Spring 2013
Offerings
FULL!
Cannot accept any more registrations
Pearl Harbor – Lessons for Today from America's Day of
Infamy
Seventy years ago this December the Japanese launched a
surprise attack on the United States fleet at Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii. Overnight, Americans went from complacency and a
longing to avoid war, to outrage and full support for action and
revenge. The course will explore the events leading up to the
attack, addressing such questions as: How did the warm
relationship between Japan and the U.S. deteriorate in a few
decades to the point where Japan saw this country as its bitter
enemy? Why did Japan's leadership approve an operation
which many of its top military leaders thought to be foolhardy?
How were the Japanese able to keep their plans – and the
whereabouts of their fleet – completely under wraps, and achieve
total surprise? Why were our Navy and Army commanders in
Hawaii so completely unprepared, despite clear warnings of the
imminence of war? What lessons applicable to today and the
future can we learn from this experience?
Mondays, 12:30-2 p.m.
March 25-April 15 (4 sessions)
Course Leader: Michael J. Roberts
Location: Salisbury University, Perdue Hall Room 349
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Family Folklore Treasures of the Eastern Shore
Explore the tales and superstitions of the Eastern Shore.
Did someone in your family meet Big Liz in the Devil's Woodyard?
Did one of your relatives control rain with a blacksnake skin?
What do the wooly caterpillars tell people just by looking at
them? Hauntings and callings are part of the Eastern
Shore's heritage, too. We will gather "evidence" and
present "findings." Join us to hunt history in this
Eastern Shore folklore course.
Mondays, 2:30-4 p.m.
Feb. 4 - March 11, March 25-April 1 (8 sessions)
Course Leader: Dorothy Yeatman
Location: Bethany Lutheran Church
* * *
The Rise of the American Short Story
From Hawthorne to Harlem, American fiction came into its own
to command a central place in world literature. This
course will survey the emergence of the short story through the
nineteenth century to the early twentieth, focusing on
innovative writers who sought to perfect their art while giving
it a uniquely American voice. Discussion topics will
include "Leaving the Euro Zone: New World Creation"; "Dream on: The Romantics";
"Tell it Like it is, Maybe:
Realism and Naturalism"; "Tighter ‘n a Tick on a Dawg's
Back: Regionalism and Local Color."
Tuesdays, 10-11:30 a.m.
February 5 - March 12 (6 sessions)
Course Leader: Nancy Hesser
Location: Bethany Lutheran Church
* * *
Assateague, Life on the Edge
Want to know what it is like to live on the edge? This
course is designed to introduce students to Assateague's unique
environment and the organisms that dwell there. With a
focus on managing park resources, students will investigate the
lives of plovers, tiger beetles, seabeach amaranth, phragmites,
and famous wild horses. By the conclusion of this 4 week
course, students will have gained an appreciation for the
challenges associated with managing native, invasive, and iconic
species in an environment that is constantly being reshaped by
wind and waves!
Tuesdays, 10-11:30 a.m.
March 26- April 16 (4 sessions)
Course Leader: Kelly Taylor
Location: SU, Guerrieri University Center Room 236
* * *
The First Women Supreme Court Justices and the Law
They Made
Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed by President Reagan as the
first woman Supreme Court justice in 1981. During her
almost quarter-century on the Court, Justice O'Connor was a
voice for common sense, and often the deciding vote in 5-4
decisions involving controversial issues of our times.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, appointed by President Clinton in
1993, transformed gender discrimination law in cases she argued
to the Court before she joined it. On the Court, she has
been a strong and consistent voice for civil liberties.
Participants will discuss these pioneer women's backgrounds and
influence on the Court; the decisions on issues such as
race-based affirmative action, abortion, gender discrimination,
gay rights, and separation of church and state in which they
played key roles; and whether their legacies are likely to
endure as the Roberts Court revisits these issues.
Thursdays, 10-11:30 a.m.
Feb. 7 - March 14, March 26-April 4 (8 sessions)
Course Leader: Page Insley Austin
Location: Bethany Lutheran Church
* * *
FULL! Cannot accept any
more registrations
Trees Useful in Every Way: Forests and the Making (and
Unmaking)
of the Eastern Shore
The forests of the Eastern Shore have shaped the lives of its
peoples throughout its history, contributing to their livelihood
and transforming their landscape. This course will examine the
changing nature and role of the Shore's forests from the first
days of European settlement to the present day. Topics
include: 1) Canoes, Cutters, and Clippers – Shipbuilding and
Settlement; 2) Cordwood and Calories – The Shore's Energy
Empire; 3) Building Business – Propping up Cities and
Industries; 4) Forestry and the Future – Conserving Resources
and the Land in a Age of Environmental Transformation.
Participants will explore the changing nature of the "value" of
the trees of the Eastern Shore, as the forests and their
sustaining lands have been reshaped throughout a volatile
history.
Thursdays, 2:30-4 p.m.
Feb. 7 - 28 (4 sessions)
Course Leader: Phillip Hesser
Location: Salisbury University, Perdue Hall Room 347
* * *
FULL!
Cannot accept any more registrations
I Hear America Swinging: When U.S. Music United its
Diverse People
and the World
From just before to just after World War II, American Swing
united a nation and inspired a world. This course will examine
how Swing "translated" from its big band roots into the
distinctive musical cultures of people across the country and
around the world. Topics include: 1) "'Taint What You Do"
– What Is Classic Swing?; 2) "Sing, Sing, Sing" – American Swing
Variations from the Concert Hall to the Cantina; 3) "Flying
Home" – Swing Transplanted around the World from South Africa to
"Stockholm"; 4) "'Taint Nobody's Business if I Do" – The
Break-up of Swing into Bop, Pop, R&B, Country & Western, and the
first Global Music. Participants will examine the rise and
fall of swing one song at a time, exploring how Swing became the
soundtrack for a global crusade and yet gave rise to the diverse
American and global music scene of the postwar era.
Thursdays, 2:30-4 p.m.
March 28-April 18 (4 sessions)
Course Leader: Phillip Hesser
Location: Salisbury University, Perdue Hall Room 347
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