Course Descriptions - Lawrence University

Print your own copy of the 2012 Björklunden seminar descriptions here! (pdf - 24 pages)
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June 10-15
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1020 single; $365 commuter

Reflections on Storytelling: O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Hemingway’s Soldier’s Home

The Things They Carried is one of the best books written by an American since WWII, not least because it is inspired by and responds to such literary predecessors as Joseph Conrad, Ernest Hemingway and Thomas Hardy. This seminar will concentrate on such issues as O’Brien as a trauma artist; his compelling preoccupation with the role and ethical responsibility of the storyteller; and his bold, serious investment in the power of fiction to probe and speak about unspeakable events. In the last two days of the course participants will dwell on the ways O’Brien engages, rewrites, reworks, re-sites Conrad’s great novella, Heart of Darkness, in his wonderful story Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong and lastly on his reworking of Hemingway’s Soldier’s Home (from In Our Time) in Speaking of Courage.

Class text: “Heart of Darkness & Other Stories” by Joseph Conrad. Wordsworth Editions Ltd (January 5, 1998). ISBN: 978-185326240
Class text: “The Things They Carried” by Tim O’Brien. Broadway; trade edition (December 29, 1998). ISBN: 978-076790289
A photocopy of Hemingway's Soldier's Home will be handed out in class.

Keith Carabine taught at Kent University, England (1967–2005) after gaining an M.A. at Leeds and a Ph.D. from Yale in American studies. He is currently a senior honorary research fellow at Kent, chair of the Joseph Conrad Society (G.B.) and the general editor of Wordsworth Classics, for whom he has edited Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Crime and Punishment, and Conrad’s Three Sea Stories, Selected Short Stories, The Mirror of the Sea and A Personal Record. He is the editor of several volumes of Conrad criticism, including the four-volume Critical Assessments (1992), the author of The Life and the Art: A Study of Joseph Conrad’s “Under Western Eyes” (1996) and he recently edited the Conrad volume in Lives of Victorian Literary Figures VII, (2009). He has written many articles on Conrad’s work, including two long essays on his relationship to Dostoevsky and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o. He has also written on Dickens, Hawthorne, Sherwood Anderson, Hemingway and Wright Morris, the great Nebraskan novelist and photographer.

June in Bloom and in Tune: Wildflowers and Birds of Door County

June is busting out all over with bird song and blooming plants. Join Roy and Charlotte and explore Door County’s wild places, parks and preserves. Walk in upland hardwoods and lowland boreal forests. A few pre-breakfast bird hikes will be offered as well as several color slide programs on birds and wildflowers. Be prepared for extended hiking

Please bring: binoculars, hiking boots, rain gear, hand lens magnifier, notebook and a pen.

Roy and Charlotte Lukes are leading their 17th and 18th seminars at Björklunden this year. Roy was manager and chief naturalist at The Ridges Sanctuary for 27 years, from June 1964 to September 1990. He writes a regular column, Door to Nature, for the Peninsula Pulse newspaper and a regular feature for each issue of the Door County Living magazine. Roy received an honorary doctor of science degree from Lawrence University in 2003. Charlotte’s specialty is wild mushrooms and she has a database of 570 species for the area. She plans to write a book, The Mushrooms of Door County. Charlotte organizes bird counts for Door County and both are county coordinators for the Bluebird Restoration Association of Wisconsin. They have worked as a team for 40 years.

Creating Better Photographs with Your Digital Camera (Beginner)

Digital cameras are complex in the variety of operations they can perform. This seminar will clarify those numerous camera settings to give participants greater control over the photographs they create and make digital photography easier. This class is designed for beginning students with little or no experience with digital cameras and photo editing software. Participants will explore the art of photography and ways to use a camera as a tool of self-expression. Daily assignments and field trips will be offered to stimulate imagination and creativity. These assignments will concentrate on improving compositions, portraits, close-ups, motion and night photography. In the evening, participants will edit photographs and learn simple tools to enhance their images.

