Classes, Fall 2012
Art
Drawing and Painting Humans in Their Surroundings
A course in drawing and painting human beings in their surroundings. Participants will study human anatomy and explore their preferred medium. Emphasis is on the joy of creative expression.
Instructor: Glenwood Lawrence
Museum Walks and Talks
Museum docents will guide us through regular and special exhibitions at three museums in Manhattan, such as the New York Historical Society, Rubin Museum of Art and Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
Instructor: Linda Silverman
What Is Art Therapy and What Can It Do?
Speaker: Esther Daiell
Bridge
Social Bridge
For those with knowledge of bridge, come and enjoy supervised play in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.
Instructor: Ira Barnett
Computer
Elementary Computing
Introduction to basic concepts and terminology, accessing the Internet and basic word processing.
Instructor: David Gerstein
Introduction to Microsoft Word
Students must have basic skills. You will learn to set up letters, insert pictures and tables, and customize your computer skills.
Instructor: Shirley Young
Current Events
Current Events
A discussion of events that influence our country.
Instructor: Howard Seigel
Federal Reserve Under Fire
Lecturer: Dr. Charles LaCerra
Israel Update: Looking Ahead to 2013 Parties and Policies
We will analyze and discuss Israel's achievements and challenges for 2013.
Instructor: Milton Pincus
Parties and Policies
The origin of political parties and their evolution through today's party philosophies.
Instructor: Ira Zornberg
The Presidential Election 2012 and the Supreme Court
The class will reflect on the historical time frame of the 2012 presidential election and the impact of recent Supreme Court decisions.
Instructor: Walter Higgins
Drama
Actor's Workshop
As the title explains, it is a fun and enlightening course on acting techniques: breathing, diction and having the confidence to speak in front of an audience. Monologues are performed at the end of the course at an open house.
Instructor: Esther Jaffe
Film
Film Contrasts: Hollywood and Shtetle
Use of film to show the difference of theme presentation between a Hollywood film and a Yiddish film of the 1930s and 1940s. Yiddle Had a Fiddle vs. Yentl; Tevyah vs. Fiddler on the Roof; Der Chisan Zin vs. The Jazz Singer.
Instructor: Theodore Friedman
The Final Symphonies: Mozart to Mahler, Performed Live on Film
Experience classical masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire, as recorded live and performed by distinguished conductors and orchestras. Each week, the focus will be one or two of the final symphonies of a particular composer. There will be a brief commentary, followed by the performance of the piece.
Instructor: Sol Makon
Hollywood's America
We will view feature films reflecting American political, economic and social life. Discussion following screening.
Instructor: Rosalie Reich
Foreign Language
Hebrew Upper Intermediate
Emphasis will be on everyday conversation, magazines and newspapers.
Instructor: Miriam Goldhaber
Spanish Conversation
Open to those who have completed at least one year of Spanish grammar and beyond. Topics of discussion will be current events, weekend activities, books and movies, and Spanish customs and culture. There will be some grammar. All in easy manageable Spanish.
Instructor: Yvonne Mahoney
Spanish Intermediate and Beyond
This course is open to students who have a reasonable background in the study of Spanish. We practice speaking, reading, listening and writing. This semester we plan to study the imperfect (past) tense. Bienvenidos, amigos!
Instructor: Edward Drayton
Health
Blood Pressure Screening
We will measure and record your blood pressure. Physical activity helps reduce the risk of heart disease, which is a risk for heart attack and stroke. Try to do 30 minutes of mild activity at least three or four times per week.
Instructor: Pearl Jobson, RN
Brunch and Learn (Conversation)
Research shows that conversation is one of the best coping mechanisms we have. So think of this class as a kick-start for your support system. Lively, playful questions are designed to help you and your friends.
Instructor: Vincent Blazewicz
Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Fatigue and Arthritis
Do you know why people with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) must avoid sugar and how this condition leads to anxiety, and even panic attacks? We will deal with the most common cause of biochemical imbalances and how to achieve health.
Instructor: Joel Levitt
Family and Friends CPR
This course teaches the basics of CPR, AED (defibrillator) use and the relief of choking in adults, children and infants. Students will exercise on practice dummies using "Hands Only" (not mouth-to-mouth) procedures. Purchase of course booklet will be required (nominal fee). We will also discuss what to do when someone has a heart attack. There will be four classes, two on Tuesdays and two on Thursdays. Class limited to six students.
Instructor: Geri Mandel
Holistic Approaches to Healing
This course will empower you to take charge of your health related decision making by providing information regarding holistic approaches to healing that can improve the quality of life and may succeed where traditional modalities have failed.
Instructor: Dr. Jerome Charyn
A Joyful Journey to Miles of Smiles
Learn the right way to manage fear, anger, and sadness. Discover PEP (Positive Energy Power) Aerobics. Safe and simple self-help strategies that positively energize your mind and body will empower you to be healthy and happy from sunup to sundown.
