your phone, what editing apps to use, and how to share and print your images. Join Steve as we review how to use photography on your phone along with the best free and low-cost tools for editing and image management. This is the same course that was offered in Spring 2024.

Steve McGrath is professional freelance photographer and photography teacher who has been creating images for 30 years. Steve first began by shooting sports photography for local high schools, then weddings, and stock agencies. Then his love of the outdoors led him to focusing more on his true passion: “nature photography.” Many of his images have been published in school textbooks. His favorite places to shoot are Acadia National Park in Maine, the Green Mountains of Vermont, and the Cape Cod National Seashore.

Virtually on Zoom

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (Virtual)

Emese Soos, OLLI Member

Tuesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/10, 9/17, 9/24, 10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22)

7 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$175

Swann’s Way is the first volume of Marcel Proust’s great masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, a long meditation on time and memory. It appeared in 1913, just before the Great War profoundly transformed life in France and Europe. In the three sections of Swann’s Way, the narrator first evokes his childhood (Combray), then recounts a love affair of Swann’s (Swann in Love); and concludes with musings about the power of names engraved in memory (Place Names: The Name). We will read and discuss Swann’s Way in sections of about 50-75 pages per session.

Required readings: Proust, Marcel. Swann’s Way: In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). Translated by Lydia Davis. $13.19. Click here to purchase on Amazon.

Emese Soos majored in French and history at Mount Holyoke College, earned a Ph.D. in French from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and taught French language and culture courses at Tufts for over 30 years. She delights in revisiting some of her favorite literary works, this time in English.

Virtually on Zoom

The Exploration of Africa: Significant Explorers Who Opened Africa

Robert Rotberg, Outside Instructor

Wednesday, 10am - 12pm (10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30)

5 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$125

This course focuses on the era from 1780 to 1887, when much of sub-Saharan Africa was opened up to the West by the lengthy journeys of Livingstone; the competition to find the source of the Nile that engaged Burton, John Hanning Speke, Albert Baker (and his wife); Mungo Park’s finding of the Niger River; Henry Morton Stanley’s tracing of the course of the Congo River and his “finding” Livingstone; and the first ascents of Kenya and Kilimanjaro. But, less often examined, none of these crowd applauding exploits would have been possible without knowledgeable African guides and associates without whose leadership the explorers would have failed, or even perished. This course will focus on the latter as well as the “big” names that opened Africa to the West. Recommended reading: Any modern biographies of the big name explorers, (there are several by Tim Jeal), the original nineteenth-century writings by Livingstone, Burton, et al. Rotberg’s biography of Joseph Thomson and edited Africa and its Explorers has some very useful chapters.

Robert Rotberg was Academic Vice-President at Tufts, Professor of Political Science at MIT, and Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He is the author of a number of books on Africa and several especially on southern Africa. He has taught several previous OLLI courses.

Virtually on Zoom

The Films Of Elia Kazan: Master Director Of Social And Personal Issues

Allan Elfant, OLLI Member

Tuesday, 1pm - 5pm (10/1, 10/8, 10/15, 10/22, 10/29, 11/5)

6 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$150

Elia Kazan was one of the most accomplished and influential American stage and film directors of the 1940s, ’50s, and early ’60s. Over his career, Kazan received three Tony Awards and two Academy Awards for his directorial work. Kazan’s films focused on social and personal issues that were centrally important to him. He was often controversial, most of all when he “named names” of Communist Party members in a 1952 U.S. government investigation. We will view and discuss 6 of Kazan’s films: Gentlemen’s Agreement, A Streetcar Named Desire, On The Waterfront, East Of Eden, Baby Doll, and Splendor In The Grass. Optional readings will be provided online.

Allan Elfant has a B.A. in Psychology from Brooklyn College and a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from New York University. He was in clinical practice for over 40 years and held teaching positions at several universities. He has led over 200 presentations at national and regional professional conferences and meetings, and over two dozen courses for our OLLI on various cinematic, psychological and philosophical themes. Many of these courses have been film classes.

Virtually on Zoom

The Scramble for Africa or How the African Countries Got Their Shapes

L. Jon Grogan, Tufts Alum

Monday, 10am - 12pm (9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7)

5 Sessions, Minimally Interactive - Mostly Lecture

$125

Most of Africa was unknown to the rest of the world until the 1870s. Then, an ambitious and ruthless king from a minor European country started a rush for glory and riches years later known infamously as the “Scramble for Africa.” The result was a carving up of the great continent first into colonies and later nation-states that generally ignored the cultures and histories of the indigenous peoples who lived there. This course will examine the roots and legacy of the Scramble, specifically how the map of Africa evolved into the configuration we recognize today.

