Course Catalog
FALL TERM 2011
October 17 to November 22, 2011
Room Assignments
When you register for a course, please include your email and phone number on the registration form. When the college finalizes room assignments we will give you the information by email or phone if the class location is not listed in this catalog.
AGING GRACEFULLY
Instructors: Louise F. Cyr Room: Carriage 10
Classes: Mondays, Oct. 17 - Nov. 14 10:00 to Noon
Aging is a gift, a challenge, an inspiration, an unknown, a blessing, a progression, and a visible changing along with invisible lessons. During this five-week series, we will explore the many dimensions of aging: the purposes and concerns, the struggles and surprises, the potentials and joys. To live these years well, we need to look at every dimension with gentle awareness. Life is not about age or the length of years we manage to eke out of it. It is about living into the values offered every day, about growing older with grace. Where in our society can elders come together to share their experiences of aging and learn from each other? Join these stimulating conversations with like-minded individuals.
Required Book: The Gift of Years by Joan Chittiser which is available in paperback from Amazon for $8.00 to $12.00.
Louise F. Cyr, Professor Emeritus, University of Maine brings
over 30 years of experience working with individuals,
organizations, and community groups as a facilitator, educator,
and life coach. She facilitated the very popular fall series:
Second Half of Life: Opening the Eight Gates of Wisdom.
LEARN to MEDITATE
Instructor: Fran Vainas Room: Carriage 10
Classes: Mondays, Oct. 17 - Nov. 7 1:00 to 2:00
Who among us does not have stress in their lives? Many of the causes of these difficulties are beyond our control. So what do we do? Meditation is one very real solution. It may not be possible to change what troubles us, but it is possible to take responsibility for our own states of mind – and to change them. With meditation, you learn skills and techniques that help you develop calm, ease of being, deeper concentration, more clarity. You find that place of quiet that is within you.
The techniques of meditation are very simple. This class will help the beginner get started and reinforce the skills of those who have some experience with meditation. We will explore two primary methods: mindfulness of breathing, and loving kindness (metta).
Fran Vainas has been meditating for close to 40 years and has
been teaching yoga and meditation for 10 years (including
LINEC yoga classes!). Learn from an experienced teacher who
will guide you in how to apply meditation techniques and how
to deal with difficulties.
AMERICA and the WORLD
Instructors: Ben Fisch & Charles Gerhan Room: Carriage 14
Classes: Tuesdays, Oct. 18—Nov. 22 10:00 to Noon
The scope of this course concerns the evolution of a weak nation into the world’s leading super power in approximately 200 years. This diplomatic history is based on Professor Emeritus (Vermont University) Mark A. Stohler’s video lectures with the Teaching Company. Chuck and Ben will provide additional material and facilitate discussion. The topics for each session are as follows:
October 18 – The Peace Treaty and Wilson’s Heritage; Interwar Isolationism and Internationalism
October 25 – U.S. Entry into World War II; World War II Diplomacy and the FDR Legacy
November 1 – Origins of the Cold War; The Cold War Turns Hot – Asia and the Korean War
November 8 – Eisenhower and the Global Cold War; Kennedy and the Ultimate Cold War Crisis
November 15 – Vietnam and the War at Home; The Nixon – Kissinger “Grand Design”
November 22 – Ideology Anew and the End of the War; The United States and the World Since 1991
Ben Fisch graduated from Brooklyn College and has an MA
degree from Columbia University. He taught mathematics and
was a school administrator in New York City for over 30 years.
Charles (‘Chuck’) Gerhan, is twice retired: once as a career
Naval Officer (aviator) and aeronautical engineer, and once as
an attorney with NH Legal Assistance. Although history and
political philosophy were not his professional fields, Chuck has
been and is an avid student of both.
POETRY of WHITMAN and DICKINSON
Instructor: Don Melander Room: Carriage 16
Classes: Tuesdays, Oct. 18 – Nov. 22 1:00 to 3:00
Note: There will be no class on October 25
Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson were the two 19th-century poets who created in their poems a distinct American idiom and prepared the soil for the garden of American poetry that would flourish in the 20th century. Whitman was a public poet who sought to reconcile the ideals of democracy and individualism. Dickinson was a private poet whose voice, which was too impressionistic for 19th-century tastes, anticipated how poets and other artists could find salvation in their works, whether or not their works would find an audience. No voice represents a synthesis of these two poets so much as that of the troubadour, Bob Dylan, the dominant American poet of the second half of the 20th century.
