Week 5 of our fall semester continues Tues, Oct 8, with a great line-up of classes on current events/issues, culture and the arts, historical perspectives, and better living. As always, our sessions are interactive, with the opportunity for students to comment and ask questions.

All classes this fall are online.

Here are this week’s classes. All times are EDT.

NEW CLASSES
TUESDAY, OCT 8
Clearer Thinking at Every Age, with Tom Rich
2:45-4:00pm
Cognitive skills seem to be lacking these days. It’s well documented that there is a mental health crisis in many countries around the world, and the US is no exception to this trend. One thing that has suffered as a result of this is our ability to think clearly. Cognition is closely linked to our mental health and it is also a set of habits that can be developed and strengthened. This session will focus on three foundational cognitive skills that everyone can benefit from strengthening: critical thinking, decision-making and problem solving. Tom will define these skills, break them down into their components, and focus on ways to develop habits that will help you improve them at any age. He is a qualitative researcher, a profession that demands excellent critical thinking skills.
 
WEDNESDAY, OCT 9
Turning the Spotlight on the Process and Design of Theatrical Lighting, with Victoria Bain
10:30-11:45am
Lighting plays an important yet little-understood role in theater productions. Victoria, a lighting designer, has worked for over a decade on Broadway, off- Broadway, and around the country as a principal lighting designer and in other lighting designer roles. She will share what these roles entail in different types of productions – musicals and plays, depending on where they are presented. And she’ll explain the theatrical process from how a lighting designer gets hired through a production’s opening night. Video clips will be shown.
 
THURSDAY, OCT 10
They Oughta Be in Pictures! And They Were: Hollywood Movies on the Stories of US Presidents, with Richard Klein
2:45-4:00pm
For years, Hollywood has been putting out biopics of famous people and on numerous occasions the subjects of these films have been the most famous of all – US Presidents. Richard has picked out ones he found most interesting to discuss. Many of the stories begin long before the men are well known. From Andrew Jackson, through Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy and a few others, we’ll see how Hollywood has treated the stories of these men and their families. Richard will show clips from several movies covering the stories of these eventual national leaders. He is an amateur historian who has spoken at CL&L about presidents and their families.  
 
CONTINUING CLASSES
TUESDAY, OCT 8
Makers of History XXIII: Henry Ford, with Manfred Weidhorn
10:30-11:45am
This course revisits historic figures, showing that almost all are complex characters, with good and evil traits intertwined in varying proportions. Session #3: Henry Ford: One of the greatest American business tycoons, he came up with many innovations, as well as some very bad ideas. Manny looks at the broader context of what these famous figures meant in their time and ours, recounting their history and impact with analysis and humor.
 
Poetry for Pleasure in the Fall, with Barry Wallenstein
1:00-2:15pm
These lectures with discussion will involve close readings of poems – classic, modern, and contemporary. Our aim is to listen to the sound poems make. What makes a successful language performance? We will discuss these works’ emotional truth, unity of expression, and attention-holding, pleasure-providing use of language. Philip Fried is Barry’s guest poet this week.
 
Here is the poetry book for the semester: CLICK HERE
 
Poems for Oct. 8:

• Somali Shopping for Organic Figs, by James Tate, p. 53

• Deadly James by James Emanuel, pp.50-51

• A New Wind a Blowin’ by Langston Hughes, p. 43

• A Textbook Case by Philip Fried & What Do We Learn by Falling? by Philip Fried, pp. 66-68 – guest poet

• Insomnia by Elizabeth Bishop, p.45

• Poem by Frank O’Hara, p. 44

• Something Told the Wild Geese, by Rachel Field, p. 22

 
WEDNESDAY, OCT 9
Enigmatic Short Stories, with Pilar V. Rotella
1:00-2:15pm
The five short stories selected for this course ask the reader to go beyond the literal meaning of narrative and search for hidden, more challenging levels of interpretation. From the shocking lottery to the mysterious aleph, each text poses interesting questions about different aspects of human nature and human behavior individually and collectively, framed within a larger spiritual/philosophical dimension. (All five stories available online.) 
 