L. Jon Grogan has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Tufts University, a Master of Arts degree in Public History from the University of San Diego, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in American history (with a minor concentration in African colonial history) from Loyola University, Chicago. He is also a retired U.S. Marine Corps officer who has held a variety of command and staff assignments overseas and in the United States.

Virtually on Zoom

Traditional World Textiles

Linda Agerbak, Valarie Poitier, OLLI Member

Wednesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2)

4 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$100

Why did the ancient Egyptians wear linen and how did they make it? How did Madras checks from India become ‘preppy’ in the West? Where does indigo dye come from? How does the Chinese spinning wheel differ from the Western one? When were Dutch wax prints from Indonesia imported to West Africa? What can textiles tell us about social class & symbolic meaning? We show drawings, photos and short YouTube videos to answer these questions. We also invite participants to add their own insights to the class.

Linda Agerbak, after studying at Stanford & UC Berkeley, taught English in West Africa & Singapore. In response to the arrival of Vietnamese boat people and having met the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh, she became an EFL teacher trainer for Vietnamese refugees at islands offshore Malaysia. She wrote travel stories for the Singapore Straits Times about other Asian countries and gave an illustrated talk about Asian textiles to the American Women’s Club at the Singapore museum. On returning to Europe, she worked at Oxford University Press and at Oxfam. After 35 years abroad, she returned to the USA and retrained as a gardener.

Valarie Poitier is a formally trained art administrator, artist, lecturer and writer. She has taught professional development workshops, led seminars at regional and national conferences. She is slowly returning to presenting in person. Her work has been published, viewed on TV and exhibited in museums and galleries across the USA and abroad. She has been a long time member of several local, national, and international Fiber and Surface Design Organizations.

Virtually on Zoom

Viking Arts

Dénia Lara, Tufts Alum

Monday, 4pm - 6pm (9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30)

4 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$100

Pirates, explorers, traders, farmers, immigrants, kingdom-builders—the Vikings were a great many things. Yet for over a millennium, Viking culture has been seen through the eyes of others, appropriated and distorted in ways that do not accurately reflect the richness of their arts, cosmology, social life, and political influence. This short survey of material evidence from the Viking Age will bring us closer to the beauty and brutality of a culture that dominated Western Europe for over 400 years.

Dénia Lara is a museum professional and artist currently serving as the Assistant Educator for The Met Cloisters, where she creates programs for adult and intergenerational audiences. She has a Master’s degree in Art History and Museum Studies from Tufts, specializing in the Middle Ages. Dénia’s research interests include the culture of the Normans, Migration Period arts, and contemporary connections to the medieval past.

in-person at tufts

A Walk Through Paris: Part III

Valerie Sutter, Outside Instructor

Friday, 10am - 12pm (9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4)

4 Sessions, Minimally Interactive - Mostly Lecture

$100

Armchair traveler, well-heeled tourist, avid Francophiles alike are invited to return with us to the City of Lights and conclude with Part III of our wanderings through Paris. Whether you’re “visiting” for the very first time, preparing for an actual trip, or reminiscing about a city you fell in love with years ago, join us as we revisit old haunts and discover new ones, renew our knowledge of French history, discover the “savage war of peace” that was the Algerian War and delve into some of its darkest secrets. We’ll wander neighborhoods, gardens, and museums along the way, inviting you to discover the ins and outs of what the Parisians already know and cherish about their quartiers. Bon voyage! ‘A Walk Through Paris’ Part I and Part II are not pre-requisites for taking this course.

Valerie Sutter, the day after graduating from university with a BA in French, headed off to France for what she thought would be a year of polishing her language skills. Twenty years later, she returned to the US, fluent not only in French but in Portuguese and intercultural relations. After earning her Master’s degree at the Faculté de Lettres de Lyon, she shared her passion for language and culture by teaching for thirty-plus years in public and private schools in France, Brazil, and the US. Believing total language immersion to be the best means of understanding another culture and most important, one’s own, she organizes language immersion workshops in France every summer for teachers of French through her own company, The French Traveler, and runs trips to Paris in English for assorted Francophiles. She owns an apartment in Paris where she spends several months of every year.

in-person at tufts

Botswana and Zimbabwe: A Comparison of Two Neighbors (In-Person)

Cleo D’Arcy, Steve D’Arcy, OLLI Members

Friday, 10am - 12pm (9/13, 9/20, 9/27)

3 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$75

Botswana and Zimbabwe are landlocked neighbors in South Central Africa which share a border of over 800 kilometers. They also share a history with the British which resulted in English as an official language, a rich variety of natural resources, and superb national parks filled with magnificent scenery and amazing wildlife. They differ in many ways, including population density and ethnic groups, climate and environmental concerns, and their infrastructure development and political systems. In this study group, we will examine these similarities and differences while we enjoy some of the scenic wonders of these neighboring countries.

