Spring 2025 Semester Week 2

For Full Course Descriptions Click Here
For Course Calendar Click Here 
For Registration Click Here 
 

You can register online at clandl.org or send your check made out to “CL&L” to the PO Box below:
CL&L
PO Box 592
New York, NY 10028-0019

Here's a brief summary of the courses this week:

Here's a brief summary of the courses this week:

TUESDAY, APRIL 22
10:30-11:45am Inside Broadcast News, with Sara Lee Kessler and Magee Hickey  
1:00-2:15pm Poetry for Pleasure in the Spring, with Barry Wallenstein
2:45-4:00pm Film Discussion of the “Greatest Films Ever Made,” The Godfather, with Judy Langer

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23
10:30-11:45am Focus Group on Giving/Getting Advice, led by Judy Langer  
1:00-2:15pm Centenarian Rita Satz Looks Back, with Rita Satz and David Katzmire
2:15-4:00pm Focus Group on Dealing with Family, led by Judy Langer  

THURSDAY, APRIL 24
10:30-11:45am Law in the Headlines: Exploring Current Legal Controversies, with Leora Harpaz
1:00-2:15pm Politics 2025, with Larry Geneen
2:45-4:00pm Another Op’nin’, Another Show: Broadway’s Opening Numbers and Finales, with Karen Valen  

Here are the full course descriptions of this week’s classes:

TUESDAY, APRIL 22
Inside Broadcast News, with Magee Hickey and Sara Lee Kessler
10:30-11:45am

Sara Lee currently reports for iHeartRadio and NBC News Radio. She was the former anchor for New York City's Channel 9 nightly local broadcast news program in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Previously a health reporter for New Jersey Network's nightly half-hour NJN News broadcast. She was hired by WWOR-TV in 1976 as a reporter and became co-anchor of News at Noon with Tom Dunn later that year. She also co-anchored the station's News 9 PrimeTime newscast 1983-1987. When WWOR-TV switched to a 10 PM newscast in late 1987, she became the solo anchor of News at Noon. Co-hosted 9 Broadcast Plaza 1989–1991 with future Today Show’s Matt Lauer; weekend news anchor and reporter for News at Ten. Among the first journalists to interview John Lennon when he received a green card after years of fighting U.S. government efforts to deport him. Sara won an Emmy Award for anchoring WWOR-TV's coverage of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. In 1994,she was fired by WWOR. She subsequently sued the television station for religious discrimination, among other charges. An Orthodox Jew, she claimed that she was forced to work on Saturdays, which is forbidden by her religion. She was later able to successfully sue the station for $7.3 million. Magee, a great friend of CL&L, has worked at every local TV station in NYC.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23
 

CL&L Focus Group on the Advice We Give and We Get, with Judy Langer 
10:30-11:45pm

Judy remembers some advice women were given in the 1950s: don't wear patent leather shoes; in all cars, he should be the driver and you should wait for him to come around and open the passenger-side door for you. More recently: don't let them see you cry – go do that in the “ladies’ room.” For everyone: “Stand up and fight for what you believe in.” What advice do/did you heed? What advice do you give others these days? Come join our focus group discussion (that’s Judy’s advice). CL&L Executive Director and a former professional focus group moderator who wrote a book about the subject.

Centenarian Rita Satz Looks Back, with Rita Satz and David Katzmire (1st of 3 Sessions)

1:00-2:45pm

Profiles in Journalism: Rita is an Emmy Award winner who worked as an NBC News producer and writer 1974-1998, a Freedom Forum & Consumer Report producer, and a producer of investigative reports that appeared on The Today Show and various other programs.  

CL&L Focus Group on Dealing with Family, with Judy Langer
2:45-4:00pm
You choose your friends, but you’re born with or marry (partner) into family. These ties are often deep and binding, continuing into the next generation. Who will be there when you really need them? Who will you be there for when they need you? Yes, they can drive you crazy at times, but they are often really important in our lives. And yes, sometimes these ties are broken. Come to our focus group to discuss how we do and can deal with family. CL&L Executive Director and a former professional focus group moderator who wrote a book about the subject.
 