Please bring: a digital camera, the camera's instruction manual, a laptop computer with Photoshop or Photoshop Elements (a trial version can be uploaded just before the seminar), a USB flash drive and a simple tripod.
There is a $10 materials fee for ink jet paper and ink - payable upon arrival.

Philip Krejcarek is a professor of art at Carroll University and chairman of the visual and performing arts department. He has taught at Carroll for the past 34 years and he is the author of the book An Introduction to Digital Imaging. His work has been displayed in national exhibitions and has been included in collections at the Milwaukee Art Museum, The Denver Art Museum, Wustum Museum of Fine Arts and the Haggerty Museum of Art.

June 17-22
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1020 single; $365 commuter

Fiction into Film, or Jane Austen meets Rooster Cogburn

Everyone has been disappointed by the movie version of a favorite book. The lead roles were miscast. Important scenes were left out. The ending was changed beyond recognition. And so forth. As we think about how much can go wrong with a film adaptation, we might conclude that failure is inevitable. But is that really the case? That’s the question lying behind this seminar. The seminar will focus on two splendid novels, Jane Austen’s Emma and Charles Portis’s True Grit, and on the films those books have inspired. Through the week, participants will talk about chick flicks and Westerns, Gwyneth Paltrow and John Wayne, Alicia Silverstone and Jeff Bridges. Through all of this, participants gain a better sense of how stories are told, on the page and on the screen, as well as a deeper respect for Austen, Portis, Amy Heckerling and the Coen Brothers. To get ready for the seminar, participants will want to read both novels and should feel free to watch the movies, too—though the instructor will make a point of looking at them together.

Class text: “Emma” by Jane Austen. Penguin Classics (May 6, 2003). ISBN: 978-0141439587
Class text: “True Grit” by Charles Portis. Overlook TP; Mti Rep edition (November 5, 2010). ISBN: 978-1590204597

Timothy Spurgin is associate professor of English and the Bonnie Glidden Buchanan Professor of English at Lawrence University. He graduated from Carleton College and received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Virginia. Since coming to Lawrence in 1990, he has twice served as director of the Freshman Studies program. He has also received the Freshman Studies Teaching Prize, the Young Teacher Award and the Babcock Prize. Recently, Spurgin has developed and presented two courses for the Teaching Company, The English Novel and The Art of Reading.

1912: Modern Art a Century Ago

This seminar will look back a century and consider the year 1912 as a means to explore the state of modern art before the outbreak of WWI. It will consider key avant-garde art movements, including the Expressionists, the Cubists and the Futurists, and examine how their theories and styles broke from the Academic tradition. Through an analysis of artworks and artists’ manifestos, participants will look at the ways new scientific and technological advancements impacted an already rapidly changing society. While the course will focus on the visual arts, it will also consider connections with experimental music, dance, and film from the same year.

Class text: To be determined

Elizabeth Carlson, assistant professor of art history at Lawrence University, joined the faculty in 2006. She specializes in late 19th-and early 20th-century French art history and visual culture and teaches courses covering Modern and Contemporary European and American art. She is currently working on two related, yet distinct, projects. The first of these examines how public mirrored environments reorganized space and vision in late 19th-century Paris. The second project looks at the commercial exploitation of Cubism by American department stores during the summer of 1913, following the New York Armory Show. She holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota.

June 24-June 29
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1020 single; $365 commuter

Exploring the Magic of Music: A Sonic Adventure of Global Proportions

Why does music move us so? Tears, joy, our deepest childhood memories can all be released by a single chord, a halting melody, or a crashing bass line. Are minor chords truly inherently sad? Does music have the same impact for Australian Aborigines, or inhabitants of the Amazon Rain Forest? Can recent discoveries by our leading brain scientists help unravel this beautiful puzzle, or perhaps our poets, or favorite performers?

Brian Pertl, dean of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, ethnomusicologist, and passionate lover of music, will lead a fascinating exploration of the wonderful, mysterious, world of music. Classical, jazz, pop and world music traditions are all on the agenda. During the seminar, participants will take the time to listen deeply, read voraciously, discuss freely, share their passions and even let their own inner musicians out to play! This course is for everyone who has been transported by a song, compelled to dance by an irresistible groove or pondered what makes Mozart, well, so very, very Mozart. Participants don’t need to be musicians or have the ability to read music. Just bring curiosity, a pith helmet, machete, and maybe a favorite tune or two!

