Lifelong Learning March Classes Offered at Lourdes

Daily Dose  |  02/21/2023 10:00 am

Lifelong Learning offers the following March classes. All classes are held at Lourdes University, 6832 Convent Blvd., in Sylvania and most classes are in-person with a few offered online exclusively.  

In addition to classes, the robust Lifelong Learning Program offers monthly lectures and day trips. For more information, contact Dr. Laura Megeath, Lifelong Learning Coordinator, at 419-824-3707, [email protected], (419) 824-3707 or visit www.lourdes.edu/lifelong.  

MARCH CLASSES 

Changing Politics in a Time of War  
Instructor: Jarosław Szczepański  
10:00 – 11:00 AM 
Thursday, March 2 – offered exclusively online  

The war in Ukraine is one of several factors to have caused major shifts in European populations, shifts which have significant consequences. We will analyze the ongoing conflict and contemporary European-Asian relations from the lens of demopolitics, the shaping of politics by demography. Due to differences in demographics, the Old World has problems that the US does not have to consider. The specific ex-ample of the special status of Ukrainians in Po-land and Poles in Ukraine will be presented.  

Jarosław Szczepański trained as a political scientist and lawyer and currently works as an assistant professor from the University of Warsaw in Poland. He was a 2021 Fulbright Fellow at the Ohio State University. He recently conducted re-search at Victoria University of Wellington as a Visiting Scholar. 

Ukrainian Easter Eggs  
Instructor: Stas’ Krukowski  
2:00 – 4:00 PM 
Thursdays, March 2 – 23 (4 weeks)  

Ukrainian Easter Eggs, also known as pysanky, are a beautiful tradition of folk art that dates back centuries. The word pysanky is taken from the Ukrainian word “to write,” which gives a hint into how it's done. Creating these precious eggs takes focus and attention to detail, but the results are stunning. Come create your own Easter egg!  

Stas’ Krukowski is the manager at All Good Things Art and Gift Shop, and has worked with the Sisters since November of 2021. He is from the Toledo area, and has been creating and selling art since his early childhood taking lessons on Saturday mornings at the Toledo Museum of Art. Stas’ finds inspiration in the beauty of the natural world, and enjoys sharing his artistic interpretation through a variety of mediums like painting, sculpture, photography, and poetry.  

Introduction to Mindfulness Meditation Practice  
Instructor: Pamela Tomassetti Hulbert  
10:00 – 11:30 AM  
Tuesday and Thursday, March 7 and 9  

Mindfulness is a state or quality of non-judgement with the self. Meditation is a practice to help rest in that state or quality. Our culture is very focused on training the mind. For most of us, there is a distinct disconnect with our body. Mind-fulness practice is for enhancing our connection with our body, which reduces distraction and relaxes our thinking mind. Finding and resting in the body can quiet the conditional mind, and allow a true sense of self in the present moment, a very safe space, a place where deeper wisdom can arise.  

Mindfulness is best understood by experiencing the practice. In this class you will explore formal and informal practices of the body through breath work and body scans, of emotions through self-compassion and loving-kindness, and of thoughts through labeling, and noting. Like any-thing, the more we practice the better we get. Wear comfortable clothing, bring a yoga mat, and a journal.  

Pamela Tomassetti Hulbert is Mindful Schools Certified Mindfulness Instructor. Pam has taught mindfulness to k-12 students, parents, faculty, and staff. She has been practicing in and out of the school setting for six years.  

Women of Jeep and World War II  
Instructor: Tedd Long  
10:30 – 11:30 AM 
Friday, March 3  

When the United States entered World War II, American women were called on to serve the nation in many ways, as widespread male enlistment left a massive gap in the industrial labor force. In fact, between 1940 and 1945, the female labor force grew by 50 percent. In the Toledo area, women helped power the community’s war effort at factories throughout Northwest Ohio. Many of these women made parts so American industry could meet the wartime production de-mands for Jeeps. Discover the stories of women workers and Jeep; there was a war to be won!  

Tedd Long is an author, photographer, lecturer, and curator of www.holytoledohistory.com. As a local history storyteller, Long greatly appreciates the rich his-tory of the Maumee Valley and the Great Lakes Region.  

