Introduction
This year’s SummerFest offerings are exceptional for the diversity of the class topics and the pleasures of the off-campus activities. Many classes will be held on campus on consecutive Fridays starting June 2, while a few Zoom classes will be held on either Wednesdays or Thursdays. And there are several enticing off-campus classes, which will be held on various dates and locations. Enrollment is free to all 2022-2023 members. Nonmembers can register for a fee of $25 per class by registering on ProClass after May 26. The catalog will be released on Friday, May 19, and enrollment starts on Friday, May 26. So mark your calendars and look forward to sharing learning and laughter with your classmates.
The Great Outdoors
Skip Doyle will return with a dockside course on the principles of sloop-rigged sailing held at a Kingston marina. After completing Sailing 101, participants will be sufficiently knowledgeable to enroll in a beginner’s sailing school skills course.
Carmela and Al Gersbeck will invite members to Play in a Bard LLI Bocce Tournament. Players of any level will be paired off into four teams, who will compete against each other over four weeks. Please be sure you can commit to all four weeks before signing up.
Educators and arts instructors Aimee Gardner and Lindsey Wolkowicz will take members on two Kingston Mural Walking Tours. The murals reflect both the immediate history, culture, and diversity of Kingston as well as universal themes and stories from those beyond its borders.
Healthful Living
In Plants, People, and Our Planet, health educator Roberta Schiff will explain the reasons why health and environmental organizations are increasingly advocating we eat a plant-based diet. Participants will learn how to shop, prepare food, entertain, and travel when transitioning to a plant-based diet. Tastes of vegan food will be provided at each of the four sessions.
The Movies
How do you like your movie shrink? Funny, evil, troubled, a genius of benevolence? In Analyze This! Psychiatry in the Movies, movie critic Lisa Schwarzbaum looks at how therapy and therapists have been portrayed on screen in such films as Spellbound, David and Lisa, What About Bob?, and Antwone Fisher.
Craig McCaughrin will survey Russian History Through Films, 1917 to Present Day. Strikingly prophetic, select screenings will be incorporated into the class to illustrate the historical, political, and cultural psyche prevailing over different regimes. The films will be available via streaming services.
Indigenous Peoples in the Hudson Valley
Expert outdoor guide, researcher, and author Glenn Kreisberg will provide the opportunity to explore some local history in two separate offerings. The first is a privately guided Excursion to Lewis Hollow Site on Overlook Mountain in Woodstock, NY. Hikers to this archaeological site will begin to appreciate Native American features in their proper cultural context.
In a separate talk, this time on Zoom, Craig will consider the Ceremonial Stone Landscapes: Understanding Archaeoastronomy and Landscape Archaeology. He notes that a large number of lithic structures, which are scattered throughout the wooded uplands of the Catskill Mountains, are increasingly being understood as part of a Native American tradition of ritual building practices.
In another single Zoom talk, Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Court Judge Kimberly Vele will share the oral tradition of her people in History of the Muh-he-con-neok (Mohican): Indigenous Peoples of the Hudson Valley. She will present the tribe’s history, traditions, values, and beliefs from their own perspective and discuss their moves to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then Indiana, and finally Wisconsin.
Cryptography
The need to keep a secret is ancient. So is the need to share that secret and the desire to discover it. That’s where Keeping It Secret: An Introduction to Cryptography comes in. Mathematician BIll Tuel will describe classical cryptographic techniques, technologies used to encode, transmit, and decode messages, modern cryptographic environments, cryptographic applications, and techniques of cryptanalysis—code-breaking.
Dance
Dance lovers amongst us will have a double treat. One offering is West Coast Swing Dance, in which professional dance instructor Christopher Bledsoe will show people of all levels the basic steps while they move to the hottest tunes. Participants will enjoy the health benefits of dance and exercise while meeting other members of LLI who are willing to try something new.
Dance professor Judith Nelson will demonstrate the practical applications of basic dance concepts in Fundamentals of Dance Making. She encourages people of all levels and abilities to join her in exploring how to experience, view, and appreciate dance and how creative dance-making builds community.
Bard Prison Initiative
One of Bard’s more successful programs is the Bard Prison Initiative, which has enrolled over 300 incarcerated Individuals in college classes in six NYS prisons and supported alumni upon release from prison. This class will explore the myriad ways in which BPI has created groundbreaking opportunities for incarcerated men and women. BPI staff, instructors, and volunteers will explain their roles, and the course will end with two recent graduates of BPI sharing their stories and talking about what lies ahead.
Photography and Literature
You can enjoy taking A Romp Through the History of Photography with community arts educator Marcy Elise Bernstein. She will discuss important contributions that photography has made to the history of art and consider its role as an expression of humanistic, religious, and social values.
If you enjoy your humor biting, your characters dark and disturbing, and your sense of morality turned on its head, why not try Misfits, Fetishists, Racists, and the Holy Spirit: The World of Flannery O’Connor. Literature professor Daniel Lanzetta will examine the religious, geographical, philosophical, and personal influences on O’Connor’s writing, cartooning, and Catholic faith.
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