There is a $10 materials fee for musical instruments and article copies - payable upon arrival.

Brian Pertl ’86 ethnomusicologist, didjeridu player and dean of the Lawrence Conservatory of Music, has given more than 400 presentations on a vast array of music topics across the United States. His lively performances give the audiences insights into other cultures through music. He has a B.Mus. with a major in trombone performance and a B.A. with a major in English from Lawrence University, an M.A. in ethnomusicology from Wesleyan University, and has worked on his Ph.D. in ethnomusicology at the University of Washington in Seattle. He is a recipient of the prestigious Watson Fellowship, was the music advisor for The Smithsonian’s New Harmonies: American Roots Music traveling museum project and worked for 16 years managing the Media Acquisitions Group at Microsoft where he was instrumental in selecting the hundreds of pieces of music and audio for the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia and World Atlas titles.

July 8-14
Sunday-Saturday; $1,625 tuition, room & board (double occupancy); $1,110 tuition and meals; $845 tuition only*

Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camp

Enjoy a high-quality, fun, engaging experience for adult jazz musicians of all levels, from beginner to semi-pro. The week’s musical activities include playing and performance opportunities in combos and large ensembles, jazz master classes, jazz improvisation/theory classes, special-topics sessions, individual lessons, open jam sessions and performances with professional jazz artists. Summer 2012 will be Tritone’s 14th consecutive year at Björklunden.

Faculty members include Fred Sturm ’73, Kimberly Clark Professor of Music and director of jazz studies at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music. Fred is a former faculty member of the Eastman School of Music, where he directed the award-winning Eastman Jazz Ensemble. He previously taught at Lawrence from 1977-91. Jim Doser served on the Eastman jazz faculty from 1986 to 2000, and is now music chairperson at a large suburban school district near Rochester, New York.

Other faculty members include John Harmon ’57, D.F.A ’05 (piano), Lawrence jazz director from 1971 to 1974, Wisconsin composer, performer, and educator; John's son Zach Harmon, a wonderful LA-based drummer and graduate of the Thelonious Monk Jazz Institute; Mike Hale ’74 (trumpet, ensembles), former Lawrence University and UW-Oshkosh jazz faculties; Janet Planet (voice), Lawrence instructor of music and renowned Wisconsin jazz/pop vocal soloist; Janet's husband, Tom Washatka (sax), a busy sideman, producer, and recording engineer; and Ike Sturm (bass), music director for the jazz ministry at Manhattan's Saint Peter’s Church (the “Jazz Church”) and a busy freelance bassist in NYC. Special guest artist is Gene Bertoncini, former guitarist with the NBC “Tonight Show” band, the Benny Goodman Orchestra, and a renowned recording artist.

*To register, contact Bob DeRosa at Tritone Jazz Fantasy Camps, PO Box 297, Penfield NY, 14526, (585) 377-2222, bob@tritonejazz.com

July 15-20
Sunday-Friday; Family Week/Grandparents-Grandchildren Week, Resident $535 adult, $380 youth (7-15); Commuter $365 adult, $180 youth (7-15).

Nature, Rhythm, Stars and Things That Fly

Nature is full of sounds: animal calls, sound of the waves at the shore, wind in the trees and the laughter of families exploring nature and having fun together. David Stokes, naturalist educator, will lead participants through the wilds of Björklunden in search of everything natural from the beetles to rocks (and roll). Participants will meet up close and personal with his traveling entourage of frogs, turtles and snakes. Joining Stokes is Tom Gill from Rhythm For Unity who will add a percussive and playful aspect to the week. Gill will bring a variety of authentic drums and other percussion instruments (bells, shakers, wood blocks, etc.) and materials to help participants make a “story drum” to decorate and keep. Additionally, participants will toss some flying objects (Frisbee discs) on a disc golf course, which they will create together on the grounds. At night the heavens will be explored with telescope, binoculars and the naked eye. Gill stresses that listening is the most important focus in drumming together and as it turns out, listening is an important aspect of nature study as well. Get ready for a week of playful exploration of nature and recreation in a place of natural beauty.