The Stories They Tell: Wisdom Stories Across Traditions  
Instructor: Sheila Otto  
10:30 – 12:00 NOON  
Wednesdays, March 8 – April 5 (5 weeks)  

Using stories from the world’s great faith traditions, storyteller/story listener Sheila Otto will invite participants to explore the possibility of meaning and personal truth. Stories from Chris-tian, Jewish, Middle Eastern and Asian traditions will stimulate an appreciation of different faith traditions, the power of humor, and story as guides for our personal journeys. Many of these stories are from collections published by Anthony DeMello, a Jesuit priest born in Bombay, India and widely known for integrating western and eastern spirituality.  

Sake It to Me  
Instructor: Nicholas Kubiak  
6:30 – 8:30 PM 
Thursday, March 9  

Sake has mystified drinkers for centuries. Surrounded by ceremony and history, this beverage is often mistakenly called a wine because of its appearance and alcoholic content, however, it is made in a process known as multiple parallel fermentation, in which a grain (rice) is converted from starch to sugar followed by conversion to alcohol.  

This class will delve into the details of how sake producers use this method of production, the history of the beverage, serving techniques, and the quality levels. We will taste 6 examples and please feel free to bring foods to pair.  

Nicholas Kubiak is a Certified Specialist of Wine and Spirits and a veteran of our local wine industry.  

Film Scores in the Golden Age of Hollywood  
Instructor: Dr. Christopher Williams  
3:30 – 5:00 PM, 
Mondays, March 13 – 27 (3 weeks) – offered exclusively online  

This course focuses on the music of five composers who combined to weave the sound world of American cinema in its great age from the early talkies to the films of Alfred Hitchcock and science fiction movies. Max Steiner (King Kong, Gone with the Wind, Casablanca); Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Adventures of Robin Hood, The Sea Hawk, King’s Row); Franz Waxman (Rebecca, The Philadelphia Story, Sunset Boulevard,); and Miklós Rózsa (The Thief of Bagdad, Double Indemnity, Lady on a Train, Ivanhoe,) all had to flee Central Europe in order to escape the Nazis. Korngold, Waxman, and Rózsa all had flourishing careers in Europe before they left. Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane, Jane Eyre, Psycho,) was American-born but had a guiding hand in the same trends of cinema the others helped shape.  

Over three class meetings, we will discuss the disparate ways these five composers worked collaboratively with directors and studio music teams, the different film genres they helped shape, and the different techniques they employed to create the soundstage of the most successful films they worked on.  

Dr. Christopher Williams holds a Ph.D. in Music History and Literature from the University of California at Berkeley, and has taught at UT, BGSU, the Universität Salzburg, and in the joint program of the Cleveland Institute of Music and Case Western Reserve University.  

The 1940’s: American History and Culture Experienced through Poetry  
Instructor: Shari O’Brien, Ph.D., J.D.  
1:00 – 3:45 PM, with a generous break.  
Tuesdays, March 14 – April 4 (4 weeks)  

Appealing to enthusiasts of history, popular culture, and poetry alike, our class will explore the momentous decade of the forties. While poet W. H. Auden called it the Age of Anxiety, this was a highly complex time, marked in nearly equal measures by enormous courage and cowardice, good and evil, joy and anguish. We will be moved by poems of greats like Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, Theodore Roethke, and Muriel Ruckeyser, as well as stirring, grace-filled poetic passages from speeches by King George, Churchill and FDR, and even beautiful or whimsical song lyrics. Through these, history and culture are mirrored. Time traveling together will be exciting! 

Dr. O’Brien has doctorates in English and law; she worked in United States District Court. Publishing five law review articles as well as hundreds of essays and poems in national journals, she taught writing and poetry for twenty-seven years at UT and continues to practice law and write poetry today.  

General Custer  
Instructor: Dr. Dwayne Beggs  
1:00 – 2:00 PM  
Thursdays, March 16 – April 13 (5 weeks)  

George Armstrong Custer earned a place in US history for the stinging embarrassment of the Battle of Little Bighorn and Custer's Last Stand. Yet Custer had a colorful and distinguished career before this. At West Point, he was frequently disciplined, nearly expelled and ultimately finished last in his graduating class. However, during the Civil War Custer distinguished himself in multiple battles, rising quickly through the ranks. As major general, Custer’s cavalry units were crucial in blocking the movements of General Lee’s retreating forces which helped has-ten his surrender at Appomattox and the end of war. Learn the history of this remarkable man!  

