Julie Kurzava will talk about the cantor’s son who left Buffalo, found jazz, landed on Broadway and then Hollywood. Arlen is best known for “Over the Rainbow” and the Wizard of Oz, but the sound of the blues infuses many of his greatest hits, including "Stormy Weather", "Blues in the Night" and The "Man That Got Away". More to come!

The Transatlantic Slave Trade was the largest forced migration in human history. In all, more than 12 million African men, women, and children were kidnapped, enslaved and made to board European ships destined for the New World. However, this talk turns this history inside out, examining the huge varieties of African resistance to this 400-year-long nightmare first within Africa itself and then aboard those nightmare ships on their way across the Atlantic.

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.

Jane Austen (1775-1817) wrote brilliantly about life in Regency England in her novels of manners such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. In recent years, all of her novels have been translated to film, giving audiences a view into her Regency world. Austen herself rarely makes reference to architects, paintings, gardens, etc. in her novels yet we know she was well aware of fashionable trends and the major artists of her lifetime. This lecture will provide a brief overview of the art and architecture of the English Regency period to supplement your enjoyment of Jane Austen on the page and in film. 2025 is the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen's birth and many events are planned to mark the anniversary.

Neoclassicism is the predominant official style in Washington, but the city also boasts enough architectural variety to provide a kind of primer to the broader history of Western architecture. In this armchair tour of Washington’s “other” architecture, we’ll explore buildings directly inspired by ancient and historical prototypes. We’ll examine the principles of Gothic and Byzantine architecture in the soaring vaults of the National Cathedral and the gold-encrusted domes of Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Also modernism’s break with the past in the spare steel and glass of the World Bank Headquarters and US Institute of Peace. Recently completed (and much acclaimed) DC Public Libraries show a new perspective on traditional and modernist architecture.  (See related classes #375 and 403.)

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.

Neoclassicism is the predominant official style in Washington, but the city also boasts enough architectural variety to provide a kind of primer to the broader history of Western architecture. In this armchair tour of Washington’s “other” architecture, we’ll explore buildings directly inspired by ancient and historical prototypes. We’ll examine the principles of Gothic and Byzantine architecture in the soaring vaults of the National Cathedral and the gold-encrusted domes of Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Also modernism’s break with the past in the spare steel and glass of the World Bank Headquarters and US Institute of Peace. Recently completed (and much acclaimed) DC Public Libraries show a new perspective on traditional and modernist architecture.  (See related classes #375 and 403.)

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.

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.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, with one of the greatest collections of Western (European) art in the world, is impossible to appreciate in one visit, or even two or three. In this two-part virtual tour, we’ll skip effortlessly from gallery to gallery to highlight some of the masterpieces of painting and sculpture in the Met. Moving chronologically, we’ll consider how each master work expresses a distinctive interpretation of nature and the human form and what makes it a stand-out among its contemporaries.  For this first class, we'll explore Egyptian funerary portraits, Greek nudes, Roman wall painting, and medieval reliquaries.  

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.