Instructor: Edith Namm
Medicare
Presented by the New York City Department for the Aging Health Insurance Information Counseling Assistance Program
Mindfulness: A Place to Be
Take a moment to slow down, breathe, and simply be. You will notice a rich world of thoughts, feelings and sensory experiences that will keep your mind, brain and body supple and your heart soft. Learn to listen to yourself by meditating, moving, using words and being mindful. Bring your sense of curiosity and come play on a path of self discovery.
Instructor: Peggy Horwitz
Nutritional Enlightenment
The course will explore ways to help insomnia, eat smart, fight belly fat, examine overturned health "truths," understand the importance of Coenzyme Q10, and discuss 15 superfoods for superior health.
Instructor: Helen Reiss
What Is Art Therapy and What Can It Do?
Speaker: Esther Daiell
History
The American West
A study of the migrations of Americans moving west. A look at the conflicts that came with settlement of the West and how the West affects Americans today.
Instructor: Howard Seigel
Caribbean History and Politics
The United States is withdrawing from the Caribbean, but China is making significant inroads, proving that the Caribbean is more than a tourist destination. Let us examine the major historical events in Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad to grasp their hemispheric role and significance.
Instructor: Yvonne Mahoney
Chronicling New York: Story of a People
New Yorkers have long been driven to write about their city and its fascinating history and diverse culture. We will explore the work of New York's writers, past and present along the way. Members will be encouraged to write their own New York story.
Instructor: David Freeland
Growing Up in Comunist Poland
Speaker: Frederika Chabry
Jewish Biography: Marc Chagall, His Life and Times
Marc Chagall lived and produced his masterpieces during a trying but exceptionally creative era. We use a wonderful biography written by Jackie Wullschlager as a basis for our class, Chagall: A Biography. Please pick up a list of required readings in the office.
Instructor: Cecile Kops
Museum Walks and Talks
Coordinator: Linda Silverman
Museum docents will guide us through regular and special exhibitions at three museums in Manhattan, such as New York Historical Society, Rubin Museum of Art and Lower East Side Tenement Museum.
Parties and Policies
The origin of political parties and their evolution through today's party philosophies.
Instructor: Ira Zornberg
Renaissance Women
Daughters, Wives and Political Pawns.
Speaker: Dean Maria Conelli
The Rise and Fall of the American Empire
In the history of the world, empires rise and fall with strikingly similar patterns. Understanding the past enables prediction of the future. We will look at those patterns, particularly as they relate to the United States. Are we seeing the "decline and fall," or can our country learn from history?
Instructor: Gene Reiser
Significant Presidential Elections In U.S. History
We will continue with the history of important presidential elections, including their political and economic backgrounds, candidates, campaigns, results and consequences. This term will feature the election of Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1932 and the creation of the New Deal Coalition.
Instructor: Stephen Appell
The U.S. in World War II
Using the newest information, we shall explore the American role in this pivotal event.
Instructor: Howard Seigel
Wasn’t That a Time? The Sixties
A look back at a remarkable decade when all seemed possible in the opening years...then all hell broke loose.
Speaker: Joseph Dorinson
Humanities
Brunch and Learn (Conversation)
Research shows that conversation is one of the best coping mechanisms we have. So think of this class as a kick-start for your support system. Lively, playful questions are designed to help you and your friends.
Instructor: Vincent Blazewicz
CERT
Community Emergency Response Team. Our mission is to support our police and fire personnel. Methods of coping with disasters will be discussed.
Speaker: David Goldberg
Movie Memories and Hollywood Humor
Famous movie dialogue, anecdotes, clichés, jokes, wisecracks, biographies, and Oscar winners and losers.
Instructor: Leo Gerber
Teaching Tolerance
The United States is made up of many cultures and nationalities. People don't always get along.
Instructor: Joyce Provenzale
What's in Your Future?
Readings of Tarot cards. Each participant should purchase a small writing pad to compare weekly notes.
Instructor: Bernard Schwartz
Literature
The 19th-century British Novel
Intelligent love that leads to happy marriage, passionate love that leads to frenzy and death, child abuse, unwed mothers and values so corrupt that society itself is criminal, reformers whose zeal ends in failure — the 19th-century novel explores a wide range of human experience and the effects of society on the individual. The authors — Jane Austen (Emma), Emily Brontë (Wuthering Heights), Charles Dickens (Great Expectations), George Eliot (Middlemarch), and Thomas Hardy (Tess of the d'Urbervilles) — offer a variety of perspectives.
Instructor: Professor Lilia Melani
Philip Roth's Nemeses: Four Short Novels
Philip Roth's last four novels are short in length but big on themes and characters, young and old, written by a master storyteller. We'll examine the human condition, fate, choice, love and death in Everyman, The Humbling, Indignation, and Nemesis. Please read Everyman for the Sept. 6 class.
Instructor: Joan Ostacher
Prize-winning Novels, XXII
We will read and discuss four more prize-winning novels and one classic novel: The Hand That First Held Mine, by Maggie O'Farrell; The History of Love, by Nicole Krauss; Mister Pip, by Lloyd Jones; Parrot & Olivier in America, by Peter Carey, and The House of Mirth, by Edith Wharton. Limited space. Pre-registration required.
