WinterFest 2024 Catalog
ALL SESSIONS WILL BE HELD VIRTUALLY VIA ZOOM
Wednesdays, January 10, 17, 24, 31, 2024
First Session: 9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m. in Zoom
Second Session: 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. in Zoom
Click a course title to see the full description. Click the title again to close the description.
ALL SESSIONS WILL BE HELD VIRTUALLY VIA ZOOM
Bard LLI members and WinterFest presenters may invite individual guests. Members, presenters, and their guests are welcome at every presentation. The Bard community of faculty, staff, and students is also welcome.
WinterFest Registration: Registration is not required. LLI members will be sent a weekly Zoom invitation to attend presentations. Details on all presentations can also be viewed on ProClass.
Wednesday, January 10, 2024
Description: On October 16, 1983, a state judge entered SUNY Stony Brook Hospital to hold a hearing on a potential threat to a newborn’s survival, thus beginning the saga of “Baby Jane Doe.” Doctors recommended two possible treatments: a surgically implanted shunt, or antibiotics and watchful waiting. Doing either, or neither, involved risks. Who would make the call: the judge or the parents acting on doctors’ advice? With no precedent to follow, university counsel Richard Cahn chose to confront the judge. That move triggered three years of bitter litigation that produced new law. Cahn discusses the case with Bard Professor Emeritus Mark Lytle.
Presenter: Richard C. Cahn practiced law on Long Island for 60 years, appearing in all levels of the state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. He taught continuing legal education courses and served as an adjunct professor at the Touro Law Center, a member of the Adelphi University board of trustees, and president of the Suffolk County Bar Association. The author of Making Law: A Memoir of Good Times (2020), he and his wife, Vivian, moved to the Hudson Valley in 2019.
Producer: Anne Brueckner
Description: While pixel is a modern word (1965), humans have been using pixels for as long as 38,000 years. Although modern life emphasizes pixels in the context of digital photography, pixels are the essential ingredient in petroglyphs, mosaics, impressionist painting, film photography, facsimile transmission, and half-tone printing in newspapers and magazines, as well as the evolution of television and modern screens. All these uses have a deep analogy in animal biology. John Rhetts will present a history of the picture element and its use — in both art and science — to create the visual images that define our world.
Presenter: After earning advanced degrees at Harvard and Cornell universities, John Rhetts, PhD, was a professor at the University of Minnesota and then opened a clinical practice in Minneapolis. After moving to Oregon in 1996, he helped found the Cascades Campus of Oregon State University in Bend, and he served as a trustee of Central Oregon Community College. Rhetts currently does very high-resolution photography for the Archeological Society of Central Oregon and various federal agencies, documenting pictographic rock art sites in Central Oregon.
Producer: Marge Moran
Wednesday, January 17, 2024
Description: Participants will learn about the mission and the history of New York StateWide Senior Action Council (NYSSAC). Programs on Medicare, Medicare counseling, and patient rights via webinars, teach-ins, and presentations will be explored. There will be a discussion of StateWide’s public policy and advocacy issues at the state and federal legislative levels. Also, how to become a member and opportunities to help achieve StateWide’s goals will be discussed.
Presenter: Helen Edelstein, president of the board of directors, New York StateWide Senior Action Council. She will be joined by Gail Meyers, deputy director of NYSSAC, and Martha Steuding, president of the Ulster County chapter of NYSSAC.
Producer: Dorothy Baran
Description: Director Jon Bowermaster brings us WindShipped, the filmed story of Captain Sam Merrett and his 65-foot, metal-hulled, sail freight boat, the Apollonia — the only sail freight boat operating in U.S. waters. It has completed three seasons delivering cargo — mostly malt, grain, corn, pumpkins, and red oak -– from Hudson to New York City and back without burning fossil fuels, using only the wind and sun. That Merrett’s quixotic vision would be successful was never guaranteed, especially in these days when everyone, it seems, needs everything overnight, or faster. Merrett’s way, by sail-power, takes a purposely slower, if just as efficient, approach. Discussion and Q&A will follow the screening.
