SummerFest 2024 Catalog
SummerFest courses are on campus on Fridays, June 7, 14, 21, 28
Registration open to current LLI members plus non-members by fee
Registration starts May 31 and ends June 14, 2024
SummerFest courses are held on campus on Fridays, June 7, 14, 21, and 28. The one off-Friday course is on Monday, June 3.
SummerFest Registration: Starts on Friday, May 31, at 9:00 a.m. and ends on June 14.
Course Enrollment: Open to all members (free with your 2023-2024 membership) and non-members ($25 per course).
Click on any of the titles below to see expanded information. The complete SummerFest catalog with all course details (such as course limits, classroom locations, dates, etc.) is located in Bard LLI ProClass. Once there, choose SummerFest 2024 from the “Select Semester” drop-down and hit the “Search” button. Registration will go live on May 31 at 9:00 a.m. Log in to register for courses.
on-campus courses
Friday - Period 1
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: This class will explore practical applications of basic dance concepts. Participants will warm up with the BrainDance, experience simple, structured dance improvisations, and create dances together. Participants will view pertinent examples of choreography on video, which will be interspersed with experiential learning. The focus will be on individual exploration and self-discovery, expanded knowledge of how to experience and view dance, and community building through dance making. No experience necessary. Repeat participants are welcome as the class encourages continued growth in the artistic process.
Presenter: Judith Nelson, MFA, (LLI), was a professor of dance and theater at Auburn University, Missouri State University, and Carleton College. She danced with the Jose Limón Dance Company and the David Gordon Pick-Up Company, among others, and toured the United States and Europe as a solo artist and in musical theater. An expert in BrainDance, she leads professional development workshops for dance educators through the NYC Department of Education, the 92nd Street Y, and the Mark Morris Dance Center. She holds an MFA from the University of Arizona, and a BFA from the University of Utah. Judith has lived in Rhinebeck since 2020.
Producer: Leslie Weinstock
Class limit: 18
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: In 2009, the New York Attorney General’s Office entered into a groundbreaking settlement agreement with the insurance industry, giving rise to an independent nonprofit organization and a new era of price transparency and integrity in healthcare. Fifteen years later, those seeds of transparency have transformed state and national healthcare policies, fueled clinical research, framed public health initiatives, and equipped consumers with critical educational and cost information for their healthcare journey. Learn about this unique social and civic experiment born in Albany that has drawn national and international attention against the backdrop of a complex and challenging healthcare system.
Presenter: Robin Gelburd, JD, is the founding president of Fair Health, a national, independent nonprofit organization that serves as a trusted leader in healthcare cost transparency, data analytics, and benchmarks. FAIR Health possesses the nation’s largest collection of private healthcare claims data, which includes over 45 billion claims records. Ms. Gelburd is a nationally recognized expert on healthcare policy, health literacy, and transparency. She has spoken nationwide and published articles and white papers on key aspects of the healthcare system.
Producers: Mary McClellan, L. Walker
Class limit: 20
Friday, First Period: 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: Over the last several years, the tension between the two major political parties has strained the ability of members of Congress to govern. The friction has reached the point where each side bashes the other for points like a contact sport. Congress seems broken, and intraparty fighting among representatives may destroy the party of Lincoln.
Yet, even worse, were violent acts against members of Congress and presidents in the 19th and 20th centuries. Fist fights, duels, and assassinations are spread across the historical record. This course will examine the violence and related issues that those elected officials faced.
Presenter: Robert Beaury, MS, (LLI) is a retired high school social studies teacher and college adjunct. He earned a BA in history and political science from Hunter College, an MS in education from Sage Graduate School, a Certificate of Advanced Studies in education administration from SUNY New Paltz, and a Certificate in Tax Law from NYU. He also devoted a few years toward a PhD in history at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
Producer: Emily Michael
Class limit: 30
on-campus courses
Friday - Period 2
Fridays, 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: This class is for everyone who loves to sing and for those who think they can’t. We’ll focus the first part of each session on vocal technique and then have a community sing, including singing in parts. Song choices will draw from show tunes as well as popular and folk music. An ability to read music is not required, but an open spirit and kindness to fellow singers are a must!
Presenter: Nancy Theeman, PhD, has had a lifelong career in music that includes performance and teaching. She is a pianist and singer who has performed in the United States and abroad. She has chaired music programs at schools in Westchester County and has directed numerous musicals there. She has conducted community choirs and for 30 years she ran Touring Talent, a program in which high school students go to local senior residences to share their talents.
Producers: Suzanne Holzberg, Joyce Kanner
Class limit: 25
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: The class will review many aspects of dealing with loved ones with dementia, from understanding the disease to providing a safe and healthy home environment that will maintain the loved ones’ personal integrity. Topics to be discussed in the class will include the following but are not limited to:
- Differences between normal forgetfulness due to aging and dementia;
- Ways to slow down dementia;
- Brain health;
- Ways to reduce aggressive behaviors and increase calming behaviors;
- Resources available in the community;
- How caregivers maintain healthy lifestyles for themselves.