Don Melander earned his PhD in American Literature from
Syracuse University. He has been an English Professor at NEC
since 1969 and held other offices throughout his tenure:
Director of the British campus, Vice-President of Academic
Affairs, and dramaturge for the Open Door Theater. He served
on the Board of the NH Humanities Council and under their
auspices led book discussions. He is semi-retired.
THE WORLD of OPERA
Instructor: Robert C. Babb Room: See Below
Classes: Wednesdays, Oct. 19 - Nov. 16 10:00 to Noon
Many people consider opera to be the ultimate performance art – a merging of music (instrumental and vocal), dance, and theater. Join us as we examine how opera combines words and music to create a whole greater than the sum of its parts. We will look at the historical development of opera by examining the major composers and their most important contributions. Professor Greenburg’s video lectures (Teaching Company) provide the structure and facts; Maestro Babb elaborates on important points and addresses questions raised by the class.
Robert Babb is the Co-Founder, Conductor and Artistic Director
of the Granite State Symphony Orchestra. He is a graduate of
Mansfield University and the New England Conservatory of
Music. He studied with Leon Barzin.
October 19 & 26 - Congregational Church of Henniker, 33 Maple St (Hwy 114), Henniker
November 2, 9, & 16 - NEC Gallery
CURRENT ISSUES
Instructors: TBD Room: Carriage 10 Classes: Wednesdays, Oct. 19 - Nov. 16, Dec. 14 1:00 to 3:00
News is a twenty-four hour cycle. There is much to understand – nationally, internationally, in politics, economics and much more. Come join the discussion and bring your topics and issues of concern.
THE NOW or NEVER READING GROUP
Instructor: Rosanne Fisch Room: Carriage 14
Classes: Thursdays, Oct. 20 - Nov. 10 10:00 to Noon
William Faulkner is the early 20th Century author for this term. For the first session, please read the introduction to The Portable Faulkner by Malcolm Cowley and That Evening Sun in the same book. We’ll choose some selections from The Portable Faulkner for the second session and read Absalom, Absalom as our major work. If we have time we may choose a film for the last class. Please join us for an absorbing trip to Faulkner’s Yoknapatawpha County.
We will watch two lectures by Prof. David Thorburn from the Teaching Company. Rosanne Fisch will provide additional material and facilitate discussion. If you have any questions please contact Rosanne at rfisch1@comcast.net.
Rosanne Fisch graduated from Brooklyn College and has an
MSW degree in Psychiatric Social Work from Columbia
University. She was a psychotherapist and social worker in
New York City.
FRANKLIN PIERCE
Contact: Sandy Dallaire Room: see below
Classes: Thursdays, Oct. 20 - Nov. 17 1:00 to 3:00
The story of Franklin Pierce is worth retelling says Peter Wallner, the leading expert on the 14th President of the United States. This course will provide evidence challenging the myths which abound regarding the most misunderstood president. There will be an opportunity to tour the Hillsboro Homestead, the Concord Pierce Manse, and to become acquainted with Jane Pierce. One session will address the 60’s urban renewal threat to the Pierce Manse, the citizen activism which saved the Manse, the formation of The Pierce Brigade, and the relocation of the Manse to its present site. The course culminates with an invitation to attend the National Guard formal Presidential Memorial service at the Pierce grave site with period re-enactors and The Governors Horse Guard.
October 20 – Jere Daniel, retired Dartmouth History Professor - The Pierce Homestead, Hillsboro
October 27 – Peter Wallner, Director of Library, NH Historical Society - Tuck Library, Concord
November 3 – Peter Wallner, Director of Library, NH Historical Society - Tuck Library, Concord
November 10 – Virginia Gerseny, teacher/dramatist - The Pierce Manse, Concord. Tour of the Pierce Manse, $6.00 fee.
November 17 – Joan Woodhead, President of Pierce Brigade at The Pierce Manse, Concord and Ken Jordan, Realtor, son of Pierce Brigade Charter Member
THE WORLD of FILM
Instructor: Tamara Craig Room: Science Building Theater
Classes: Fridays, Oct. 21 - Nov. 18 9:30 to Noon
“All happy families resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” This famous opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina is much discussed and debated. This fall, five award-winning films are offered that delve into this theme with fervor. Five directors (from India, Italy, Japan, France, and Denmark) explore familial challenges through stylistically diverse lenses, letting each unique story unravel in broad strokes or finite terms. Join us in discussion after each viewing.
Tamara Craig was educated in schools abroad and in the US.
She speaks Russian and French and has taught both
languages. She received a BFA from Rochester Institute of
Technology in NY. Her love of film dates back to the French
New Wave of the 60s.
