Fall 08 Courses----September 15 – November 7
monday
Ayn Rand’s View of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness 9:30-11:30am
It has been said that Ayn Rand was a woman who had and has no equal. Her novels challenge readers to re-think many basic assumptions. Why is she loved or despised? Why do her books delight or infuriate? Why do they endure? This seminar-style course will try to rescue Rand from her admirers and detractors and let you form your own opinion of this extraordinary self-made woman who was a refugee of the Russian Revolution. Two of Rand’s novels will be read -- the short, thought-provoking Anthem, and her longer, spectacularly successful The Fountainhead. The class will also watch two films, We the Living, based on an early autobiographical novel, and Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life, a recent documentary. Dennis Kimmage has taught literature and language and served as a head of information services at the collegiate-level. Limit 16.
Art Discovers the Common Man: The Works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder
9:30-11:30am
Until the middle years of the 16th Century, the lives of peasants and the emerging middle class were rarely represented in art. But the Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder made those lives the subjects of remarkable paintings, drawings, and prints. This course will explore this revolutionary development, and also the broad scale of Bruegel's achievements in the areas of religious imagery, proverbs, satire, and landscape painting. Perhaps no European artist has contributed so significantly to such a wide spectrum of subjects, and at the same time combined that wide-ranging vision with remarkable skills as a painter, draughtsman, and designer of prints. Clif Olds is the Edith Cleaves Barry Professor of the History and Criticism of Art, Emeritus, at Bowdoin College. His specialization is the art of the Northern Renaissance, including that of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Limit 24.
The 2008 Election and Related Issues 12:30-2:30pm
(this course begins one week late on 9/22 and will conclude on 11/10)
Who votes? Whose votes count? As the 2008 general election campaign heats up, a team of specialists will help you understand the background and intricacies of how we choose our presidents and members of Congress. We will discuss the constitutional structure of our system, some electoral history, the primary process and how the candidates were chosen, public opinion and political polls, campaign finance and political advertising, and the main domestic and foreign policy issues of 2008. The course will be team taught by regular Midcoast Senior College faculty members, Howard Schuman, Jack Thompson, and Howard Whitcomb. In addition, you will hear from two Bowdoin professors, John Fitzgerald (Economics) and Michael Franz (Government and Legal Studies). Meets at the Highlands in Topsham. Limit 38.
tuesday
Printmaking 9:30-11:30
Relief is the oldest form of printmaking. By cutting away portions of the wood block, an image is left that receives ink and prints to the paper. We will explore the tools and materials of the craft, starting with black and white prints and progressing to multi-block color prints. All materials will be supplied. Stuart Ross, a painter and printmaker, has been teaching and making art in midcoast Maine for many years. Limit 10.
John Keats: His Life, Letters, and Poetry 9:30-11:30
The letters of John Keats are worthy of a study in themselves. However, the emphasis of the course will be on the great poems to see how these letters and the life they reflect bring a heightened understanding and enjoyment of them. Bill Brown has been a regular faculty member since the inception of Midcoast Senior College. Limit 15.
Energy, Climate Change, and the Solar Conversion 1:00-3:00pm
Like spoiled heirs of a rich uncle, we have been spending our fossil fuel inheritance instead of investing it and living off our daily energy income. Now we are facing not only escalating prices and shortages but also the prospect of changes in the climate that has made the evolution of life possible. We must change our ways. How do we do it? This course will review how we have used energy in the past and how we must use it in the future. Paul Kando, a chemical engineer by training, has been in the forefront of energy research since the first oil crisis of the 1970s. In 2007 he became a Maine certified residential energy auditor and is one of the organizers of the Midcoast Green Collaborative, a citizen initiative dedicated to the premise that addressing global warming in a timely fashion represents an economic opportunity for Maine. Limit 36.
wednesday
Masterpieces of the Imaginative Mind: Literature’s Most Fantastic Works 9:30-11:30am
This course will be divided into two parts. In the first part we will discuss the fantastic in many varieties and in the second part its most modern variety, science fiction. We will begin with fairy tales and how they reflect the world in which they are told and what they say about human psychology. We will then discuss the fantastic genre that is most important today, science fiction, and trace its development from its precursors in the ancient world to the present. Among the authors whose works we will examine are the Brothers Grimm, Poe, Lewis Carroll, Tolkien, Mary Shelley, Hawthorne, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlin, Isaac Asimov, Jules Verne, and H.G. Wells. Charlie Plummer’s commitment to life-long learning is manifest in his wide-ranging offerings for MSC. Meets at Thornton Oaks in Brunswick. Limit 20.
Them 9:30-11:30am (this 6 week course begins 10/1)
Differences delight; they also challenge. The challenges are life-long - whenever we perceive another nation, another religion, another perspective, another gender as “they”. Our responses to differences largely determine who we are and how fulfilling we find our lives. One-on-one and other interactive situations will enable participants to review how they have experienced differences in their own life-journeys. We will also consider various understandings and political implications of this aspect of the life-journey, including those of several religions. The leader of this exploration has taught interpersonal relations for most of his life, both in academia and to the business world. Australian by birth, Reginald Smart was a chaplain at Harvard in the sixties and retired as a speech communication professor at California State University, Long Beach, in 1989. Limit 24.
