Coming Online Events
One-day onsite 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 for unlimited attendance at on-site and online events, or $25 per month for only online events.
Please inquire via email here.
Online Seminar Series
Greek Intensive - Section One: Gods and Epics
>> Cohort Two - Tuesday Evenings - November 17, 2020-February 25, 2021
>> Cohort One - Thursday Evenings - November 18, 2020-February 23, 2021
Isocrates, the Greek rhetorician, once remarked that what makes one an Athenian is not the blood that runs through one’s veins, but the ideas in one’s mind. How can we access this ancient world, with some aspects so foreign and others so familiar, and discover foundations that changed the trajectory of civilization. This series is developed in four sections: 1) Gods and Epics, 2) Tragedy and Comedy, 3) Philosophy, 4) History. Attendees will gain a deep understanding of Greek life through some of its greatest authors, and will be better able to see the profound influence the Greeks have had on the entirety of the west and the world.
All reading materials (in English translation) will be supplied and sessions will be facilitated by tutors experienced is shared inquiry and the Socratic method. Groups will be limited to 12 participants and no prior knowledge is required. The Four-Month Weekly Series is $600 and is not included in the recurring subscription package. Payment options are available.
Online Seminar Series
Anguish and the Absurd - Part V
Diary of a Madman and The Nose by Nikolai Gogol
Saturday, November 21, 2020
This series will explore the troubling world of the absurd through the writings of Kafka, Gogol, Camus, Sartre, Borges, Beckett, and others.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Paul Herder and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar
Free Community Seminar Series
The Foundations of Our Republic, Take II
Monday, November 30, 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 November 30 reading is -
The Bill of Rights, Amendments II and III
Click the icon to download.
Schedule:
5:30 - 6:30PM PST
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
Meeting ID: 882 6689 9933
Online Seminar
Free Community Seminar Series
Eastern Classics
Next session Thursday, December 3, 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 December 3 reading is:
Bhagavad Gita - Chapter Eighteen
Click here to access the readings.
Schedule:
12:00 - 1:00PM PST
Location:
Online. Click here.
Meeting ID: 830 3917 1800
Online Film Seminar
Rashomon directed by Akira Kurosawa
Saturday, December 5, 2020
Released in 1950, Rashomon was the first Japanese film to receive a significant international reception, winning several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1951, and an Academy Honorary Award at the 24th Academy Awards in 1952, and is considered one of the greatest films ever made. The Rashomon effect is named after the film.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Peter Rainer
Film:
Please watch the film prior to the
seminar. Rashomon is available on
Criterion, HBOMax, Kanopy, AppleTV,
and in parts on YouTube.
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Marcel Proust - Swann's Way - Part VII -
Swann in Love, pp. 397 to the end
Sunday, December 6, 2020
“People don't know when they are happy. They're never so unhappy as they think they are.”
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Patricia Locke
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War - Book Seven
Saturday, December 12, 2020
Is there an art to writing and reading history? Is a detached view of historical events desirable, or even possible? What does this conflict (431-404 BC) in particular have to teach us. This series will cover all eight books over time, with one two-hour online seminar per book.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
David Appleby
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Seneca Part III - On Providence
Sunday, December 13, 2020
"... why, if the world be ruled by providence, so many evils befall good men?"
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Kevin Walker
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Shakespeare's Henriad Tetralogy
Saturday, December 19, 2020
"Though I did wish him dead, I hate the murd’rer, love him murdered."
December 19 Reading:
Richard II
Readings in the Series:
Richard II
Henry IV, Part One
Henry IV, Part Two
Henry V
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Eric Stull and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Shakespeare's Henriad Tetralogy
Saturday, January 16, 2021
"It would be argument for a week, laughter for a month, and a good jest for ever."
January 16 Reading:
Henry IV, Part One
Readings in the Series:
Richard II
Henry IV, Part One
Henry IV, Part Two
Henry V
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Eric Stull and Andy Gilman
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
The Wisdom of Humor - Part II
Sunday, January 17, 2021
Many of truth is spoken in jest.
January 17 Reading:
A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Readings in the Series:
Clouds by Aristophanes
A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
On Lying by Twain and Wilde
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Carroll
A Modest Proposal by Swift
Speech on Slavery by Douglass
Selected TED Talks by Emily Levine
Tutor:
Karl Haigler
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar
The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin
Saturday, January 23, 2021
“The most dangerous creation of any society is the man who has nothing to lose.”
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutors:
Anika Prather and Paul O'Reilly
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Thucydides - The Peloponnesian War - Book Eight
Sunday, January 24, 2021
Is there an art to writing and reading history? Is a detached view of historical events desirable, or even possible? What does this conflict (431-404 BC) in particular have to teach us. This series will cover all eight books over time, with one two-hour online seminar per book.
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
David Appleby
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar Series
Ocean and Underworld -
Selections from The Aeneid by Virgil
Saturday, January 30, 2021
What mysteries are hidden underwater and deep in the underworld? Will one who explores these realms discover ancestors, gods, monsters,... or even oneself? This series will consider the ocean and the underworld as depicted in these classic literary texts.
January 30 reading:
Virgil, Aeneid - Books 3, 4, 5, 6
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Elizabeth Reyes
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.
Online Seminar
Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot
Sunday, January 31, 2021
“For last year's words belong to last year's language
And next year's words await another voice.”
Schedule:
12:00-2:00PM PST
Tutor:
Barry Rabe
Location:
Online. Register to receive the link.