11:30 AM – 12:30 PM Courses

  • Bright Moments of Jazz & Rock

    This course celebrates the great bands and stars of pop, rock and jazz. We will listen to recordings, watch videos, and talk about a wide variety of musicians and bands. Social, historical, and musical context will be provided. Examples of artists who will be included are Aretha Franklin, Doobie Brothers, Vulfpeck, Beatles, California Honeydrops, Temptations, Stan Getz, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, B.B. King, and some Doo-wop thrown in too. We will listen, watch, and discuss the greats. We will look at what it takes for new bands to be successful in the Internet era. You will expand your jazz and rock music appreciation and have fun doing it. Come and share your bright moments!

    Teacher: Tom Doran is a bassist/vocalist who played Soul, Funk, Blues, Jazz and Rock. In retirement he loves to make abstract art. He loves to talk about music so if you do too please join!

  • Notable Supreme Court Cases of 2025

    8 weeks. Sept. 8 – Nov. 10. No class Sept. 15, Oct. 13. This year, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a large number of momentous and potentially divisive cases involving environmental regulation, gun regulation, trans rights, Tik Tok, agency power and, of course, decisions on the "emergency docket" regarding President Trump's executive actions on various matters, such as immigration, birthright citizenship and alleged retaliation against law firms, universities and individuals opposed to his policies. The Supreme Court reversed a death penalty sentence in a prosecutorial misconduct case, which lends itself to a "true crime" narrative approach.

    These decisions raise a number of questions: Did the justices honestly try to determine what the Constitution, precedent and facts require? Or do their decisions just reflect the majority's policy preferences or partisan behavior? Which judges provided "swing votes" and why? Are we undergoing revolutions in modes of legal interpretation and use of the emergency docket? As one justice has said, to answer these questions, we must “read the decision.” Eight of the court's 2025 decisions serve as case studies by raising these questions, among others (we may well have occasion to study others issued as we meet during the fall). We will discuss whether the court's majority stayed within its judicial lane in each case - or whether it jumped existing guardrails or put its thumb on the scales. The instructor will draw on his experience as a recently-retired trial court judge and, previously, a lawyer who briefed and argued cases in state and federal appellate courts, including one U. S. Supreme Court oral argument.

    Teacher: Doug Wilkins recently retired as a judge of the Massachusetts Superior Court, where he served from 2010 to 2023. Before his appointment, he was a partner at the Cambridge law firm of Anderson & Kreiger LLP. He served in several positions with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office from 1983 to 1999, where he argued more than 80 appeals at all levels of the state and federal courts, including numerous briefs and one argument in the U.S. Supreme Court. After receiving his J.D. in 1978, Wilkins clerked in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts and was an associate in the Boston law firm of Palmer & Dodge.

  • Novellas

    5 weeks. October 20 – November 17. This course allows discussion of a complete work in a short time. We seek participation by all parties. The stories of these novellas are reflective of human conditions which we all now know comes with the territory of reflection. The Keegan novellas tell Irish family stories with unanswered questions. A Month in the Country is a good, old-fashion country comfortable read. There is a 1987 movie version starring Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth and Natasha Richardson, set in Yorkshire.

    Trust me, these are good titles.

    Please read Foster for the first class. If you're searching for these titles, "bookfinder.com" is an excellent source for purchase of used books.

    1. October 20 Claire Keegan, Foster
    2. October 27 Claire Keegan, Foster and Small Things Like These
    3. November 3 Claire Keegan, Small Things Like These
    4. November 10 J. L. Carr, A Month in the Country
    5. November 17 J. L. Carr, A Month in the Country

    Teacher: Brooks Goddard is a career teacher starting in 1963. He has taught in many schools most notably in Kenya and Wellesley where he was English Department Head for 20 years. He has travelled extensively internationally, reads eclectically, and gardens to exhaustion.

  • Science in the News

    5 weeks. October 20 – November 17. Current events have sown confusion about science and the role it plays in our everyday life. In this 5 week program we will begin by exploring how science works as a discipline, as a research entity and as a business. We'll follow with a discussion of some of the issues about which confusion reigns, including public health and vaccines, climate change and the future consequences of our current activities, an understanding about how genetic research will contribute to future therapies, and the intricacies of human sexual identity. Presentations will be based on scientific research, but open to questions and other topics of interest to the class.

    Teacher: Frank Villa has a lifelong interest in the natural sciences. An award-winning lecturer, he is a natural teacher who finds great joy in explaining complex principles and processes, and bringing the latest quests and discoveries of science to a general audience. He developed curricula and taught courses in many settings on topics as diverse as the formation of the universe, human genetics, and how to make moonshine.

    In addition to his degrees in the sciences, to explore his interest in the “big questions”, Frank achieved a master's degree in Religion and Theology from Andover Newton Theological School in 2004. Frank led the Science and Religion Program at the Boston Theological Institute for many years.

    Frank is a former teacher of high school physics and earth science, a fully rated commercial pilot and flight instructor, and was a small business owner whose company specialized in the design and outfitting of science laboratories.

  • Stories of Conflict as Seen Through a Narrators' Lens, Part XIX

    We will discuss how the narrators' perspectives affect our appreciation of works including selected sonnets by Shakespeare. Our emphasis will be on The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway and selections from Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger.

    Teacher: Helen Smith has taught at the Winsor School, Newton North and in Armenia, Hungary, Kyrgyzstan, the Republic of Georgia, Romania and Zambia. A Smith College graduate, she edits texts about writing and journalism. She is the president of the New England Scholastic Press Association.

  • Writing Your Story: (Memoir, NOT autobiography)

    September 15 – November 24. Maximum Enrollment: 14 If you enjoy writing and sharing stories of your life with a community of writers who will give you constructive feedback, this class may be for you. During each class, participants take turns reading their stories aloud while the class listens and writes thoughtful responses that are shared with the writer. This class will not only inspire you to write, but also will offer an opportunity to hear the intimate stories of others. Everything shared is confidential. The class regularly extends to 1 pm.

    Teacher: Sue Crossley is a retired executive director with more than 40 years of experience in the nonprofit sector. During this time she founded a nonprofit in PA supporting people with disabilities and led Family Promise Metrowest in Natick serving families facing homelessness. Sue retired in 2022. During her tenure she was inspired by the incredible resilience of the families served and wrote extensively to share their personal stories with others as a means of education and outreach to the community. Having come from an Armenian family of storytellers, she now enjoys writing her own personal stories in reflection of a life of gratitude.