TOPICS  OFFERED  FOR  SPRING  2022

 

Classes start January 3rd  and end April 29th.

Holiday periods are adapted to by individual class voting.

 

 

1.    (AMC)   DECLINE  OF  AMERICAN  COMPETITIVENESS 

Many goods and services are now more expensive in America than in Europe. This is a reversal of the situation 20 years ago.  The author of our Common Reading is a French-born economist who presents his research into why and how this has happened. American markets, once a model for the world, are giving up on competition. Thomas Philippon blames the unchecked efforts of corporate lobbyists. Instead of earning profits by investing and innovating, powerful firms use political pressure to secure their advantages. The result is less efficient markets, leading to higher prices and lower wages. In one industry after another, Philippon writes, a few companies have grown so large that they have the power to keep prices high and wages low. It’s great for those corporations―and bad for almost everyone else…Too often, both parties are still confusing the interests of big business with the national interest. And American families are paying the price.

Topics for research presentations might include: hurtful reductions in government regulation; impacts of tax changes that reduce competition; how the Internet and social media contribute to the decline of competitiveness; who really pays taxes in USA; etc.

Common Reading:     The Great Reversal: How America Gave Up on Free Markets by Thomas Philippon  (Harvard University Press, October 2019)

 

 

2.      (BAM)  THE  BEST  AMERICAN  MYSTERY  STORIES  OF  THE  CENTURY

In The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, best-selling author Tony Hillerman and mystery expert Otto Penzler present an unparalleled treasury of American suspense fiction that every fan will cherish. Offering the finest examples from all reaches of the genre, this collection charts the mystery's eminent history from the turn-of-the-century puzzles of Futrelle, to the seminal pulp fiction of Hammett and Chandler, to the mystery story's rise to legitimacy in the popular mind, a trend that has benefited masterly writers like Westlake, Hunter, and Grafton. Nowhere else can readers find a more thorough, more engaging, more essential distillation of American crime fiction.

Penzler, the Best American Mystery Stories series editor, and Hillerman winnowed this select group out of a thousand stories, drawing on sources as diverse as Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Esquire, Collier's and The New Yorker. Giants of the genre abound – Raymond Chandler, Stephen King, Dashiell Hammett, Lawrence Block, Ellery Queen, Sara Paretsky, and others – but the editors also unearthed gems by luminaries rarely found in suspense anthologies: William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Damon Runyon, Harlan Ellison, James Thurber, and Joyce Carol Oates. Mystery buffs and newcomers alike will delight in the thrilling stories and top-notch writing of a hundred years' worth of the finest suspense, crime, and mystery writing.

Common Reading:     The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century, by Tony Hillerman and mystery expert Otto Penzler (April 2001)

 

 

3.      (CAP)    CAPITALISM  IN  AMERICA

Some of those in our government are attempting to vastly expand the federal role, both in scope and nature of operation. There is widespread confusion regarding the terms “capitalism” and “socialism.” In fact, we have a “mixed” economy. Some people advocate a social welfare system within a capitalist superstructure. Some are striving to impose an oligarchic perversion of laissez faire. There is far too much cronyism in how the governmental system now works.

Our Common Reading provides a history of the evolution of the American economic system in both a human and thorough way.  It provides a picture of the extraordinary productive energies unleashed by millions of ordinary Americans that have driven this country to unprecedented heights of power and prosperity.

At heart, the authors argue, America's genius has been its unique tolerance for the effects of creative destruction, the ceaseless churn of the old giving way to the new, driven by new people and new ideas. Often messy and painful, creative destruction has also lifted almost all Americans to standards of living unimaginable to even the wealthiest citizens of the world a few generations past. A sense of justice and human decency demands that those who bear the brunt of the pain of change be protected, but America has always accepted more pain for more gain, and its vaunted rise cannot otherwise be understood, or its challenges faced, without recognizing this legacy. For now, in our time, productivity growth has stalled again, stirring up the populist furies.

