Virtual Art History Lecture
Miriam Schapiro with Carol Salus, PhD, Professor Emerita, Kent State University
Friday, September 8, 1:00 pm
Carol Salus, Ph.D is Professor Emerita at Kent State University where she taught courses in twentieth-century American and European art history. She received her Ph.D. from the Ohio State University.
Virtual Lectures
The Skin Care Hoax: How You’re Being Tricked Into Buy¬ing Lotions, Potions & Wrinkle Cream with author Fayne Frey
Tuesday, December 19, 3:30 pm
The Skincare Hoax is an exposé on the marketing tactics used that get us all to buy over-the-counter skincare. It will make you rethink everything you know about skincare. You’ll learn about the well-kept secrets of the skincare industry, how media ads influence our buying decisions and get recommendations for effective products and simple skincare regimens that are easy and affordable.
Dr. Fayne Frey is a New York based, Ivy League trained, board-certified dermatologist, a skincare consultant, and a nationally recognized expert in the effectiveness and formulation of over-the-counter skincare products. She is founder of FryFace.com an educational skincare information and product selection service website that clarifies and simplifies the overwhelming choice of effective, safe, and affordable products encountered in the skincare aisles. She is a contributor to and on the editorial board of 50PlusToday, a top-rated online senior lifestyle magazine and is a frequent speaker in many venues where she captivates audiences with her wry observations regarding the skincare industry. Frey has consulted for numerous media outlets, including NBC, USA Today, and the Huffington Post, and has also shared her expertise on both cable and major TV outlets.
Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Sec¬ond Half of Life with author Rosanne Leipzig
Monday, January 29, 3:30 pm
From Dr. Rosanne M. Leipzig, a top doctor with more than 35 years of experience car-ing for older people, Honest Aging is an indispensable guide to the second half of life, describing what to expect physically, psychologically, functionally, and emotionally as you age. Leipzig, an expert in evidence-based geriatrics, highlights how 80-year-olds differ from 60-year-olds and why knowing this is important for your health. With candor, humor, and empathy, she provides you with the knowledge and practical advice to optimize aging. Honest Aging gives you the tools to take control of your health and well-being as you age.
Rosanne M. Leipzig, MD, PhD is the Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor and Vice Chair Emeritus for the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is the editor-in-chief of the monthly newsletter Focus on Healthy Aging and coeditor of the fourth edition of Geriatric Medicine.
The Cost of Free Land: Jews, Lakota, and an Amer¬i¬can Inheritance with author Rebecca Clarren
Monday, February 5, 3:30 pm
Rebecca Clarren only knew the major plot points of her immigrant family’s origins. Her great-great-grandparents, the Sinykins, and their six children fled antisemitism in Russia and arrived in the United States at the turn of the 20th century, ultimately settling on a 160-acre homestead in South Dakota. Over the next few decades, despite tough years on a merciless prairie and multiple setbacks, the Sinykins became an American immigrant success story. What none of Clarren’s ancestors ever mentioned was that their land, the foundation for much of their wealth, had been cruelly taken from the Lakota by the United States government. America had broken hundreds of treaties with hundreds of Indigenous nations across the continent, and the land that had once been reserved for the seven bands of the Lakota had been diminished, splintered, and handed for free, or practically free, to white settlers. In The Cost of Free Land, Clarren melds investigative reporting with personal family history to reveal the intertwined stories of her family and the Lakota, and the devastating cycle of loss of Indigenous land, culture, and resources that continues today.
Award-winning journalist Rebecca Clarren has been writing about the American West for more than twenty years. Her magazine pieces, for which she has won the Hillman Prize, appear in High Country News, The Nation, and Indian Country Today. Her debut novel Kickdown was shortlisted for the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction. An American Inheritance, her work of creative non-fiction, was awarded a Whiting Nonfiction Award. Her work is regularly supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband and two kids.
Leonard Cohen: Untold Stories: That’s How the Light Gets In with author Michael Posner
Tuesday, March 19, 3:30 pm
The extraordinary life of one of the world’s greatest music and literary icons, in the words of those who knew him best. Poet, novelist, singer-songwriter, artist, prophet, icon—there has never been a figure like Leonard Cohen. He was a true giant in contemporary western culture, entertaining and inspiring people everywhere with his work. His death in 2016 was felt around the world by the many fans and followers who would miss his warmth, humor, intellect, and piercing insights. Leonard Cohen, Untold Stories (3 Volumes) chronicles the full breadth of his extraordinary life.
Michael Posner is an award-winning writer, playwright, journalist, and the author of seven books. These include the Mordecai Richler biography, The Last Honest Man, and the Anne Murray biography, All of Me, both of which were national bestsellers.