Dr. Dwayne Beggs has taught popular classes on many military conflicts for Lifelong Learning.  

Dr. Beggs earned a M.A. and a Ph.D. in U.S. Diplomatic History from BGSU. He also holds an M. Div. and served as a Youth Pastor / Associate Pastor for 22 years. 

History of Poland – 10th Century to the 16th Century  
Instructor: Tom Sorosiak  
10:00 – 11:00 AM 
Tuesdays, March 21 – April 11 (4 weeks)  

Beginning with the first ruling Dynasty of Poland in 910, the chronological history of Poland will be studied through 1599. Included in this class will be a presentation of how events like wars, religion, kings, and culture impacted the lives of the people and the development of every aspect of the Polish nation.  

Islamic Art  
Instructor: Chris Rilling  
1:00 – 3:00 PM 
Wednesday, March 22  

Strongly influenced by the teachings of Muhammad, Islamic art encompasses traditions from a wide range of lands, periods of history and genres since the 7th century. Traditionally non-representational, it uses plant forms, calligraphy and geometric patterns to embellish sur-faces from small objects to large buildings.  

Chris Rilling is both an educator and artist. After receiving a master’s in art education from the University of Toledo, Chris taught art and art history at Owens Community College and North-view High School.  

Art and Classical Music in the 20th Century  
Instructor: David Enstone  
9:30 – 11:00 AM 
Thursdays, March 23 – April 6 (3 weeks)  

During the 20th century both the Arts and Classical Music worlds evolved dramatically. In our first class we will discuss and analyze how, and to what extent, these two worlds changed, and how sometimes they influenced each other. The second class will focus specifically on the evolution of the US Abstract Expressionist Art Movement with an analysis of the works and lives of the artists Mark Rothko, Clyfford Still and Jack-son Pollack. The final class will focus on the lives and works of the composers Maurice Ravel, Gustav Holst, and Philip Glass.  

David Enstone has previously taught classes on the Cotswolds, New Mexico, the United Kingdom, and classical guitar for Lifelong Learning.  

The Papacy: The Best, Worst, and Most Important  
Instructor: L. Paul Hood, Jr., JD, LL.M.  
10:00 – 11:30 AM 
Fridays, March 24 – 31 (2 weeks)  

The papacy is the oldest, longest-continuously running institution in the world. Of the 266 Popes who have occupied the Cathedra Petri (Chair of St. Peter), some have been exceptional, e.g., Pope St. Gregory I the Great and Pope St. John Paul II the Great, while others have been forgettable to downright awful. Dis-cover the best and worst ten Popes and the compelling evidence for these selections. The second-class meeting will reveal ten close calls, turning points, and transformational events in the history of the papacy.  

A native of Louisiana, Paul Hood obtained his undergraduate and law degrees from Louisiana State University and an LL.M. in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center before settling down to practice tax and estate planning law in the New Orleans area. Paul has taught at the University of New Orleans, Northeastern University, The University of Toledo College of Law and Ohio Northern University Pettit College of Law. A passionate history buff, Paul is a self-described amateur papal historian (boasting a personal library of papal history books that exceeds 100), and has given numerous speeches about the history of the papacy and the popes.  

Old Masters of Baroque Art  
Instructor: Sharon Havelak  
1:00 – 2:30 PM 
Friday, March 24  

Baroque art is known for exuberant extravagance, ornate details, and theatrical lighting. Yet within this style are three distinct approaches. Explore the when, why, who and how of the three variations to better understand this grand art.  

Snapshot: A Brief History of Photography  
Instructor: Kristin Baldeschwiler  
3:00 – 5:00 PM,  
Thursdays, March 30 – May 4 (6 weeks)  

Photographs capture moments in time, and this class will explore the major moments in the history of photography from the 19th through the 21st century. You will learn about the development of cameras and the printing processes developed by early photographers.  

You will also meet the photographers who established and expanded this art form and ex-amine the iconic images that have made an enduring impact.  

Instructor Kristin Baldeschwiler received her BA in Art History from Lourdes University, works at St. Vincent Medical Center, and is the artist/owner of Baldeschwiler Art & Design, LLC.