There is a $23 materials fee for special T-shirts, plastic discs, and drum-making materials - payable upon arrival.

David Stokes is a nationally known naturalist, educator and entertainer who lives with his family in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Stokes “gets down” with his audience and makes learning fun, from live animal investigations, to exploring the habitats at Björklunden; participants will come face to face with nature. This will be Stokes’ 19th seminar (including three Elderhostel’s) for Björklunden. Visit his website at www.dwstokes.com.

Tom Gill, founder of Rhythm For Unity, is a rhythm facilitator who uses his resources and energy to create and cultivate instant-shared musical experiences. Since being trained by Arthur Hull in 1998, Gill has facilitated drum circle experiences with hundreds of groups of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, abilities and attitudes. He has worked extensively in schools, the health care field, youth and adult camps, senior living centers, and wherever sharing an experience of unity can benefit a group. It is a natural extension for Gill to share some of his other passions including disc golf and astronomy.

July 22-27
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter.

Abraham Lincoln: An American Icon

Abraham Lincoln is considered to be America’s greatest president. Lincoln led the country during the Civil War, preserved the Union, ended slavery and set the stage for the modernization of the nation. Though born in poverty and mostly self-educated, Lincoln would rise to unprecedented heights in American history. Despite his tremendous professional success, his personal life was filled with great tragedy. This seminar will review the life and times of Abraham Lincoln and attempt to better understand one of the most prominent figures in all of American history.

Class text: “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln” by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Simon & Schuster (September 26, 2006). ISBN: 978-0743270755

Tim Crain received a Ph.D. in modern European and modern Jewish history at Arizona State University, after completing a B.A. and M.A. from Marquette University. His areas of specialization include Jewish history, European anti-Semitism and the modern Middle East. Crain is an adjunct assistant professor and the director of outreach for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He has received numerous distinguished teaching awards from Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin System. Crain and his family always look forward to their time at Björklunden each summer.

In Chambers: Behind the Bench of America’s Justice System—Classic Issues / Current Conflicts

Judges: caring and careful, scholarly, compassionate, thoughtful, unbiased and fair.

Judges: uncaring and careless, impulsive, calloused, political, biased and unfair.

Which is it, and why? Who’s beneath the robes? How do they make those decisions?

What’s taking place behind the bench? What’s going on in chambers? Let’s look at real cases involving corporate combatants, abortion protesters, sex predators, journalists and a vice president, yesterday’s slaves and today’s immigrants. Let’s view them through the lenses of history, literature, cinema, psychology and brain science, and … humor. And let’s focus with help from a real judge who, for 22 years in juvenile, criminal and appellate courts, delivered decisions from behind the bench to America’s courts.

I. The Deviant and the Law—from Scriveners to Sex Predators—Criminals and Civil Liberties in America’s Courts
II. The Journalist and the Law—from Lincoln Steffens to Valerie Plame—the First Amendment and National Security in America’s Courts
III. The Vulnerable and the Law—from Suffragists to Assault Victims—Women and Children in America’s Courts
IV. Minorities and the Law—from Yesterday’s Slaves to Today’s Immigrants—Bias and Brain Science in America’s Courts
V. Humor and the Law—from Rumpole to My Cousin Vinny – Laughter and Disorder in America’s Courts

There is a $20 materials fee for a course book prepared by the instructor - payable upon arrival.
A copy will be mailed to participants sometime in June – participants should read it before coming to the seminar.

Charles Schudson is a Wisconsin reserve judge emeritus, an adjunct professor of law, a Fulbright Scholar and president of KeynoteSeminars, LLC (www.keynoteseminars.net). Judge Schudson graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Wisconsin Law School. He served as a state and federal prosecutor (1975-82), a Wisconsin circuit court judge (1982–92), a Wisconsin court of appeals judge (1992–2004), senior counsel at von Briesen & Roper, s.c. (2004–06) and general counsel of La Causa, Inc. (2006–09).

