Session Two (March 19–April 29)

Fine and Performing Arts
Nancy Hartman
Sundays, March 19–April 23 (5 weeks, no class on April 9)
1:30–4:30 pm

Moderated Discussion

This course offers six movies by director Fred Zinnemann. Ranging from 1948 to 1973, the movies include Gary Cooper’s High Noon, Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr’s From Here to Eternity, and Audrey Hepburn’s The Nun’s Story. Within a week of each upcoming movie, informational material will be furnished to students by email or regular mail. Additional information about the movies will be provided at the start of each class, and a brief discussion will be held afterward.

NANCY HARTMAN’s insatiable appetite for vintage movies began many years ago. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge of these classic films with WC-ALL members.

Decorative Arts
Nancy Bennington
Mondays, March 20–April 10 (four weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture/Discussion and Hands-On Demonstration

This course is limited to 25 participants.

Degas once said, “The frame is the reward of the Artist.” Learning to look at a gilded frame is a fun way to increase your knowledge of this beautiful art form. This class will begin with a brief overview of frame history and how it relates to social and economic developments. Students will look at frame examples and learn specialized terms for decorative motifs as part of their design. The class will include a gilding demonstration using both the oil and water gilding methods and students will be able to handle all gilding materials. Class participants will also be encouraged to bring a gilded object for “show and tell” and an informal evaluation by the instructor. The final goal of the class will be to recognize, appreciate and learn how to care for a gilded surface.

NANCY BENNINGTON is an artist, craftsman, and teacher. She first learned the art of frame restoration and gilding as manager of the nationally acclaimed Gold Leaf Studios in Washington, DC. She opened her own gilding and restoration studio after moving to Pittsburgh, PA and has continued her private practice after she returned home to Chestertown. She has lectured on frame history and taught gilding classes, and has worked with many private clients and museum collections throughout the United States. Nancy looks forward to sharing her enthusiasm for “All That Glitters.”

Fine and Performing Arts
Bob Miller
Mondays, March 20–April 10 (four weeks)
4:15–5:45 pm, Virtual Course via Zoom

Lecture/Discussion

Want to learn how to take pictures you will be proud to hang on your wall? Want to learn how to use that expensive camera you have acquired? This class is appropriate for both beginners and intermediate skill levels. The main emphasis will be to steer participants away from the automatic mode and toward using the more creative options of aperture priority, shutter priority and manual modes. We will cover exposure, menu choices, file formats, depth of field, color balance, histograms, and more. We will also look at composition in detail so students will be able to design their photographs in a more artistic way. Assignments will be given at the end of each class and we will do compositional critiques at each subsequent class. Students will need to bring their SLR camera and manual to classes.

BOB MILLER is a retired science teacher with a 45+ year passion for photography. He does all kinds of photography but has recently specialized in nature photography. He has taken his camera all over the world, including to Africa, Iceland, the Arctic, Australia, Europe, and our United States. He has won many awards and was named Digital Photographer of the Year by the Arundel Camera Club. His photographs have been published in Save the Bay, Backyard Gardens, and several times in the fine art photography magazine B&W. Bob enjoys teaching and loves to share his love for photography with others.

Health and Wellness
Stephanie Pessin
Mondays, March 20–April 24 (six weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture, Demonstration, and Practice

This course is limited to 12 participants.

As we age, we will inevitably start to notice changes in posture, balance, muscle control or strength that limit our ability to move with a sense of safety. Do you feel confident that you know how to manage these changes, maintaining your function and continuing to stay as active as you want? Particularly, do you know how to do what it takes to limit your risk of injury from falls? If you want to maintain or improve your current level of function, how do you know what exercises will safely work for you now to roll back or even prevent some of these changes? This course will help you answer these questions with practical, evidence-based information and supportive exercises.

Class participants will learn the basic elements required to perform functional movement and to exercise safely and effectively, with a particular focus on preventing falls. Class time will be divided between lecture/discussion and time to learn and practice relevant exercises. Course topics include improvable components of balance and equilibrium; postural alignment and core control; efficient use of the four extremities and head; body mechanics and the basics of muscle and joint action; and actionable considerations for a personal fall-prevention plan. Participants will leave class with practical didactic information, simple home exercises to practice, techniques for “snacking” on exercise fundamentals throughout the day using easily obtainable household items, and a better understanding of how to protect themselves from preventable injury.