Topics for research and presentation might include: the evolutions of sources of investment and of organization of enterprises; did the “robber barons really rob anyone; how “stakeholders” might participate in enterprise management; how might the public safety be protected; alternative forms of company management-employee relationship have been found most successful; how taxes contribute to or harm economic progress; have we grown enough; etc.

Common Reading:     Capitalism in America: An Economic History of the United States by Alan Greenspan and Adrian Wooldridge (October 2018)

 

 

4.    (CCA)     CONQUEST  OF  CALIFORNIA

In the early days on the far north of Mexico’s territory Native Americans were abundant and were trying to accommodate the intrusion of trappers and early colonists. On June 14, 1846, a band of rebels gathered in the plaza of Sonoma and occupied the town, forcing the Mexican Colonel Vallejo to surrender. The rebels fashioned a flag with a brown bear with the words “California Republic” painted in pokeberry juice.

The spirit of Manifest Destiny would cause America to invade and claim the California Republic in one of the most significant land grabs in U.S. history. Various characters were to play significant roles in these actions. John C. Fremont, the Pathfinder, who arrived at the head of a team of Topographical Engineers; he assumed command of the Bear Flag rebels and lead them throughout the conflict. Commodore Robert Stockton commander of the Pacific Squadron who had a force of sailors and marines and took control of the coastal regions and raised a flag over Monterey. General Stephen Kearney who arrived from New Mexico with 100 dragoons and orders from President Polk to establish a government in California. Although eventually at odds with each other, the combined military actions of these charismatic leaders resulted in the annexation of California by the U.S.

Our goal is to learn about the early formation of the California Republic and annexation by the U.S.

Presentation topics: politics, leaders, battles, natural resources, Native Americans, Mexicans, Americanos. 

Common Reading:     Bear Flag Rising: The Conquest of California, 1846 by Dale L Walker (May 5, 2000)

 

 

5.    (DSA)   THE  DISUNITED  STATE  OF  AMERICA

We have never been this divided. That is an often-heard phrase these days, sometimes followed by an acknowledgement that maybe the Civil War years were worse. People are reportedly moving from one state to another to join their political tribe. Some dream about seceding, or wish the other tribe would do it. But perhaps to put things in perspective, we can take a deep dive into our text for this S/DG, Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union, by Richard Kreitner. The author does not claim that our present-day divisions are not real. Rather, he illustrates that the United States has a rich history of disunity starting with the Pilgrims, who called themselves Separatists.

Our text has been praised as ambitious, provocative, resonant, rewarding, and, thankfully, readable. It also suggests many potential topics for our presentations including various secessionist movements and the public figures tasked with keeping the ship of state afloat on troubled waters. Ideally, this S/DG will help us appreciate why we keep trying to overcome our differences and attempt, again and again, to form a more perfect union.

Common Reading:     Break It Up: Secession, Division, and the Secret History of America’s Imperfect Union, by Richard Kreitner (Little, Brown and Co., August 2020)

 

 

6.      (ECN)   THIS  WEEK  IN  THE  ECONOMIST   

The British weekly publication The Economist is known for its informative and thought-provoking reporting on political and economic developments around the world. In this S/DG, we will discuss several articles selected from the current issue as catalysts for informed and lively discussion on the burning topics of our time. Leadership will rotate and all articles selected are easily accessed online. Given the many worldwide problems this course will help to give you a deeper look then just a brief sound bite from somebody reading off a teleprompter.

Subscription to The Economist is required for members. Note members can get reduced cost subscriptions through CSUDH student membership.

Common Reading:   Current issues of The Economist.

 

 

7.    (EDP)    THE  LAST  MILLION:  EUROPE’S  DISPLACED  PERSONS  FROM

                      WORLD  WAR  TO  COLD  WAR

When WWII ended in 1945, the aftershocks of global military conflict did not cease with the German capitulation. Millions of lost and homeless concentration camp survivors, POWs, slave laborers, political prisoners, and Nazi collaborators in flight from the Red Army overwhelmed Germany, a nation in ruins. British and American soldiers gathered the malnourished and desperate refugees and attempted to repatriate them. But after exhaustive efforts, there remained more than a million displaced persons left behind in Germany: Jews, Poles, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, and other Eastern Europeans who refused to go home or had no homes to return to. The “Last Million” would spend the next three to five years in displaced persons camps, temporary homelands in exile divided by nationality, with their own police forces, churches and synagogues, schools, newspapers, theaters, and infirmaries.

