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Osher Online is a program from the Osher National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University. These classes are delivered by the Osher NRC via Zoom, with participants from all over the country. All times listed are Eastern time.
OLLI at BCC is excited to be a part of this program. Space is limited! Register early. Osher Online classes are $60 each, and available to OLLI at BCC members only. Each class has a limit of 13 students from each participating OLLI. Register by January 2. Osher Online classes are not recorded. After you register for Osher Online classes, you will receive a welcome email from the Osher NRC. This email will include an Osher Online username and password as well as a link to the Osher Online Website, through which you will access your classes. You will also have access to a pre-class orientation, where you'll get helpful information for accessing your class. There you'll find the class Zoom link, syllabus, discussion board and Customer Care contact information. It is recommended that you test your ability to log in before the start date of your class. On class days, you are also encouraged to log on 10-15 minutes before the start time. That will give you ample opportunity to get tech support and troubleshooting from the NRC if you need it. Osher Online classes are separate from our OLLI at BCC Winter Courses.
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Color and Symbolism in Art History
Mondays 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Eastern time Zoom | Closed - at capacity. Call the OLLI office (413-236-2190) to be put on the waiting list. Artists use color to create an array of symbolism, emotions, and sociopolitical meanings within the context of the time period in which they created their works of art. Additionally, within these works, artists utilized their knowledge of color to portray mood, light, depth, and point of view. Progressing through the colors of the rainbow each week, we will discuss a variety of paintings throughout art history to understand the artists' intention and the stories behind the paintings within their respective color spheres. We will also discuss the histories of color, their meanings in various societies and cultural contexts, and the materials and processes used to make colors. Eleanor Schrader is an award-winning educator, lecturer, and author. She lectures and leads tours worldwide on art and architectural history. She has been named a distinguished instructor at UCLA Extension, where she teaches history of architecture, interior design, furniture, and decorative arts. She is a Professor Emeritus of Art and Architectural History at Santa Monica College. She has completed graduate work in fine and decorative arts at Sotheby's Institute in London and New York. She has served as a design review commissioner for the City of Beverly Hills. |
The Tourists Tour of the Wider Universe |
Tuesdays 5:00 - 6:30 p.m. Eastern time Zoom Six Sessions: 1/28, 2/4, 2/11, 2/18, 2/25, 3/4 | Closed - at capacity. Call the OLLI office (413-236-2190) to be put on the waiting list. For more than two years, the James Webb Space Telescope, orbiting a million miles from Earth in the deep freeze of space, has sent back remarkable information and dramatic images of the faint heat rays that come from objects in the universe. The Hubble Telescope continues to observe some of the same stars and galaxies with visible light. Never before have we had images of the cosmos so rich in color and detail. In this profusely illustrated course, we will be taken on a guided tour of the wider universe as astronomers understand it today. Fraknoi will cover this information in everyday language and without any math. We will look at star birth and star death, the organization and structure of the Milky Way, cosmic mergers and collisions, and the great web of galaxies that gives us clues about the beginning and development of our cosmos. Andrew Fraknoi was the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College. He was chosen as the 2007 California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Endowment and has won several national prizes for his teaching. He is the lead author of OpenStax Astronomy, a free, electronic textbook, which is the country's most-used introductory text in the field. He has also written books for teachers, children, and the public. He appears regularly on local and national radio, explaining astronomical ideas in easy to understand terms. The International Astronomical Union has named Asteroid 4859 Asteroid Fraknoi to recognize his contributions to the public's appreciation of science. |
The Secret Life of Familiar Birds |
Wednesdays 11:00 a.m - 12:30 p.m. Eastern time Zoom Six Sessions: 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26, 3/5 | Closed - at capacity. Call the OLLI office (413-236-2190) to be put on the waiting list. We share the earth with birds who live among us, yet they remain mysterious. In this course, we will examine the fascinating characteristics, habits, and lives of North American birds including how they keep warm; how they fly; when, why, and how they sing; and more. Our classes will be broken down into these categories: bird ancestry and anatomy; diet and nesting; flight and migration; threats; behavior and songs. We will cover birds of prey, songbirds, waterfowl, and the common loon. Join this interesting exploration of how birds live, move, breathe, and think. Elizabeth Burnette attended Cornell University for a BS in engineering physics, then worked on Space Shuttle experiments at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She then obtained a master's degree in Astrophysics from the University of Pittsburgh. Burnette has been teaching astrophysics, physics, and science for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Pitt and is a returning Osher Online instructor. |
