Tuesday Courses   

Have you ever wondered how you might feel stable and more at ease in unstable and uncertain times? This six-week course, for the novice as well as for the seasoned meditator, is designed to be user-friendly and devoid of any ideological framework. It aims to integrate the practice of meditation seamlessly into ordinary life. It’s an invitation to quiet an overactive mind, regulate and calm your nervous system and follow your curiosity down the yellow brick road of your inner world, as well as to better understand how we all create our subjective experience. Each class will include discussion, guidance and lengthening periods of meditative practice. 

NOTE: Participants from previous classes are welcome to repeat this class. It is quite useful to deepen the meditation experience. 

Relax, have fun, and enjoy heartfelt stories about animals — both domestic and wild. Through these tales, you’ll experience the unique love, wisdom and presence that animals offer, while possibly reconnecting with meaningful encounters from your own life. Intuitive messages from animals will be shared and you will be guided through gentle visualizations to help you access your inner connection with animals. Together, these experiences will be explored through group discussions and Q&A, creating a supportive space for reflection. You’ll also hear lighthearted instructor-written fairy stories that use animal characters as metaphors for life’s lessons. This class is designed to awaken the soul, spark curiosity and deepen your appreciation for the many ways animals touch our lives.

What is cryptocurrency? Join us and find out. This course is primarily for those who know little to nothing about cryptocurrencies (of which bitcoin is the most well-known). Each session will include in-class instruction using PowerPoint slide presentations and video clips followed by group discussions. We will review the history of money and world economies. You can expect to gain a greater understanding of the role cryptocurrencies are now playing in the world’s geopolitical and monetary arenas, focusing particularly on the role the U.S. is and will be playing and how it might affect us. By the end of the course you can expect to have a basic understanding of cryptocurrencies, as well as to have enough knowledge to procure and manage your own bitcoin.

DISCLAIMER AND LIABILITY WAIVER: This course is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or legal advice. By enrolling, you assume all investment risks and agree to hold Southern Oregon University and its representatives harmless from any financial losses, damages or claims. 

Students will learn and practice dances of England, France and Italy that date from the Renaissance and Baroque periods and the late 18th century. At each class, participants will actively engage in a physical warm-up and targeted dance techniques. They will have ample time to practice the dances’ movements as they are taught. The warm-up is to prepare the body to move and dance. The techniques will break down the steps and movements needed to perform each dance and note how those steps evolved over time. Different dances will be taught than in previous versions of this course. No partner or prior dance background is required to participate.

NOTE: This is an active, physical class and we will be on our feet 90 minutes. Know your limitations. Signed liability waiver required to participate.

This course will examine and allow for discussion of end-of-life healthcare options including palliative care, hospice, medical aid in dying (MAID), the Oregon Death With Dignity Act (DWDA), Voluntarily Stopping Eating & Drinking (VSED), POLST and advance directives. Two 90-minute sessions will allow for lectures and case presentations on these topics as well as adequate time for discussion and questions. The primary presenter is an Oregon physician with experience in family and emergency medicine, EMS medical direction and end-of-life care. Some topics may be covered in presentations from other experienced and knowledgeable local healthcare providers.

NOTE: This is an educational course, and no specific medical advice, services, care or prescriptions will be provided to attendees.

Where does government money come from — and where does it go? This six-class course challenges the most common myth in economic life: that the federal government runs like a household budget. Starting from first principles, we will explore what fiat currency actually is, how money is created, and what separates a currency issuer (the federal government) from a currency user (everyone else). We will unpack the national “debt,” inflation, sectoral balances and the role of taxes in funding federal spending. Along the way we’ll screen “Finding the Money,” Stephanie Kelton’s documentary on modern monetary theory. No economics background is required — just curiosity and a willingness to question what you’ve been told. 

Hot News & Cool Views is an open discussion forum to explore and discuss each week’s breaking news, from Oregon to around the globe. All views and opinions are not only welcome but essential for lively discussion in the group. We cover a wide range of topics, including politics, climate change, technology and medicine. An agenda with articles to read will be sent to you prior to each class. Students are encouraged to send in topics and news articles to add to each week’s agenda. Please join us for a sizzling hot journey around the world with our fast, fun and sometimes controversial class, whose success is largely a product of the wisdom, knowledge and experience of our great group. Many people take our class again because it’s better than a strong cup of coffee to get your week going! 

Hot News & Cool Views is an open discussion forum to explore and discuss each week’s breaking news, from Oregon to around the globe. All views and opinions are not only welcome but essential for lively discussion in the group. We cover a wide range of topics, including politics, climate change, technology and medicine. An agenda with articles to read will be sent to you prior to each class. Students are encouraged to send in topics and news articles to add to each week’s agenda. Please join us for a sizzling hot journey around the world with our fast, fun and sometimes controversial class, whose success is largely a product of the wisdom, knowledge and experience of our great group. Many people take our class again because it’s better than a strong cup of coffee to get your week going! 

If you have ever watched a solid lump of clay take form on a potter’s wheel, it looks like magic, but really it is just a skill that can be practiced and learned. Over four weeks, students will learn the fundamental steps of throwing: preparing the clay, centering, opening, pulling the clay into a cylinder and shaping. We will also cover trimming and glazing. This course is designed for students with no experience or those who want to refine their skills.

NOTE: The total cost to participate is $112 ($28 per session) and includes course materials. Payment should be made directly to Talent Maker City after registration is processed. Registration fees are nonrefundable, and a signed liability waiver is required to participate.

In this course you will learn the basics of relief printmaking. Students will learn design tips and tricks to make a dynamic print, proper tool usage and cleanup, and how to successfully transfer a design. Instructor Amy Godard will guide you through the process of creating your own one- color relief prints that can be made into cards or limited-edition prints.

