Penfield Recreation

NEW SECURITY INFORMATION:

The Zoom platform has added security updates to their system. Moving forward participants will need to use a password and will be put in a waiting room before joining the class. New registrants will need to receive permission to attend a DEAR class.

IF YOU ARE NEW TO DEAR YOU MUST RECEIVE CLEARANCE FROM PENFIELD RECREATION BEFORE JOINING any Zoom meeting.

Please send an email with the following information to gerace@penfield.org. Include:

Name, full adress, all phone numbers, have you taken a DEAR class in the past?, If so which classes have you taken?, Were you referred to the DEAR program?, If so, who referred you? Which classes are you interested in joining?________________________________________________________________________________

The underlined colored link will lead you to the Zoom registration page. Fill out the registration and if done successfully Zoom will send you a confirmation email that you will use to join the class. You must register for each class you would like to attend, but only once for any of the recurring courses such as Inexplicable Brain or Investigating American Presidents.

Did you miss one of the Zoom orientation classes? No problem! E-mail Pam at gerace@penfield.org to set up a tutorial.

~ Online DEAR Zoom Classes ~

MONDAYS

Good Morning Coffee Hour / Open chat with DEAR Friends!
Weekly
10:00AM
REGISTER (for those who have not yet attended one)
Bring an interesting topic to the chat. Everyone is welcome! Each week a new presentation for art enthusiasts. Grab your coffee and join the chat.

Book Discussion: Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel
Mondays, April 6 - June 1 (no meeting 5/25)
2:30 PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Pam O'Brien. Weekly reading assignments and suggested video links to watch. Five women revolutionize the modern art world in postwar America in this "gratifying, generous, and lush" true story from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times). E-book copies available through Monroe County Library, Amazon.com, Barnesandnoble.com, Kindle. Email Pam Gerace at gerace@penfield.org for reading assignments and discussion questions.

Redefining Reality
Monday & Wednesday (no class 5/25)
May 18 - June 29
7:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Off we go...What are the constructs of reality? A scientific analysis of the universe. Let's discuss the latest discoveries about possible theories beginning with Einstein himself.

Travels with Dan Reardon:

- Antiquities of Egypt
Monday, June 1
11:00AM
REGISTER

NEW! Secret Societies
Mondays, June 22-July 27
11:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Joan Albany. Delve into the history and meaning of secret societies as you explore the most famous underground groups, their origins, and their members.

NEW! Political Cartoons: Seriously Joking
Monday, July 20
1:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Elaine Miller. Political cartoonists describe their work as an expression of a "quiet passion" for pointing out how our world might be different. As cartoonist Ted Rall puts it, "Cartooning won't change the world, but that's no reason not to try." Let's talk about the messages cartoonists are crafting as they critique the curent political scene, leading up to the 2020 presidential campaign. A selection of issues: immigration (a moat stocked with alligators along the Mexico border?), gun control (armed teachers?), climate control (nuke the eye of the hurricane?), the impeachment controversy, whistleblowing...

TUESDAYS

Investigating American Presidents
Tuesdays, March 31 - June 16
1:30PM
REGISTER
Facilitator John Schmeelk. Are there limits to Presidential power? How do we keep such awesome authority in check? The questions are in the forefront of American politics. Investigating Presidents Past and Present is the basis of this program.

Warriors, Intellectuals, Queens
Tuesdays, May 19 - June 9
10:00AM
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Facilitator Diane Robbins. Women gentle and cruel. European, Asian, Middle Eastern. The only thing they had in common is they all lived before 1400 and found ways to make their own mark in history.

Maximize Your Memory
Tuesdays, May 19-June 23
3:15PM
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Facilitator France McCloskey. This workshop-style class specifically addresses three main memory strategies to improve your memory. France will teach you the techniques and guide you through the practice of how to remember more and learn faster.

NEW! Travels to South Africa
Tuesday, June 16
10:30AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Esta Richter. Join Esta as she shares her adventures with her photo collection from South Africa, which she visited just this past January.

NEW! History of the Greatest Voyages and Explorations - continued
Tuesdays, June 23- July 28
12:30PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Rick Gough. Throughout history, one of the deepest human impulses has been the drive to explore, encounter, and reveal the unknown. In this unique course, you will join a quest to study the greatest explorers of world history and spotlight their complex motivations, including religious impulses, pursuit of commerce, desire for conquest, and drive for scientific knowledge. In the process of discovery, explorers have bound together the world we know today.

NEW! Mural Mania of Wayne County
Tuesday, July 7
10:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Jean Hitchcock. Mural Mania is a preservation of history through community art. This armchair tour of Wayne County's 39 murals will depict its small-town history. Jean has affectionately photographed the 39 murals, visiting 14 towns and villages, and will share them with us allong with some inspirational stories.

WEDNESDAYS

Redefining Reality
Monday & Wednesday, May 18 - June 29
7:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Off we go...What are the constructs of reality? A scientific analysis of the universe. Let's discuss the latest discoveries about possible theories beginning with Einstein himself.

The Life of Robert Smalls
Wednesday, June 3
1:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Diane Robbins. Learn about this amazing man who went from making a daring sea escape during the Civil War as a slave to serving five terms in Congress as a representative of South Carolina.

NEW! The Life and Work of Frederick Douglass
Wednesdays, June 3-July 1
10:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator John Schmeelk. Follow the career of a slave who became an internationally known author, US ambassador, and national political figure.