The international community could not agree on the fate of the Last Million, and after a year of debate and inaction, the International Refugee Organization was created to resettle them in lands suffering from postwar labor shortages. But no nations were willing to accept the 200,000 to 250,000 Jewish men, women, and children who remained trapped in Germany. In 1948, the United States, among the last countries to accept refugees for resettlement, finally passed a displaced persons bill. With Cold War fears supplanting memories of World War II atrocities, the bill granted the vast majority of visas to those who were reliably anti-Communist, including thousands of former Nazi collaborators and war criminals, while severely limiting the entry of Jews, who were suspected of being Communist sympathizers or agents because they had been recent residents of Soviet-dominated Poland. Only after the controversial partition of Palestine and Israel's declaration of independence were the remaining Jewish survivors able to leave their displaced persons camps in Germany.

By 1952, the Last Million were scattered around the world. Let’s explore the consequences of this largely hidden story about postwar displacement and statelessness.

Possible presentation topics:

Ø  Current efforts by nonprofits to assist refugees

Ø  How the refugee experience shaped policy in the new nation of Israel

Ø  Psychological studies on the long-term effects of persons in exile

Ø  Compare treatment of the post-WWII refugees vs. today’s Afghani or Syrian refugees

Ø  Creative or uplifting things that have developed in refugee camps

 Common Reading:    The Last Million: Europe's Displaced Persons from World War to Cold War by David Nasaw (September 2020)

 

 

8.    (FAS)      FASHION 

Is fashion your passion?  Unlock the language of clothes with this ultimate fashion show that traces people’s dress over the past 3000 years.

Fashion is a visual feast, packed with stunning illustrations of 1,500 costumes from around the globe.  It celebrates famous trendsetters, designers and fashion icons from Queen Henrietta Maria to Jackie Onassis and Jean Paul Gautier.

Fashion endlessly reinvents itself, reflecting society’s trends and innovations.  Discover why different looks caught on, from elaborate ruffs, wigs and farthingales of the 17th century, to Dior’s “new look” in 1947 and shoulder pads in the 1980s.  Find out why for centuries people’s dress was regulated by governments’ “sumptuary rules” and how the invention of new textiles from velvet to Lycra influenced clothing design.

If you just love clothes, Fashion is considered to be both a glorious visual treat and a treasured history.

Common Reading:     Fashion, New Edition; The Definitive Visual Guide (Smithsonian) by DK and Smithsonian Institution (September 2019)

 

9.    (FHJ)  A  FLAW  IN  HUMAN  JUDGEMENT

Imagine that two judges in the same courthouse give markedly different sentences to people who have committed the same crime. Suppose that different interviewers at the same firm make different decisions about indistinguishable job applicants—or that when a company is handling customer complaints, the resolution depends on who happens to answer the phone. Now imagine that the same doctor, the same judge, the same interviewer, or the same customer service agent makes different decisions depending on whether it is morning or afternoon, or Monday rather than Wednesday. These are examples of noise: variability in judgments that should be identical.

In Noise, Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony, and Cass R. Sunstein show the detrimental effects of noise in many fields, including medicine, law, economic forecasting, forensic science, bail, child protection, strategy, performance reviews, and personnel selection. Wherever there is judgment, there is noise. Yet, most of the time, individuals and organizations alike are unaware of it. They neglect noise. With a few simple remedies, people can reduce both noise and bias, and so make far better decisions.

Possible presentations could include studies that show the variation in doctors’ diagnoses over a shift, variations in financial advice for the same client, methods to reduce the impact of noise in certain situations, technical discussions of the kinds of noise, noise statistics, people in involved in noise studies, personal experiences and ideas on how to do better.

