OLLI South   

100 years ago, one animation studio in America made Walt Disney sweat at night and creatively challenged his studio: The Fleischer Studio in New York City. Gritty, outrageous, and willing to take a risk, the Fleischers developed an authentic family atmosphere. They produced 3D cartoons and animation that allowed human interaction with cartoon characters, brought sound to film five years before anyone else, and created the “Bouncing Ball” sing-along films and cartoons that still amaze to this very day. They introduced White American audiences to the great Black jazz artists, including Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong. They brought Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, Superman, Gulliver, and Mr. Bug to the screen, dazzling audiences with their stories, characters, seamless animation, and effects. It’s a story of reaching for the American Dream and being innovative, yet amid overwhelming family drama, never realizing that the Hollywood Studio you’ve relied on is planning to drive you out of business.

Recommended: Of Mice and Magic by Leonard Maltin

This class will be a spirited study of Franklin Delano Roosevelt as commander-in-chief during the Second World War. We will bring alive the human dramas, logistic hurdles, and strategic debates showing how FDR’s indispensable drive and forward-looking leadership tamed his own “team of rivals” and set the United States and its Allies on the road to victory over the Axis. In the process, we will enliven the often-murky worlds of bureaucratic struggle and military detail. We will aim to show that FDR was an extremely strong and effective commander-in-chief and set the ultimate course for victory. This historical review will have an emphasis on Roosevelt's relations with Winston Churchill. Roosevelt had a clear vision of how to win the war and how to create a postwar society that would prevent such wars from recurring. Defeating and disarming Germany and Japan was just the first step; creating an international structure to prevent them from rearming was the only way to ensure a peaceful future.

Recommended Reading: The Mantle of Command, by Nigel Hamilton 

Great Decisions is a program of the Foreign Policy Association with eight new and significant topics each year. High-quality educational materials are prepared and provided to discussion groups in cities and universities throughout the United States. There is a chapter on each topic describing relevant current issues and a video of background information and interviews with world leaders and scholars. Whether you have strong opinions about U.S. foreign policy or just want to better understand the policy rationale, this class will be an interesting and engaging way to learn more. The 2025 topics include: U.S. Foreign Policy at a Crossroads and the Changing Leadership of the World Economy; U.S. and China Relations; International Cooperation on Climate Change; The Future of NATO and European Security; Artificial Intelligence and American National Security; India as an Emerging Major Power in World Affairs; and American Foreign Policy in the Mideast after the war in Gaza.

Book Required: Great Decisions 2025. Please order from fpa.org/great_decisions/?act=gd_materials (select: Great Decisions 2025 Briefing Book) 

Do you use Google, Chat GPT, or other engines to search for help with an idea? Are you frustrated with technology? Do new improvements make you anxious? Join this class and learn 8 effective techniques from the Google for Workspace Prompting Guide 101. The 8 techniques address the use of Persona, Task, Content, Format, Specificity, Context, Bias, and Refinement. We will practice the use of these techniques so that your AI result will meet your needs and expectations. Even more important, you will amaze your friends, family, and grandkids with your ability to speak AI fluently!

This speaker series will focus on the following scientists. Please refer to the syllabus for the order of their presentations.

Anne Bennett: Lynn Margulis was an evolutionary biologist who advanced the theory of evolution through symbiosis. Her work on the formation of life on Earth was controversial at the time. She was married to Carl Sagan. Carl Sagan was a planetary astronomer and communicator. He is best known for his work in extraterrestrial life and the development of amino acids from basic chemicals and light. He was a frequent guest on the Johnny Carson show. He was the first to send messages into space using language that it was believed to be understood by anyone.

Peter Gilbert’s first lecture will feature 2 female scientists; double Nobel Prize winner Marie Curie who experimented with radioactivity and discovered radium and polonium, and Vera Rubin who was the first astronomer to prove the existence of dark matter in the universe. His second lecture will focus mainly on Albert Einstein’s life and work, with a short discussion on Ernest Rutherford who discovered the atomic nucleus of the atom. Finally, Peter will talk about Steven Hawking and Black Holes followed by Kip Thorne and Gravitational Waves. These lectures require no previous knowledge and will be non-mathematical.

Charles Holt will present on John Archibald Wheeler, a world-renowned American theoretical physicist, who was largely responsible for reviving interest in general relativity in the US after WW II. He worked with Niels Bohr in explaining basic principles behind nuclear fission. Wheeler was a professor at Princeton University until retirement in 1976. Ron Knox will highlight English mathematician Thomas Bayes: The Bayes Theorem is a fundamental component of AI tools, particularly those dealing with probabilistic reasoning and machine learning. Ira Rifkin will present on leaders in infectious disease care.

Ken Sweet will discuss two scientists/geophysicists, Harold Seigel and Phillip Hallof. Both were leaders in early mining geophysics. Without their expertise and inventions, we would not have the mineral resources we have today.

The Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced to Congress in 1923, and has been reintroduced every year since. Why has it not become an amendment in over 101 years? In this class we will go behind the scenes of Congress and witness the debate, the successes, and the setbacks. We’ll cover the ERA’s progress decade by decade and how it almost passed in the ‘70s, and then suffered a huge loss of support, setting us back for over 20 years. Additionally, we will reflect back on American women’s history of legal rights beginning with British Common Law at the start of our nation, the 19th Amendment granting white women the right to vote, and the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Feminist Movements up until today. A new wave of American women, are rising up and speaking out to alter the course of their lives moving forward. Will we ever see the Equal Rights Amendment enacted? Come to class for the debate!

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