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Tuesday Morning Study Groups
The American Civil Rights Movement: Some Personal Accounts
9 - 11 a.m.
Tuesdays, September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6
Examine the racial status quo that existed in the United States through the 1950s and consider how the Civil Rights Movement changed race relations in America by 1965. Using John Howard Griffin’s Black Like Me, we will gain insight into how the Jim Crow years set the context for the movement to come. Additionally, we will use the documentary Eyes on the Prize to remind us of the sequence of events during those years. These texts will help us rethink our experiences of the movement as it unfolded. It is our goal to include the personal accounts of participants’ own involvement, thoughts, and experiences during the movement that shaped our histories – personal and political.
Recommended Reading:
John Howard Griffin, Black
Like Me, NAL Trade, 2003, ISBN# 978-0451208644
Conveners: Our conveners grew up in two of the most racially segregated urban areas in America. Cliff Eaton grew up on the racially changing south side of Chicago in the 1950s, before the Dan Ryan Expressway, the Projects, and the marches through Marquette Park. He participated in the Civil Rights Movement from his teens. Robert Suchner grew up in Livonia, a suburb of Detroit, just northwest of Henry Ford’s infamous Dearborn. He is an emeritus professor of sociology who spent 30 years studying and teaching the social psychology of prejudice and discrimination.
The Imperative of Energy Efficiency and Renewables
9 - 11 a.m.
Tuesdays, September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6
With increased use of gasoline by the Far East, limited supplies of oil, inevitable price increases, as well as population explosion, water scarcity and climate change, it is imperative that we all learn new energy efficiencies for our homes and businesses. With the help of videos, we will review and discuss the problems, and what business, industries, and other countries are doing to solve them. We will discuss how we can retrofit homes and businesses, what is happening locally, and how you can control your own personal carbon footprint.
Conveners: Pat Vary has convened several other LLI study groups including Intimate Strangers and Renewable Energy. Pat is professor emerita in the NIU Department of Biological Sciences.
Tuesday Afternoon Study Group
A Guide to the Great Unknown: Assorted Visions of the Afterlife
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Tuesdays, September 18, 25, October, 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6
From earliest times, people from all over the world have traded tales of wild realms far beyond this one, where the blessed never grow any older and never feel pain. Staring at the stars alone at night, some of us may ask the same questions they did: Can we be reunited with our loved ones? Do the dead dwell in some other dimension? Our belief or disbelief in an afterlife shapes how we live each day. Even if heaven cannot be described, our beliefs about what happens to us can be. They reveal quite a lot about our deepest wishes and fears. Join us for a series of talks on what poets, painters, disciples, and doubters have tried to tell us about what awaits us all.
Convener: Joe Gastiger is currently pastor of the First Congregational United Church of Christ in DeKalb. He has convened many study groups for LLI including Comparative Religions and Unlikely Stories.
Election-Year Politics: 2012 Edition
1:30 - 3:30 p.m.
Tuesdays, September 18, 25, October 2, 9, 16, 23, 30, November 6
We’ll take a brief glance back at what has happened in previous presidential election years and then focus on this year’s politics. We’ll look at some of the more interesting and competitive congressional and gubernatorial races around the country, as well as at the presidential race. What are the issues and who are the personalities getting attention? Who and what should be getting attention? Will incumbency be a plus or minus this year? Does the Tea Party matter? Is the economy what really matters the most? Those who took our Politics of Mid-Term Elections study group in 2010 know that it turned out to be much more interesting and much more fun than even the conveners expected.
Conveners: Elizabeth Bass and Carol Zar are self-described political junkies and experienced LLI conveners.
Wednesday Morning Study Group
Violence
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Wednesdays, September 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, November 7
The subject of the course, violence, is not happy, but it is important. Not a day goes by that we are not affected by violence. Since the violence of 9/11 our lives have changed, even dramatically. The 10 p.m. news is almost unlistenable because of the array of stories about violence. We lock our doors at night, and we cross the street when we deem approaching persons to be potentially violent. News magazines are filled with stories about violence in every part of the world. No culture or society is immune. This course will deal with various aspects of violence and attempt to find alternative ways of achieving our goals
Convener: Clark Neher is a frequent convener of a variety of study groups, ranging from opera to the history and politics of Viet Nam.