Presenter: Nancy Gelman, MEd, MA, Special Education. With master’s degrees in special education and supervision and administration, Nancy Gelman has 41 years of experience with the United Cerebral Palsy organization and in special ed classrooms. This prepared her to act as a caregiver to her parents, who had different types of dementia. She provided a safe home environment for them while addressing their cognitive, social, or management changes. She hopes to convey the understanding and support needed to care for individuals with dementia as they change with the progression of the disease.
Producer: Mary McClellan
Class limit: 25
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: In 1824, as the United States approached its 50th anniversary, Lafayette, the French nobleman and American Revolutionary War major general, embarked on a historic tour of the country. Invited by President Monroe at the instigation of Congress, he was met with diverse crowds of unprecedented size. This class will explore how Lafayette, a symbol of liberty, became a hero to workers, Indigenous Americans, African Americans, and women fighting for the vote. Amid political divisiveness, the President hoped Lafayette could unify the nation. As we approach our nation’s 250th anniversary, we’ll discuss Lafayette’s enduring relevance and his concept of truth.
Presenter: Bill Jeffway (LLI) has been the executive director of the Dutchess County Historical Society since 2017. He is founder/principal of History Speaks, a consultancy that helps local organizations identify and interpret important local history, especially lesser-told stories. He is active in the Poughkeepsie-based organization Celebrating the African Spirit, a group dedicated to telling the history of local Africans and their descendants.
Producer: Anne Brueckner
Class limit: 40
Fridays: 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: We are born with an innate spirituality that can be cultivated through deliberate awareness and practice. When our innate spirituality is not supported, it lies fallow, and all its protective and nourishing qualities decrease and weaken. The workshop will support your awakening and your self-awareness by shifting from conditioned reactions to an openness and curiosity about the realm of possibilities. The class will focus on developing and tapping into the use of intuition and synchronicities as a deeper understanding of the constant dialogue between the inner personal and the outer manifested experiences.
Presenter: Meredith Caplan, JD, is currently focused on working with individuals and groups to develop, strengthen, and promote spirituality and practices as a direct connection and alignment with our innate, deep sense of knowing and healing. She has worked as a human rights lawyer, a women’s rights advocate, an adjunct professor, and the director of Strategic Initiatives at the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at Teachers College, Columbia University.
Producer: Eleanor Wieder
Class limit: 15
on-campus courses
Friday - Period 3
1:00 p.m. until 2:30 p.m.
Friday, Third Period: 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
June 7, 14, 21, 28, 2024
Description: Herman Melville is one of the most enigmatic, fraught, and under-appreciated authors of the 19th century. In his lifetime, Melville was considered a failure domestically, financially, and critically. After a 1920 revival of his works, he has been called one of the greatest. In Chasing Melville Part 1, participants will explore some of Melville’s direst preoccupations, including race, religion, fate, and free will, the nature of man, institutional power, sexuality and repression, and the inscrutability of evil in Benito Cereno, Billy Budd, and Bartleby, the Scrivener. Participants will need Melville’s Short Novels, Herman Melville. Edited by Dan McCall. Norton Critical Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. A link to the syllabus is here.
Presenter: Daniel Lanzetta, MA, (LLI) has been teaching literature most of his life at Mt. Vernon High School, The College of New Rochelle, Thornton School, and Western Connecticut State University. He hopes to continue teaching it in the afterlife, but that remains to be seen.
Producer: Fern Fleckman
Class limit: 25
off friday, in person
date & time
as noted in course description
Monday, June 3
Monday, June 3 at 9:00 a.m. (one session)
Description: Join us for a walking tour of the Poughkeepsie Water Filtration Plant, which was built back in 1872 and was the first of its kind in the United States. This tour offers a unique opportunity to learn how river water from the Hudson is transformed into potable water. You’ll get an inside look at the inner workings of the plant and the equipment used in the water processing. Please note that the facility is accessed via a lengthy outdoor staircase and the duration of the walking tour is approximately 1½ hours.
Presenter: Randy Alstadt, aka “The Water Wizard,” is a NYS professional engineer and water plant administrator who has been working at the plant since 1997.
Producer: Dorothy Baran
Class limit: 20
Credits
Curriculum Committee
Mary McClellan, Chair
Kathryn Clark, Secretary
Dorothy Baran
Anne Brueckner
Barbara Danish
Fern Fleckman
Ellen Foreman
Carmela Gersbeck
Susan Hinkle
Suzanne Holzberg
Emily Michael
Gary Miller
Chuck Mishaan
Margaret Moran
Janet Pincus
Cathy Reinis
Margaret Shuhala
L. Walker
Leslie Weinstock
Eleanor Wieder
Catalog Team
Deborah Lanser, Chair
Anne Brueckner
Susan Christoffersen
Cristina Ochagavia
Margaret Shuhala
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