NEW! The Hot Button of the Cold War: The Cuban Missile Crisis
Wednesdays, June 3-24
11:30AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Nuclear Armageddon was for real. For thirteen days in the fall of 1962, the world hung in paralyzed suspension until President Kennedy worked out a solution with the Soviet Union.

NEW! American Experience - None of Our Sin: Kazan and Miller Part II
Wednesday, June 3
2:30-4:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Events in history which alter and rearrange our society's way and view of behavior and value to conducting our lives.

NEW! What About Those Women Explorers, Huh?
Thursday, June 11, Wednesday, June 17, Wednesday, July 1
1:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Diane Robbins. Explorer - a person who explores an unfamiliar area; an adventurer. Meet women who fit this description and whose names are probably totally new to you. Each session will include lectures and videos on several women.

NEW! The Gilded Age/Progressive Era Continued
Wednesdays, July 1-August 5
11:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Matt Mansfield. Our investigation of the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era continue as we follow the economic, social, political, and cultural events of the first part of the twentieth century.

THURSDAYS

Understanding Great Art
Weekly
1:00PM
REGISTER
Let us explore the ways to understand and appreciate great art. This series will dissect the visual, historical, and technical elements of Western art beginning in the Middle Ages. We will experiment with the basic principles, applying the tools we learn to specific pieces of art. Part lecture and part critical analysis, which will get us energized to share our thoughts and ideas about the world of art.

Stress and the Body
Thursdays, May 21-June 25
10:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Rosemary Irwin. Medicine now understands that every cell in your body is influenced by not just our lifestyle habits, but also our personalities and emotions. Stress and Your Body explains how stress impacts memory, growth, the immune system, sleep, depression, aging, addiction, and many other mind/body systems. This course utilizes humor and science to present strategies to better understand and cope with stress.

Unusual American Biography
Thursday, June 4-25
3:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Each week a new biography about an unusual life lived here in America.

Thursday Lecture Series

- Mary Todd Lincoln
Thursday, May 28
11:30AM
REGISTER
Guest speaker John Schmeelk. This is more than a review or analysis of the life of this important First Lady. Discover unsuspected ways where her life experiences are remarkably similar and different from Eleanor Roosevelt. More than seventy years separate them from becoming First Lady, yet there are unexpected surprises in the stories.

NEW! Medieval World Continued
Thursdays, June 4-July 9
11:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Rick Gough. Welcome back to the Medieval World, a course that aims to explore as fully as possible the many facets of the period of history we have come to call the Middle Ages. We will explore the social and cultural institutions and cultural evens that shaped this incredibly complex and varied period of history.

NEW! Other Side of History Continued
Thursdays, June 18-July 2
1:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Diane Robbins. After learning about the other side of history in Roman and Greek culture, we move into Northern Europe, specifically England and the Middle Ages.

NEW! Great Inventions that Changed the World
Thursdays, July 2-Aug 6
10:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Lisa Hibner. Come and learn the remarkable stories surrounding monumental inventions and how consequential these inventions were to history.

NEW! Unexplained Phenomena
Thursdays, July 9-August 20
1:00-2:30PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Our world is an interesting place full of mysterious discoveries, unexpected surprises, and many unexplained experiences. Join us for a weekly presentation on all things unusual.

NEW! The Black Plague
Thursdays, July 16-August 20
11:00AM
REGISTER
Facilitator Rick Gough. In the mid 14th century the medieval world experienced one of the most devastating pandemics to have ever struck mankind. When the Black Death was finally over, at least half of the population of Europe was dead. Life for the living took a devastating turn as social structures, politics, economic infrastructures, religious institutions, and more were irrevocably changed.

FRIDAYS

Friday Art Forum
Fridays, June 5-August 21 (no class 7/3)
10:00AM
REGISTER
Each week a new presentation for art enthusiasts. Grab your coffee and join the chat.

Humanities NY Reading & Discussion Series - made possible though a grant from NY Humanities
Fridays, May 22-June 26
12:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator France McCloskey. This program will connect the world of neuroscience and the human experience as we read and discuss person stories matched with new scientific discoveries. There will be an abndance of unique themes such as the brain's ability to heal itself and its ability to construct time. We will also consider the idea of consciousness and how and why it exists. Our shared experiences and ideas will be deliberated in this exciting six-week series. Participants will nedd to acquire only one book The Brain's Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity by Norman Doidge. Additional resources and reading materials will be available online. Limited registration.

Mystery Suspense Thriller Horror Theater
Fridays, May 22-June 26
2:00PM
REGISTER
Facilitator Nels Carman. Your sometimes recognizable hoat Nels Carman will delve into the adapted-to-screen-and-TV classics, both well-known and obscure, that remain indelible imprints in genre history for directors, actors, and writers.

NEW! Wine Chat - Vintage Show & Tell
Friday, June 5
5:00PM
REGISTER
Please join us with a special vintage object to share with the group. Think of it as a Zoom virtual museum! We want to see what you have and hear why you have kept it for so long.

NEW! Wine Chat - Best Little Towns in the USA
Friday, June 19
5:00PM
REGISTER
Let's explore some of the best little towns in America so we know where to go when we are finally free! Do you have a favorite to share? Send Pam the town's name, or even some photos, and we can have a group travelogue. Why is that town special? What is there to do there and around the town? Where to eat and where to stay? What is the most memorable thing you did in th town?