Topics in the Constitution of the United States
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Wednesdays, September 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, November 7
The origin and early years of the US Constitution raised many complex issues for the founders. This study group will address some of the ways the founders tried to secure both liberty and justice in the Constitution. Moreover, it will explore how they understood the systems of republic and democracy, and whether citizen virtue was necessary for a republican government to work. We will also develop a familiarity with how the founders understood federalism, how it could secure liberty, and the development of federal ideas in the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution of 1787. Further, we will investigate why the Federalists opposed and anti-Federalists supported a bill of rights, and how the Supreme Court created the Bill of Rights. Finally, we will study how slavery, the Dred Scott case, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the Civil War amendments changed the US Constitution.
Convener: Gary Glenn is a Distinguished Teaching Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, and well known for his expertise on the Constitution. This study group offers those who missed it the first time a chance to see what they missed.
Wednesday Afternoon Study Groups
Archeology and Fiction
1 - 3 p.m.
Wednesdays, September 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, November 7
Enter the world of archeology via mysteries and popular novels. Excerpting from an NIU anthropology course developed by Professor Winifred Creamer, we will explore ancient worlds such as Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, Rome in the British Isles, and layers of civilization in Israel by reading works of popular fiction.
Consider such questions as preservation of human remains and ownership of the past. Study group members will share their travels to archeological sites, and reflect on issues of tourism and anthropology. A preliminary list of novels and mysteries with an archeological context will be available before the study group starts, and participants will be asked to review and recommend their favorites. Professor Creamer will introduce us to the field of archeology and share her experiences as a working archeologist in Peru and the American Southwest. She will guide us through a discussion of James Michener’s The Source and participate in several of the study group sessions.
Conveners: Winifred Creamer, professor, NIU Department of Anthropology, has extensive experience as a field archeologist. Arlene Neher has been a contributor to LLI since its start, both as a convener and through her leadership.
The 1930s
1 - 3 p.m.
Wednesdays, September 19, 26, October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, November 7
We take up where our study group on the 1920s left off, with a selective examination of the Great Depression and other events of the thirties, including the dust bowl, the Hoover Dam, the rise of Nazi Germany, the Spanish Civil War, the U.S.S.R. under Stalin, the march toward war in Europe, and imperial Japan and its conquest of Manchuria and invasion of Republican China. Several documentary DVDs are included. We will take a brief look at American popular culture and movie stars and see one full-length motion picture from the period
Conveners: Elaine and George Spencer have convened many previous study groups, including World War I and The 1920s. They are retired faculty and former chairs of the NIU Department of History.
Thursday Morning Study Groups
Why Can't We Talk to Each Other?
9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
Thursdays, September 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November 1, 8
What is happening in America? Why is it that we cannot seem to reach compromises on any issues? Two aspects of this problem will be explored. The first is the growing class split among white Americans, where there is an increasing divergence in the values held by upper-and lower-class white Americans. The other is the divergence in ethical models and language used by liberals and conservatives. The discussion should be lively and the information presented surprising.
Convener: Richard Dowen is well known as a convener of LLI study groups and for his outspoken political views. He is a retired professor and former chair of the NIU Department of Finance.
Thursday Afternoon Study Group
Trains in Film
1 – 3 p.m.
Thursdays, September 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November 1, 8
The cinema has long recognized the train as an important component of successful film-making. In particular, westerns, mysteries, and adventure genres have featured trains. For example, the 1939 feature Union Pacific followed the building of the first transcontinental railroad. Another good example is the recent (2010) film Unstoppable about a runaway train and the attempts to stop it before a catastrophic crash. Perhaps the best train movie of them all is the 1964 The Train, a World War II action/adventure film. This class will feature a series of films where trains play an important role.
Convener: Bill Cummings’ passion is railroading and he has convened a study group on the history of railroads. He is retired from the NIU Department of Accountancy.
Shakespeare in America
1 - 3 p.m.
Thursdays, September 20, 27, October 4, 11, 18, 25, November 1, 8
From the miners in the California gold rush to the aristocrats of the east coast, nineteenth-century Americans widely enjoyed performances of Shakespeare’s works. Traveling companies, often with well-known actors from America and England, brought the plays to the frontier while theater companies in established metropolitan centers frequently put up long-running productions. This discussion group will explore the many reactions to Shakespeare in nineteenth-century America, with a special focus on mid-century and the Civil War years. How did the violence, passion, and drama of centuries-old plays influence some of the formative events in America? Come and find out!
Convener: Lise Schlosser is an experienced convener, having led discussion groups on topics from the Renaissance to twentieth-century literature.
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