We’re one month into the fall semester at the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning at William and Mary, and I thought I’d catch you up on the classes you would have available to you this week if you were an Osher member.
The Good Life: from Rock Around the Clock to Camelot
What was life like for those living in the U.S. from the end of the Korean Conflict to the assassination of John Kennedy? On the surface we lived ideal lives when everyone had hope and appeared to be moving toward security in a stable job, owning a home and a new car (with stylish fins). In the early days, President Eisenhower kept the peace and established stability. JFK took us from hope of stability to an exciting vision of a dynamic future including landing on the moon. Underneath the placid days we faced the cold war, paranoia about the USSR, and the Cuban missile crisis. This is a continuation of the prior social history classes Between the Wars and Home Fires. The goal is to better understand the lives our parents lived and those many of us experienced as children.
Seeing the Future: Olmsted’s America
Before he became the nation’s first landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted was a failed sailor, farmer, writer, and gold miner. His writings influenced international opinion on slavery, and his vision created a system of parks that would remain relevant for hundreds of years, and serve all the people. With dogged perseverance, and battling through personal tragedies, he made it happen. This course will focus on Olmsted’s life and world, a time of civil war, rapid nation-building, and the beginning of the American park system.
The Lincoln Murder Conspiracies
Although the “formal” historical record of Lincoln’s assassination clearly established that John Wilkes Booth and a small cohort of followers murdered Abraham Lincoln and attempted to kill other high government officials, a number of different (and captivating) conspiracies theories have emerged, gained traction, and achieved varying levels of prominence and support over the past 157 years. This course will endeavor to “unpack” and deconstruct these major conspiracy theories and probe their geneses as well as the “evidence” supporting each of the seven major conspiracy theories associated with the assassination of Lincoln.
Explaining the 2022 Midterm Elections
Midterm congressional elections are viewed as referenda on the sitting president, and to a great extent that is true, especially during these times when local elections have increasingly become nationalized. Yet much more is at play in midterm elections, most of which is beyond the president’s control. The president’s legislative agenda, and the fate of presidential nominees, stands or falls according to party control of Congress. This seminar examines the long-term and short-term factors shaping midterm elections, considers the likely outcome of the 2022 races, and examines its consequences for the balance of President Biden’s term and the lead-up to 2024.
Taxes in Retirement and Social Security
In this course, we will review the basics of taxes in retirement and how they may not be what you expect, as well as focusing on the changes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and SECURE Act that may affect you, along with key strategies to consider. We will also have a discussion on Social Security claiming strategies in addition to management tips. The tax portion will focus on the basic concepts and policies that work together to create the system we know today. You will learn methods that can help manage the taxes you experience, including proper distribution structure and asset structuring strategies.
Lifetime Income Strategies
We will discuss financial education for retirees and planning your income for life. Post-retirement planning is often more difficult than planning for retirement. You are managing your entire nest egg, not collecting paychecks anymore, and have less time to recover your potential mistakes. In this course, you learn time-tested strategies for planning your retirement income that are designed to make your money last.
Modern Wealth Management
This course acquaints the student with tools essential for sound financial planning and investment management. Financial planning begins by considering your goals with respect to risk exposure, tax environment, liquidity needs, and appreciation vs. income potentials. Sean will encourage your participation as he shares proven strategies to help you achieve your financial goals. He will develop models for portfolio selection to help reduce risk through diversification. He will explore factors affecting financial success, such as: Do you need a plan to triple your income during retirement? Is your financial plan telling you what you need to know? Is there a way to minimize investment risk without sacrificing returns?
Estate Planning for Modern Times
The variety of topics covered will examine traditional estate planning strategies, and new considerations in estate planning for our modern times, including the differences between Wills & Trusts; strategies for ever-changing federal estate tax laws; the Secure Act and its impact on retirement asset planning; and planning for the transfer of digital assets.