NOTE: Total cost to participate is $112 ($28 per session) and includes course materials. Payment should be made directly to Talent Maker City after registration is processed. Registration fees are nonrefundable, and a signed liability waiver is required to participate.

The existential crisis we face due to global climate change and the copious need for data center electricity has brought renewed interest in nuclear energy. Recent advances in fission reactor technology such as small modular reactors (SMRs) and in plasma and fusion reactor science (the “breakeven” experiment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory) hold promise for achieving these needs. In this course students will learn: 1) the history and context for nuclear energy; 2) fundamental physics of radioactivity, fission and fusion; 3) how nuclear reactors work; 4) safety, risk and licensing; 5) recycling and radioactive waste disposal; 6) current developments for advanced fission and fusion systems; 7) sociopolitical and socioeconomic issues; and 8) resource and supply chain issues.

NOTE: A scientific or technical background is not required for this course. All are welcome! 

For one of Shakespeare’s closest friends and rivals Ben Jonson, most men were basically crooks, con men or cuckolds; and most women were bawds, backbiters or social climbers. He knew of what he wrote. He was a jailbird. He was a convicted murderer and a suspected traitor. Unlike Shakespeare, Jonson believed the purpose of comedy was to “make men better.” So Jonson, to shame Londoners, reveled in rubbing their noses in the iniquities of their contemporary life. And they enjoyed this rubbing no less! From 1598 to 1616, he regaled London with some of the greatest comedies ever written in English: “Volpone,” “The Alchemist,” “The Silent Woman” and “Bartholomew Fair,” among others. If you believe that scoundrels rule our world, you already have a leg up to appreciate Jonson.

NOTE: No text is required, but there will be a field trip to Hannon Library to view the first editions of Jonson’s two collected “workes” (1616 and 1641). Signed liability waiver required to participate.

This class will explore the war in Asia, the Burma Road, FDR, Truman, Chiang Kai-shek and his missionary-surgeon wife, Dr. Seagraves, the Japanese Empire — and why the China Burma India theater was created. All these people, places and events will be woven into a story that will deepen your knowledge and interest in this part of the world and in this time in history. Several love stories of real people who witnessed and lived through this chaotic era will be told. A newly published book brings many of these events to life. Old newsreels and newly found photographs will enhance the telling of these stories and show the sacrifice these people made to make the world a better place. Drama and questioning are also useful tools to keep one’s attention. All will be used in this class, along with audiovisual presentations.

If you’ve been wanting to dive into a rainbow of color, this class is for you! No prior art experience is necessary. We will work with tempera/gouache paint on large-scale art paper in a welcoming studio environment, one that is free of judgment and critique. Process painting invites artists and nonartists alike to step toward the blank canvas and discover the richness that emerges from within. Imagination, intuition and creativity flow as we follow the energy of the creative process.

NOTE: Total cost to participate is $112 ($28 per session) and includes course materials. Payment should be made directly to Talent Maker City after registration is processed. Registration fees are nonrefundable, and a signed liability waiver is required to participate. There is no class on Nov. 3. 

Share ideas, make new friends and celebrate women in an updated answer to the salons of the French Enlightenment. Find common ground and camaraderie with other women via conversation and intellectual stimulation using modern pop culture as the catalyst for discussion— like a book club, but with films. At the first meeting, students will jointly select themes, which can range from angels to zeitgeist, diving deep into topics that touch women across ages, cultures, communities and circumstances. Weekly emails will include film titles and links to quotes, articles, visual artistic works and music that will become touchstones to recall personal stories and insights to share in discussions at the following sessions. Classes may include a short meditation. 

NOTE: Students will watch one to two films weekly at home before class, chosen from current selections on Netflix, Amazon Prime and/or other popular streaming services available via free trials. 

Travel sketching can be for your next trip to Rome or for looking out your kitchen window on a snowy winter’s day. Your sketches will give you immediate connection with scenes and everlasting memories. The course will teach members how to find hidden artistic selves and to apply knowledge gained to drawing and sketching scenes found while traveling or at home.  Students will learn basic art concepts and apply them using simple tools such as pencil, pen and watercolor. Instruction will focus on the importance of using a small array of colors to yield vast arrays of colorful paintings. No prior drawing experience is required. Each student should come to the first class ready to work and have fun! 

NOTE: Students will be provided with a materials list and suggested reference material. 

Students will explore the short-lived political and cultural flowering of Germany’s Weimar Republic, 1919-1933. View cinema masterpieces that inspired the best of Hollywood and the world for more than a century. From murder to horror, farseeing science fiction to steamy romance and tragedy — these films that straddle the silent-to-sound technology divide remain superbly entertaining. Do they have anything to teach us in still-troubled times? In the brief space between two devastating world wars, a fragile experiment in democracy that produced these treasures was crushed. Around the world in the 21st century, emerging and older democracies are threatened. Come simply for superb entertainment. Linger a little longer to discuss troubling questions, or not!

NOTE: There is no required text for this class, but “Weimar Cinema: An Essential Guide to Classic Films of the Era,” edited by Noah Issenberg, is highly recommended.

Do you have a person or topic you think children might be interested in reading about? Writing a book could be the way to share an interesting subject. In this course, we will explore the wonderful world of “faction” — a portmanteau of fact and fiction, a genre that uses real documented historical events or figures as a foundation for a fictional narrative. Books will be written with the 8- to 12-year-old age group in mind. Participants will conceive and develop their words into a manuscript for a 32-page picture book. Art will not be required. Our small writing community will encourage, support and provide feedback. Writing will be done outside class; class sessions will be spent collaborating. This class is appropriate for both experienced and inexperienced writers.