Cleo and Steve D’Arcy are retired professors who taught at the University of Illinois for over 30 years. While they enjoyed teaching college students, they really enjoy sharing their interests with their contemporaries. They have co-taught OLLI courses on a variety of subjects, including several about travel around the U.S. Cleo and Steve made their first trip to Africa this summer and will share their experiences and observations about Botswana and Zimbabwe in this course. We hope you will join them for their first OLLI international travel trip.

in-person at tufts

Forecasting in International Relations

Arik Burakovsky, Tufts Faculty

$175

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/13, 9/20, 10/4, 10/11, 10/25, 11/1, 11/8, 11/15)

8 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

How do we understand and prepare for the future? What makes some people good at making predictions? What does the future hold for international affairs? Being able to accurately forecast global trends and events can have many benefits. For individuals, it can inform career decisions, investment choices, and personal planning, allowing them to better navigate an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world. For organizations, it can inform strategic planning and decision-making, allowing them to better prepare for and respond to potential future occurrences. For governments, accurate forecasting can be crucial for developing effective policies and strategies at all levels to address a wide range of issues, from economic development to national security. The capacity to make clear probabilistic forecasts and keep score on them can help reduce uncertainty and risk by providing a better understanding of the potential outcomes of different actions and policies. That can be particularly important in times of instability, when the possible consequences of decisions may be difficult to predict. This course will help give participants the tools and knowledge they need to see into the future. We will delve into some traditional forecasting methods and explore their utility in international relations scholarship and policymaking. Throughout this course, participants will be tasked with reflecting on pre-class resources, actively participating in class discussions, and regularly making predictions about global trends and events. Selected articles, think tank reports,

Required readings: Tetlock, Philip E. and Dan Gardner. Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. New York, NY: Crown, 2015. Paperback $12.27. Click here to purchase on Amazon book chapters, TED talks, recorded lectures, and podcast episodes will be made available by the instructor online. Participants will need to obtain the book listed below. Note: Course participants will be expected to read 26-50 pages per week.

Arik Burakovsky is Assistant Director of the Russia and Eurasia Program at The Fletcher School. His research interests include the role of the media in international politics, public and elite opinion, soft power, public diplomacy, global political economy, Russian foreign policy, and U.S.-Russia relations. Before completing his M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School, Arik interned in the Public Affairs Section at the U.S. Embassy Moscow and studied the Polish language and culture as a Boren Fellow at the University of Warsaw in Poland. He also served as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Omsk, Russia and twice as Resident Director of the ROTC Project GO intensive summer Russian language program in Narva, Estonia. His work has been published by The Conversation, TIME, The National Interest, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, and elsewhere. Arik received his B.A. in Political Science and International Relations at the University of California, San Diego.

in-person at tufts

Ida B. Wells – Shining a Light of Truth (Tufts)

Bill Saunders, OLLI Member

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (11/1, 11/8)

2 Sessions, Minimally Interactive - Mostly Lecture

$50

Born into slavery, Ida B. Wells became an important leader for Black and women’s rights. An early pioneer of investigative journalism, she believed that “the way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth on them.” Most famous for her anti-lynching campaign, she was exiled from the South and her newspaper destroyed after an incendiary editorial. Moving to Brooklyn and then Chicago, she continued writing, speaking, and organizing in support of Black rights and women’s suffrage. A powerful speaker, she had successful tours throughout the northern United States and England. Along the way, she founded many organizations, including the NAACP, although she was frequently sidelined by more conservative men or white women, because of her race, sex, lack of advanced education, and most importantly because of her outspokenness about the wrongs of society. Recommended readings will be provided as PDFs or web links.

Bill Saunders graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Amherst College, and was formerly a marketing consultant for high-tech companies. Since retirement, he has traveled extensively, including making seven trips to Haiti with a medical team to provide care throughout the countryside around Leogane, the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. Bill has taught other courses at Tufts OLLI, including the history of Haiti, the role of John Brown in American history, two different courses analyzing historical events through the lens of eight Graham Greene films, and a course covering right-wing military juntas that took over the governments of many countries during the 1960s and 70s.

in-person at tufts

Le Cinéma Français: A Journey through French Culture

Valerie Sutter, Outside Instructor

Friday, 1:30pm - 4pm (9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4)

4 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$100

This film course proposes to look at France and its culture through some of its most beloved authors: Molière, Emile Zola, Marcel Pagnol and Victor Hugo. After a short PowerPoint presentation which highlights the broader cultural, historical, and sociopolitical contexts, we’ll direct the viewer to actively engage in the storytelling process by watching four films based on works from the 17th to the 20th centuries. Those films are Bicycling wit Moliere, Germinal, La Fille du Puisatier, and Hunchback of Notre Dame. Lively discussion conducted afterward in English. All films are watched in class in French with English subtitles; there is no outside homework or film viewing.