STEPHANIE PESSIN, BA, BS, MPT has recently retired from practicing licensed physical therapy for 25 years, during which she treated patients and taught individuals in group classes in rehab facilities, hospitals, outpatient clinics and studios in Baltimore and around the bay area in California. As much as she loves to practice healing, she is much more jazzed to help her patients and students prevent becoming rehab patients. Prior to entering this profession, she studied alternative bodywork modalities with practitioners on both USA coasts and at the College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in England.

Business, Finance, and the Law
Michael Durstein
Tuesdays, March 21–April 11 (four weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture/Discussion

This course is limited to 10 participants and will meet for 90 minutes

This four-week course will cover several topics, including retirement income planning with a focus on distribution strategies and tax efficiency; protecting your health and your wealth while navigating health care costs, including Medicare and long-term care; estate planning and how best to position your financial plan for wealth transfer; and a retirement case study using variables that could impact your retirement outlook using a sample profile. Optional workbooks to personalize your experience will be available, and each session will end with time for Q&A.

MICHAEL DURSTEIN is a Financial Advisor at Diamond State Financial Group in Newark, DE. He is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and enjoys working with individuals, families, and businesses to align their financial decisions with their goals and aspirations. He sees educating ourselves on personal finance as a way to simplify our lives and gain time to focus on the things we really enjoy.

Social Sciences
Bruce Riedel
Tuesdays, March 21–April 18 (five weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture/Discussion

The Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 is often labeled the most dangerous moment in history. For 13 days the US and the Soviet Union were on the verge of nuclear war. Only the deft diplomacy of President John F. Kennedy averted catastrophe. We know now that it was even more dangerous than we thought at the time; numerous academic conferences with the Russians and Cubans involved and some declassification of Soviet documents have provided information unavailable to Kennedy. The crisis will be examined through the facts we are now aware of, as well as in the context of the global picture at that time, and how Kennedy and his advisors reacted to each of the challenges in that extraordinary moment. It was indeed JFK’s finest hour.

BRUCE REIDEL is a Senior Fellow of the Brookings Institution, and Director of its Project on Intelligence. He is the author of eight books and has taught at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and the Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies. He retired in 2006 after 30 years’ service in the Central Intelligence Agency. Bruce has been posted to the Middle East and Europe and served eight years in the White House on the staff of the National Security Council; he was awarded the Distinguished Intelligence Career medal. In 2009 President Obama asked him to undertake a review of American policy toward Afghanistan and Pakistan. Bruce was educated at Brown University (BA), Harvard University (MA), and the Royal College of Defense Studies in London. He and his wife live in Chestertown, MD.

Math, Science, and Technology
Satinder Sidhu
Tuesdays, March 21–April 25 (six weeks)
4:15–5:15 pm

Lecture/Discussion

In a system whose parts are in mutual interaction, equilibrium is the condition in which competing influences are balanced. It prevails in most phenomena we experience and are surrounded by in everyday life. While the term is employed most often in technical discourse of some fields, the basic situation of balance—and the resulting stability of the system—can be readily grasped in most cases. Equilibrium between the supply of, and demand for, goods, services, and facilities that leads to mostly stable prices is a common, easily appreciated example. This course will consider examples drawn from fields both concrete and abstract. Mechanisms behind equilibria in biology, chemistry, physics, evolution, social systems, economics, and game theory will be explored. We will also discuss how deviations from equilibrium can be triggered by external influences. Such influences are often due to actions designed to drive the system to another, different equilibrium state preferred by the “disrupter.” How a sudden, severe deviation can lead to a system being destroyed through runaway evolution will be described.

SATINDER SIDHU retired in 2015 after over a quarter century as one-half of the physics department at Washington College. He had started professional life as an electrical engineer working in a multinational electronics conglomerate, but “turned physicist” for the greater intellectual stimulation of fundamental science. After planting a foot in each of two closely related fields, he assiduously avoided anything that felt even remotely like engineering. A five-year flirtation with particle accelerator physics at a US national lab more-or-less fell into this category. Teaching across the full spectrum of undergraduate physics (plus some astronomy) did help him avoid the dreaded taint of over-specialization.

Health and Wellness
Shane Brill, NTP
Wednesdays, March 22–April 26 (six weeks)
4:15–5:15 pm

Lecture/Discussion

This course is limited to 15 participants.

Embark on a six-week journey into lifestyle habits and hacks to optimize your health through food, sleep, movement, detoxification, relaxation, and connection. Learn to stay above the level of disease by understanding how evolutionary adaptations that made us successful as a species have been compromised by our modern environment, and discover simple tactics to regain agency of your health.

SHANE BRILL is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner who helps individuals address chronic health concerns through targeted food and lifestyle education. With a passion for ecological literacy, his work focuses on the intersection of human vitality and environmental resilience.