Sinkable: Obsession, the Deep Sea, and the Ship¬wreck of the Titanic with author Daniel Stone
Monday, April 1, 3:30 pm
It’s one of the most beloved stories of all time, and it has the most gut-wrenching human themes: tragedy, trauma, and survival. But what came next? Sinkable is a sequel to the widely known Titanic story — not of a ship, but of a wreck, complete with a century’s worth of scientific, economic, and biological oddities. It’s a character-driven story about shipwrecks and the strange underworld of obsessive people who devote their lives to sunken ships. And it includes tons of fun stories about big ships, our mysterious oceans, and some wild CIA operations you’ve never heard of. National Geographic editor and Jewish author Daniel Stone takes audiences on an exciting deep-sea journey of mystery, discovery, and triumph with tales of ocean battles and eye-popping buried treasure. Geared toward a general audience, Stone answers the age-old question, what else on earth is still waiting to be discovered?
Daniel Stone is a writer on science, history, and the environment, as well as the author of the national bestselling The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trot-ting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats. He’s a former staff writer for National Geographic and a former White House correspondent for Newsweek. He lives in Santa Barbara with his wife and two sons, one of whom is a dog.
Birchers: How the John Birch Society Radicalized the American Right with author Matthew Dallek
Tuesday, April 16, 3:30 pm
At the height of the John Birch Society’s activity in the 1960s, critics dismissed its members as a paranoid fringe. After all, “Birchers” believed that a vast communist conspiracy existed in America and posed an existential threat to Christianity, capitalism, and freedom. But as historian Matthew Dallek reveals, the Birch Society’s extremism remade American conservatism. Most Birchers were white professionals who were radicalized as growing calls for racial and gender equality appeared to upend American life. Conservative leaders recognized that these affluent voters were needed to win elections, and for decades the GOP courted Birchers and their extremist successors. The far right steadily gained power, finally toppling the Republican establishment. Birchers is a deeply researched and indispensable new account of the rise of extremism in the United States.
Matthew Dallek is a historian and professor of political management at George Wash-ington University. The author of The Right Moment and Defenseless Under the Night, his writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Politico, and other publications. He lives in Washington, DC.
The Escape Artist: The Man Who Broke Out of Auschwitz to Warn the World with author Jonathan Freedland
Monday, May 13, 3:30 pm
The gripping and heroic story of Rudolf Vrba, who escaped the death camp in order to tell the world about its horrors.
Jonathan Freedland is a columnist for The Guardian in London. He presents BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View, as well as two podcasts, Politics Weekly America for The Guardian and Unholy, alongside the Israeli journalist Yonit Levi. He is a past winner of an Orwell Prize for journalism and has written 12 books including nine thrillers, mostly as Sam Bourne. The Escape Artist is a 2023 National Jewish Book Award Winner for Biography and Holocaust.
Jews Across the Americas: A Sourcebook, 1492 – Present with authors Adriana Brodsky & Laura Arnold Leibman
Tuesday, May 28, 3:30 pm
Jews Across the Americas is a groundbreaking sourcebook capturing the historical diversity and cultural breadth of American Jews across Latin America, the Caribbean, Canada, and the United States. Featuring primary documents as well as scholarly interpretations, Jews Across the Americas builds upon new developments in Jewish Studies, engaging with transnationalism, race, sexuality, and gender, and highlighting the lived experiences of those often left out of Jewish history.
Adriana M. Brodsky is professor of Latin American and Jewish History at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. She is the author of Sephardi, Jewish, Argentine, and co-editor of The New Jewish Argentina. She is currently the co-President of the Latin American Jewish Studies Association.
Laura Arnold Leibman is professor of English and Humanities at Reed College. Her numerous books have won four National Jewish Book Awards and a Jordan Schnitzer Book Award. She is the academic director of the multimedia television series American Passages, which won a Hugo Award.
Barbara S. Klau, M.S. presents
Memory Matters: Memory Retention and Brain Fitness (A four part series)
Mondays, 10:00 am
January 22, 29, February 5, 12
Charles Troy Virtual
The Creation of "The Wizard of Oz"
Wednesday, September 27, 3:00 pm
The Creation of "Wicked"
Wednesday, October 25, 3:00 pm
The Creation of "Hair"
Wednesday, November 29, 3:00 pm
The Creation of "She Loves Me"
Wednesday, December 20, 3:00 pm
Charles Troy, popular speaker and presenter, is an acclaimed musical theatre historian and graphic designer. He has created over 50 multi-media presentations and had presented his work to countless local and national audiences. His work has also been published in The Sondheim Review.