Common Reading:     Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgement, by Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass R. Sunstein (May 2021)

 

 

10.   (FJS)  THE  FILMS  OF  JOHN  STEINBECK

John Steinbeck is best known as the Nobel Prize-winning author of Cannery Row, Tortilla Flat, Travels with Charley, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Grapes of Wrath. In total, he wrote 16 novels, six non-fiction books, and two short story collections, often chronicling stories of intolerance, inequality, and ecology that remain relevant today. Inevitably, Steinbeck’s books reappeared as some of the most iconic films to come out of Hollywood including John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath, Elia Kazan’s East of Eden, and at least four versions of Of Mice and Men. In addition, Steinbeck sometimes wrote or coauthored the screen versions of his novels (The Red Pony, East of Eden) and penned original screenplays and stories for Hitchcock’s Lifeboat and Kazan’s Viva Zapata!. There is no book for this S/DG although some presenters may want to take advantage of the 2020 biography Mad at the World: A Life of John Steinbeck by William Souder. Presentation topics could include explorations of any of the films based on Steinbeck’s books, comparisons of the various film versions of his stories, and investigations of how these books and films were inspired by places and events in Steinbeck’s life, much of which took place in Salinas and Monterey, California.    

No Common Reading.

 

 

11.   (FLR)     THE  FLORENTINES

Between the birth of Dante in 1265 and the death of Galileo in 1642, something happened that transformed the entire culture of western civilization. Painting, sculpture, and architecture would all change in such a striking fashion that there could be no going back. Likewise, the thought and self-conception of humanity would take on a completely new aspect. Science would be born – or emerge in an entirely new guise. The ideas that broke this mold began in the city of Florence and coalesced into what came to be known as humanism.

Possible presentation topics could be any of the major figures of the Renaissance.

Common Reading:     The Florentines: From Dante to Galileo: The Transformation of Western Civilization, by Paul Strathern (Pegasus, July 2021)

 

 

12.   (HGL)   HELGOLAND:  MAKING  SENSE  OF  THE  QUANTUM  REVOLUTION

A startling new look at quantum theory from the New York Times best-selling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics and The Order of Time.

Helgoland is a treeless island in the North Sea where 23-year-old Werner Heisenberg made the breakthrough of quantum mechanics, setting off a century of scientific revolution. Full of alarming ideas (ghost waves, distant objects that seem to be magically connected, cats that appear both dead and alive), quantum physics has led to countless discoveries and technological advancements. Today our understanding of the world is based on this theory, yet it is still profoundly mysterious.

Renowned theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli has entranced millions of readers with his singular perspective on the cosmos. In Helgoland, he unpacks the enigma of quantum theory. The quantum world Rovelli describes is as beautiful as it is unnerving.

As scientists and philosophers continue to fiercely debate the meaning of the theory, Rovelli argues that its most unsettling contradictions can be explained by seeing the world as fundamentally made of relationships rather than substances. We and everything around us exist only in our interactions with one another. This bold idea suggests new directions for thinking about the structure of reality and even the nature of consciousness. Rovelli makes learning about quantum mechanics an almost psychedelic experience. Shifting our perspective once again, he takes us on a riveting journey through the universe so we can better comprehend our place in it.

Possible presentations: Alternative quantum theories; applications of quantum mechanics; quantum computing, the nature of consciousness.

Common Reading:     Helgoland: Making Sense of the Quantum Revolution by Carlo Rovelli  (May 25, 2021) 

 

 

13.   (IUB)  THE  INCREDIBLE  UNLIKELINESS  OF  BEING   

Alice Roberts takes you on the most incredible journey, revealing your path from a single cell to a complex embryo to a living, breathing, thinking person. It's a story that connects us with our distant ancestors and an extraordinary, unlikely chain of events that shaped human development and left a mark on all of us. Alice Roberts uses the latest research to uncover the evolutionary history hidden in all of us, from the secrets found only in our embryos and genes - including why as embryos we have what look like gills - to those visible in your anatomy. This is a tale of discovery, exploring why and how we have developed as we have. This is your story, told as never before. There are numerous possible topics: updating information in the book with latest results from DNA, paleontology, etc.