The Federal Deficit and Debt Dilemma
The Federal Deficit and Debt Dilemma lecture focuses on federal financial inflows, outflows, and trends. For many years, the federal government consistently pursued and reported unsustainable financial trends, including deficits and debt. Among the untenable trends are an estimated $70 trillion in existing debts, including social insurance promises. If spread across United States households, these obligations average over $500,000 per household. Deficits occur when annual spending exceeds tax inflows. Borrowing (debt) enables deficit spending. This lecture highlights financial trends and options related to the interconnected dilemma of (1) increasing taxes and/ or decreasing services (spending) and/or (2) continuing unsustainable borrowing.
Medicare ABCs
Medicare Eligibility Medicare Parts A & B Medicare Part D (Prescription Drug Plans) Medigap & Medicare Advantage: important features Errors to Avoid How to Compare and Choose Among Options
Are Psychic Experiences Real - Laboratory Experiments and Case Studies
This course is a survey that presents factual laboratory and case studies that evidence abilities and phenomena often described as “psychic”. Major topics include a brief introduction to modern consciousness research, and more in-depth considerations of the scientific evidence for psychics and the criticisms against the viability of these research outcomes. Phenomena including nonlocal consciousness (ESP) and mind-matter interactions will be considered. The course material is drawn from 50 years of study in the relevant material. Attendees need have no prior knowledge of the subject.
The Amazing Human Body: How Does it Really Work?
Bodies: we all have one. But have you ever really thought about HOW yours works? How your eyes focus? How you keep your balance? How you “know” what your body is doing even without looking? In this interactive class, we’ll use the body we came with to explore five amazing human “design features” which allow us to accomplish what we do -- even if we sometimes don’t accomplish everything quite the way we used to.
Functional Exercises to Improve Fitness, Balance, and Agility
Functional exercises are designed to help you meet the physical demands of your life from activities of daily living to athletic competitions. It is not training for a specific event but developing a grounding of fitness, balance, and agility for all fitness levels. This course will have a combination of lecture and activity opportunities to practice the exercises which need little to minimal equipment. Learning proper exercise techniques not only helps prevent injuries but increases the effectiveness of the exercises. You will also learn how to increase the intensity of the exercises as your fitness improves.
Beginning Tennis
The course will focus on basic fundamentals, stroke production, rules, and tactics. Drills and playing situations will be utilized throughout the sessions. Participants will be on court, so appropriate attire and sneakers are required. Rackets can be provided if necessary.
Yoga and Meditation
Yoga is an outstanding segment of an ancient educational and remedial legacy that is seen to be valid, relevant, and supportive in a new millennium with ever-growing health and well-being concerns. Athletes use it to tone muscles and increase flexibility. Corporate executives rely on it to de-stress. Doctors prescribe it for everything from sore backs and respiratory problems to chronic fatigue. This course will focus on gentle yoga postures and the importance of progressive breathing as well as an introduction to the healing benefits of sound meditation. Bring a mat or blanket to use on the floor and wear comfortable clothing.
Zumba Gold
Zumba Gold is the mature form of the original dance workout. Our consistent, easy-to-follow dance patterns are done at a modified pace and intensity that burns calories, strengthens muscles, improves balance and coordination, and makes your whole-body smile! It’s a dance party where everyone in the room is your partner.
Sherlock Holmes: Investigating the Greatest Detective Who Never Was
Sherlock Holmes has become one of the world’s best-known literary figures, with dozens of films, television, and radio adaptations. How Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Victorian detective outgrew the written word will be the focus of the six-week course. Students will several of the original Holmes stories and discuss how the character developed through Conan Doyle’s lifetime and beyond.
Writing for the Fun of It
This relaxed and fun overview ranges from learning to think like a writer to publishing your work. Discussion and exercises reveal simple yet effective tools for organizing your thoughts. Learn to choose the best form to convey your unique vision: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, or drama, and the essential building blocks of each. A quick grammar and style refresher shows why you don’t have to be a grammar expert to be a good writer. With a project you’ll begin in class, or one you’ve already started, learn to apply professional techniques that will elevate your writing to the next level.