CONTINUING CLASSES

TUESDAY, APRIL 22
Poetry for Pleasure in the Spring, 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. Barry is the author of 12 collections of poetry, most recently It’s About Time, as well as Time on the Move and Tony’s Blues (bilingual French and English). Philip Fried and Ruth Valentine are Barry’s guest poets this week.
 
Click here for the poetry book for the semester 

The poems for this week: 

• (a last look at) The Danger of Writing Defiant Verse by Dorothy Parker p. 35

• Sonnet #116 by William Shakespeare p. 5

• As if Some Artic Flower by Emily Dickenson p. 84

• The Price of Narrow Shoes & Nadiya Becomes a Sonnet by Melinda Thomsen (guest poet) pp. 81- 82

• From Section 2 Song of Myself by Walt Whitman p. 39

• Porphyria's Lover by Robert Browning p. 9

• Happiness by Jane Kenyon p. 60

• To Winter by Claude McKay p. 41

 
 Film Discussion of the “Greatest Films Ever Made,” with Beth Pessen, Judy Langer, Fred Weinberg and Gerald Bray (2nd of 4 sessions)
2:45-4:00pm

Every ten years, the British Film Institute magazine Sight And Sound conducts its celebrated worldwide poll, asking more than 1,600 film people (critics, academics, writers, etc.) their choices for the “greatest films ever made.” The NY Times reported on the results of the latest poll (2022) recently and showed the top 100 winners. Each session in this course will be led by a different teacher. The Godfather tells the story of what happens when organized crime family patriarch Vito Corleone barely survives an attempt on his life and his youngest son, Michael, launches a campaign of revenge. Director Francis Ford Coppola, starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, 1972.
We ask that attendees watch each week’s movie in advance – even if you saw it previously – so you can participate fully in discussion; they are available on Amazon and YouTube.
 
THURSDAY, APRIL 24
Law in the Headlines: Exploring Current Legal Controversies, with Leora Harpaz
10:30-11:45am
Leora will begin with a case that is a challenge to a Texas law that requires websites to verify the age of their users before providing access if at least one-third of their content is “harmful to minors.” She will then move on to discuss a series of cases that raise issues under the First Amendment Religion Clauses. She will discuss other emergency applications filed by the Trump administration, and cases that raise First Amendment issues. She welcomes your suggestions for other subjects you’d like to hear about. Please email Judy (judy@langerqual.com) if you would like to make suggestions for topics you would like covered in upcoming classes.
 
Politics 2025, with Larry Geneen 
1:00-2:15pm
Larry will discuss President Trump’s attacks on colleges and universities, following Columbia and Harvard, his battles with law firms that he has sued or have sued him, and deportations of American residents and citizens. And, of course, tariffs on foreign goods continue, sometimes with dramatic changes. Will Elon Musk continue to be a key player in the administration? Larry also looks at what is happening on the Democratic side, as several politicians have become are more outspoken. He also explores developments on the local level with New York State’s Gov. Kathy Hochul and NYC’s embattled Mayor Eric Adams. As always, Larry encourages interactive discussions and welcomes student suggestions of topics to cover; write to judy@langerqual.com. 
   
Another Op’nin’, Another Show: Broadway’s Opening Numbers and Finales, with Karen Valen 
2:45-4:00pm
It has been said that it's always important that a Broadway musical’s opening number should set the tone for the show and convince the audience that they want to stick around and see what happens. An opening number can be preceded by an overture, or it can literally open the show. When the audience enters, will they see a closed curtain or are the actors already on stage and ready to perform the opening number? And what about great closing numbers? The 11 o’clock number, based on the time when Broadway shows opened at 8:30 and ended close to 11, occurs late in the second act of a two-act musical. It is often the final number of the show. We’ll feature videos of some great openings and finales, sometimes from the same show. Hairspray had “Good Morning, Baltimore” and “You Can’t Stop the Beat.” From A Chorus Line, we have “I Hope I Get It” and “One.” Hair gave us “Aquarius” and “Let the Sun Shine In.” Maybe you will get to relive some of your favorite Broadway moments, from beginning to end. Karen has given many classes at CL&L about Broadway musicals and ushers both on and off-Broadway.

So much to think about, get involved with and enjoy!  All at one affordable price for unlimited access to all sessions.