Coming Events
One-day seminar tuition is $125 per person. Any contribution above $125 is classified as a tax-deductible donation. Special events have differing tuition. Scholarships are available for teachers and students. Or, become a subscriber in the Community of Lifelong Learners for $40 per month and attend as many events as you would like. Please inquire via email here.
The Foundations of Our Republic, Take II
Free Community Seminar Series
The Second and Fourth Mondays of each month
Next session is January 27, 2020
What are the fundamental principles of our Republic? Are these principles based on a view of objective reality/nature, or simply the "consent of the governed"? Depending on how one addresses the previous question: Are these principles changeable, and if so on what grounds? How should one read the founding documents? What authority does the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches have? What are rights? Are they based on nature or consent? Are they inalienable?
The January 27 reading is -
the Federalist Paper 51
Click the icon to download.
Schedule:
5:30 - 6:30PM
Readings:
Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, selected Federalist Papers, selected Anti-Federalist Papers, the U.S. Constitution, selections from Democracy in American, Dred Scott Decision and Dissenting View (edited), selected Lincoln speeches, Lincoln Douglass Debates (edited), Plessy v. Ferguson and Dissenting View (edited), Brown v. Board of Education, Letter from Birmingham Jail, Proposed Equal Rights Amendment, UN Declaration of Human Rights
Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023
Eastern Classics
Free Community Seminar Series
The First and Third Thursdays of each month
Next session is January 30, 2020
Like the west, the east has its own tradition of influential texts that address the perennial questions of human kind. Centering around the bodies of work from China, Japan, and India, this series will focus on the texts of Taoism, Confucius, Buddhism, and Hinduism. We invite you to join us.
The January 30 reading is:
The Tao Te Ching - Chapters 15, 18
Click icon to download, or click here
for all chapters.
Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM
Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023
Series - The Story Within the Story - I
The Decameron (selections)
by Giovanni Boccaccio
Saturday, February 8, 2020
Schedule:
9:30 - 10:00AM - Continental Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar I
12:00 - 1:00PM - Lunch
1:00 - 3:00PM - Seminar II
Reading Selection:
Introduction
Day One: tales 1, 2, 3
Day Two: Introduction, Tales 5, 9, 10
Day Three: Introductions Tales 1, 4, 9, 10
Day Four: Introduction, Tales 1, 2, 5
Day Five: Introduction, Tales 4, 6, 8, 9
Day Six: Introduction, Tales 1, 9, 10
Day Seven: Introduction, Tales 2, 4, 9
Day Eight: introduction, Tales 2, 3, 8
Day Nine: Introduction, Tales 2, 6, 10
Day Ten: Introduction, Tales 5, 6, 10, Conclusion
Tutors:
Roxana Zirakzadeh and Andy Gilman
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Ojai Chautauqua Panel
Continuing Series on Education
Addressing Declining Public School
Enrollment in the Ojai Valley
Sunday, February 16, 2020
Since 1999, public school enrollment in Ojai has been in decline, with attendance soon approaching nearly 50% from its peak. The potential causes of this trend include housing costs, available employment, zoning, and school performance. This panel, made up of OUSD representatives, real estate experts, business professionals, and city leadership, will explore these issues in the spirit of objective fact finding and civil discourse. Attendees will gain a greater knowledge of this complicated issue and, as a community, we can investigate next steps to supporting a sustainable valley going forward.
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Pragmatism by William James
Saturday, February 22, 2020
Schedule:
9:30 - 10:00AM - Continental Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar I
12:00 - 1:00PM - Lunch
1:00 - 3:00PM - Seminar II
Tutors:
Elizabeth Reyes and Andy Gilman
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Series - The Story Within the Story - II
The Canterbury Tales (selections)
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Schedule:
9:30 - 10:00AM - Continental Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar I
12:00 - 1:00PM - Lunch
1:00 - 3:00PM - Seminar II
Reading Selection:
The General Prologue
The Knight’s Tale
The Miller’s Tale
The Reeve’s Tale
The Tale of Sir Thopas
The Nun’s Priest’s Tale
The Wife of Bath’s Tale
The Friar’s Tale
The Summoner’s Tale
The Merchant’s Tale
Tutors:
Roxana Zirakzadeh and Andy Gilman
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Series on Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War
Books One and Two
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Schedule:
9:30 - 10:00AM - Continental Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar I
12:00 - 1:00PM - Lunch
1:00 - 3:00PM - Seminar II
Tutor:
David Appleby
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Seminar and Play Performance
Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Schedule:
10:00 - 10:30AM - Continental Breakfast
10:30AM - 12:30PM - Seminar
12:30 - 2:00PM - Lunch
2:00 - 4:30 - Play Performance
4:30 - 5:15 - Discussion with Director/Actors
(Subscribers - This event carries an additional $35 fee)
Tutor:
Elizabeth Reyes
Location:
110 East Broadway
Glendale, California 91205
Democracy in America, Volume 2 (selections)
by Alexis de Tocqueville
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Schedule:
9:30 - 10:00AM - Continental Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar I
12:00 - 1:00PM - Lunch
1:00 - 3:00PM - Seminar II
Reading Selections:
Book 1 - Chapters 1-3, 5, 8, 10
Book 2 - Chapters 1-2, 5, 8-11, 14, 19
Book 3 - Chapters 8-10, 12, 19
Book 4 - Chapters 1-4, 6-8
Tutor:
Karl Haigler
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Series - The Story Within the Story - III
The Arabian Nights (selections)
Saturday, April 25, 2020
Schedule:
9:30 - 10:00AM - Continental Breakfast
10:00AM - 12:00PM - Seminar I
12:00 - 1:00PM - Lunch
1:00 - 3:00PM - Seminar II
Tutors:
Roxana Zirakzadeh and Andy Gilman
Location:
The Agora Foundation
417 Bryant Circle
Ojai, California 93023
Greek Philosophy
Free Community Seminar Series
The Second and Fourth Tuesdays of each month
Next session is January 28, 2020
Why is Greek philosophy fundamental to the history of western civilization? This series, which includes readings from pre-socratic philosophers, leading up to Plato and Aristotle, will carefully work through the perennial questions these thinkers grappled with: What is knowledge? What is the best way to live a life? What is the best political system? What is the nature of the world? What is the nature of the divine?
The January 28 reading is -
Crito by Plato
Click the icon to download.
Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM
New Location:
111 East Ojai Avenue
Ojai, California 93023