Texts (in the order of reading): 
 Oct 9: Julio Cortázar, “The Night Face Up” 
https://www.medina502.com/classes/ml260_2017/readings/Cortazar_The_Night_Face_Up.pdf
 
Oct 16: Franz Kafka, “A Hunger Artist”
https://basdwpweb.beth.k12.pa.us/liberty/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2020/06/A-Hunger-Artist-by-Franz-Kafka.pdf
 
Oct 23, 30: Jorge Luis Borges, “The Aleph”
https://web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/borgesaleph.pdf
 
Superb Suspense: Classic Movie Discussions, with Bobbie Stein
2:45-4:00pm
This 2-session course focuses on suspense thrillers; each one focuses on a sensational film from Hollywood’s most dazzling classics. Bobbie discusses each movie, shows its trailer and selected video clips, and tells us about the backstory of the production, director and stars. Session #2: Seven Days in May (1964) is about a military-political cabal's planned takeover of the US government, all in reaction to a weakened president's negotiation of a disarmament treaty with the Soviet Union. The film, starring Burt Lancaster as the widely popular general planning the coup d'état, also stars Kirk Douglas, Fredric March and Ava Gardner. It’s an exciting movie! Directed by John Frankenheimer from a screenplay by Rod Serling, based on the novel of the same name. Bobbie asks that you watch the movie before class; it’s available on Amazon Prime.
 
THURSDAY, OCT 10
Law in the Headlines: Exploring Legal Controversies, with Leora Harpaz 
10:30-11:45am
This semester Leora will review the important cases the Supreme Court agreed to decide this Term and their outcomes. The upcoming classes this week will focus on a series of cases involving social media, gun regulations, the rights of the homeless, and restrictions on the power of federal administrative agencies. As we began to discuss last week, an interesting feature of the Term is that while many of the Court’s decisions reached the merits of the case, in a number of high-profile cases, the Court either disposed of the case without reaching the merits or remanded the case to the lower court to resolve many key issues in the first instance. Leora will also address the fact that there were an unusual number of separate opinions written by individual Justices, even in cases where the Court reached a unanimous result. She welcomes your suggestions for other subjects you’d like to hear about. Please use the following link if you would like to make suggestions for topics for her to cover in upcoming classes:
http://www.lharpaz.com/ContinuingEd/CLL/2024suggestions/
 
Politics 2024, with Larry Geneen
1:00-2:15pm 

With election day less than a month away, Larry discusses the state of the race on the national level and in the swing states.  What impact, if any, has the vice-presidential race had? Will Special Counsel Jack Smith’s election case filing affect attitudes toward Donald Trump? A big surprise is that Melania Trump has come out in favor of women’s unrestricted rights of abortion, in opposition to her husband. Laura Loomer looms over the race too: who is she and why has former president Trump been traveling with her?  Have the so-called undecided voters made up their minds yet? (If not, why not?) Larry also looks at NYC Mayor Eric Adams’s continuing legal troubles. As always, Larry encourages interactive discussions and welcomes student suggestions of topics to cover; write to judy@langerqual.com. 

And There’s More…
Paul Kaplan, who gave a session on Jewish New York’s history, wrote A History and Guide to Neighborhoods, Synagogues, and Eateries (Pelican Publishing). It provides a history of Jews in the city from 1654 to the present and highlights the key places in each Manhattan neighborhood along with anecdotes and oral histories. Original maps of each neighborhood's sites and about 50 historical and contemporary photos elucidate the book. To purchase a personally signed copy for about $26, write to paulkaplannyc@gmail.com. 
 
Alicia Ostriker’s new book of poetry, The Holy & Broken Bliss, is being published this week. She was Barry’s guest poet on Tues.
 
JR Harris, who gave a session on the unlikely history of graffiti, wrote Way Out There: Adventures of a Wilderness Trekker. It’s a fascinating view of his experiences around the world.
 

We look forward to seeing you!

Judy Langer, CL&L Executive Director
Any questions? Email us at: info@clandl.org
or call 212-644-3320