Valerie Sutter, the day after graduating from university with a BA in French, headed off to France for what she thought would be a year of polishing her language skills. Twenty years later, she returned to the US, fluent not only in French but in Portuguese and intercultural relations. After earning her Master’s degree at the Faculté de Lettres de Lyon, she shared her passion for language and culture by teaching for thirty-plus years in public and private schools in France, Brazil, and the US. Believing total language immersion to be the best means of understanding another culture and most important, one’s own, she organizes language immersion workshops in France every summer for teachers of French through her own company, The French Traveler, and runs trips to Paris in English for assorted Francophiles. She owns an apartment in Paris where she spends several months of every year.

in-person at tufts

Our Environment, Our Future - Role of Individuals and Communities

Kwame Ababio, Tufts Graduate Student

Friday, 10am - 12pm (9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18)

6 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$150

“Our Environment, Our Future” is an interdisciplinary course designed to explore the complex relationship between humanity and the natural world. With a focus on environmental sustainability and conservation, the program will help in understanding how individuals and communities can organize to protect, and advocate for the preservation of Mother Earth. Through a combination of discussions and case studies, the program will delve into key topics such as biodiversity, climate change, resource management, pollution, and sustainable development. It will explore real-world examples of environmental challenges and solutions, and discuss current environmental policies and practices, including the debates around some controversial environmental issues in the US and elsewhere.

Kwame Ababio is a climate change and environment expert who has had significant working experience in Africa and Europe. His areas of interest are international climate change governance and providing local solutions to environmental problems. The key question that his course will answer is, “Why should we be interested in environmental sustainability and be concerned about climate change?” His interest in this subjectmatter stems from the conviction that communities and individuals can play a central role in global actions towards addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. He is currently a PhD student at the Fletcher School focusing on International Environment and Development Policy and expects to complete his program in Summer 2028.

in-person at tufts

Powerful Connections: How Sensory Communications Shape Status and Community Culture

Thea Curtin, OLLI Member

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1)

4 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$100

From buying a house to rooting for the Red Sox, our five senses are major players. The goal of this class is to raise awareness of their critical value both consciously and unconsciously. We will trace the evolutionary journey of survival and examine each sense in a contemporary context. Why you should “listen to your nose” or pay attention to that funny feeling are questions to which we will seek answers. No required reading. There will be handouts and participatory sensing-the-message activities.

Thea Curtin, an active participant in Osher programs at Tufts University for over a decade, previously led two classes titled Sensory IQ (Summer 2019) and How the Nake Ape Got Home (Fall 2018). A lifelong resident of Medford, Thea’s classes are informed by a 35-year career in Real Estate that offered a “Living Lab” on human behavior. Her lifelong interest in these topics began at the University of Massachusetts where she majored in Sociology and Communications.

in-person at tufts

Science Fiction at the Drive-In, 2024 Edition

Jim Gallagher, OLLI Member

Friday, 1:30pm - 4pm (9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1)

6 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$150

Science fiction movies can help us imagine the future, question our present, even reassess our past. These 6 movies won’t do any of that. In the middle of a sure-to-be contentious presidential campaign, these movies will be about escape. No big themes, no life lessons, just fun. We’ll start with War of the Worlds and It Came from Beneath the Sea, two classics from the 50s. An example of the Nature’s Revenge genre from the 70s, Piranha, with a script by John Sayles. From 1984 The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai, a hip, comic book adventure before that became a thing. There are many other fun possibilities and the class will pick the other two. Since many of these movies will be less than 2 hours we will also talk about the innumerable hosts of shows such as Creature Double features where we probably saw many of these for the first time. Class interaction with the movies, even heckling, will be encouraged.

Jim Gallagher was a Transportation Planner in the Boston area for over 30 years. He has a BA from Case Western Reserve University and Masters from Rutgers and UMass Boston always trying to find better and safer ways to move people around. He was been an OLLI member since 2013 and has led numerous classes in music and movies. He was been a science fiction movie fan foreover - he was watching Godzilla versus the Thing on Creature Features when the Great Northeast Blackout of 1965 interrupted his viewing pleasure. His mother taught him how to use these movies for comfort and escape, and that’s what we will try to do in this class.

in-person at tufts

Setting the Scene: Place, Persona, and Plot (In-Person)

Jane Katims, OLLI Member

Friday, 10am - 12pm (10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1)

5 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$125

The dictionary defines “setting” as: “The place or type of surroundings where something is positioned or where an event takes place.” We will explore the active role settings play in narratives, how they provide atmospheres that bring into focus characters and events. In addition, we will discuss character development and conflict, as well as compare authors’ styles of writing and storytelling strategies. Course participants will be assigned 50 - 90 pages of reading per week. For our first class, please read the stories “Rock Springs” and “Great Falls” in the collection Rock Springs.