Instructor: Harriet Sirof
The Short Story: American and International
Like any art form, the short story holds a key to the life of its time and the life reflected therein. There are within this shared universe reverberations of the complexities of both life and fiction and worlds enough for the most eager imaginations. Readings will be distributed in class.
Instructor: Rosalie Reich
A Trip Through Life via the Short Story
Life presents problems for all people. We see that their problems often reflect our own. We continue to see this reflection in the various short stories that we read and discuss. Come read, discuss, and enjoy!
Instructor: Fran Levy
Yiddish Writers in America: Celebrating the Works of Great Yiddish Literature
We have all heard of Sholem Aleichem, whose Tevye stories ended up becoming Fiddler on the Roof. But there is a long list of equally important Yiddish writers who are unfamiliar to American Jews.
Instructor: Shirley Ranz
Mathematics and Science
The Modern Consequences of a 2,600-year-old Paradox
The ancient Liar Paradox asks if the sentence, “The sentence is false,” is true or false. If it is true, then it is false. If it is false, then it is true. We will look at modern consequences of this little conundrum.
Speaker: Noson Yanofsky
Reading the New York Science Times
Great things are happening in the world of science today. Read and bring the Tuesday New York Times Science Section to class for our informative discussion about the latest breakthroughs.
Instructor: Leslie Jacobson
Unexpected Mathematical Results
An amalgam of unexpected results in mathematics. But "expectability" is not a criterion for validity. If you can prove it, it's true!
Speaker: Fred Friedland
The Weather — Whether You Like it or Not
What causes all of our weather? Hurricanes, wind, tornadoes, thunderstorms, lightening, thunder, hail, etc. Tornado chasing in the Great Plains (the instructor's seven-day adventure in 2006).
Instructor: Ron Schweiger
Money Management
Estate Planning for the Lay Person
Probate, estate and gift taxation, gift giving, marital tax planning, use of trusts and Medicaid will be discussed.
Instructor: Howard B. Solomon, Esq.
Income Investing
Discussion of bonds, annuities, municipal bonds, CDs, REITs and varying corporate bonds.
Instructor: Richard Lieberfarb
Music
The Final Symphonies: Mozart to Mahler, Performed Live on Film
Experience classical masterpieces of the symphonic repertoire, as recorded live and performed by distinguished conductors and orchestras. Each week, the focus will be one or two of the final symphonies of a particular composer. There will be a brief commentary, followed by the performance of the piece.
Instructor: Sol Makon
IRPE Chorus
This music group is for people who love music and enjoy singing. No need to read music.
Instructor: Joyce Provenzale
Johnny Maestro: 50 Years of Music
Presented by Irene Brodsky
Music, You Are My Joy: The Pleasure of Listening to Music
We will cultivate the special rewards of listening to music of our favorite composers.
Instructor: Richard Cahn
The Ongoing Story of Yiddish Folk Music and the Revival of Klezmer
These two classes will provide a brief overview of the Yiddish folk song and music in our lives with a Yiddish tam (flavor). Do you prefer a foot-tapping beat or nostalgia in a minor key?
Instructor: Gene Reiser
Opera and People Who Made Music
The life and times of Caruso, Puccini, Gershwin, Verdi, Pavarotti and DaPonte.
Instructor: Cavalliere Aldo Mancusi
Uncommon Broadway
A presentation of the music and facts of two or three uncommon Broadway shows.
Instructor: Bernard Schwartz
Physical Fitness
Yoga and Body Movement Awareness
This course will consist of a series of postures and breathing exercises combined with relaxation techniques and exercises. Dress comfortably.
Instructor: Cynthia Arenson
Poetry and Writing
Chronicling New York: Story of a People
New Yorkers have long been driven to write about their city, and its fascinating history and diverse culture. We will explore the work of New York’'s writers, past and present along the way. Members will be encouraged to write their own New York story.
Instructor: David Freeland
Creative Answers to Unanswerable Questions
Most people, when reading history books and science texts, expect answers. When questions seem unanswerable, however, they frequently evoke intriguing creativity in a variety of genres. This course will explore some possibilities.
Instructor: Louise Jaffe
Poetic Vision
We begin with a brief analysis and discussion of a poem by a notable poet with emphasis on content and visionary aspects of each poet. Members then read their original poems.
Instructor: Roslyn Rabin
Special Events
Lectures, Including Intellectual Life Series
- Federal Reserve Under Fire
- Cervantes' Don Quixote: Madness & Sanity
- Art of Photography: How to Take Great Photos
- Growing Up in Communist Poland
- Johnny Maestro: 50 Years of Music
- Medicare
- The Modern Consequences of a 2,600-year-old Paradox
- Museum of the American Gangster
- Renaissance Women
- Revitalizing Progressive Judaism
- Unexpected Mathematical Results
- Wasn’t That a Time? The 1960’s
- What Is Art Therapy and What Can It Do?