Common Reading:     The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being: Evolution and the Making of Us, by Alice Roberts (November 2015)

 

 

14.   (LAS)  LOS  ANGELES  IN  THE  SIXTIES

Los Angeles in the Sixties was a hotbed of political and social upheaval that shaped politics and culture in this city for the next half century.  It was a locus of the Vietnam antiwar movement, the rise of alternative media, the women’s movement, and, of course, the capital of California counterculture.  The suggested core text for this S/DG covers the Civil Rights Movement in LA, its backlash with the repeal of the Fair Housing Act of 1963, the LA Free Clinic, the Watts Uprising, the Century City Police Riot, and the high school Blowouts (student strikes) of 1966-1968, to name a few.

A breathtakingly broad, yet detailed book on this decade, Set the Night on Fire:  LA in the Sixties, provides the first comprehensive movement history of L.A. in the Sixties, drawing on extensive archival research and dozens of interviews with principal figures, as well as the authors’ storied personal histories as activists.  It is a historical tour de force, delivered in scintillating and fiercely beautiful prose, which makes each chapter a quick read.   

Possible presentation topics:  How the Fifties influenced the Sixties, popular music or films related to social change movements in LA during this era, the impact of television on social movements, worldwide protests in 1968 and comparisons to LA’s, comparing public education in LA then and now, backlashes to social movements and reforms, and leaders produced by the women’s movement in LA.

Common Reading:     Set the Night on Fire:  L.A. in the Sixties, by Mike Davis and Jon Wiener (April 2020)

 

 

15.   (LBR)    THE PAST,  PRESENT,  AND  FUTURE  OF  AMERICAN  LABOR

Labor unions were once important in America’s economy and political system. Union membership has slipped except for those involving government workers. Some people believe that this is one of the reasons stagnating wages for unskilled labor and for rising income inequality. These people typically call for a “return to the good old days,” a remarkably conservative sounding wish. But, times have changed and we need a complete rethink of the relationship between America’s employers and employees. For example, the Nordic model, which seems to function well in those small homogeneous countries, is “corporatist” in nature with country-wide labor negotiations with the government as an active participant, ensuring standardization of wage rates, etc. Clearly, government over-participation in labor contracts can be harmful as in France. How should America evolve? How will China impact the US labor movement?

Our Common Reading by journalist and author Steven Greenhouse traces the history of the labor movement in the United States and considers the factors that led to a significant decline in worker bargaining power in recent decades.

This S/DG will review the history of labor relations in this and other countries with a view toward choosing better ways of operating. Possible research/presentation topics might include: crucial events in loss of union power; unions and government; do teachers unions help students; impact of imports on US labor; are labor unions just another form of corporation; how will artificial intelligence and robotics impact the labor market; do you want unionized care-givers in your old age; rise of gig economy; fast-food workers; labor leaders; strikes; union busting; immigrants in labor force, etc.

Common Reading:     Beaten Down, Worked Up – The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor, by Steven Greenhouse (Knopf, August 2019)

 

 

16.   (NWS)    NEWS  YOU  CAN  LOSE

This S/DG will examine the decline of U.S. newspapers, especially at the regional and local level, in recent years.  National newspapers in major cities like Washington, DC and Los Angeles continue to exist because billionaires buy them without the expectation of maximizing profit.  Local news organizations suffer due to the loss of classified advertising, thank you Craigslist, social media that gives people the feeling of keeping up with the “news” without reading any actual news, and unimaginative newspaper chains whose answer to every financial problem is to cut staff.  As a result, local and regional newspapers have spent the past two decades shedding employees and closing their doors.  A few print news organizations have tried new models of operation successfully, but they are the exception.  Possible presentations include the status of local newspapers in the South Bay, the impact on local corruption as local news coverage is reduced, Warren Buffet and the 31 papers he sold earlier this year, why only the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have substantial digital readerships, and is the loss of so many newspapers a threat to democracy.