Required readings: Ford, Richard. Rock Springs.; Groff, Lauren. Florida.; Remnick, David. Wonderful Town, New York Stories, 2001.

Jane Katims has written and co-produced six radio series for Wisconsin Public Radio, one earning her a Peabody Award in Broadcasting. She is the author of the poetry collection DANCING ON A SLIPPERY FLOOR and UNTIL NOW, a collection of short stories. As well as teaching at OLLI, she teaches literature and creative writing at The Cambridge Center for Adult Education. Jane is a member of the Friends of the Center for Humanities at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She lives with her family near Boston, Massachusetts.

in-person at tufts

The Battle of Gettysburg, PA: July 1-3, 1863

John Flynn, OLLI Member

Friday, 10am - 12pm (10/11, 10/18, 10/25)

3 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$75

Called the turning point of the Civil War (arguably), the three-day Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania blunted General Lee’s aura of invincibility and gave some much needed good news to the Union. In this course, we will examine the importance of this battle, taking place between July 1 – 3, 1863 and its impact on the war between the states. There is no required reading for this course. However, there are hundreds of books and movies covering this battle and the Civil war in general—the definitive work on the war is Shelby Foote’s three volume treatise; The Civil War A Narrative. The Battle of Gettysburg is covered in Volume II, ‘Fredericksburg to Meridian.’

John Flynn received a BS from Northeastern and later returned for a Paralegal certificate. He retired after a career as a paralegal. John is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts and has traveled widely in the lower 48, visiting, several Civil War battle sites. He has had an interest in the Civil War since taking several history electives at university.

in-person at tufts

World Philosophies

Eric Chatterjee, Tufts Graduate Student

Friday, 10am - 12pm (9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4, 10/11, 10/18, 10/25, 11/1)

8 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$175

In this 8-week, in-person course, we will explore philosophies from around the world. Week one covers Indian philosophies. Week two covers East-Asian, especially Chinese, Japanese, Buddhist, and Shinto philosophies. Week three covers classical Greco-Roman philosophies. Week four covers Judeo-Christian philosophies. Week five covers Islamic philosophies. Week six covers European philosophies, especially German, French, and Marxist philosophies, and contrasts them with Anglo-American philosophies. Week seven covers African philosophies. Week eight covers Latin-American philosophies. Each class will be comprised of a lecture from the instructor followed by discussion. Participants are warmly welcome to ask questions throughout. Suggested short to medium-length readings along with YouTube videos will be provided before each class session. Students should not have to purchase any materials for the course.

Eric Chatterjee is an incoming second-year master’s student at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he studies international law and world philosophy, politics, and economics. After completing his degree, he hopes to go on to doctoral studies and ultimately become a university professor.

in-person at tufts

Write What You Know: A Memoir Workshop

Alisa Wolf, OLLI Member

Friday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/13, 9/20, 9/27, 10/4)

4 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$100

If you want to write about your life but don’t know how to get started, or if you’re struggling to shape a memoir-in-progress, this study group is for you. Our guide will be Marion Roach Smith’s book, The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standard Text for Writing and Life (134 pages) and her extensive website, MarionRoach.com. We will discuss what Roach means when she says: “Write what you truly know, instead of what you merely did” and then, we will look at how successful memoirists do just that. Each participant will describe their memoir idea or ongoing project and work with the group to answer three key questions: What is your memoir about? What is your argument, universal truth, or theme? What scenes from your life will you use to illustrate your argument, universal truth, or theme? We will put what we learn into practice by writing in class and reading what we’ve written out loud (optional), in a fun, constructive atmosphere.

Required readings: Smith, Marion Roach. The Memoir Project: A Thoroughly Non-Standardized Text for Writing & Life. $10.79. Click here to purchase.

