Forum

2013 Course Offerings

Each three-week course is $40. All courses meet in the Forum Classroom unless otherwise noted. Classes will not meet the week of March 25, 2013 due to the Easter holiday.


Course: Paying the Butcher’s Bill: Grant’s Campaign to Appomattox, May 1864 to April 1865
Instructor: Joseph J. Hylan, Esq.
Dates: Wednesdays, March 6, 13, 20
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Description: After three years of grisly warfare, the Confederacy continued to resist the Union’s insistence on reunification and reconstruction. In May, 1864, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of General Ulysses Grant, moved south to seek out, engage, and once and for all, destroy the Army of Northern Virginia under the command of General Robert E. Lee as both Grant and President Lincoln knew that so long as Lee and his Army remained loose on the land, the Civil War would not end. In a series of battles of incredible ferocity (paying the butcher’s bill, as General Meade said) the two armies inflicted on each other staggering casualties as they grimly and inexorably proceeded to Appomattox Court House and the end of the fratricidal blood bath. The course will consider this last terrible campaign and its impact on American History.


Course: “Are You Talking to Me?” - Introducing the Old Testament Prophets
Instructor: Sister Marie Michele Donnelly
Dates: Thursdays, March 7, 14, 21
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Description: Prophets are not usually popular people. Their messages can be challenging and unwelcome. This was certainly true of those chosen by God to proclaim God's message to the ancient Jewish people. Join us as we meet the major prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel - as well as the twelve minor prophets of the Old Testament. Their messages are just as challenging today.


Course: Mysterious Offerings: Historical Mystery
Instructor: Meredith Baird
Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Description: Inserting a crime into a different time period changes all the rules.  Limited forensic practices and archaic laws become important factors which influence the progress and eventual outcome of each investigation.  Historical detectives, lacking the advantages of modern scientific techniques, rely on determined legwork and deductive reasoning.  Richly detailed period settings and social rules often are portrayed as both character and motive.  Join us as we read and discuss three character-driven novels which cast a new light on the challenges of bringing criminals to justice in differing time periods.  Because this course will be heavily discussion-based, the class size will be limited to twenty-five.

Proposed Reading List:
A Morbid Taste for Bones, by Ellis Peters; The Thorne Maze, by Karen Harper; The Coral Thief, by Rebecca Stott


Course: Capturing the Beauty of Rosemont
Instructor: Jaci Downs
Dates: Tuesdays, April 2, 9, 16
Time: 6:30 – 8:00 p.m.
Description: This three work course will include a brief history of Rosemont's stunning architecture and tour of Main Building by Dolories Richardi. Following the history we will then discuss photography in both complex and low lighting conditions and how to utilize various white balances as well as exposures, to create beautiful architectural photos. Please bring your DSLR or point and shoots, with the ability to adjust exposures.  A tripod or monopod is recommended, since we will be taking photos of the facade and interior of some of the buildings in low lighting conditions. 


Course: The World of Provence: Its History and Culture
Instructor: Elaine Sharer
Dates: Thursdays, April 4, 11, 18
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Description: A land filled with sunlight, where the cicadas sing and the perfume of flowers and trees fills the air, has a history dating to 600B.C. Poets and writers, from Mistral to Daudet and Zola have found much fruitful inspiration in Provence whether they sing of nature, daily life or love.  The sun-drenched hills and the sea have drawn artists from Cezanne and Van Gogh to Matisse and Picasso to depict Provence's many splendors. All will be examined and illustrated.


Course: Crop circles, Alien Art, and Extraterrestrial Manifestations
Instructor: Dominic Roberti, Ph.D.
Dates: Wednesdays, April 10, 17, 24
Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m.
Description: Intricately beautiful formations have been appearing overnight in cereal crops, and investigators have reported feelings of love and serenity when within the circles. Their origin is mysterious, but they are probably produced by extraterrestrials as a form of communication. Other forms of sculpture and architecture going back to ancient times also seem to be of extraterrestrial origin. There will be a review of the evidence of the reality of extraterrestrial visitations to Earth.


Course: Philadelphia's Main Line: From Its Welsh Quaker Founding to Its Suburbanization
Instructor: Richard Donagher, Ph.D.
Dates: Tuesdays, April 23, 30; May 7
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
*(Please Note: the time printed in the Forum brochure is incorrectly stated as 1:00-2:30 p.m.)
Description: The first session of the course will trace Main Line history from the settlement of Welch Quakers in the seventeenth century to the eve of the American Revolution. The second session will broaden the focus to look at the Delaware Valley in the American Revolution but place the Main Line in the center of those events. The third session will look at the history of the Main Line from the 1790s to its development as an upscale suburb of Philadelphia at the end of the nineteenth into the early twentieth century. 


Course: Kings and Queens and Palace Intrigues
Instructor: Therese Rawson
Dates: Thursdays, April 25; May 2, 9
Time: 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
*(Please Note: the time printed in the Forum brochure is incorrectly stated as 1:00-2:30 p.m.)
Description: This power-point lecture series will present a brief history of the French Monarchy from the Medieval period to the end of the monarchy but will also include modern pretenders.
We will focus on dynastic struggles, comparing the French monarchy to the British monarchy, highlighting three major periods: The Hundred Years’ War; The Wars of Religion; The French Revolution and the Restoration. Iconic figures of these periods will be discussed such as Joan of Arc, Catherine de Medici, Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette.