Curriculum
MONDAYS
9:00–10:30am DUKE UNIVERSITY CHAPEL: The Inside Story
This course covers the history of the Gothic West Campus and the building that dominates it. This course will cover the architecture, stained glass windows, the organs, and insights into the chapel’s place in the life of the university and the Durham community. The final session will be an excursion to Duke Chapel.
LOIS POUNDS OLIVER is a former faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics and associate dean for Medical Education and Admissions. She is currently head docent at Duke University Chapel.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 9:00–10:30am, The Bishop’s House. Maximum: 30. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1131
9:00–10:30am THE DUKES OF DURHAM: An Industrial Empire
History touts Washington Duke and his sons primarily for hitching a blind mule to a one-horse wagon and catapulting a small farm tobacco crop into a multi-million-dollar tobacco industry, known as American Tobacco Company. The legacy of “W Duke & Sons—Roll Your Own” brand of tobacco reaches worldwide. In addition, the millions of dollars from tobacco served to fuel two other successes: the energy and the textile industries. Using the fast profits from tobacco, the Duke family tentacles spread far and wide into American industry and society. This course will examine the industrial genius, philanthropy, shrewd practices, and pitfalls as well as the colorful approaches taken by the Duke siblings as they battled the social and economic elements of the Industrial Age.
BILLY YEARGIN, a seventeen-year veteran OLLI instructor, has served four North Carolina community colleges as a professor of US history, Southern culture, philosophy, critical thinking, and public speaking. He now serves as president of Oak Ridge Military Academy.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 9:00–10:30am, Duke Homestead, 2828 Duke Homestead Rd, Durham. Maximum: 30. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1133
9:00–10:30am LINE (& CIRCLE) DANCING: From the “Electric Slide” to “Eretz Eretz”—Low-Impact, Cross-Cultural Line and Folk Dances for Beginners
Line (and circle) dancing is a gentle low-impact course designed for both men and women. New dances will be taught at each session and will include western country line dances as well as line and circle dances of other cultures (e.g., Israeli, Greek, Baltic). All dances are taken from the popular country western and international folk dance repertoire so that you will be able to dance with others wherever you go. No previous dance experience and no partner are required.
VICKI RYDER holds a master’s degree in education from Hunter College of the City University of New York and worked as a teacher and as a training specialist for the New York Governor’s Office on Employee Relations before retiring and returning to her first love—dance. She developed and taught this course for retirees in Florida before relocating to the Triangle last year.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 9:00–10:30am, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 24. Fee: $45. Course ID: 0978
9:00–10:30am CULTURE IN THE WILD: Imbibing History from the Ground Up
On one level this course is an antidote to “top-down” history, an attempt to encourage an appreciation for our most common history. On another it is an extended polemic for acknowledgement and recognition of our premodern origins. Its ultimate objective is to convince attendees to support preservation of our dwindling reservoir of premodern landscapes and artifacts. In addition to class sessions, there will be opportunities to visit premodern landscapes and artifacts in and near Durham.
TOM MAGNUSON, trained as a military historian and inclined to be an historian of technology, spent the past twenty or so years devising means for “finding ways”: locating premodern roads, paths, and trails. In the course of his studies, he developed a passion for preserving our common past.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 9:00–10:30am, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 30. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1132
10:00am–12:00pm GEORGE ELIOT’S MIDDLEMARCH
Written in the 1870s but set in the turbulent 1830s, Middlemarch is considered one of the greatest novels in English literature. This panoramic multiplot novel gives us a fascinating array of characters faced with moral, social, spiritual, and ethical problems in a time of great change.
Classes will meet for two hours to allow us time to discuss the novel and also to watch in its entirety the much-acclaimed Masterpiece Theatre adaptation. We will pay special attention to questions of gender and marriage and also the transition from printed word to screen.
Recommended text:
- George Eliot, Middlemarch (ISBN 978-0199536757), Oxford University, 2008, $10.95.
LOUISE MASURAT has a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA from Middlebury’s Graduate School of French in France and she completed doctoral studies (ABD) at Harvard in Romance languages. Her teaching experience ranges from college English to computer classes at OLLI, with many other subjects in between.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 10:00am–12:00pm (please note times), Galloway Ridge Retirement Community, 3000 Galloway Ridge Rd, Pittsboro. Maximum: 25. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1177
11:00am–12:30pm THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR: Tracing the Templars from Their Origin to Their Demise
Warriors of God, or Devils from Hell? The Knights Templar, an outlandish, confusing, misunderstood, powerful organization was armed with a license to do anything. We will trace their history and their legacy, their battles, their empire, and their relationship with kings, as well as their lifestyle and their organization.
BAZ CUNNINGHAM lives in Durham and has been an OLLI member the past two years. He taught the course “The History of Haiti” and has written a historical novel titled The Voynich Enigma, which traces a mysterious manuscript that linked the Templars from the 13th century to modern-day France and the United States.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 11:00am–12:30pm, The Bishop’s House. Maximum: 20. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1134
11:00am–12:30pm ART & SOCIETY IN 17th-CENTURY EUROPE: The Age of the Marvelous
Seventeenth-century Europeans shared a passion for the extraordinary, the astounding, and the miraculous in nature and in art. Indeed, a vogue for the marvelous is a distinguishing feature of this period, which valued above all else the power of art to excite wonder and awe. We will consider several catalysts for this intense fascination with the marvelous, including the religious conflicts that fueled a fever for depictions of miracles and martyrdoms; advances in science and technology (the invention of the telescope and microscope, for example) that introduced Europeans to the wonders of nature, large and small; the expansion of trade and travel that brought exotic plants and animals back from the New World to the Old; and the revival of classical literature, Ovid’s Metamorphoses in particular, that engendered a taste for astonishing transformations and other supernatural phenomena. Bernini, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, and Vermeer, among other masters, will be our guides as we explore the age of the marvelous and the events that gave rise to it.
CAROLYN H. WOOD has a PhD in art history with a specialty in Renaissance and Baroque art. She has taught art history and museum studies at Bowdoin College, the University of Georgia, and the University of North Carolina–Chapel Hill. She worked at the Ackland Art Museum for many years, serving as educator for university audiences and as assistant director for art and education.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 11:00am–12:30pm, The Bishop’s House. Maximum: 25. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1130
11:00am–12:30pm THE BUSINESS OF ART: A Glimpse “Behind the Scenes” of Orange County’s Visual Arts Scene
The course will explore some of the varied ways Orange County’s visual arts scene functions and will cover issues such as the challenges involved in managing the mix of art and business and the role of city planning and community involvement in various local visual arts endeavors. We will meet with Orange County artists and administrators and visit visual arts destinations such as FRANK Gallery and the Ackland Museum in Chapel Hill, various artists’ studios and exhibitions, and maybe the Eno Gallery in Hillsborough.
BARBARA TYROLER, with an MFA in digital art and an MEd in education, currently teaches advanced seminar studies and the creative documentary portrait at the Center for Documentary Studies through Duke University.
NERYS LEVY is an onsite landscape painter and has worked in the Polar regions, Europe, China, and the United States. She is also an arts administrator and curator.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 11:00am–12:30pm,Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 20. Fee: $45.Course ID: 1135
11:00am–12:30pm INDOOR AIR QUALITY
During this course we will discuss the evaluation of the physical, chemical, biological, and radiological contaminants in the indoor environment. The range of topics will cover a variety of physical influences, indoor contaminant characterization (radon, mold, bacteria, endotoxins, mycotoxins, volatile organic compounds [VOCs], allergens), problem assessment, and mitigation strategy development. The discussion will include the mechanisms that govern building air quality and comfort (air conveyance, temperature, and humidity control) and the relationships between building operation, pollutant source, and problem solving.
MARC YVES MENETREZ, PhD, is an environmental engineer, researcher, and author with the Environmental Protection Agency, based in the Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
4 Mondays, April 15–May 6 (please note dates), 11:00am–12:30pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 30. Fee: $35. Course ID: 1155
11:00am–12:30pm THE FUTURE OF MEDICARE & THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
Everyone needs health insurance! In the last several years, this has become more evident because of the aging population impacting Medicare and the implementation of the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Many consumers are confused about the health care system in general and how the new law will affect their lives. This seminar will address changes affecting Medicare and will explore Obamacare’s impact on the health care system, enabling consumers to make informed decisions regarding their health care needs. In the sessions on Medicare, the focus will be its history; its parts A, B, C, and D laws and regulations; and the effects of the aging population. In the sessions on Obamacare, we will examine the program’s implementation, rising healthcare costs, and the seven core areas the consumer needs to know. Each class will consist of a lecture, a small break, and questions and answers.
DARYL I. COSTON is a licensed insurance agent in North Carolina representing Medicare and other insurance plans for retirees. He operates Coston Retirement Services. He is also a certified health coach and operates Customized Wellness Solutions. He has operated a vitamin business and was a sales representative for several nutritional companies.
GARY W. DUNCAN’s careers spans the funeral business, polymer chemical research, behavioral science research, and psychotherapy. Currently he is a customized wellness solutions consultant. He has taught at various colleges and universities and is an ordained Gnostic Catholic priest, a spiritual director, a published author, and a wellness educator.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 11:00am–12:30pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 30. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1136
11:00am–12:30pm THE ART ZONE: Creating Abstract Paintings with Acrylic Paints and Mixed Media
Enter The Art Zone, the hands-on art-making experience that will guide you into “the zone” of right-brain activity. You can begin to interpret and see the world through an artist’s eye, which can become a relaxing and astonishing experience. Our medium will be acrylic paints and collaging materials (these are a variety of recyclable items and personal memorabilia). If you admire modern abstract paintings, you will enjoy this process. Learn artists’ “trade secrets” and new techniques. No art experience required. Create your own amazing abstract masterpieces. This course is designed as a journey into the free-flowing world of abstract painting with you becoming the artist!