Alisa Wolf worked as a writer and editor on trade and consumer magazines and as a marketing communications writer specializing in Financial Services. For more than a decade she taught fiction and memoir-writing classes at The Arlington Center for the Arts and the West Medford Community Center. She earned an MFA from Vermont College, and her work has appeared in many literary journals, including Agni, Calyx, and Cimarron Review, as well as the Prentice Hall Reader, 11th and 12th edition. She lives in Medford, MA and writes about aging, writing and family on Medium.com.

in-person at BrooksBy Village

Drawing On Nature

Rebecca Geekie, Tufts Alum

Monday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/9, 9/16, 6/23, 9/30, 10/7, 10/21)

6 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$150

According to neuroscientist Dr. Christianne Strang, “99% of the time, people find that if they give up the idea that they’re not good enough, if they give up the judgment, making art actually feels good.” Drawing On Nature is a nature journaling class for all levels of experience. The primary purpose of the class is to guide participants to use wonder and attention to deepen their connections to nature. Improvements in drawing proficiency will happen naturally as a byproduct of strengthening visual literacy, learning practical tips from a teaching artist, and the practice of being fully present. Activities will be centered on objects from the natural world, encouraging growth mindset, and delighting in the unique ways each person experiences nature. The only requirements are curiosity, kindness towards self and others, and a willingness to explore drawing, writing, and numbers to document their observations, questions, and inspirations. Classes will be conducted both indoors and outdoors, weather permitting. Participants are encouraged to dress comfortably and come prepared for outdoor activities. Required materials for the class are; unlined sketchbook or journal, and pencils, erasers, pens. Optional materials are colored pencils or water color paints.

Rebecca Geekie quit drawing for over twenty years because of a bad experience in a drawing class. She went on to obtain a BFA in Studio Art from Tuft University’s School of Museum of Fine Arts in Studio Art, was awarded numerous grants, and exhibited and sold her art. Yet, she believed she was never going to be good at drawing! Birding and nature journaling have been instrumental in her recovery from a recent brain injury and her path back to the pencil. Her teaching style is founded on her experiences teaching creative arts to students with diverse cognitive and physical needs, English to adults and students, her own healing journey, and living as an expat in Romania, Italy, France, and South Africa. She’s excited to share nature drawing as a curiosity-focused, mindful, and fun practice.

in-person at BrooksBy Village

Ida B. Wells – Shining a Light of Truth (Brooksby Village)

Bill Saunders, OLLI Member

Monday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (10/28, 11/4)

2 Sessions, Minimally Interactive - Mostly Lecture

$50

Born into slavery, Ida B. Wells became an important leader for Black and women’s rights. An early pioneer of investigative journalism, she believed that “the way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth on them.” Most famous for her anti-lynching campaign, she was exiled from the South and her newspaper destroyed after an incendiary editorial. Moving to Brooklyn and then Chicago, she continued writing, speaking, and organizing in support of Black rights and women’s suffrage. A powerful speaker, she had successful tours throughout the northern United States and England. Along the way, she founded many organizations, including the NAACP, although she was frequently sidelined by more conservative men or white women, because of her race, sex, lack of advanced education, and most importantly because of her outspokenness about the wrongs of society. Recommended readings will be provided as PDFs or web links.

Bill Saunders graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Amherst College, and was formerly a marketing consultant for high-tech companies. Since retirement, he has traveled extensively, including making seven trips to Haiti with a medical team to provide care throughout the countryside around Leogane, the epicenter of the 2010 earthquake. Bill has taught other courses at Tufts OLLI, including the history of Haiti, the role of John Brown in American history, two different courses analyzing historical events through the lens of eight Graham Greene films, and a course covering right-wing military juntas that took over the governments of many countries during the 1960s and 70s.

in-person at BrooksBy Village

Sustainable Solutions for our Global Warming and Plastic Pollution Crises

Rob Martin, Tufts Alum

Monday, 10am - 12pm (9/9, 9/16, 9/23, 9/30, 10/7)

5 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

$125

Human activities are unsustainably overwhelming the earth’s carrying capacity and will lead to low quality of life for all unless changes are made. Examples of what we are doing are the burning of fossil fuels, with its warming effects, and the use of plastics. We’ll discuss what future family life could look like if we adopt certain specific policies vs. the bleak future if we don’t. Specific topics include: flaws in our economic and governing systems; solar, wind, and nuclear energy; electric vehicles; and robots.

Rob Martin has degrees in Engineering and Economics from Tufts. For many years, he has been interested in the intersection between energy, ecology and the global warming problem. He synthesizes the ideas from the experts in fields such as ecological economics, mining and materials, renewable energy, petroleum geology—and tries to present his conclusions in ways the average person can understand them. The goal is to present facts, not opinions. He has taught a 6 week seminar on climate change with Nova and Sage at UT OLLI, plus seminars on climate change and art at Tufts.

in-person at BrookhaVen

Swann’s Way by Marcel Proust (In-Person)

Emese Soos, OLLI Member

Wednesday, 10am - 12pm (9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/2, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23)

7 Sessions, Highly Interactive - Lots of Discussion

$175

Swann’s Way is the first volume of Marcel Proust’s great masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time, a long meditation on time and memory. It appeared in 1913, just before the Great War profoundly transformed life in France and Europe. In the three sections of Swann’s Way, the narrator first evokes his childhood (Combray), then recounts a love affair of Swann’s (Swann in Love); and concludes with musings about the power of names engraved in memory (Place Names: The Name). We will read and discuss Swann’s Way in sections of about 50-75 pages per session.