Social Sciences and Humanities
Jordan Tirrell
Wednesdays, March 22–April 26 (six weeks)
4:15–5:15 pm

Lecture/Discussion

Humanity has existed for two hundred thousand years, always under external threat by asteroids, supervolcanoes, and other natural events. In just the past hundred years, humanity has developed tools that enable us to end the world. During the Cuban missile crisis, JFK famously estimated the probability of nuclear war to be as high as a 50/50 coin toss. Today we live in a world with nuclear weapons, climate change, global pandemics, and other threats. Emerging fields like synthetic biology, nanotechnology, and artificial intelligence may present even larger risks in the near future. We are in a unique moment in human history. We survived a coin toss in the last century. Will humanity continue on a bit more until our luck runs out, or will we reduce these risks and persist for many more millennia? Following Toby Ord’s 2020 book The Precipice, we will reflect on our motivations through moral philosophy, compare many potential paths to existential catastrophe, and discuss strategies to mitigate these risks.

JORDAN TIRRELL is an Assistant Professor at Washington College. His completed a PhD in enumerative combinatorics in 2016 and now teaches classes on mathematics, statistics, and existential risk.

Business, Finance, and Law
George “Doc” Smith
Wednesdays, March 22–April 26 (six weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture/Discussion

This course is limited to 20 participants.

The purpose of this course is to teach the attendees the best way to be in the stock market, now and in the future, and without fear. We will discuss the rules of what NEVER to do in the markets. You will learn the secrets of the markets that your broker or financial advisor will never tell you. Do you know why the markets move the way they do? The answer is right in front of you. Can you read a candle stick chart?

We will examine the information you should have before you select or sell a stock. We will use an actual live brokerage account online to teach you how to do research. It is said that the best way to become and stay wealthy is to own a successful business. The market is full of successful businesses you can own.

GEORGE “DOC” SMITH was a stockbroker and financial advisor for ten years. Now retired, he teaches financial literacy. He has a degree in Business Administration and is an MBA candidate in Finance.

Business, Finance, and the Law
Jesse Hammock. Esq.
Thursdays, March 23–April 20 (five weeks)
4:15–5:15 pm

Lecture/Discussion

In this course we will discuss the concepts of planning, zoning, environmental regulation, and litigation regarding the same, with an emphasis on the opportunity for citizen involvement throughout the planning, zoning, and subdivision process. The course will consist of five one-hour sessions covering:

• The comprehensive planning process, including the state law governing the process and role of citizens in the process.
• The evolution of zoning in the United States, rezoning on the local level, and the administrative process involved.
• Environmental regulation in Maryland with an emphasis on the Maryland Critical Area and its impact on development on the Eastern Shore.
• The administrative process governing residential and commercial properties on the Eastern Shore and the stages at which citizens can participate in and influence the outcome of the process.
• Various Issues related to planning and zoning including special exceptions, variances, zoning text amendments, enforcement of zoning laws, and recent cases in Maryland (or nationally) impacting planning and zoning.

JESSE HAMMOCK is a partner with the Easton-based law firm of Parker Counts, which specializes in estate planning, administration, and litigation. His practice includes an emphasis on estate and trust litigation. He grew up on the Eastern Shore and graduated from Washington College in 1994 and the University of Baltimore School of Law (magna cum laude) in 2001, where he was an Editor of the Law Review. Jesse is the past-President of the Board of Directors for Mid-Shore Pro Bono, Inc. where he previously served as Vice-President and Treasurer. He has also served as an adjunct professor at Chesapeake College teaching litigation research and writing to paralegal students. He is a Fellow of the Maryland Bar Foundation and served on the Maryland Judicial Nominating Commission.

Fine and Performing Arts
Beverly Hall Smith
Thursdays, March 23–April 20 (five weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture/Discussion

The five artists selected for this class come from the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and represent the changing artistic styles during these periods. Some of the works by these artists are familiar, but this class offers the opportunity to view a full range of the artists’ output. We will look at and discuss the artists’ development and the reasons for the changes. We will look at their personal lives and observe their art within the historical, economic, social, and political events of their time. Raphael represents the Italian High Renaissance. Artemisia Gentileschi represents the Italian Baroque. Elizabeth Vigee-Lebrun represents the French Rococo, Renoir represents French Impressionism, and Remedios Varo represents 20th-century Surrealism. No artistic knowledge is necessary to take this class, just an interest in learning about these very interesting artists. Everyone is welcome to join in the class and the discussion.

