Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College Announces its Spring Semester

March 1, 2023 – Sarasota

Registration is open for the 2023 spring semester at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Ringling College, which offers noncredit educational opportunities for adults to pursue new interests, expand intellectual horizons, and enrich their lives. The semester, which runs March 13-May 5, 2023, features more than 45 courses, lectures, and special presentations covering a wide variety of topics, including arts and entertainment, history, music appreciation, health, literature, philosophy, religion, and science. Semester highlights include Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen; Writing Your Story: Two Pages at a Time; Science Wednesdays; and a free, special program, Warriors of Sarasota: The Interconnections of Diasporic Roots and Identity. Classes are offered at Sarasota Art Museum of Ringling College of Art and Design, 1001 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; and online via Zoom.

Course highlights of the spring 2023 semester include:

Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen – The course will screen and discuss the six-part documentary series Sex, Censorship and the Silver Screen, which conveys Hollywood’s battle between artistic freedom and heavy-handed restriction through a progression of material spanning motion picture history. From Edison’s innocuous Kinetoscope kiss to Brando’s animal intensity in A Streetcar Named Desire and the unabashed eroticism of Basic Instinct, the series chronicles a parade of cinematic sins and the pious and bureaucratic reprisals they inspired.

Immigration Policy and Practice in America – Examine immigration policy in America with emphasis on the period from 1965 to the present. Major topics include types of immigration, government organizations dealing with immigration, family reunification, refugees and asylum, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the undocumented, and the future of immigration policy in the U.S. 

Writing Your Story: Two Pages at a Time – Find the inspiration to start writing about the events in your life, two pages at a time. Using Guided Autobiography (GAB), a proven process developed and researched by the Birren Center for Autobiographical Studies, participants will unlock forgotten memories in order to write about them. No previous writing experience is necessary.

Science Wednesdays – Science allows us to gain an understanding of nature which enables us to develop tools that apply Nature’s Laws to improve our daily lives. This four-lecture series covers a broad range of sciences, including physics, biology, health, and medicine. 

Blacklisted Hollywood – The 1950s were considered the “happy days,” but there was a dark, insidious witch hunt taking place. This class is a study of the Blacklist and its impact on Hollywood and the television industry. This time period and history will be taught chronologically, starting with the background leading up to 1947 and the Hollywood Ten, to its end in 1960 with Dalton Trumbo’s credited screenplay for Spartacus. Short documentaries will be shown, along with film clips and interviews with those directly affected. A list of films will be provided to watch the week prior to class.

Harpsichord: The Foundation Instrument of the Baroque – Explore the history and particulars of this keyboard instrument used in almost every type of music composed during the Baroque Era. From its hobbled inception from the organ and lute, the harpsichord became the unifier propelling and holding together Baroque music. The instructor will demonstrate the harpsichord’s abilities and limitations using a historically constructed harpsichord, and attendees will be allowed to explore the instrument by playing it themselves.

From God to Consciousness – Explore the evolution of the concept of God through a look at science and its exploration of consciousness, otherwise known as the “hard problem.”

In addition to a host of courses, OLLI at Ringling College offers five lectures during the spring semester: Captured! Stories of American World War II Prisoners of War, on March 23, 2:30-3:30 pm; Harriet Beecher Stowe: Yankee, Abolitionist, and Florida Promoter, on March 30, 2:30-3:30 pm; A World War II Tour of Europe, on April 6, 2:30-3:30 pm; Understanding Philosophy and Religion in Early China, on April 13, 2:30-3:30 pm; and Who Are the Jews of India? on April 14, 10-11 am. General admission is $15 each.

OLLI’s free special presentation, Warriors of Sarasota: The Interconnections of Diasporic Roots and Identity, is March 31, 1-2:30 pm, at Sarasota Art Museum.This storytelling event explores the interconnections between Black and Latinx identity, sisterhood, and identity through a multidisciplinary and artist-collaborative lens and the fusion of documented narratives of powerful women of color. Hear the stories of local women of color who are leading the way as educators, community organizers, cultural practitioners, activists, and advocates, including Yoleidy Rosario-Hernandez, Valerie Buchand, Jasmin Graham, Melanie S. Thomas, Mara Torres González, and Marquise Dawsey. Pre-registration is required.

To register, or for more information about becoming an OLLI member, visit www.OLLIatRinglingCollege.org or call 941-309-5111.