What do well-known intellectuals say about the problem of evil? What is known about that fateful day when triumph turned to tragedy when newly re-elected President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated? How have the Jewish communities of the world fared under Christian and Muslim rule?
What technology do you need to have a smart home? How can you avoid identity theft, cyber threats, scams and financial loss? How can you take command of your medical information? What are dark matter and dark energy? What is the future of public radio?
You can learn some possible answers and so much more by registering for and taking a selection of the 70 courses offered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning (ORICL) during the fall term, which runs Sept. 9-Dec. 6.
Most of ORICL’s mind-stimulating offerings this fall will be held at the Oak Ridge Branch Campus of Roane State Community College (RSCC), 701 Briarcliff Ave. However, a few classes will be given by Zoom only or take place at the Oak Ridge Art Center and the American Museum of Science and Energy.
You can journey into the past by taking classes on Franz Liszt (1811-86), the greatest pianist and least understood composer; the Roman influence on Great Britain; the First Ladies in the White House; American Indian cultures; Civil War battles in East Tennessee, the American Revolution and the year when President Andrew Jackson was censured by the U.S. Senate.
If you are curious about nature, energy sources and science, ORICL offers courses on moths, the cedar barrens in Oak Ridge, stories of Oak Ridge science and history, fusion energy science, quantum mechanics, geology and a book discussion on Hannah Ritchie’s “Not the End of the World: How Can We Be the First Generation to Build a Sustainable Planet.”
In literature, there are courses on writing, introduction to theater, stories by Washington Irving and Southern Gothic authors and plays by Shakespeare and the Greek playwright Euripides.
If you like travelogues, you will likely enjoy classes describing river cruises and exotic hiking trips.
Online registration for the fall term opens on Tuesday, Aug. 6. To register for all three terms and become an annual member, the membership fee due in August is $190, payable online or by check to ORICL. The cost of ORICL classes is a bargain compared with the fees for many other lifelong learning programs in the United States, according to several ORICL board members. Visit www.roanestate.edu/oricl to see the online catalog and register for courses on a variety of subjects. For more information and a paper catalog, email the ORICL office at oricl@roanestate.edu or visit the ORICL office in Room F-111 in RSCC’s Coffey-McNally Building. The office is open from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Thursday.
Each course consists of one class or a series of weekly classes, each 70 minutes long.
Languages that will be taught include Latin, Russian and Ukrainian.
At ORICL you can join a book group and read and discuss classic literature, mystery novels, other fiction, nonfiction, speculative fiction or technical books.
Other classes will help you improve your cooking, gardening using native plants, mental agility (Cryptic Varietal Crossword Puzzles), conversation skills (Crochet and Conversation) and feelings of goodwill (Lovingkindness and Unbounded Friendliness). For a fee at the Art Center, you can take a course on making decorative pedestal bowls.
ORICL bus trips available for a fee will take you to see and hear the “Knoxville” play (based on James Agee’s “A Death in the Family” book) at the Clarence Brown Theater in Knoxville; “Beautiful–The Carole King Musical” at Cumberland County Playhouse in Crossville; the National Storytelling Festival in Historic Jonesborough and the Historic Martin’s Station, Cumberland Gap National Park and Powell Valley.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Mind-stimulating, lifelong learning classes start Sept. 9 in Oak Ridge
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