Time: 9:15 - 10:30 a.m.  |  Day and Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30 and May 7, 14, 21

Description: Do you enjoy traveling? If so, please join us as some CLS members discuss their trips, both locally and around the world. Emphasis will be on various types of travel experiences, including individual and group trips and tours. Please note, the weekly presentation order is subject to change, and this is a travel course of first- hand experiences, not an in-depth look at a given county or region.
 
Topics, Presenters & Affiliations: 
Antarctica - Les Muldorf, CLS Member
Alaska - Jack and Karin Fein, CLS Members
Tale of Two Cruises - Barbara Van Itallie, CLS Member
Locust Grove & Beyond - Ken Snodgrass, Locust Grove Estate
Amazing Geology Around the World - Cathy Law, CLS Member
Poland - Chris Starbala, CLS Member
Yankees Baseball Camp - John Wargo and Merrilee Osterhoudt, CLS Members
Hawaii - John Wargo, CLS Member
 

Time: 9:15 - 10:30 a.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Kenneth (Ken) Topolsky, CLS Member

Description: Ever wonder how a television program reaches your living room, iPad or phone? The course will go through the process of who creates the shows that become a part of your everyday life as well as the business models that make them possible. We will review the role of the writer, the pod, the studio executive, the network executive, testing and marketing. Additionally, we will explore the history of network television and its diminishing role viewership practices. Finally, we will create our own series.

Handouts:
- Why Television? (Week 1)
- Pitches

Time: 9:15 - 10:30 a.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Georgette Weir, Dutchess County Office for the Aging

Description: Certified tai chi trainers from the Dutchess County Office for the Aging will lead this safe and easy to learn sequence of slow, beautiful movements that are proven to relieve pain and improve health and balance. Step-by-step we will learn moves--including Single Whip, Wave Hands, Brush Knee, Play the Lute--that you can then make a part of your daily exercise habit. Loose, comfortable clothing and supportive shoes such as sneakers are encouraged.

Time: 9:15 - 10:30 a.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Chuck Mishaan

Description: The greatest generation fought and won a terrible war, and ushered in a post-war culture of notable, nay, wonderful novels, movies, artworks, music, science and more. But the 1940s saw the beginning of the Cold War and the terrible confrontations and frictions of this 'New World Order'. We'll look at this pivotal decade through its creative arts, politics, achievements and threats.

Time: 11:00 AM—12:15 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16 & 23

Presenter: Sandra Opdycke, History Professor (retired) and Author

Description: The four women this course will discuss worked as social activists during the years between 1870 and 1920. Woodhull was the first woman to run for president; Mother Jones was an iconic labor organizer for the United Mine Workers; Jane Addams established a pioneering settlement house and all but destroyed her career by opposing our entry into World War I; and Emma Goldman brought the message of anarchism and workers' rights to the American heartland.

Time: 11:00 AM—12:15 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Vicki Fox, CLS Member

Description: The deadliest riots in U.S. history, the NYC Draft Riots of 1863, exploded in a metropolis that provided more men and materiel for the Union war effort than any other -- and also had been the North's largest port for shipping kidnapped Africans to slavery. This class looks at race relations in antebellum NYS, the ways New Yorkers helped -- and hindered -- President Lincoln, and the Civil War's aftermath for Black New Yorkers.

Handouts:
- Bibliography

Time: 11:00 AM—12:15 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7

Presenter: Esther Kando Odescalchi, CLS Member

Description: My Escape is a first-hand account of a daring and dramatic escape to the West of eight teenagers during the failed 1956 Hungarian Revolution. It was against all odds; no local guides, blown up trains, dead bodies at the border, village homes raided in search of escapees, and the order was “to shoot.” Historical background, life behind the Iron Curtain, the Revolution – “first nail in Communism’s coffin,” Soviet tanks, retaliation.

Time: 11:00 AM—12:15 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Judith Saunders, Professor of English, Marist College

Description: From faithless lovers to deluded braggarts, instances of deception and self-deception assume thematic importance in many works of literature. This session we’ll be looking at poems that scrutinize the human propensity for duplicity, in each case considering how formal elements support subject matter and thematic emphasis. Readings will include work by a wide variety of poets, chiefly from the 20th century—Elizabeth Bishop, Stephen Crane, Charles Tomlinson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Stephen Dunn, Thomas Lux, Kay Ryan, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and more.

Time: 1:15—2:45 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: William Joel, Poet and Author

Description: During this course we'll be exploring the work of a new group of United States Poets Laureate, reading and discussing several poems by each. This course is a continuation of US Poets Laureate I, and will focus on a new set of seven poets. However, the previous course is not a prerequisite for this one. As before, you might find a new poet to explore further after the course.