Judge Schudson’s honors include Phi Beta Kappa, Law Review, the U.S. Department of Justice’s award for Superior Performance, the Wisconsin Child Abuse Prevention Certificate of Special Achievement, Career Youth Development’s “Wisconsin Judge of the Year” award, the National Human Rights Leadership Award, the Foundation for Improvement of Justice Award and the National Exchange Club Book of Golden Deeds Award. In 2009, Judge Schudson was awarded a five-year “Senior Specialist” Fulbright Fellowship.

Judge Schudson has authored hundreds of published appellate opinions and other works including On Trial: America’s Courts and Their Treatment of Sexually Abused Children. He has testified before congressional committees on battered women, the impact of unemployment on children and families, and child sexual abuse. He has keynoted conferences and taught at judicial colleges throughout the world, and been a featured guest on numerous shows including The McNeil-Lehrer Report and Oprah.

For many years, Judge Schudson served on the faculties of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the National Judicial College, the Marquette University Law School and the University of Wisconsin Law School. In 2007, he was the Law and Literature Scholar-in-Residence at Lawrence University. A member of the National Association of State Judicial Educators, he specializes in law and literature seminars for judges.

Judge Schudson teaches in both English and Spanish. In 2005, he was the scholar-in-residence at Universidad Diego Portales Law School in Santiago, Chile. In 2006, he was an international observer for the presidential election in Venezuela. From 2007 to 2011, he lectured on child sexual abuse at Universidad Católica in Santiago, Chile, Universidad de León Law School in Mexico and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú in Lima, Perú. Most recently, he taught a course on the United States legal system and its treatment of child sexual abuse cases at Justus Liebig Universitat Law School in Giessen, Germany.

Judge Schudson is married to Karen Schudson, a psychotherapist, mediator, and executive coach with whom he has presented two Björklunden seminars. With great pleasure, Judge Schudson now returns to Björklunden for a sixth time to offer a new seminar, “In Chambers: Behind the Bench of America’s Justice System—Classic Issues / Current Conflicts.”

In the Beginning

What is the nature of humankind? How do we, or should we, interact with the universe above us? Participants will explore and study these questions with the aid of rabbinic commentary stories of the beginning in Genesis: the Creation, Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel, Tower of Babel, and the Flood.

Class text: Please bring a Bible to class (any edition).

Jay Brickman is Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Sinai. He is a former president of the Milwaukee Interfaith Conference and recipient of its Frank Zeidler award. Rabbi Brickman has studied Jungian psychology in Zurich, Switzerland, and Evanston, Illinois. He teaches courses in dream interpretation for the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Continuing Education. He is the author of Reflections in a Pumpkin Field and Reflections on a Lily Pond. His most recent book, approaching publication, is Poetry Doodles.

July 29-August 4
Sunday-Saturday; $865 double; $1,150 single; $365 commuter

Watercolor: The Expressive Medium

This seminar is for novice through experienced artists who wish to explore watercolor as an expressive medium in the beauty of the Björklunden landscape. Drawing skills are useful but not required, and participants do not need to have experience with watercolor painting to participate. Students will experiment with a wide range of traditional and non-traditional techniques in transparent and opaque watercolor while exploring with the range of possibilities of this expressive painting medium. Whether participants enjoy painting from nature or are ready to explore their own imagination, this seminar will give them the tools and direction they need to create strong individualized artistic statements in watercolor. Participants from previous summers are welcome to repeat this class.

There is a $35 materials fee for an array of tools and materials for participants to experiment with - payable upon arrival.
A list of suggested materials to bring to the seminar will be provided upon registering.