Richard Knox Virtual
Linda Eder
Wednesday, September 13, 3:00 pm
Signature Songs of Outstanding Vocalists
Monday, December 11, 3:00 pm
The Day the Music Died
Monday, January 8, 2024, 3:00 pm
Memorable Television Musical Moments
Monday, April 15, 2024, 3:00 pm
Johnny Mathis
Monday, May 20, 2024, 3:00 pm
Origins of Some Early Rock & Roll Songs
Monday, June 3, 2024, 3:00 pm
Richard Knox, a retired math teacher and school administrator, now follows his other passion, the arts, and makes frequent multi-media presentations about film, music and theater at local libraries and virtually, across the country.
Brian Rose Virtual
“One More for My Baby”: The Hollywood Songbook of Frank Sinatra
Wednesday, September 20, 3:00 pm
Elvis in Hollywood
Wednesday, October 18, 3:00 pm
From Stage to Screen: The Broadway Musical Goes to Hollywood
Monday, December 18, 3:00 pm
For nearly a century, Hollywood has been captivated by the allure of the Broadway musical. From the beginning of talkies up through today, most of the Great White Way’s biggest hits have made the transfer to the movie theater, though sometimes the journey has yielded damaged goods. For every triumph like My Fair Lady or Cabaret there have been colossal flops like Camelot or A Chorus Line. This talk will look at the colorful history of the Broadway-to-movie musical, and trace its development from truncated adaptations, in which most of the songs were abandoned, to glorious reinterpretations like Milos Forman’s Hair or Steven Spielberg’s remake of West Side Story from 2021.
Brian Rose is a professor emeritus at Fordham University, where he taught for 38 years in the Department of Communication and Media Studies. He’s written several books on television history and cultural programming, and conducted more than a hundred Q&A’s with leading directors, actors, and writers for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the Screen Actors Guild, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and the Directors Guild of America.
Dan Hudak Virtual
Greatest Quotes in Film History
Thursday, September 14, 3:00 pm
Dan Hudak, owner of Hudak on Hollywood, Inc., is lifelong film lover who has worked extensively as a film critic in print, radio and television.
Betsy Schwarm Virtual
Beyond the Ballets: Investigating Tchaikovsky
Thursday, September 21, 3:00 pm
The Beauty of Baroque: Brandenburgs and More
Tuesday, January 23, 3:00 pm
Classical Hearts and Flowers: Music of Romance
Tuesday, February 6, 3:00 pm
Keyboard Classics: Moonlight Sonata and Beyond
Tuesday, March 26, 3:00 pm
The Magic of Mozart: A Little Night Music is Just a Start!
Tuesday, April 2, 3:00 pm
Toreador, En Garde! Getting to Know Carmen
Tuesday, May 7, 3:00 pm
Music historian Betsy Schwarm spent a dozen years on the air at the vintage KVOD radio, "The Classical Voice of Denver." She has also taught university-level music appreciation, but is especially known for her user-friendly approach to talking about classical music.
Alyssa Rudinsky Virtual
Mondays, 10:00 am
Travel Talk and Travel Insights: A 3 Part Series
November 27: How to Travel Without Being a Tourist
December 18: Maximizing Your Travel Experience
March 18: European Highlights - Spain & Portugal
Alyssa Rudinsky, of Oh So Fabulous Vacations - serves as the career services and adult education librarian at the Mandel Public Library in West Palm Beach, an adjunct professor at Palm Beach State College, and an independent affiliate of KHM Travel Group
Gail Leondar-Wright Virtual
What Makes Sondheim Great? Act II
Thursdays, 3:00 pm
Free for virtual members, $45 for 5-week course
May 2, 9, 16, 23, 30
Join other musical lovers for this fast-paced course, full of things to look at, watch, listen to, and think about. The late Stephen Sondheim is commonly thought to be the most important musical theater composer and lyricist of the past fifty years, and the single most influential force in bringing the Broadway musical into the modern era. This lively and interactive course will explore how Sondheim has elevated the genre, ushering in the musical’s modern era.
We’ll focus on West Side Story, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Merrily We Roll Along, and Into the Woods.
Virtual members and ticket buyers will have access to recordings of What Makes Sondheim Great? Act 1.
Gail Leondar-Wright spends her time studying and teaching about the works of Stephen Sondheim. She facilitates a national “Sondheim Study Group,” and gives periodic webinars comparing the works of Sondheim to that of other composers and lyricists. She hold a Masters in Performance Studies from NYU and a BA in Drama from UC Berkeley.