Required readings: Proust, Marcel. Swann’s Way: In Search of Lost Time Vol. 1 (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition). Translated by Lydia Davis. $13.19. Click here to purchase on Amazon.

Emese Soos majored in French and history at Mount Holyoke College, earned a Ph.D. in French from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and taught French language and culture courses at Tufts for over 30 years. She delights in revisiting some of her favorite literary works, this time in English.

in-person at BrookhaVen

The Dynamics of Jewish Communities and their Resilience –A Socio-physics Approach

Joseph Livini, Outside Instructor

Wednesday, 1:30pm - 3:30pm (9/11, 9/18, 9/25, 10/9, 10/16, 10/23, 10/30, 11/6)

8 Sessions, Somewhat Interactive - A Mixture of Lecture and Discussion

Sociologists study social behavior by looking at how people act and communicate and by debating ideas about society. On the other hand, socio-physicists use math to test theories about society. They create mathematical models to see if their ideas make sense and if they can predict what might happen in real life. In this course, we explore how sociology and physics come together to understand different aspects of society. We’ll look at things like how Jewish communities are organized, why societies are complex, how cultures change over time, and how public services are managed. The main aim of this course is to explain how mathematical models help to learn more about Jewish life. By doing this, we hope to uncover insights into how Jewish communities learn, how justice works, what their history teaches us, and how their population changes over time.

Joseph Livini, Graduate of Technion, Haifa (B. Sc Mech Eng) and Tel Aviv University (M. Sc. Engineering). After a long career in Aerospace Engineering the Joseph Livni began a new vocation in Socio-physics, examining sociological concepts by applying mathematical models developed and utilized by physicists. He published eight articles, authored one book and co-edited another book.

OLLI Events FALL 2024

Additional events and full event details will be shared with current Tufts OLLI members via our weekly digest and on our website, but below are a few to keep an eye out for as we head into our Fall 2024 Term!

In addition to events listed, Tufts OLLI members are invited to attend select lectures and special events at our partner, Brookhaven at Lexington, and special events hosted by Tufts University. Full details about these will also be shared in our weekly digest and monthly newsletters.

As the listed events kick off our 2024-2025 membership year, registration for these events will open July 1, 2024.

OLLI at Night: Influential Women Performed by Marvento Duo

Thursday, July 25, 7:30pm In-Person at Brookhaven at Lexington

Hosted with our Community Partner, Brookhaven at Lexington, the Marvento Duo, featuring Weronika Balewski, Flute and Elizabeth Basconi, Piano, celebrates music by women composers both past and present, and considers their legacies today. The program introduces legendary teacher Nadia Boulanger through her Three Pieces for Cello and Piano transcribed for flute and piano. Boulanger taught dozens of well-known composers, including Aaron Copland, whose Duo for Flute and Piano became part of the “American sound.” We also bring to life a seldom-played Suite by Clemence de Grandval, who played a major role in supporting new music in late 19th century Paris. In Jhula Jhule, Reena Esmail honors her grandparents through the Indian folk songs they taught her, while Emily Doolittle’s Palouse Songbook explores the birds of the palouse prairie of the American northwest. These composers are creating and influencing current generations of musicians. Learn more at marventoduo.com This is a 60 min program with no intermission.

OLLI at Night: World War II and the transformation of America

Wednesday, September 4, 6:30pm

Virtually on Zoom

Honoring the 85th anniversary of the start of WWII, join the Tufts OLLI Community and Dr. Edward T. O’Donnell, Ph.D. Depart of History, Holy Cross College as he presents ‘World War II and the transformation of America’. This presentation examines the extraordinary changes ushered in by the U.S. entry into World War II. First, it brought

millions of American women into the workforce where, unlike World War I, they stayed after the war. Second, the war provided an opportunity for African Americans to demand a new federal commitment to civil rights, beginning what were the early rumblings of the formal civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Third, World War II ended the Great Depression and launched the greatest peacetime expansion of the economy in American history. Finally, the war firmly established the U.S. as one of the world’s two superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War.