Helen Klebesadel was a member of the Lawrence University faculty from 1990 to 2000 teaching studio art and gender studies. She has continued to offer her summer Björklunden watercolor seminars annually since then. Klebesadel currently serves as director of the University of Wisconsin System Women’s Studies Consortium. Known as an engaging teacher and for her highly detailed narrative watercolor, Klebesadel exhibits her paintings nationally and internationally. She has been invited to teach watercolor and creativity workshops from Texas to Alaska. Maintaining an art studio in Madison, WI., Klebesadel has served as the only visual artist on the Wisconsin Arts Board since her appointment by Governor Doyle in 2005. Learn more about her artwork and exhibition schedule at www.klebesadel.com.

Creating Better Photographs with Your Digital Camera (Intermediate and Advanced)

This seminar is designed for students who have taken a previous digital workshop or who feel confident about the use of their digital camera and photo editing on the computer. Students will explore advanced camera techniques utilizing the various exposure modes, natural and artificial lighting (both studio and location) and special camera effects. In photo editing, participants will experience advanced use of layers, multiple exposure, type and special effects. Assignments will be given each day to stimulate creativity and field trips will be taken for location shooting.

Learning To Live, Learning To Die: Lessons from WIT

WIT by Margaret Edson was written in 1991, had its first production in 1995 and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. Since then it has been performed and translated worldwide, is used in medical school training and has changed the understanding of what it’s like to live with a life-threatening disease. And yet the playwright had never had cancer, had no medical training, and had never written a play before. This, like the play, is astonishing.

Participants in this seminar will try to discover some of the reasons why WIT has had such a profound impact on so many people. Participants will do a close reading of the play, perform selected scenes in class, learn about the playwright, compare the stage and HBO versions, consider how John Donne’s sonnets are used and explore the larger end-of-life issues raised by the powerful story. Co-instructor Liz Cole, who originated the lead role of Vivian Bearing, will also perform her solo version, The Wisdom of WIT. Like the play itself, this seminar will be stimulating, informative, free flowing, thoughtful, and lively.

Class text: “WIT” by Margaret Edson. Dramatists Play Service; Acting Edition. ASIN: B004SI5H3K

Liz Cole ’63 has had a long acting career on the professional stage, including TV guest-star appearances on Seinfeld, ER, The Practice, various Star Treks, Judging Amy, Las Vegas and others. She originated the leading role in Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama WIT, for which she received the L.A. Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding Performance, and also tours with The Wisdom of WIT, her solo version of the play. Cole (professionally known as Megan Cole) also gives public talks and workshops on physician/patient communication, medicine and the arts, and the human face of medicine at healthcare and end-of-life venues across the country. Learn more at www.megancole.net.

August 5-10
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Dead Sea Scrolls

Since their discovery 65 years ago in 1947, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the community that produced them have fascinated, educated, and mystified both scholars and the general public. This seminar will deal with the discovery of the Scrolls, their probable connection with the archaeological remains at the nearby site of Qumran, and the far-ranging impact they have had on Biblical studies and our understanding of the historical period in which Christianity and Rabbinic Judaism originated. To get a flavor of the religious community that produced the Scrolls, participants will read many of their documents, such as, the Community Rule, the War Rule, the Genesis Apocryphon and other Biblical interpretations, and a selection of Messianic and visionary recitals, hymns, and liturgical texts.

Class text: “The Dead Sea Scrolls Today” by James VanderKam. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; 2 edition (February 22, 2010). ISBN: 978-0802864352

Bill Urbrock (Ph.D., Harvard) is professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where he specialized in teaching Hebrew Bible studies and ancient Near Eastern religions. Long active in the Society of Biblical Literature, he has published scholarly reviews and journal articles, and has presented many courses, seminars, and lecture series for a variety of civic and educational groups, including Björklunden. Samson: A Play for Voices, one of several dramatic pieces he has written, was first presented at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

Running for Office: Stories from the Campaign Trail

This seminar will look at what’s really going on in the 2012 presidential campaign. From the perspective of how major media cover the candidates—and how the candidates seek to shape, evade and trump media coverage—to the personal strengths and flaws of candidates, to the substantive concerns driving the debate, this will be a wide-ranging discussion. This seminar will examine the rapidly changing demographics of the United States and how they are changing electoral strategy in both major parties. Participants will also explore what it’s like out on the trail, how the circus-like atmosphere and back-and-forth sniping actually do add up to the great American democratic enterprise. The goal is to develop a fresh and fully human understanding of how a presidential race works—beyond the horse-race.