BEVERLY HALL SMITH was a professor of art history for forty years. Since retiring with her husband Kurt to Chestertown in 2014, she has taught art history classes for WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning. Since April 2020, she has been writing a weekly article titled “Looking at the Masters” for the Chestertown Spy. She is also an artist whose work is sometimes exhibited at Chestertown River Arts. She paints sets for the Garfield Theater and occasionally can be seen on stage.

Humanities
Raymond Vergne
Thursdays, April 6–April 27 (four weeks)
4:15–5:30 pm

Lecture/Discussion

John Nance Garner, Franklin Roosevelt’s first Vice President, famously referred to his position as being “not worth a bucket of warm spit” for its lack of influence and meaningful responsibilities. This course will review the history of the basis of the office of Vice President and the careers of various prominent Vice Presidents.

RAYMOND VERGNE is a retired cardiologist and educator with interests in literature, art, music, and history.

Fine and Performing Arts
Hanson Robbins and Sandra Durfee
Fridays, March 24–April 14 (four weeks plus field trip)
4:15–5:15 pm

Lecture and trip to Avalon Theatre for Simulcast of Opera on April 15

This course is limited to 40 participants.

The opera Der Rosenkavalier is one of the most popular operas composed in the 20th century. It premiered in Dresden in 1911 and satirizes the aristocracy of the Habsburgs vs. the emerging bourgeois of the 18th century. The opening scene shows the wife of the Field Marshall in bed with her young lover. It is interrupted by the entrance of a boor of a baron who wishes to marry a daughter of a rich bourgeois for her money. It is also a love story that melts the hearts of any audience. To boot, it is a comedy with many musical jokes in every act.

The opera is in three acts. We plan to have four lectures before seeing the actual opera in a simulcast by the Metropolitan Opera on April 15, 2023 at the Avalon Theater in Easton. The first lecture will describe the creators of this opera, Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal, and outline the acts. The next three lectures will cover each of the acts with previews of some of the most famous arias. Those who wish to attend the opera in Easton will be responsible for obtaining their own tickets and transportation to Easton. Tickets cost between $20 and $25 each.

HANSON ROBBINS moved from Boston in 2007 to his dream house on the Chester River. He has a BA degree from Harvard and an MBA from Columbia Business School. His longest position in a finance career was with New England Life Insurance Company, from which retiring in 1995. He and his wife Linda participate in local social pursuits, including teaching kids how to sail, giving adult education courses, and involvement in various charities. He has previously taught several WC-ALL courses on nautical history and one course on opera. He served on the WC-ALL Council for four years with responsibility for Special Events.

SANDRA DURFEE has a BA from Brown University and an MLA degree from Johns Hopkins. She was an English teacher and Dean of Faculty at St. Paul’s School for Girls in Brooklandville, MD.

 

Fine and Performing Arts
Michelle Sebastian Aldrich
Saturdays, March 25–April 29 (six weeks)
2:00–3:30 pm

Demonstration and Practice

This course is limited to 24 participants. Completion of English Country Dance I is not required to take part in this class.

Want to learn to dance like George Washington? Want to experience a Miss Bennet/Mr. Darcy moment? Simply want to dance and make new friends? Then English Country Dance is for you! English Country Dance (ECD) is a social, folk-dance form, which has its earliest documented instances in the late 16th century, although today it is probably most closely associated with Jane Austen and the early 19th century. Although “ballroom” dancing took center stage for a number of years, ECD regained popularity in the early 20th century and continues to be enjoyed world-wide in the present day. English country dances come in a variety of formations, but all require working with a group. No special equipment is required—just comfortable shoes and clothing that allow you to move without mishap (think sneakers, not flip-flops) and the desire to dance. You will learn the “figures” (steps in ECD) and formations/positions in ECD sets, a little history and social perspective of ECD, and a variety of English country dances. You will learn that everyone can do English country dances and that you should absolutely… Come Dancing!

MICHELLE SEBASTIAN ALDRICH has been teaching and calling English country dance for 11 years and was the Founder and Director of ECD in DC, a dance performance group that performed at various venues in the Washington, DC/Northern Virginia area, including Folger Theatre and Dumbarton House in Washington, DC; Mount Vernon, and Woodlawn in Alexandria, Virginia; and other private and public events in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. A native Washingtonian, Michelle recently relocated to Chestertown where she hopes to develop English country dance classes and a new performance group. A life-long dancer, Michelle knows that English country dance is dance everyone can do and that it provides the motion and social interaction that is necessary for physical health and mental well-being. She believes everyone should come dancing!