Recommended text:
- Flora S. Bowley, Brave Intuitive Painting—Let Go, Be Bold, Unfold! Techniques for Uncovering Your Own Unique Painting Style (ISBN 978-1592537686), Quarry Books, 2012, $16.49.
PAT HILL is an artist and educator who can be found hard at work in her studio in rural Chatham County, North Carolina. Her work is exhibited in museums and galleries and in public and private collections, some having been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Washington DC Commission for the Arts and Humanities.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 11:00am–12:30pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 10. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1137
(Various times) LANDSCAPE DESIGN
Join us for a practical and informal conversation about home landscape problems and solutions. This hands-on workshop offers information on elements of design, site analysis, grading, construction projects, and installation considerations. We will visit a few completed sites to discuss how they were designed and constructed. We will also visit yards of willing class members to explore various design options and to discuss particular landscape challenges and solutions on site. Our field trips will offer an opportunity to identify a variety of landscape plants and their uses and habitat requirements. Bring any questions and pictures you might have to the first meeting.
CATHERINE CHANDLER is a landscape designer and contractor and a graduate of North Carolina State University with a BS and an MS in horticulture. She has worked in the Triangle for thirty-four years. She previously taught home landscaping classes for Duke Continuing Education and the North Carolina Botanical Gardens.
4 Sessions: Monday, April 15, 1:00–3:00pm, The Bishop’s House; Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, April 17, 19 & 20, 1:00–4:30pm, off campus (please note dates, times, and sites). Maximum: 10. Fee: $45. Course ID: 0503
1:00–3:00pm FAST FICTION: Concept to Conclusion in Six Weeks
Join a group of like-minded writers in a supportive, directed workshop designed to inspire productivity. This course will guide you through the process of writing a short story, revising it, polishing it, and making it ready to submit. We’ll cover the basics of narrative arc, characterization, description, and dialogue. If you are tired of procrastinating, if you work best under a deadline, if you want to finally have a finished story to show for your hard work at writing, this is the course for you.
JANE ANDREWS is a North Carolina native who has taught travel writing, journaling, and poetry through OLLI. She has published short stories, creative nonfiction, essays, and poetry in The Main Street Rag, The Rambler, Verdad Magazine, Southern Arts Journal, and The Recent Past Preservation Network, among other publications. She is a past board member of Carolina Wren Press, a Raleigh Fine Arts Society contest judge, and a North Carolina Poetry Society award winner.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:00–3:00pm (please note times), The Bishop’s House. Maximum: 8. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1139
1:30–3:00pm CALLIGRAPHY: Writing in Italic Font
Learn elegant calligraphy in the italic font.
ANNE BAUGH has taught calligraphy for several years both at Durham Technical Community College’s Continuing Education and at the Durham Arts Council.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:30–3:00pm, The Bishop’s House. Maximum: 8. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1138
1:30–2:50pm ISLAND DANCE FITNESS FOR WOMEN: Get Ready For Summer with Dances from Hawaii, Tahiti, and Other Pacific Islands
Imagine soft Pacific breezes wafting over you as you dance to tropical melodies and island beats. We will work on basic island dance moves and a variety of types of dance that are great exercises for abs and other core muscles, and we finish each class with relaxation stretches that will leave you refreshed and rejuvenated. This dance can be enjoyed by most women regardless of age or body type. The course is low impact and low aerobic, so you can start easily. Wear everyday, comfortable clothes and bring soft, flexible shoes.
MARGARET CLEMEN (RAYAHANNA) has enjoyed and performed international dances for years and has taught the popular Raks and island dance courses for OLLI at Duke for the past eight years.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:30–2:50pm (please note times), Infuzion, 3400 Westgate Dr, Durham. Maximum: 18. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1174
1:30–3:00pm ACHIEVING LONGEVITY: How to Think Young
Fit? Mentally sharp? Energized? Want to achieve these goals? The good news is your mind is the important key to staying alive and living a full life. This course is based on simple steps to reverse the aging process, outsmart your genes, and develop a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Each session will focus on different strategies to consider how to boost your well-being to live a longer, healthy and youthful life.
Recommended text:
- Daniel G. Amen, Use Your Brain to Change Your Age: Secrets to Look, Feel, and Think Younger Every Day (ISBN 978-0307888549), Harmony, 2012, $17.07.
