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Chelsea Adult Learners Institute Announces Winter/Spring Classes

(Chelsea Update would like to thank Joan Gaughan for the information in this story.)

Ah, February. Pity your neighbors who thought going to Florida was more fun than scraping ice off a windshield, and wondering how rheumatism got into parts of the anatomy that you didn’t even know you owned.

Beginning on Feb. 22 and continuing into early June, those poor souls will be missing the stimulating classes and the chance to meet new and old friends offered by Chelsea’s Adult Learners Institute.

Most of the ALI classes will be offered via Zoom while three will be presented in-person with Covid restrictions.

Covid remains a world-wide—and a local—scourge. In early January, as a community service, Dr. Charlie Taylor, a former Pfizer research scientist, offered a free two-day Zoom course on the COVID vaccine. Those sessions were recorded and will be available on the ALI website until March 15.

On the first three Tuesdays of April, Dr. Taylor will expand on those lectures and explain how viruses work, how they infect cells, reproduce and spread, and how the immune system works to eventually end an infection. He will cover the history of vaccines, how they fight diseases, and review the COVID vaccines that are now available as well as those that are on the way.

Dr. Henry Aldridge who performs on the Barton theater pipe organ at the Michigan Theater will present an in-person class on Sergei Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes. Diaghilev brought together various artists to create some of the most controversial ballets of the early twentieth century including Igor Stravinsky’s Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring. Dr. Aldridge’s Power Point presentation will also feature Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faune choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky.

Hank Muir’s love of popular culture will again be on display in his 3-session in-person course on the music of the Big Five; that is, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Richard Rodgers. Not only was their own music memorable but also they inspired dozens of other composers, many of whom share their places in the Great American Songbook.

John Hauger believes that much of our history is expressed in music. His in-person class at the end of April will highlight the music of the Roaring Twenties—the era of Prohibition, Charles Lindbergh, the Charleston, the Black Bottom, jazz, tunes from Tin Pan Alley, and Irving Berlin.

Edwin Hoffman’s lively journeys through art may already be familiar to listeners of his radio program “Speaking of Art” on WAAM. His three-part Zoom classes in mid-March, “Transitions: Exploring Art’s Bottomlands,” will take us through the “trough periods” in the history of Western art. He will emphasize the social and historical contexts in which artists and art movements thrived as we join him along the “unpaved footpaths” of transitions in art.

Rosangela Lawrence, a native of Rio de Janeiro, has been teaching at WCC in both English and the Portuguese of her native Brazil since1995. In the first of a two-session Zoom class, she will cover the history of Brazil since the Portuguese discovery to the present. In the second session, she will acquaint us with the cuisine of the different regions of Brazil and discuss the similarities and differences between Brazilian and American cooking.

That class might have you also salivating for a Detroit Coney in a Zoom class offered by Joe Grimm who wanted to know how Detroit and Michigan became the capital of the Coney Nation. Fifty photographs of “Coney Detroit” will be followed by a hot dog IQ test for which, if you get a decent score, you could earn a Ph.D. (Professor of Hot Dogs). This class is free, but you must register by calling the Chelsea District Library at (734) 475-8732.

Did you know that your memory lapses might be improved by the smell of rosemary? Jennifer Fairfield, the owner of Chelsea’s Garden Mill, will explore the value of rosemary and other herbs in her Zoom class at the end of April. Not only do herbs enhance the food we eat, but they also contribute to our overall wellness.

There’s no better time to contemplate junk than the end of February. Yes, junk. Building boxes out of junk can be fun but as Ann Beyer shows in a Zoom class, junk boxes can also teach math concepts to your grandchildren. Or maybe yourself?

Bill O’Reilly is the president of the Chelsea Area Historical Society and a professional genealogist. Using the archives of the Chelsea Area Historical Society, his Zoom class on March 24, will show how our town looked “then” and “now”. He will also provide assistance for those interested in tracing their own family history. This class is also free, but you must register at the Chelsea Senior Center at (734) 473-9242.

Reform of the criminal justice system has finally become an important part of our national conversation. Kathy Gourlay and Carolyn Madden have long been passionate advocates for restorative rather than retributive justice. Their three Zoom classes beginning on Feb. 22 will open ALI’s Winter/Spring schedule. They will look at the role criminal justice authorities can play in helping to end mass incarceration while healing both offenders and their victims.

Somewhat of a companion to that class and especially timely now is Ken Pfifer’s 5-session Zoom class in May and early June examining the link between religion and violence. One of the questions that he will examine is how we can resolve conflict without assaulting and killing each other?  Does religion tell us to be violent? Are some religions more violent than others?

Rhoda Perkins-Boyer and her husband, Joe, have visited nearly 40 countries. Her Zoom class in mid-March will allow you to share their travels through her many colorful photos ending with the wetlands around Pierce Lake in Chelsea.

Laurie Brewis’s law practice focuses mainly on Wills, Estate, Trusts, Probate, Elder Law and Special Needs Planning.  Her four Zoom classes on the four Wednesdays of April should be quite interesting for anyone planning on getting older.

And while the sleet slithers down your windows and you sit swathed in your Bernie Sanders flannels and mittens, you might want to Zoom into Don Chalifant’s class,“A Naturalist’s Visit to Central Florida” on February 26. His photographic exploration of Florida’s gorgeous flora and fauna won’t shovel your walk, but it may just take some of the chill off.

The ALI Winter/Spring catalog is on the way to your mailboxes but the same information, is also at the ALI website, www.adultlearnersinstitute.org.   

Registration is by mail only. Forms will be provided with the catalogs or they can be printed from the website and sent to Adult Learners Institute, P.O Box 134, Chelsea, MI 48118. They are processed on the day they are received in the ALI office.

If you have questions, please call the ALI office at (734) 292- 5540. Fees vary depending on the number of classes and there is an additional $10 registration fee.

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