The Hudson River School—a loose group of American landscape artists—was neither a school nor confined to the Hudson River Valley. Beginning in the early 19th-century, American painters finally paid significant attention to the uniqueness of landscape around them. The Hudson River School drew inspiration from America’s unspoiled landscape, finding aesthetic taste, a feeling of nationalism, and spirituality in the wilderness. At this same time, though, progress in the form of industrialization and Manifest Destiny began to erode the vision of a pristine idealized American “Garden of Eden.” Hudson River School painters include Thomas Cole, Frederic E. Church, Asher B. Durand and others.

Are you coping with loss? Do you know someone coping with loss? Holidays can be a struggle when someone is in grief. An expert from JSSA Hospice will join us to help us discover and accept the range of emotions grieving individuals may feel during the holidays. Receive insight and strategies for coping during this emotionally charged season.

A Wider Circle’s Essential Support program provides basic items for the home to our neighbors seeking to rise out of poverty.  Volunteers help sort donations and stock the showrooms where clients select their items. With the help of volunteer groups like ours, A Wider Circle is able to furnish 10-20 homes free of charge each day for our neighbors in need. Volunteers will meet at A Wider Circle and receive a tour and orientation at the start of the visit. A Wider Circle is located at 9159 Brookville Road, Silver Spring, MD 20910.  There is no onsite parking for volunteers except those with mobility concerns.  Directions for parking nearby in the neighborhood and a volunteer waiver will be emailed to you before the event. Please wear closed-toed shoes (sneakers are best) and family-friendly comfortable clothes (no political messages). The Center is not fully temperature-controlled, so please dress for the weather. Limit:  20

Explore the groundbreaking music of Ray Charles and Willie Nelson—two iconic songwriters whose genre-crossing styles reshaped American music and transcended generations. We'll revisit their music and some of the stories behind it.

Indiana born and heir to millions, Cole Porter was an Ivy League graduate, European bon vivant, and incidentally one of the great composers of American musical theater and popular song. Julie Kurzava discusses his entrance into the Broadway world nearly a century ago, his musical style, distinctive point of view and relevance today.

(This class will be recorded.)  “So you’re the little lady who started this great war!” said President Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1862 when he finally met Harriet Beecher Stowe, the author of the blockbuster antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But Lincoln might just have well have been talking to and about Harriet Tubman, the most famous conductor on America’s underground Railroad. Both women’s extraordinary activism advanced the fight against slavery and edged this country closer to Civil War.

John Constable and J.M.W. Turner were contemporaries but very different artists. Constable focused on the familiar scenes of his native East Anglia and select English locales, capturing the quiet beauty of the countryside. Turner, inspired early by Dutch landscape painters, traveled widely across Europe whenever possible—painting dramatic waterfalls, glaciers, and the misty canals of Venice. As we mark their anniversary years in 2025 and 2026, join us to explore the unique styles and enduring legacies of these two giants of English landscape painting.

The ancient Maya cities of Copán and Tikal were thriving centers of culture, art, and ceremony between 300 and 800 CE. Their impressive pyramids, carved monuments, and rich artwork tell the stories of powerful rulers, religious traditions, and everyday life in these vibrant cities. In this class, we will journey through the history of Copán and Tikal, uncovering what glyphs and monuments reveal about the Maya world and the legacy they left behind. See related class #549.

Drivers who complete this course may receive a multi-year discount on their auto insurance, depending on state regulations. Exciting new content includes information on brain health, railroad and animal crossings, plus expanded information on car technology and updates on the many new laws in Maryland. A number of tips will be offered to help reduce your chances of having an accident and getting injured. The fee is due at the start of class ($20 for AARP members and $25 for non-members). You can pay by cash or check (made out to AARP). Bring your driver's license, AARP card, cash or check, and a pen. There will be a break for lunch.

The author’s own life inspired the fictional tale of Arnold Spirit, Jr., a fourteen-year-old living on the Spokane Indian Reservation and the choices he makes to navigate his adolescence under difficult circumstances. How did this 2007 novel wind up the most challenged book in the USA from 2010 to 2019? Please read the book so you can participate in our structured, facilitated, Zoom discussion.  (Note: Please join the meeting at 3 pm if you would like some assistance using the features of Zoom.  Otherwise, join us at 3:15 pm for the start of our discussion.) (See other book discussions: #515, 555, 591)