US Poets Laureate II - Course Materials & Readings

Time: 1:15—2:45 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Dot Chenevert, CLS Member

Description: This series of 4 classes will cover basic instructions for Floral Design. The subjects covered will be care and handling of flowers, identification of floral terms and products, and step by step instructions. I also answer questions about the floral industry and how it works. Each week, 1 participant goes home with the arrangement.

Time: 1:15—2:45 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16 & 23

Presenter: Peter Bunten, Executive Director, Mid-Hudson Antislavery History Project

Description: This course examines the history of slavery and antislavery in the Mid-Hudson Valley with a focus on Dutchess County. Topics include: the slave economy, aspects of enslavement, and the conditions of enslaved people. We’ll highlight the importance of the region in the movement of emancipation—the Underground Railroad, Quakers, Black Churches, and antislavery societies. We’ll conclude by discussing the legacy of this long era of racial oppression with examples of modern-day echoes.

Time: 1:15—2:30 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesday, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Stanley Schmidt, CLS Member

Description: This course will emphasize the transition of mathematics into the modern era. New ideas and their purveyors will be stressed, rather than mathematical details. After reviewing earlier historical highlights, we will meet Fermat and Descartes (analytic geometry), Newton and Leibniz (ascent of calculus), Euler and Bernoulli (problem solving), Gauss (theory and practice), and much more.

Time: 1:15—2:45 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16 & 23

Presenters: Jack Fein, CLS President & Member and Leathem Mehaffey, CLS Member

Description: From the detection of light by the eye to the analysis of the visual world by the brain, the human visual system is a marvel of evolution. In these four lectures we will examine each of these steps which ultimately result in an integrated, recognizable interpretation of the world seen by the eyes.

SP24 The Human Visual System - Human Vision Week 1

SP24 The Human Visual System - Human Vision Week 2

SP24 The Human Visual System - Human Vision Week 3

SP24 The Human Visual System - Human Vision Week 4
 

Time: 2:45—4:00 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Barbara Mindel, CLS Member

Description: Memories are treasures. Many are keen, others await being prodded to the surface. That is what this class is about: short writing experiences to prod recollections, then share, exchange coincidences of experiences, and the best -- recapturing of the richness of our decades. Do join us “to leave your prints in the sand.”

Time: 2:45—4:00 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Presenter: Christine Crawfis, Director, County Players

Description: Readers Theatre continues to celebrate ideas, imagination, and ingenuity and offers an opportunity to experience great theater stripped to its essence: the playwright’s words. Reading from works of classic and contemporary playwrights, professional actors will provide an opportunity to experience and discuss the ideas of celebrated playwrights.

Handouts:
April 2 - Class 1

April 16 - Class 3

April 23 - Class 4
 

Time: 2:45—4:00 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16, 23 & 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Description: This class will be comprised of eight lectures of unrelated topics across all of the CLS curriculum disciplines. Members have an opportunity to sample some of the courses that have been offered by CLS that they have missed as well as new, one-of-a-kind topics. Each week will bring a new surprise!

Topics, Presenters & Affiliations:

Prohibition in the Hudson Valley: Along the Bootleg Trail - Eleanor Charwat, CLS Member

US Iranian Relations  - Martin Charwat, CLS Member

How the Dutch, not the British, Invented America - Robert Ulrich, CLS Member

Are We Alone? The Search for Life Beyond Earth  - John Fontana, Ambassador for NASA/JPL

CSI Poughkeepsie: RFLPs, VNTRs and CODIS: The Science - Leathem Mehaffey, CLS Member

Behind DNA Fingerprinting

Where Did That Phrase Come From? - Frank Dispensa, CLS Member

The Evolution of Modern Day Egypt and US Relations - Jim Ketterer, Bard College

13 Historic American Houses Every Design Lover - Joseph Beatty, Classical American Homes Preservation Trust

*Should Visit in Person*

Time: 2:45—4:00 p.m. | Day & Dates: Tuesdays, April 30 and May 7, 14 & 21

Class Manager: Wilma Schmidt

Description: This course will focus on the book "The Boys in the Boat" by Daniel Brown that tells the story of the University of Washington crew team and their epic quest for the Olympic Gold Medal at the Berlin Olympics. Through a discussion of the book, we will explore the political climate of the time, the effects of the Great Depression, the rise of Nazism in Germany, and the story of the extraordinary boat crew who overcame over-whelming odds to achieve their goal. In addition, we will explore the history of rowing and its connection to the Hudson River and Poughkeepsie.

Topics, Presenters & Affiliations:

Political Environment of the 1930’s - Jeffrey Urbin, Dir. of Education, FDR Presidential Library & Museum

Book Discussion of “Boys in the Boat” - John Scileppi, CLS Member

Watch the PBS documentary “The Boys of ‘36”

The Poughkeepsie Regatta - Elizabeth Clarke, Assoc. Librarian/Coord., Library Instruction, Marist College & Ann Sandri, Library Assistant, Marist College