Saturday Academy of Lifelong Learning
A Day in Venice
OCTOBER 24, 2009
One day, five classes, on the campus of Trinity College
Three morning classes, lunch, two afternoon classes and a panel discussion.
8:30-9:00am-Sign in
McCook Auditorium Lobby
9:00-10:00
History of Venice
Professor Sean Cocco
10:15-11:15
The Venetian Ghetto: A Republic Within a Republic
Professor Michael R. Campo
11:30-12:30
Rising Waters: Global Warming and Venice
Professor Christoph Geiss
12:30-1:30 pm
Lunch
Mather Hall, Terrace Room B
1:45-2:45pm
Monteverdi: Music of Venice
Professor John Platoff
3:00-4:00pm
The Art of Venice
Professor Jean Cadogan
4:00-4:30
Panel Discussion
Special pricing for the day-long Saturday Academy and lunch. $125
_____________________________________________________________
John Platoff is Professor of Music at Trinity. He earned his Ph.D. at the University of Pennsylvania with a dissertation on the operatic finales of Mozart and his contemporaries. His publications, chiefly on Mozart and Italian opera buffa, have appeared in publications including Cambridge Opera Journal, The Journal of Musicology, Early Music, and Nineteenth Century
Michael R. Campo, John J. McCook Professor, Emeritus, of Modern Languages and Literature, is the founder and former director of Trinity College’s Rome Campus, Elderhostel Programs in Italy, and the Cesare Barbieri Endowment for Italian Culture. Professor Campo is currently Co-Director of the Academy of Lifelong Learning
Jean Cadogan joined the Trinity faculty in 1996 after seventeen years as curator of European Paintings at the Wadsworth Atheneum. She has her B.A. from Wellesley, a Ph.D. from Harvard, and teaches Medieval and Renaissance art history at the college.
Christoph Geiss is an associate professor of physics and environmental science at Trinity College. He earned his PhD in geophysics from the University of Minnesota specializing on the magnetic properties of sediments and their use in reconstructing past environmental conditions. His current research focuses on soil erosion studies in the Midwestern United States, the quantification of long-term carbon storage in Arctic wetlands and soils, and the reconstruction of climatic conditions in Connecticut over the past 15,000 years.
Sean Cocco is an Assistant Professor of History at Trinity College. Growing up in Italy left him with a lifelong curiosity about the past. He received his Ph. D. from the University of Washington. He now teaches and researches Italian and European history between the Renaissance and the Enlightenment of science, religious understanding, humanist interest, and travelers’ curiosity between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. He has a particular interest in nature in history, and is writing a book about Vesuvius and Naples.
___________________________________________________________
ARISTOPHANES: The Conscience of Athens
As the greatest writer of comedy among the Greeks, Aristophanes provided the fifth century B.C. theatre in Athens with plays which at once were satiric and provocative. He lived during the last days of the devastating civil war between Athens and Sparta. The folly of this war moved him deeply. Under sharp scrutiny and criticism were the war, the Athenian democracy, and the radical thinking of the Sophists. As a consequence, the actions and decisions of the Athenian politicians, the thoughts and teachings of Socrates, and the ideas and dramaturgy of the contemporary tragedian, Euripides, received comic and satiric treatment. Dr. Williams will use the following as text:
Aristophanes: The Complete Plays
(New American Library) ISBN 978-0-451-21409-6
John Williams
Six Mondays, 7:00-8:30pm
September 14, 21. PLEASE NOTE, No Class Sept 28, October 5, 12, 19, 26.
McCook Room 213
John C. Williams is Hobart Professor, Emeritus, of Classics at Trinity College where he taught Latin, Greek, and Classical Civilization for 24 years. He has received awards for outstanding service and teaching from Trinity College, the Classical Association of Connecticut, and the Classical Association of New England. He has also taught at Dartmouth College in a special summer program for teachers of the Classics. Many teachers and professors of Classics throughout New England and the United States are his former students. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University.
_______________________________________________________________
ISLAM, EXTREMISM, AND EMPIRE: OBAMA AND THE PROMISE OF A NEW RELATIONSHIP WITH THE ISLAMIC WORLD
For many in the West Osama Bin Laden has become the face of Islam for our time. Defenders of Islam respond with the argument that while Bin Laden represents “the bad Muslim” there is also the “good Muslim”, the majority. Islam in the eyes of its defenders is a religion of peace and justice that has been hijacked by the extremists.