ANNE LOGAN holds master’s degrees in nursing and in health service administration from Saint Joseph’s College of Standish, Maine. She currently works as a registered nurse as an RSVP volunteer, nurse educator, and manager of Grow Power Self Improvement, LLC. Anne taught the OLLI course “How to Decrease Stress” last term.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:30–3:00pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 15. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1156
1:30–3:00pm AMERICAN WOMEN BEHAVING BADLY: A History
According to Harvard history professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, “Well-behaved women seldom make history.” In this course we will examine that idea as it applies to Anne Hutchinson, Eliza Pinckney, Peggy Eaton, Victoria Woodhull, Margaret Sanger, and Eleanor Roosevelt. Some reading and Internet exploration will be recommended but not required.
Recommended text:
- Nancy Woloch, Women and the American Experience, 5th ed. (ISBN 978-0073385570), McGraw Hill, 2010. Used copies available online at a substantial discount.
A retired professor, SYLVIA HOFFERT taught American women’s history at Texas A & M University and the University of North Carolina. She has published five books on women and gender, including biographies of Jane Grey Swisshelm, a 19th-century newspaper editor, and Alva Vanderbilt Belmont, a women’s rights advocate and philanthropist.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:30–3:00pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 20. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1158
1:30–3:00pm INSIGHTS INTO ARCHITECTURE: How Traditional, Modern, and Contemporary Architecture Relate
Contemporary architecture is current; modern architecture is from the early part of the last century. During this course, distinctions of these two styles of architecture will be explored, and their relationships to traditional architecture will be discussed. Through a deeper understanding of the architects’ thoughts, goals, and processes, you will gain insights into how architecture reflects and shapes our lives.
ELIAS J. (ELLIE) TORRE is a licensed architect with a Master of Architecture from the College of Design at North Carolina State University and a Bachelor of Civil Engineering from Duke University. He has practiced architecture in North Carolina for over twenty years.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:30–3:00pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 20. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1157
1:30–3:00pm WEST AFRICAN DRUMMING FOR BEGINNERS: Learn to Drum for Fun
Join us for a beginner’s course in basic djembe technique, rudiments, and polyrhythmic drum patterns. Students will learn to play djembe rhythms for a traditional West African ensemble song-and-dance rhythm.
Please note: Each student will need to have a djembe for the course. Prices vary according to the quality of the instrument.
PATRICIA “SUMMER” MASON has been trained to teach djembe technique and West African traditional rhythms through the Tam Tam Mandique School in Winston-Salem. She has seventeen years’ experience playing and performing djembe and dununs and currently teaches drumming at Durham Tech Community College.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 1:30–3:00pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 6. Fee: $45. Course ID: 1159
3:15–4:45pm NIA—DANCE WITH JOY: Move with Awareness
There is mounting evidence that movement with body sense awareness has measurable health benefits by itself and in combination with other forms of exercise. Nia is a sensory-based mind-body-spirit practice that blends dance with the martial arts and elements of yoga, Feldenkrais Method, and Alexander Technique to promote healing and fitness. Using eclectic world music and a combination of choreography and free dance, we will explore sensation and pleasure in the body through flexibility, agility, mobility, stability, and strength. This class is suitable for all fitness levels; the ability to get up and down from the floor is helpful, but not required. Wear loose, comfortable clothes and bring water and a yoga mat if you have one. Move in bare feet or light, comfortable shoes.
PATTI RIESER is a retired nurse practitioner and science writer; a long-time student of meditation, yoga, and martial arts; and a certified Nia Blue Belt instructor. She’s having fun discovering the dancer lurking behind the scientist.
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 3:15–4:45pm, Judea Reform Education Building. Maximum: 14. Fee: $45. Course ID: 0753
FREE Crafts Workshop: Join us!
3:15–4:45pm KNIT WITH BEADS
Knit an amulet bag reminiscent of a Victorian beaded purse. Also learn to make a beaded spiral rope (or find other strap alternatives) to hang it from. You need to know only how to do plain knit for this project. The most difficult part is putting the beads on the thread, so the instructor will try to have bead spinners available to make this easier.
Materials required are pearl cotton or silk thread size 8 or 10, two knitting needles size 0000 or 000, and seed beads size 10 or 11. If you have beads that are in hanks, please leave them on the hanks; otherwise, bring a small bowl.
The instructor has a large supply of thread (in a limited color range) and plenty of beads in all colors that she is willing to share, but students will need their own needles. (Needles usually come in a mixed package of three sizes, four of each size—so one package could be used by four people.)
6 Mondays, April 15–May 20, 3:15–4:45pm, The Bishop’s House. Maximum: 8. There is no fee, but registration is required; seating is limited to eight students. To register, contact Barbara Chremos at 919-683-8106 or thechremos@hotmail.com.
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