Presenter: Jon Bowermaster. Writer, filmmaker, and adventurer, Jon is a six-time grantee of the National Geographic Expeditions Council. He has written 11 books and directed/produced more than 30 documentary films, all with environmental backdrops. Jon has lived in the Hudson Valley for 35 years.
Producer: Anne Brueckner
Wednesday, January 24, 2024
Description: This program examines some of the bloodiest and most interesting crimes in Dutchess County, going back to the 18th century and continuing through the 1930s.
Presenter: Shannon Butler is the historian for the Poughkeepsie Public Library. She also served as the historian for the town of Hyde Park. Shannon has worked at several historic sites, including Roosevelt-Vanderbilt National Historic Site and Clermont State Historic Site. She has written two books, including Roosevelt Homes of the Hudson Valley: Hyde Park and Beyond. She co-hosts the historical podcast All My Favorite People Are Dead.
Producer: Leslie Weinstock
Description: Join master teacher Judith Nelson in a fun and illuminating lecture-demonstration explaining the basic elements of dance. It will deepen your understanding and appreciation of dance as an art form, whether as a viewer or as a dancer yourself.
Presenter: Judith Nelson, MFA, (LLI) has taught dance as a full-time professor at Auburn University, Missouri State University, and Carlton College. A dancer with the Limón Dance Company and David Gordon Pick Up Company, she has toured the United States and Europe as a solo artist and in musical theater. She leads professional development workshops for dance educators. Nelson has conducted workshops at the 92nd Street Y, the Mark Morris Dance Center, and in public schools. She is a senior faculty member at Mark Morris Dance Center.
Producer: Leslie Weinstock
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Description: The New York City subway system is full of beautiful artwork that commuters just zoom by without noticing. Participants in this class will have the opportunity to join Ronnit Vasserman to zoom in and explore some NYC subway art. The eight stops on this journey will include Roy Lichtenstein’s installation in Times Square and Sol LeWitt’s mural at Columbus Circle, among others. Q&A will follow the presentation.
Presenter: Ronnit Vasserman has a degree in fine arts and art history from Brooklyn College. She founded Art Connect Group, a full-service art consulting firm in New York. In addition to helping clients acquire art, she educates them on all the latest trends by organizing events throughout the year. These events include art fair walkthroughs, as well as studio, museum, auction house, and gallery visits. Vasserman works with artists across the spectrum, from blue chip to straight out of art school.
Producer: Janet Pincus
Description: Humans have a long relationship with classic psychedelics; evidence suggests that indigenous societies have been using them as a sacrament for religious and healing purposes since ancient times. Classic psychedelics resemble serotonin and act on the brain to produce profound alterations in consciousness. Participants will examine how psychedelics interact with the brain to alter consciousness and elicit mystical states, which are believed to be important for the long-term benefits of psychedelics. This talk offers a comprehensive overview of classic psychedelics for anyone who wants to learn about the neurobiological mechanism of action of these promising medicines.
Presenter: Melanie Blair Pincus, PhD, is a neuroscientist with a passion for catalyzing self-discovery. She is compelled by play and non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC) as powerful tools that promote flexible brain states for healing. She has designed multi-omics psilocybin research programs to explore the potential of NOSC for personal growth. Her new venture, Syncopy Design Lab, researches and designs experiences that facilitate deeper states of connectedness to self, others, and the natural world.
Producer: Janet Pincus
Credits
Curriculum Committee
Mary McClellan, Interim Chair
Kathryn Clark, Secretary
Dorothy Baran
Anne Brueckner
Barbara Danish
Fern Fleckman
Ellen Foreman
Carmela Gersbeck
Susan Hinkle
Gary Lachmund
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
Margaret Shuhala
Tim Sullivan
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