This course argues that neither characterization is of much help in understanding Islam today and the challenges that face the Obama administration in its efforts to redefine the American relationship to the Islamic world. We need a more realistic assessment of the role that contemporary Islam as lived faith and way of life in all its complexity plays in the relationship between the West and the Islamic world. We need a more objective grasp of just what the historic role of the West, including Israel and the United States, has been in the Islamic world. It is impossible to speak rationally of the relationship without bringing into view the history of Western imperialism and colonialism in Islamic lands. It is equally unhelpful to ignore the clear Islamic sources of the thinking of extremist Islamist movements and the ways that thought has rationalized nihilistic violence.
In short, as with any other relationship, it is critical to examine the thoughts and behaviors of both parties in explaining their failed relationship. In this course we will do so, focusing on the concept of “extremism” and its link to disproportionate and indiscriminate violence on both sides. What does extremism mean in the tactics and strategies of empires, including the declining American empire? What role has Islamic extremism played in resistance to the Western imperial project? What are the prospects for containing extremism in all its manifestations in order to achieve the kind of new positive relationship with the Islamic world of which President Obama speaks?
Raymond Baker
Six Tuesdays, 5:30-7:00pm
September 15, 22, 29; October 6, 13, 20.
McCook Room 220
Raymond W. Baker is College Professor of International Politics at Trinity College, and is the author of numerous books and articles on the Islamic world. Harvard University Press published his most recent book, Islam Without Fear. An Arabic version of the book was published this year in Jordan and a second Arabic translation will be published this winter in Egypt. Baker has served as a consultant to government agencies, including the State Department, Department of Defense, and USAID. Currently, he is a founding member of the Board of the International Association of Iraqi Studies and a member of the Governing Board of the World Congress of Middle East Studies. Dr. Baker speaks fluent Arabic and has lived and worked in the Middle East for over thirty years. His latest book, CULTURAL CLEANINGS IN IRAQ: Why Museums Were Looted, Libraries Burned, and Academics Killed, senior editor, is forthcoming in the fall 2009, Pluto Press.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
THE MYSTERY NOVEL REDUX:
HAVE YOUR PASSPORT HANDY
When last we visited the mystery novel our venues were the Continent and England. Now we venture afield; first to Bolivia and Inspector Alvarez, then to Mumbai (Bombay in the novel) and the musings of Inspector Ghote. From there to Bethlehem and the patient wisdom of Omar Yussef. We will end our tour in Istanbul in the company of Cetin Ikmen, an uncommonly intriguing sleuth. The schedule will allow for a careful reading
of each mystery and any extra reading that may inform the cultural and political contexts of each venue.
Andrew De Rocco
Four Wednesdays 7:00pm -8:30pm
McCook Room 225
September 16---The Ambiguity of Murder, by Roderick Jefferies
ISBN 13-9780786233281
Please read this book prior to the first class.
October 14-------Breaking and Entering, by H.R.F. Keating and H.R. Keating
ISBN 10-0330483048
November 11----The Collaborator of Bethlehem, by Matt Beynon Rees
ISBN 13-9780618959655
December 9------Belshazzar’s Daughter, by Barbara Nadel
ISBN 13-9781933397498
These books are available online at most booksellers including Barnes and Noble. They may also be available at local booksellers or ordered from them.
Andrew De Rocco, former Dean of the Faculty at Trinity, has also served as president of Denison University. Prior to his affiliation with Trinity he was a faculty member at The University of Michigan and Institute Professor of Molecular Physics at The University of Maryland. His interest in the mystery novel began in his early school days with Poe, "The Moonstone" and, of course, Holmes. If he could, he would have Paola and Guido Brunetti to dinner.
_______________________________________________________________
THE GODFATHER FILMS AND GAME THEORY:
THE ART OF HARD CHOICES
An introduction to the art and science of decision-making. Our raw material will be The Godfather films (parts I and II). Our focus will be hard choices by mafiosi. Our lens will be elementary game theory.
Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece portrays a vivid spectrum of individual decision styles perfectly cast in Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Robert Duvall. We will elucidate several fateful choices: Don Corelone's decision not to enter the new drug trade, the family's decision to kill a police captain, the mafia commission's collective decision to regulate the drug trade, Frank Pentangeli's sudden refusal to testify at the Senate hearing (and his decision to take his life), Michael's decision not to invest in Cuba, and Michael's decision to murder his brother, Fredo.
Concepts include mafia psychology (honor, revenge, omertà) and elements of game theory: motivations (interest, passion, norms), risk preference, time preference, rationality, strategic interaction, and the prisoner's dilemma.
We will compare two more recent, real-world hard choices by mafiosi: Tommaso Buscetta's decision to break omertà in Sicily and Sammy "the Bull" Gravano's decision to testify against John Gotti in New York City.
Nevermore will you watch a film with an innocent eye!
The one assignment - an enjoyable one - is to view the films, which are readily available on DVD for purchase, for rent at video outlets, or from your local library.
John Alcorn
Five Wednesdays; 5:30 - 7:00 p.m.
September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14.
Seabury Hall Room S-201
John Alcorn (Principal Lecturer in Italian Studies, Trinity College) teaches Italian history and culture. His signature course is about the Sicilian mafia. He was a research fellow in a three-year international collaborative project about the history of community in Corleone, Sicily. Twice he has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Palermo. He has received grants and fellowships from the Fulbright Committee, the Social Science Research Council, the Agnelli Foundation, and the National Endowment for Humanities. He is Program Director of the Cesare Barbieri Endowment for Italian Culture. In 2007, he received the “Italian American of the Year” award by the Connecticut General Assembly’s Italian-American Legislative Caucus. In 2009, he received the Pirandello Lyceum award for" I migliori - The Best in Mind and Deeds".
__________________________________________________________________
THE COMING OF THE CIVIL WAR, 1845-1861
This course will trace the complex process that led to the Civil War. Among the topics we will examine are: slavery and abolitionism; the growth of sectional consciousness; the protracted struggle over slavery’s status in the western territories; the transformation of the political landscape, including the demise of the Whiggery, the rise of the Republicans, and the disruption of the Democratic party; Lincoln’s election and the resulting secession of the seven states of the lower South; efforts to resolve the secession crisis peacefully; and the outbreak of war at Fort Sumter.
Ronald Spencer
Five Wednesdays 7:00-8:30pm
September 23, 30; October 7, 14, 21.
McCook Room 225
Ron Spencer, a graduate of Trinity College and Columbia University, has been a lecturer in History at his alma mater since 1968, teaching courses on the Civil War Era, among other topics. In addition, between 1971 and 2008, he served variously as Dean of Students, Dean of Studies, and Associate Academic Dean.
_____________________________________________________________
A GENTLE INTRODUCTION TO HIP-HOP CULTURE
Hip-hop is widely regarded as the most popular music of American youth. With its roots in rap music that first appeared in the late 1970s, hip-hop has reached a diversity of youthful audiences for over thirty years and it has transcended race, ethnicity, and social class. Hip-hop’s influence and appeal have even crossed the world’s oceans, as witnessed by the popularity of the music and culture in, among other countries, Poland, Japan, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ethiopia, Korea, and France.
In our four meetings, we will explore the hip-hop phenomenon with an eye to understanding why the music is at once so beloved by youth and loathed (or at least misunderstood) by many adults. We will track the evolution of hip-hop culture from 1979 – 2009, looking at its roots, discussing the political messages of the early music, examining the themes of hip-hop’s notorious “gangsta” rap, and considering the role of women in hip-hop’s world. Along the way, we will listen to the music of Public Enemy, NWA, Ice Cube, Queen Latifah, Tupac, and Eminem.
Gail Woldu
Four Thursdays 5:30-7:00pm
September 24: October 1, 8, 15.
Austin Arts Center Room 320
Gail Hilson Woldu is Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity. She earned her Ph.D. at Yale University with a dissertation on French composer Gabriel Fauré and the Conservatoire de musique et de déclamation. Her most recent research and scholarship straddle two unlikely fields: French music at the turn of the twentieth century and gangsta rap. Her numerous articles on music and culture in France between 1870 and 1930, focused largely on composers Vincent d’Indy, Fauré, and French schools of music, have appeared in French and English publications. She has also written extensively on hip-hop culture and other popular music. Her book The Words and Music of Ice Cube was published by Praeger in 2008.
