December 04, 2024 Donate

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November Classes for Adult Learners Institute Announced

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November Classes for Adult Learners Institute Announced

Yes, there will be an election on November 5. And yes, there will be Thanksgiving. But in between, ALI will close out its Fall 2024 semester with a lineup of classes to nourish the mind while having some fun.

On November 1 and 8, Charlie Taylor continues his exploration of that “beautiful molecule” – the one that contains our DNA – and that makes us … “us”… and not a nuclear physicist or champion bull rider. In his class, DNA, Genes and Ancestry, he explores not only genetics but also the ways in which law enforcement uses DNA samples – and the privacy issues involved.

On November 9, Elizabeth Thoburn will finish her four-part examination of the “spirit of an age” in her class Zeitgeist, from the Middle Ages through the Nineteenth Century. Using Power Point, she shows how societal factors such as wars, religion, natural disasters and other events shaped the music and visual arts of a particular age.

On November 4, Susan Nenadic will be tackling an issue that has been a dominant feature of the current political campaign. In the first of her two-session class, History of Immigration, she will explore why people leave their homes and why Americans are often so hostile to newcomers. Her second session on November 8 will feature the film The Visit about a man who finds a man and woman who are not legal immigrants living in an apartment that he owns.

A few years ago, Mike and Cathy Muha went to Scotland and fell in love with the country. However, they found that the Scottish mists also hover over an area closer to home, in Nova Scotia as New Scotland is called on this side of the Atlantic. On November 18, they invite us for Adventures in Nova Scotia. A stop in Maine and a visit to Campobello are followed by the Cabot Trail tour of Cape Breton Island and a visit to the cemetery where 200 victims of the Titanic are buried. The trip home includes visits to Quebec’s Old Town as well as to the vibrant city of Montreal.

While June 6, 1944, marks the beginning of the end of World War II, it really was only the beginning. The brutal Allied campaign across northern France culminated in the closing of the Falaise Gap and the near total destruction of the German army on August 21, thus opening the road to Paris and the liberation of that city a few days later. As Jim Croft explains in his November 13 class, American Army in Normandy: From Detroit to the Falaise Gap, the entire history of the war might have been changed had the Allies failed at that Gap.

In November 1942, when the Air Force announced that it would start recruiting women for pilot training, twenty-five thousand women signed up to become pilots. Of these, only 1830 made the cut and then, as members of the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), they proved as capable of flying a plane as men and ferried men and supplies throughout the war. However, they had no military standing and thus no benefits until the mid-1970s.  In her class, Wings of Change: The Women Airforce Service Pilots, Wendy Zielen will leave you with the impression that, as she puts it, “ a woman’s place is in the cockpit, not in the kitchen!”

Tamara Briggs wants to be sure that Thanksgiving is about more than just the turkey. In her 3-hour class, Holiday Cooking: Sweet Treats and Charcuterie Boards on November 20, you can learn how to make a variety of cookies, small bits/appetizers and charcuterie boards that will impress even your fussy aunts. And you will be taking nibbles from the class home with you. In addition to ALI catalogs at various locations in the area, more information can be accessed at ALI’s website at info@ALIMichigan.org or using the QR code below. You may also call (734) 292-5540 and leave a message.