Common Reading:     Ghosting the News: Local Journalism and the Crisis of American Democracy, by Margaret Sullivan (July 14, 2020 - paperback)

 

 

17.   (POE)   A  NEW  LOOK  AT  GREAT  POETRY 

If you haven't read a Shakespeare sonnet or Coleridge's “Kubla Khan” since high school, this S/DG provides a chance to renew acquaintance and refresh your understanding of some of the world's great poems.  In a new book, Camille Paglia, Professor of Humanities at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, takes a new analytical look at familiar works by such writers as Shelley, Whitman, Emily Dickinson, John Donne, and Sylvia Plath, as well as newer poetry by some of today's writers. Paglia's essays on each poem combine analysis with criticism; presentations by members will combine discussion of Paglia's ideas with their own responses to the poems.

Common Reading:     Break, Blow, Burn: Camille Paglia Reads Forty-three of the World's Best Poems, by Camille Paglia (Vintage trade; January 2006)

 

 

18.   (RBG)   THE  NOTORIOUS  (AND  FABULOUS)  RUTH  BADER  GINSBURG

In a decades-long career, Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an advocate and jurist for gender equality and for ensuring that the United States Constitution leaves no person behind. Her work transformed not just the American legal landscape, but American society more generally. Ginsburg labored tirelessly to promote a Constitution that is ever more inclusive and that allows every individual to achieve their full human potential. In the area of gender rights, Ginsburg dismantled long-entrenched systems of discrimination based on outdated stereotypes by showing how such laws hold back both genders.

In addition, Justice Ginsburg had a special ability to appreciate how the decisions of the high court impact the lived experiences of everyday Americans. The passing of Justice Ginsburg was met with a public outpouring of grief, and she was hailed as a hero and national treasure.

Our suggested text includes many previously unpublished materials which share details from the Justice’s family life and long career. These include notable briefs and oral arguments, some of Ginsburg's last speeches, and her favorite opinions that she wrote as a Supreme Court Justice (many in dissent), along with the statements that she read from the bench in those important cases. Each document was chosen by Justice Ginsburg to tell the story of the litigation strategy and optimistic vision that were at the heart of her unwavering commitment to the achievement of "a more perfect Union."

Possible presentation topics:

Ø  Other noteworthy Supreme Court justices in history

Ø  The cult of fandom that developed around RBG

Ø  Assess the status of women in today’s American legal system

Ø  The role of female attorneys in other countries

 Common Reading:           Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue: A Life’s Work Fighting for a More Perfect Union, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (March 2021) 

 

 

19.   (SHK)   SHAKESPEARE:   ALL  THE  WORLD’S  A  STAGE . . .

The Omnilorean New Globe Players plan a fun January-April 2022 season — reading and studying three of Shakespeare’s plays.  We will read one History play, one Comedy, and one Tragedy — plays to be selected at our December premeeting. 

With players standing and with a few props and costumes, we will do reading walk-throughs and discussions of the 3 plays to be chosen.

In this S/DG you will learn how to research all perspectives of Shakespeare’s works — sources of each play upon which the Bard builds rich characters and enhances the plots, how to play each character “in character,” themes, symbols, images, motifs, commentary on issues of the day, and all manner of rhyme and reason.  Class members each serve on one play’s Board of Directors, responsible for casting roles for the repertory and leading discussions based on the research — optionally adding videos, music, and costumes.  For a glimpse of how we live the Bard in this S/DG, check out http://omnilore.org/members/Curriculum/SDGs/21c-SHK-Shakespeare to view the Fall Shakespeare class’s website of links to references relevant to our plays and downloadable organizing artifacts.

There are no prerequisites, theatrical or otherwise.  You will find that the Bard of Stratford-on-Avon will teach us, just as he’s taught others for four hundred years.  With plenty for the novice as well as the veteran, it is a foregone conclusion members will leave this class with a fuller understanding of the masterful story construction, realistic characters with depth and humanity, and the rich, evocative language which have earned William Shakespeare the title of greatest writer in the English language.