____________________________________________________________
THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS
In the fall of 2006, economists were marveling at the strength and stability of capitalist economies since the close of World War II. Now, just three years later, economic uncertainty and volatility are the hallmarks of the global economy. People are losing homes and jobs, the stock market has fallen by 40%, businesses are refusing to purchase new machinery, and even those businesses that do wish to invest find it impossible to obtain loans from banks. The Federal Reserve Bank is engaged in unprecedented operations in its effort to save the financial system, and the federal government is running up deficits never before seen in its effort to avert Depression. In this course we will address the following questions:
1) What are the causes of the current economic crisis?
2) Why were economists surprised by both the speed and the depth of the current crisis?
3) Why has the crisis affected the entire world economy?
4) What needs to be done to bring the current crisis to an end?
5) What are the economic and political obstacles that must be faced if we are to avoid another crisis in the future?
Edward J. McKenna
Four Mondays, 5:30-7:00pm
October 5, 12, 19, 26.
McCook Room 225
Edward J. McKenna, Professor of Economics, joined the faculty of Connecticut College in 1984. He received an A.B. at Franklin and Marshall College and his Ph.D. at SUNY Stony Brook. He teaches Introductory and Intermediate Macroeconomics courses; Culture, Values and Economics; Econometrics I and II, and a Seminar on Theories of Inflation and Unemployment. His work lies at the intersection of economics and philosophy. He is particularly interested in the relationship between philosophical conceptions of justice and fairness and economic theories that explain the distribution of income. His most recent publication is a co-authored article (with Diane Zannoni), "The Right to a Job: a Post Keynesian Perspective," Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Summer 2007, Vol. 29, No. 4 PP, 557-574. Professor McKenna serves as a referee for papers submitted to both the Cambridge Journal of Post Keynesian Economics and Eastern Economic Journal.
____________________________________________________________
DAZZLED: 
HOW CHICK AUSTIN MADE HARTFORD A CAPITAL OF THE ARTS
This course, taught by Chick Austin’s biographer, will explore the public and private life of the glamorous man who was called “a whole cultural movement in one man.” Connoisseur, painter, teacher, actor, magician, designer of sets and costumes, and superlative cook, Austin transformed the Wadsworth Atheneum in the 1930s into America’s most innovative art museum, founded Trinity’s Fine Arts Department, and made Hartford a cultural Mecca where Picasso and the surrealists had their first great American exhibitions and the likes of Dali, Calder, Balanchine and Gertrude Stein came to town. The four lectures are illustrated with hundreds of images, film, music and the voices of Austin himself, his family, his famous friends, actors from his summer theater, and his former Trinity students who remembered him as the most captivating teacher they had ever known.
Eugene R. Gaddis
Four Thursdays 5:30-7:00pm
October 15, 22, 29; November 5
McCook Room 213
Eugene R. Gaddis is the Wadsworth Atheneum's William G. DeLana Archivist and Curator of the Austin House. He holds an A.B. from Amherst College and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of a biography of A. Everett Austin, Jr., the legendary director of the Wadsworth Atheneum and the Ringling Museum: Magician of the Modern: Chick Austin and the Transformation of the Arts in America (Alfred A. Knopf, 2000).
_______________________________________________________________
MEMOIR WRITING: TELL YOUR OWN STORY
It’s the human condition: the desire to get down on paper the most memorable events of your life. That’s why almost every celebrity you can think of has at some point tried his or her hand at a memoir. That’s also why the great majority of “first novels” are really little more than memoirs in disguise. We might want to tell our whole life story, or just cherished moments (treasured memories of when our grown kids were little; a short, sweet interlude with a special pet; the most magical summer ever), but we all have recollections we want to pass on. Give in to that urge! Turn on your computer, and start writing about yourself! Whether your motivation is to have a neatly-packaged memoir to pass down to your children or grandchildren, or a keepsake to enjoy for yourself – or to finally knock Tuesdays With Morrie off the best-seller list! – this course will help you do it. You’ll learn how to write easily and naturally, in your own voice, about your favorite subject: you. Due to the personalized, tutorial nature of this course, limited to 8 students, the fee will be $175 for the series. It is open both to new students who would like to try their hand at memoir, as well as to returning students who would like to continue.
Hank Herman
Six Thursdays, 5:30-7:00pm
October 15, 22, 29; November 5, 12, 19.