The World of Musical Satire |
Wednesdays 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Eastern time Zoom Six Sessions: 1/29, 2/5, 2/12, 2/19, 2/26, 3/5 | Satire is one of the oldest forms of humor. Adding music seems to make it even more powerful. In early Germanic and Celtic societies, people who were mocked in songs would break out in boils and even commit suicide. In this course, we will explore the art of musical satire in a variety of genres, cultures, and eras, especially America since 1950. This multimedia course covers Yankee Doodle, Gilbert and Sullivan, the Gershwin's, the Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Saturday Night Live, South Park, and Key and Peele. We will also cover a bountiful bevy of B's: Leonard Bernstein, the Beatles, Bo Burnham, and Bugs Bunny. Because satire is often dependent on social and historical events, this course is as much cultural history as music appreciation. And while words are preeminent in musical satire, we will also discuss the music and its interactions with lyrics. But please-no students who are prone to boils. David Misch is a former stand-up comedian, screenwriter (Mork and Mindy, Saturday Night Live, and The Muppets Take Manhattan), author (Funny: The Book, and A Beginner's Guide To Corruption), teacher (his own courses on comedy at USC and musical satire at UCLA) and lecturer at Yale, Columbia, the Smithsonian, 92Y (NYC), Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin, University of Sydney, VIEW Cinema (Italy), and Raindance Film Festival (London), Austin Film Festival, American Film Institute, Writers Guild of America, Sony, DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, Disney, Second City, Actors Studio. |
Science Everyone Needs to Know |
Thursdays 3:00 - 4:30 p.m. Eastern time Zoom Six Sessions: 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, 2/27, 3/6 | Evolution. Vaccines. Global Warming. Regardless of one's choice of news media, it is nearly impossible to navigate today's information-heavy world without coming across stories on evolution, vaccines, and global warming. Each of these topics is the subject of various conspiracy theories and misinformation campaigns. How do we make sense of what we hear on the news when so much information comes from unvetted and non neutral sources, such as the Internet and the media? This course is a non-technical introduction to these three critical matters in modern science. We will examine what scientists know, how they know what they know, how certain they are, and why there is such a disconnect between scientific understanding and the public's perception of the science. Kjir Hendrickson, PhD is a teaching professor in the School of Molecular Sciences at Arizona State University (ASU). They hold a PhD in chemistry and authored the textbook Chemistry in the World. As an erstwhile quantum chemist, their academic work focuses on science communication, the reciprocal relationship between science and society, matters of workplace climate, and matters of DEIJ in STEM. Hendrickson is an associate researcher with the ADVANCEGeo Partnership and is pursuing research on functional scientific literacy in partnership with OLLI at ASU. |
The Next Generation's Legacy of the Holocaust |
Thursdays 5:00 - 7:30 p.m. Eastern time Zoom Six Sessions: 1/23, 1/30, 2/6, 2/13, 2/20, 2/27 | How does one honor the legacy of parents who survived the Holocaust while at the same time recognizing the ripples of the inherited trauma they experienced? Growing up in the shadow of the Holocaust, the adult children of survivors are striving to find ways to keep their parents' stories alive. Using their unique intergenerational lens, authors of the recent award-winning anthology, The Ones Who Remember: Second Generation Voices of the Holocaust, will reveal the variety of ways in which their parents' history of survival seeped into their souls and affected their lives as children and adults. The goal of this course is to explore the challenges that resulted from this trauma and the gifts that came forth - gifts of resilience, tolerance, fortitude, and compassion. Each week our instructors will explore and share reflections around themes of their lived experience. Ruth Wade is a retired training and development executive, a speaker and docent at the Florida Holocaust Museum, and leadership committee chair of Tampa Bay Generations After. Wade assists her father, a Holocaust survivor, with his Holocaust presentations at schools and his book Sevek and the Holocaust: The Boy Who Refused to Die. Joy Wolfe Ensor, PhD is a retired psychologist whose clinical, teaching, and leadership activities over 45 years centered on the social determinants of health and the multigenerational legacy of trauma. She is active in the Michigan Psychological Association, of which she is a Fellow and past president. Rita Benn, PhD is a clinical psychologist and was University of Michigan faculty for 20+ years where she taught integrative medicine and published numerous academic papers and chapters. As a founder of Michigan Collaborative for Mindfulness in Education (MC4ME), she trains educators and professionals in mindfulness meditation practice. All three women are Founding Committee members of the Irene Butter Fund for Holocaust and Human Rights Education. |
OLLI: the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College |