SHK will be limited to the first 24 enrollees and will not split.

Common Reading:     Selected Plays

 

 

20.   (SIE)     SUPREME  INEQUALITY

The book Supreme Inequality surveys the most significant Supreme Court rulings for the last fifty years and exposes how little the Court has done to protect the rights of the poor and disadvantaged. Many of the greatest successes of earlier rulings in areas such as school desegregation, voting rights and protecting workers have been abandoned in favor of rulings that protect corporations and privileged Americans. The author’s view is that the modern Court has been one of the leading forces behind the nation’s soaring level of economic inequality, and that an institution revered as a source of America’s fairness has been systematically making America less fair.

Possible presentation topics could include any of the cases discussed in the book or other cases or governmental actions concerning such topics as protecting the poor, education, campaign finance, democracy, workers, corporations or criminal justice.

Common Reading:     Supreme Inequality: The Supreme Court’s Fifty-Year Battle for a More Unjust America, by Adam Cohen (February 2020)

 

 

21.   (SRR)    SURREALISM

Born around 100 years ago out of various forces, including the aftermath of WWI, Dadaism, the insights of Sigmund Freud, communism, and anarchism, Surrealism was a broad cultural movement which eventually transformed the visual arts, literature, film, music, thought, language and overall culture throughout the world.

The movement’s initial leader, the writer André Breton, emphasized the cultural, political, and philosophical aspect of the movement, and attempted to have the movement set the stage for political change by “resolv[ing] the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality into an absolute reality, a super-reality”, or surreality.

Yet, in the long run the movement probably had its most obvious manifestation in the revolutionary works of master painters such as Salvador Dali, Giorgio De Chirico, Max Ernst, Man Ray, Joan Miró, Marcel Duchamp, Frida Kahlo, and Rene Magritte.

Our common book in this S/DG, 50 Works of Surrealist Art, starts by introducing us to many of the great paintings of the movement (and occasionally other works, such as films); it also provides short textual introductions to the artists and thereby connects us with the political, philosophical, and broader cultural development of the movement over time.

Presentations for the course will provide us with an opportunity to delve more deeply into some of the innumerable other interesting things about Surrealism, possibly including: the origins of the movement; the classical and other artistic foundations of the art and the artists; the themes of Surrealism (such as dreams and the unconscious; surprise, ambiguity, and contradiction; super-reality; sexual fantasy; and rejection of traditional social and artistic rules); the stylistic and technical advances and common features of the art; the political context and significance of the movement; particular artists and their often spectacular lives (Dali, in particular, comes to mind); the impact of Surrealism on theatre, film (especially the works of Jacques Cocteau, Luis Bunuel, and David Lynch), and humor (including Monty Python); and the broad effects of the movement on our current philosophy, political thought and overall culture across the world.

Common Reading:     Surrealism: 50 Works of Art You Should Know, by Brad Finger (Prestel; Illustrated edition; November 25, 2013)

 

22.   (TAN)   AMY  TAN  (OR  THE  ASIAN  EXPERIENCE)

Amy Tan is a Chinese-American author known for The Joy Luck Club.  Her other novels, include The Kitchen God’s Wife, The Hundred Secret Senses, The Bonesetter’s Daughter, and Saving Fish from Drowning.  Her latest book is a memoir entitled, Where the Past Begins: A Writer’s Memoir. 

A recent documentary, Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir, was released in May 2021, and is now available on Netflix.

If the S/DG follows the format of recent literary classes (Toni Morrison, Isabel Allende, Ernest Hemingway), the class will select 3 novels of hers to read and discuss.

In addition to the book discussions, many presentations could develop from these writings, especially various tellings of the immigrant experience—either of her family or that of other Asian Americans.

In addition to the retelling of specific Chinese immigrants’ experiences, other themes consistently pervade many of Tan’s novels such as:

Ø  Mother-daughter relationships, including Tan’s often tumultuous relationship with her own mother.

Ø  Suicide, especially Tan’s maternal grandmother’s death by suicide and her mother’s several suicide attempts.