OLLI at Night: Revisiting The Summer of Barbenheimer

Tuesday, October 22, 6:30pm In-Person at Tufts and Virtually on Zoom

Presented by Prof. Jonathan Lupo (Saint Anselm College) Why did Barbenheimer happen? How did Barbenheimer happen? What does Barbenheimer tell us about movies today? The surprise movie sensation of summer 2023 – and the talk it inspired –is explored in this presentation on two 20th century icons remade for the 21st century. Opening on the same day, Barbie and Oppenheimer were initially pitted against each other as a sort of culture war litmus test, invoking a gendered fan culture that played out in memes and other forms of online conversation. Surprisingly robust box office returns for both films also celebrated the films as proof of a “return to moviegoing” after Covid-19 appeared to mortally wound the film industry. Lost somewhat are the films themselves – vivid and rich examples of the musical and biopic, respectively, as well as signature works of directors in the primes of their careers. Based on a Barbenheimer class taught in spring 2023, this presentation will explore the movies and the memes of this singular phenomenon. Prof. Jonathan Lupo is an Associate Professor in the English and Communication Department at Saint Anselm.

Do you have an idea for a course you would like to see?

Offer a Tufts OLLI Course!

Have you recently read a new book that you would like to discuss with others? Or traveled to a new destination that inspired you to learn more about the culture and history of that location? Share those interests and passions with Tufts OLLI members by leading a course! Our members enjoy learning about topics in history, literature, current events, film, STEM — the list goes on!

Don’t worry if you’ve never led a course before: our Curriculum Committee will happily talk you through the process or help you formulate your ideas, so your course will be as enjoyable an experience for you as it will be for the participants. The Tufts OLLI office provides training and materials for new course instructors, and support for courses taking place virtually on zoom or in-person. Member instructors are eligible for a free course as a thank you for being a course instructor.

We are currently looking for proposals for our 2024–2025 membership year. The submission deadline and term dates and modalities can be found below, but if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Tufts OLLI office at osherlli@tufts.edu or the Tufts OLLI Curriculum Committee at oshercurriculumcommittee@tufts.edu.

Visit https://universitycollege.tufts.edu/lifelong-learning/osherlli/ propose_a_course to propose a course today!

Term

Winter 2025

Spring 2025

Summer 2025

Term Dates

January 13, 2025 to February 10, 2025

March 17, 2025 to May 9, 2025

May 27, 2025 to June 23, 2025

Modalities Offered for Courses Course Proposal Submission Deadline

Virtually on Zoom

In-Person and Virtually on Zoom

In-Person and Virtually on Zoom

October 6, 2024

November 10, 2024

March 9, 2025

Tufts OLLI Spotlight Literary Magazine

Published every two years, our Spotlight Magazine is a collection of short stories, essays, poems, and artwork submitted and edited by the members of the Tufts Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

If you consider yourself an author, poet, or artist, we would love to showcase your work in the Spring 2025 edition of our magazine!

Keep an eye out for more information and submission details being shared in our Tufts OLLI Weekly Digest.

1

Course Registration & Policy Information

Become a Member or Renew your Membership for Registration Day

◦ Membership is required for class registration.

◦ Membership fee is $75 for an annual membership of July 1, 202 4 to June 30, 2025.

Registration Runs from July 1, 2024 Through September 5, 2024

◦ Register online by visiting our website, https://universitycollege.tufts.edu/lifelonglearning/osherlli/schedule .

◦ Add the OLLI courses you would like to take to your shopping cart and checkout! Please note that a 2024-2025 membership fee is automatically added to your shopping cart. Once you enter your username and password, this fee will be removed if you already renewed your membership for this year.

Instantly Know Your Fall 2024 Schedule

◦ Payment is due to complete your class registration. The same day you register and pay for your classes you will know what courses you are enrolled in and/or what waitlists you are on!

◦ As long as there are seats available for a course, you can ad just your schedule up to four business days before the start of the term.

REGISTRATION SCHEDULE

◦ Fall Registration Opens: Monday, July 1, 2024

◦ Add/Drop Period: Monday, July 1, 2024 - Thursday, September 5, 2024

◦ Classes Begin: Monday, September 9, 2024

REFUNDS, WITHDRAWALS, AND CANCELLATIONS POLICIES

The OLLI policies for refunds, withdrawals, and course cancellations can be found on our website, https://universitycollege.tufts.edu/lifelong-learning . Those members participating in the program are responsible for reading and adhering to all policies found there.

FINANCIAL AID

Partial tuition remission is available on a limited basis. For more information, please contact our office at osherlli@tufts.edu or (617) 627-5699.

Thank you to the Curriculum Committee and the Lunch and Learn Committee for their dedication, hard work, and assistance with planning our Fall term!

Tufts University Osher Lifelong Learning Institute 80 George Street, Medford, MA 02155

Tufts University Osher Lifelong Learning Institute 039 Carmichael Hall Medford, MA 02155

Phone: 617-627-5699

Phone: 617-627-5699

Email: OsherLLI@tufts.edu

Email: OsherLLI@Tufts edu

Web: universitycollege.tufts.edu/lifelong-learning

Web: universitycollege.tufts.edu/osher-lifelong-learning-institute