Courbet (1819-1977) was the bad boy of the Realist movement. A rebel who rejected traditional academic practice, Courbet insisted he could paint only what he could see. No centaurs or angels for Courbet. Courbet also painted in a rough fashion, using a palette knife to apply paint instead of a brush. He painted pictures of peasants on the scale of history paintings, another offense to the art establishment. He painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes and genre scenes. His only history paintings were scenes of his own time and place. A dissident by nature, Courbet will repeatedly offend artistic norms in the 1840s, 1850s and 1860s. In the Paris Commune, Courbet will involve himself in politics, which will result in a 6 month jail term and self-imposed exile in Switzerland upon his release. Courbet’s realism and his rebellious stand against the art establishment will be an inspiration to the next generation of French painters: the Impressionists. 2019 is the bicentenary of Courbet’s birth.

Visit an English Anglican church in the heart of this most French North American city; check out a former prison, later college, now historical society headquarters; view hundreds of fresco murals depicting everything from fairy tales to the1889 landslides to fishing trades; peruse the medical instruments collection from the oldest hospital in North America; and see 34 giant lampshades covering the streetlights in the arts district. Travel Specialist Barbara Paulson offers alternatives to the more familiar Quebec City sites.

Do you realize that our planet has experienced extraordinary volcanic eruptions in the geologic past on a scale far greater than those of human experience? These super-eruptions have taken place somewhere on Earth every 100,000 years. Will our next super-eruption be at Yellowstone National Park? Yellowstone is underlain by an unusual plume of hot rock that extends well into the Earth’s deep interior. It has been responsible for hundreds of super-eruptions that began 17 million years ago, and these are projected to continue into the future. Join us in examining the character, causes, and consequences of these spectacular eruptions and the probable effects of the next great super-eruption on planet Earth.

Whether you eat with others or alone, healthy meals can be quick to prepare and light for digestion.   Let’s share some ideas and try a few easy and tasty recipes.

The advent of World War Two led to terrible tragedies and amazing acts of bravery. Accepting his diplomatic post in Eastern Europe only six months before the war broke out, an unlikely man from Japan became a great hero of WWII. A quiet man known as The Samurai defied orders from Tokyo, risking his life and career, to engineer a way to help thousands of Jews escape Europe. Never telling anyone of his heroism, it wasn’t until thirty years later that a survivor he had saved began to tell his story, and then the State of Israel paid tribute to him with the high honor of including his name as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. This is the story of who he was, what he did, and what it cost him.

Technology is evolving as we speak and the resourcefulness of criminals along with it. Mr. McCarthy will discuss how in this digital world technology is used to identify offenders and how this same information is used at trial.

By now, everyone has heard of Artificial Intelligence (AI). This presentation will help you understand how it works, what it has accomplished to date, and the incredible things it may be able to achieve in the future. To demonstrate the rapidly-advancing power of AI, the discussion will highlight the fascinating history of AI’s progress in competing against humans in games ranging from checkers to chess to Go (the most complex game). AI’s achievement in mastering games is a well-recognized beacon to what it can achieve in health care, science, and many other areas of human endeavor.

With the onset of the Cold War in the late 1940s, President Truman worked in close bipartisan partnership with Arthur Vandenberg, senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, to create a revolutionary new foreign policy for the United States to lead the free world. They did so at a bitterly partisan time that makes today’s partisanship seem tame by comparison. What can we learn from the history? What issues can form the basis of a new bipartisan foreign policy? Lawrence Haas, a former White House official and author of Harry and Arthur: Truman, Vandenberg, and the Partnership That Created the Free World, will discuss the history and its relevance to today.