Nationalism in Music 12:30-2:30pm
Nationalism is a musical movement which started early in the 19th century and which is characterized by the composer's drawing on the native folksongs and dances of his country. Composers will include Grieg (Norway), Smetana (Czechoslovakia), Moussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov (Russia), Albeniz, Falla (Spain), Sibelius (Finland), Villa-Lobos (Brazil) , Chopin (Poland), Liszt (Hungary) and possibly others. We will listen to examples on piano, CD, and DVD. Sonja Johansen is a biostatistician with a MFA in organ performance. She has taught an array of music courses at MSC. Meets at the Highlands in Topsham. Limit 38.
The Making of the Modern World: Europe, 1750–1815 12:30-2:30pm
This history course will examine the Industrial, French, and Napoleonic revolutions at the end of the 18th century and early 19th. In each of the three blocs we will focus on the life of a key individual: James Watt, Maximilien Robespierre, and Napoleon Bonaparte. We will weigh the advantages and disadvantages for the future of each of these major events. Jack Thompson, a specialist in Russian and world history, has taught at MSC since its inception in 2001. Limit 36.
thursday
Modern Jazz 102 – The Masters 9:30-11:30am
The sequel to “Modern Jazz: Bebop and Beyond” with emphasis on the great instrumentalists and vocalists of the pre-Bop, Bebop, Hard Bop, and post – Bop eras, i.e. the 1930s through the 70s. The course will start with a brief review of the foundations of improvisation so that there are no prerequisites for enrollment. Martin Margulis is a psychologist. He performs throughout the State of Maine with his “Bebop Jazz Ensemble.” Limit 16.
Modern American Drama: O’Neill, Williams, and Miller 9:30-11:30am
The course will examine the ways these American playwrights dramatized the problems of the modern era. The focus will be on the development of characters and their reactions to their own individual situations. The emphasis will be on the individual plays rather than on trying to make generalizations about the age or “connecting” the playwrights. One play will be examined each week. There will be occasional videos or DVDs. Ted Reese has taught literature for the past decade at the senior colleges in Portland (OLLI) and Bath/Brunswick (MSC). Limit 24.
Art and Science of Landscape Design 12:30-2:30pm
This course will provide an in-depth look at the artistic and scientific roots that are important to the design process for smaller landscapes. We will explore how we see items in the landscape and our psychological reactions to them. How do we use color in landscape design? This is not meant as a course in which we will sit down at a drawing table and do a specific landscape design. Ed Corbett taught landscape design for thirty years at the University of Connecticut. Limit 16.
One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace: One School at a Time 12:30-2:30pm (this 4 week course begins 10/16)
In order to do good in this world one does not have to conquer Mt. Everest like Sir Edmund Hillary or to succeed in business like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. Greg Mortenson is rooting out the causes of terrorism by building schools for Shia girls in northeast Pakistan and Afghanistan. Gwen Moore of Topsham has built schools for girls in China’s poorest province and in doing so has demonstrated that “one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, really can change the world.” Another example can be found in Bangladesh where Muhammad Yunus’ Grameen Bank provides microcredit for poverty-stricken females. Students will be encouraged to share their own favorite philanthropic causes. Paul Johnson has taught several courses on East Asia at MSC since returning in 2001 from teaching at Qufu University in China. Limit 24.
friday
France, England and the Wabanaki – The Cultural Chaos of 17th Century Maine 9:30-11:30am
An historical and archaeological view of 17th and early 18th century Maine, particularly the Kennebec River valley, starting with French and English contact with the Wabanaki in 1602-1603 and ending with the violent overthrow of French influence and the Indians by Anglo-American colonists at Norridgewock in 1724. Visits to the 1607 Popham Colony site, Pemaquid, and Augusta are planned. John Bradford has for the past decade been involved with either the archaeology or research associated with the 1607 Popham Colony and the planned reconstruction of the colony’s pinnace Virginia. Limit 15.
Animal Behavior: Evolution and Adaptiveness 9:30-11:30am
Animal behavior, like other aspects of biology, has evolved under selection pressures from the physical and biological environment. This course will explore the biological and evolutionary adaptiveness of the behaviors that arose under these pressures – from foraging strategies to courtship and mating to the dynamics of social behavior. We will discuss both the mechanisms that trigger and produce behaviors as well as their significance to survival and reproduction, focusing on case studies of animals ranging from insects to mammals, including humans. Barbara Snapp has taught and researched in science for over 35 years since receiving her Ph D in ecology and evolutionary biology from Cornell University. Limit 20.
Geologic Processes & Products of the Lower Kennebec Region 1:00-3:30pm (this 4 week course begins 9/19)
This abbreviated field-trip course on common geologic processes and their products is based on visits to bedrock outcrops in the vicinity of Bath. The course will entail two classroom meetings, three field trips, car-pooling to local outcrops, short off-road walking, taking notes and making sketches. Peter Goodwin, an Emeritus Professor of Geology at Temple University, studies geologic history by examining sedimentary rock. Limit 12.