McCook Room 225
Hank Herman is an award-winning columnist who writes for the Westport News. He is also the author of a series of sports novels for children. His latest book, Accept My Kid, Please! A Dad’s Descent into College Application Hell (Da Capo Press, 2005) is a humorous memoir about the college admissions process. He also teaches writing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kelly Writers House and at Westport Continuing Education. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania where he majored in
English.
_____________________________________________________________
THE JEWISH HERITAGE IN ITALY
This course will cover the amazingly diversified history of the Jews and Jewish communities of Italy during their long presence on Italian soil from pre-Christian to modern times - the oldest, continuous, uninterrupted Jewish presence, outside of Palestine, in the world. It will focus on the circumstances of the influx of Jewish groups from Constantinople and the Near East as Levantines, from Spain and Portugal as Sephardim, from Germany as Ashkenazim... and from ancient Rome as slaves and their subsequent experiences as tradesmen, gifted artisans, silk weavers, gold and silver smiths, distinguished advisors, prime ministers and famous physicians, artists, literary authors, patriotic citizens and military heroes and, yes. also as rag pickers and peddlers...and victims of the Holocaust.
The course will also examine the unique factors that conditioned the establishments of the extraordinary ghetto of Venice and the so different serraglio of Rome.
Recommended reading: The History of the Jews of Italy by Cecil Roth, available at libraries
Michael R. Campo
Six Tuesdays, 5:30-7:00pm
October 27; November 3, 10, 17, 24; December 1.
Seabury Hall Room N-130
Michael R. Campo, John J. McCook Professor, Emeritus, of Modern Languages and Literature, is the founder and former director of Trinity College’s Rome Campus, Elderhostel Programs in Italy, and the Cesare Barbieri Endowment for Italian Culture. Professor Campo is currently Co-Director of the Academy of Lifelong Learning
______________________________________________________________
HOW MICROBES RULE THE WORLD 
Microbes have shaped human culture since the beginning of time. Most consider these microscopic organisms as a source of great human suffering, as witnessed by their role in spreading devastating plagues. Often overlooked, however, are the positive contributions microbes have made to human culture, including their role in the making of wine, bread and cheese. This course will examine many aspects of microbial interactions with humans. The ability of microbes to cause disease will be studied with a particular emphasis on modern epidemics, such as HIV, SARS and the swine flu. We will examine the political and social impact that microbes have on human development by exploring the threat of bioterrorism, the growing resistance of bacterial to antibiotics and the feasibility of global eradication of certain infectious diseases. The course will examine the role of microbes on society from a variety of perspectives including social, scientific and political angles and does not require any background in science
Lisa-Anne Foster
Four Tuesdays, 7:00-8:30pm
November 4, 11, 18; December 3.
Life Science Center Room 131
Lisa-Anne Foster is an Associate Professor of Biology at Trinity College where she has been on the faculty since 1996. As an undergraduate at Le Moyne College, she majored in biology and received a minor in philosophy. After earning her doctorate in microbiology at the SUNY Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences she received a fellowship at the Washington University School of Medicine. Since arriving at Trinity, she has taught a variety of courses in microbiology and infectious diseases for both biology majors and non-science students. Her current research project examines the role of the normal bacterial flora of humans and how they serve a protective role from dangerous infectious diseases.
_____________________________________________________________
"WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE"
This title of Rabbi Kushner's insightful book frames well a concern raised throughout history inside of every religious tradition and in the secular world as well. The concern is addressed continuously in the Hebrew Bible and took on particular poignancy as monotheism - the belief in the existence of but one God - emerged in that tradition. How can the caring and all-powerful God permit suffering and evil? This course will examine the treatment of this perplexing issue within the Hebrew tradition and wrestle with the equally perplexing answers.
John Gettier
Four Monday, 5:30-7:00pm
November 23, 30; December 7, 14.
McCook Room 213
John A. Gettier, Professor of Religion Emeritus at Trinity College, retired in 2001 after teaching for 35 years. With degrees from Wesleyan University, Yale University, and Union Theological Seminary in New York, he has taught a range of courses on biblical literature, specializing in apocalypticism, mythology, Hebrew narrative and Hebrew language. Professor Gettier is currently co-director of the Academy of Lifelong Learning.