Ø  Traditional Chinese Superstitions, Ghosts, The Afterlife, and Belief in Spirits.

Ø  Comparison among the 3 novelists--Toni Morrison, Isabel Allende and Amy Tan--and the elements of magic realism in their works, especially spiritualism.

Ø  Assimilation and the American Dream.

Ø  Internal struggles among 1st generation offspring of Chinese immigrant parents over their cultural identities.

Ø  Tan’s personal experience as Rock Band singer/philanthropist, whose band raised over a million dollars for literacy programs.

The recent negative attacks on Asians could also be a topic.

Common Reading:     Selected novels, decided by the class.  

(Additional note:  The usual format for this type of literature class has been to either lead the discussion on perhaps half of a novel, or to do an independent presentation; both count equally as “presentations,” and a S/DG member’s obligation is to do either one or the other, not both.)

 

 

23.   (THK)      THINK  AGAIN:  THE  POWER  OF  KNOWING  WHAT  YOU  

                        DON'T  KNOW   

Think Again is a book about the benefit of doubt, and about how we can get better at embracing the unknown and the joy of being wrong.

New evidence shows us that as a mindset and a skillset, rethinking can be taught, and Grant explains how to develop the necessary qualities to do it. Section 1 explores why we struggle to think again and how we can learn to do it as individuals, arguing that 'grit' alone can actually be counterproductive. Section 2 discusses how we can help others think again through learning about 'argument literacy'. The author, Adam Grant, is New York Times bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg. 

Possible topics:

1.    How rethinking gives you the edge in a world changing faster than ever

2.    How readers can shape and improve the peaks in their own experiences

3.    How can one win against an international debate champion

4.    How a black musician persuades white supremacists to abandon hate

5.    MOST IMPORTANT for our day and time--How can one become a vaccine whisperer and convince concerned others to vaccinate

Common Reading:     Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know by Adam Grant (February 2021)

 

 

24.   (UWS)              UNDER  A  WHITE  SKY 

That man should have dominion “over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth” is a prophecy that has hardened into fact. So pervasive are human impacts on the planet that it’s said we live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.

In Under a White Sky, Elizabeth Kolbert takes a hard look at the new world we are creating. Along the way, she meets biologists who are trying to preserve the world’s rarest fish, which lives in a single tiny pool in the middle of the Mojave; engineers who are turning carbon emissions to stone in Iceland; Australian researchers who are trying to develop a “super coral” that can survive on a hotter globe; and physicists who are contemplating shooting tiny diamonds into the stratosphere to cool the earth.

One way to look at human civilization, says Kolbert, is as a ten-thousand-year exercise in defying nature. In The Sixth Extinction, she explored the ways in which our capacity for destruction has reshaped the natural world. Now she examines how the very sorts of interventions that have imperiled our planet are increasingly seen as the only hope for its salvation. By turns inspiring, terrifying, and darkly comic, Under a White Sky is an utterly original examination of the challenges we face. (Amazon)

Common Reading:     Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future, by Elizabeth Kolbert February 2021)

 

25.   (XPL)      EXPLORATION  OF  TRAILS

Ever thought about hiking the Appalachian Trail or the Pacific Crest Trail?  Ever wondered how our road network evolved?  Or wondered how animals knew how to follow specific trails?  This S/DG will explore how trails help us understand the world—from invisible ant trails to hiking paths that span continents, from interstate highways to the Internet.

Join the author as he writes about his seven years of traveling the globe, exploring trails of all kinds, from the miniscule to the massive while he learned the tricks of master trail-builders and hunted down long-lost Cherokee trails. In each chapter, Robert Moor interweaves his adventures with findings from science, history, philosophy, and nature writing.

Possible topics for presentation could be further research into the information from the book itself.  Additional areas to consider would be a presentation on nature writing and writers; specific trails and walks; how trails in the U.S. differ from trails in other countries; organizations who build/care for trails both governmental and private; and guides and trackers from history.

Common Reading:     On Trails:  An Exploration, by Robert Moor (July 2017)