School Days & Nights

While many of us are still trying to cram in as much outdoor fun as we can in the remaining weeks of summer, others are looking to the future. Just received a lovely flyer from the Wesleyan Institute of Lifelong Learning (WILL) listing the offerings in its initial semester.  Active and retired Wesleyan faculty members and others from the greater Middletown community will be teaching classes open to the public.

The program begins on Saturday September 11 with "Middletown History Day", a day-long (8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.) series of talks about our fair (and sometimes quite unfair) city from Professor Emeritus Richard Buel, Dione Longley, Elizabeth Warner and Diana McCain.  The "classroom" art of the schedule includes "Geology and Art" (Jelle De Boer) on September 20 and a Field Trip on Saturday September 25.  Retired Professor William Firshein will lead a class titled "The Infectious Microbe" for 5 consecutive Mondays (9/20-10/18) while retired Professor of Theater Gay Smith will lead those interested in the words of William Shakespeare's "Melancholy Dane" as she presents "Hamlet's Soliloquies: Method and Madness" for 3 Tuesdays (9/14-28).  Other classes include Professor John Finn's "Food, Culture and Identity" on 6 Tuesdays (10/5-11/9) (if you've ever attended one of Finn's food lectures, you know how tasty they can be) and adjunct Professor Rhea Padis Higgins' "Deciphering Gauguin" for 3 Mondays in November (11/15-29).  Professor Buel will focus on "The 'Home Front' in Revolutionary Connecticut" for 3 Mondays (10/25-11/8). 

Excited yet?  Kudos to Professor Emeritus in Psychology Karl Scheibe and his advisory board for an impressive beginning to what could and should be a very enriching and fulfilling experience. For more information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/will.