Lively Ladies: Stories of the 1890s is the title of a new course at the Adult Learning Program in Hartford, Connecticut. Participants will read and discuss the short stories of Sarah Jewett and Mary Freeman of the 1880s and 1890s, which give unusual presentations of life in New England.

The Collegium program at Westchester Community College in New York is offering members a chance to study The Souls of Black Folk. This six-week course will be based on the 1903 book by W.E.B. DuBois.

Food in Historical Periods is the title of a course given this fall at the Community Academy for Lifelong Learning in State College, Pennsylvania. Participants will journey into three historical timeframes, stopping along the way for a savory tasting repast. Stops include a Greek symposium of the 5th Century, the Roman resort town of Pompeii before Mt. Vesuvius erupted and a 16th Century progress with Queen Elizabeth 1.

Members of the Duke Institute for Learning in Retirement will be studying Benjamin Franklin’s World. This course will offer a look at his life and those with whom he associated. The most prominent celebrity of the 18th century, Franklin and his associates, both American and European, tell a most engrossing story of the years between 1706 and 17900.

For eight weeks members of the Institute for Continuing Learning at Young Harris College in Georgia will be studying the process of Electing Georgia Governors. From an insider’s viewpoint, this class will discuss the inner workings of the elections of eight Georgia governors, from Maddox through Miller. This “behind the scenes study” will examine politics at a level few have had the opportunity to experience.

End of the Age of Oil is the title of a very in-depth course being offered this fall at the Institute for Learning in Retirement at American University in Washington, D.C. For ten Mondays, in both the mornings and afternoons, participants will explore the problems of the world’s energy supply; the nature, politics, economics and technologies of non-renewable oil, coal and natural gas and renewable energy sources. They will consider issues related to global climate change and discuss such questions as can we move toward a hydrogen-based economy? More nuclear power? What is a sensible energy policy for the future?

Members of the ILR at Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois will be study Dubliners and the Abbey Theater this fall. They will study the origins of this famous theater and how it served as a centerpiece for the Easter Rising and other political upheavals.

The Institute for Learning in Retirement at Old Dominion University in Virginia has put together a class entitled Life as a Public Defender: Representing the Indigent. Focusing on questions rather than lecture, this class will provide an opportunity to learn about the public defender system, and answer questions about the criminal justice system, from the perspective of one who has “served in the trenches” for a number of years.

Members of the Leisure Learning Society at the University of West Florida in Pensacola toured their local television station. WEAR-TV hosted the participants and gave them first-hand information on the how’s and why’s of news-making events. Along with a station tour, members also sat in during a live presentation of WEAR’s daytime news show Dayside.

Violence: Theories and Consequences is the title of a course being given this semester at the New School Institute for Retired Professionals in New York City. This course considers individual acts of violence and members will examine some of the theoretical paradigms used to explain what leads people to kill, abuse and batter others. They will also examine societies’ responses to violent behavior and issues such as the insanity defense, juvenile criminals, mental retardation, state-sanctioned violence and capital punishment.

Members of the Learning in Retirement program at the University of Michigan Ann Arbor are really into fiction. This semester they are taking two courses, Fictional Interpretation: Two Perspectives and The Art of Fiction. In the first course participants will explore connections between Fiction and History and in the second they will read and discuss select works by seven notable writers.

The Lifelong Learning Institute in Chesterfield, Virginia is offering members a course entitled Once Upon a time…the Deep Wisdom of the Fairy Tale. Participants will explore the deep wisdom underlying some of ours and other cultures’ most treasured tales. Members will, if they wish, be given opportunities to research tales and to learn the simple rudiments of telling these old “true” stories.

Members of the Lifelong Learning Institute at Northern Virginia Community College in Manassas will Dine at the Experience Buffet: Savor the Flavors. Five LLI members will share with the participants four verbal dishes recounting their unique life experiences.

The Thirty Years War and the Peace of Westphalia is the title of a course being given this fall at the McGill Institute for Learning in Retirement in Montreal. The Thirty Years’ War ended with a series of peace treaties of which the Treaty of Westphalia was the cornerstone. What did these treaties accomplish? How did they change the political, social and religious environments of the day? Who were the major actors? Participants will try and shed some light on these questions and discover how the war and these treaties continued to define European societies until the late 18th century.

The Middlesex Institute for Lifelong Learning has a new course this month entitled The Quaker and Feminism. Based on the book “Mother of Feminism,” this is a lecture and discussion regarding the social conditions that hastened feminism among the Quaker Community and the larger society in the United States and England.

MSU for Seniors at Minnesota State University, Mankato will have the opportunity to learn about the Creation of National Museum of the American Indian. The Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the National Museum of the American Indian will discuss his experience with the development of the Museum.

U-Boat Warfare of World War II is the title of a course being given at the North Carolina Center for Creative Retirement in Asheville. This course will span the entire course of World War II, with emphasis on German U-boat warfare in the Atlantic. They will also discuss actions taking place in the Indian Ocean and the support provided by German U-boat forces to the Japanese and the Italians.

The OLLI program at Southern Maine University in Portland is giving members a chance to study Frederick Law Olmstead & America in the 19th Century. Participants will study how Frederic Law Olmstead affects and is affected by the events of the 19th century from the settlement of the West, the Gold Rush, slavery, and the Civil War to the development of the national and metropolitan park systems of the United States.

Members of the PLATO program at the University of Wisconsin Madison are Searching for the Real this fall. In this course they will be looking for that “Real” or “Reals.” Their primary text for the course us Huston Smith’s newest book, The Way Things Are. Along the way they will encounter various philosophical schools.

Retirement Living at Vanderbilt in Tennessee is offering members a chance to study Siblings in the Bible and Greek Drama. They will explore siblings in the biblical and Greek traditions as well as in their own lives.

Members of the Rose Institute for Life Long Learning in Beachwood, Ohio will be studying Shipwrecks of Lake Erie: Fire, Storms, Collision. Lake Erie has the largest concentration of shipwrecks per square mile of any body of water in the world. Members will explore these infamous disasters through lecture, slides and video clips.

In Search of Shangri-La is the provocative title of a new course at Senior College/OLLI at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast. Using Simon Winchester’s book, The River at the Center of the World (2004), participants will explore the Yunnan Province in the Himalayan highlands of China which some believe is the location of this mythical paradise.

A Little Algebra and Geometry Revisited is the title of an intriguing new course at the University for Seniors program at the University of Minnesota Duluth. This will be an excellent way for participants to refresh their algebra and geometry skills so they can help grandchildren with their homework.