A Guided Self-exploration of The Iliad
Few works are more crucial to understand Western Civilization than Homer’s Iliad. In this eight-week email class, you will be guided through a close reading of the poem. Working at your own pace, you may explore it as much and as deeply as you wish—always with the assurance that guidance and answers to your questions are just an email away. The first seven classes will offer background readings, suggestions for reading, pointers to guide you through, answers to questions, and reactions to comments. The eighth class will feature a two-hour open discussion on Zoom.
Book Lovers Discussion Group
Join us this semester for stimulating and enjoyable discussions of four remarkable nonfiction books, each of which discloses a story that will both fascinate and enlighten you. The four books will be: Sept. 12, The Monk of Mokha by Dave Eggers (352 pgs.); Oct. 10, Apeirogon by Colum McCann (480 pgs.); Nov. 14, Love and Hate in Jamestown: John Smith, Pocahontas and the Start of a New Nation by David A. Price (320 pgs.); and Dec. 12, You Don’t Belong Here by Elizabeth Becker (320 pgs.). Don’t miss this chance to keep learning!
Forest Ecology and Management
Part one of this two-session course will introduce basic ecological concepts, as well as the role of humans, in defining what we see as we walk into an Eastern Virginia Forest. Part two will be a field trip to York River State Park where we will look at natural growth and succession, forest reproduction, and the role of invasive species.
Practice the Presence
You have the ability to choose, at any time, who and how you want to be in the world. With help from Richard Foster, Richard Rohr, Jill Bolte Taylor, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Thomas Keating, Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, and others, we will awaken together to greater levels of resourcefulness and joy in each day of our one, wild, and precious life. Writing, music, movement, poetry, and congenial conversation will softly transform us, droplet by droplet.
Belief and Betrayal: Conquering Credulity
Our beliefs have powerful and pervasive effects on our lives. Some make us happier, more effective, and more loving. Others create little but suffering and misunderstanding while blinding us to the harm they do. This course offers ways to enhance your awareness of how your beliefs affect you. It encourages you to ask, “How closely does the guidance that I assume my beliefs provide match the guidance that my beliefs actually provide?” and “What are the consequences of my erroneous assumptions?” A detailed description of this approach to belief analysis can be found at barneysplace.net.
Introduction to Islam
This course provides an overview of the Islamic creed, the Qur’an, and the Prophet Muhammad. Questions and discussions are encouraged.
Last Stand! A Study of Three Desperate “To The Last Man” Battles
The battles to be studied are: 3rd Co, 1st Bn, The French Foreign Legion at the Camarone, Mexico, April 30, 1863; B Co, 2nd Bn, 24th Regt. (South Wales Borderers) vs the Zulu at Rorkes Drift, Natal South Africa, January 22-23, 1879; 1st Bn, The Gloucestershire Regt (the Glosters), 29th Bde Gp vs the Chinese at the Imjin River, North Korea, April 22-25, 1951.
The Islamic State and the Explosive Middle East
In Iraq, Al Qaeda, the 9/11 terrorists, turned into an even more extreme group called the Islamic State (IS). In January of 2011, the Middle East exploded into the Arab Spring, including a civil war in Syria, a follow-up blitzkrieg attack on Iraq by the IS in June of 2014 and the standup of an IS caliphate. IS has been soundly defeated in both Iraq and Syria, but not the world, and especially now Afghanistan. Now dozens of other countries in the Middle East are at war or on the verge of exploding. How did the IS arise? Why do Muslims in the Middle East hate the West so much? What’s the status of the Taliban, al Qaeda and IS in Afghanistan? This course will identify and discuss the significant historical and current events from Mohammed’s death up to the present, the rise and defeat of IS, and an overview of all Middle Eastern countries.
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited just reading through these options – and that’s just for this week! Some of these courses are in their third week, so that means next week there will be a whole new batch of classes Osher members will be able to take.
Retirement can be the most enjoyable and interesting time of your life if you take advantage of opportunities like this.
Wonderful article, Karen! Thank you!!
If I lived near Williamsburg I would be at the Olmsted course. I read the biography, Genius of Place, about his life and it was fascinating. There are many of his landscape designs in the Boston area; the Emerald Necklace, Boston Public Garden, and the Arnold Arboretum, to name just a few. Gorgeous.