Class text: To be determined

Terry Moran ’82 was named co-anchor of ABC News Nightline in October 2005 and is based in Washington, D.C. Since 2009, he has also covered the Supreme Court of the United States for all ABC News outlets.

At Nightline, Moran has led the program's distinguished coverage of several of the major news stories over the past several years. In November of 2010, Moran anchored Nightline’s coverage of the midterm elections that swept Republicans back into power in the United States House of Representatives. During the course of the campaign, he traveled to several states, covering key races for the broadcast. Moran has also covered the impact of the economic and financial crisis of the past several years, with a focus on the housing market.

In the historic presidential campaign of 2008, Moran traveled across the country chronicling the rise of Sen. Barack Obama, and conducting several ground-breaking interviews before and after his election. He has continued to cover the Obama administration for the broadcast.

Moran has also reported extensively from overseas for Nightline, covering the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In June of 2006, Moran traveled to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, for a week-long Nightline series on the American detention facility there and the controversies surrounding interrogation techniques, conditions, and the legal status of the 200-plus men held there as “enemy combatants.”

Among the major domestic news stories, Moran has covered for Nightline: he interviewed Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Florida, in the days Jones was threatening to burn a Koran; he led the program’s coverage for a week from Blacksburg, Virginia, covering the tragedy at Virginia Tech; he spent a week reporting on the California wildfires in the fall of 2007, hosting Nightline’s critically acclaimed one-hour special from the fire zone; he has chronicled the continuing struggle of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Moran was on the Gulf Coast when the storm slammed ashore in 2005, reporting for all ABC News programs.

Moran has been the recipient of several Emmy Awards. And in 2007, he received the George Foster Peabody award for his work reporting and anchoring the one-hour ABC News documentary, Out of Control: AIDS in Black America. Moran has interviewed a wide range of celebrities, musicians and authors including: Kanye West, Keira Knightley, John Grisham, Natalie Portman, Francis Ford Coppola and Ryan Seacrest.

Prior to co-anchoring Nightline, Moran was ABC’s Chief White House correspondent for six years, covering the administrations of President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. In 2006, Moran was honored by the White House Correspondents Association with the Merriman Smith award, for excellence in presidential reporting on deadline.

In 2004, Moran was named anchor of World News Tonight Sunday, a position he held until joining Nightline. Moran was a key member of the ABC News team covering the events of September 11, 2001, and he continued to report on all aspects of the war on terror while covering the Bush administration. He reported from the White House throughout the war with Iraq during the spring of 2003. In November of 2003, Moran traveled to Baghdad to report on the U.S.-led occupation and the violent insurgency against it.

Moran covered Vice President Al Gore’s presidential campaign. He traveled extensively, reporting on the primary battles between Gore and Senator Bill Bradley in Iowa, New Hampshire and on Super Tuesday. During the hard-fought general-election campaign, he logged thousands of miles with Vice President Gore and spent Election Day in Nashville, where he reported on the historic events that night. For the next 35 days, he covered the legal battle for the White House, and on the chaotic night the U.S. Supreme Court decided the case of Bush v. Gore, it was from listening to Moran’s clear explanation of the Court’s opinion that Vice President Gore himself learned he had lost the presidency.

In 1999 Moran traveled to the Balkans to cover the war in Kosovo and its troubled aftermath. From the refugee camps in Macedonia to the Roma (“gypsy”) neighborhoods of Pristina, he investigated war-crimes stories and reported on the human impact of the ‘ethnic-cleansing’ campaigns launched by both Serbs and Kosovars.

Prior to covering politics and policy, Moran spent 10 years covering law. From 1998 to 1999 he was the primary ABC News correspondent assigned to the U.S. Supreme Court. He filed stories on several major cases of the term, including Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, a case that raised the issue of schools’ liability for student-on-student sexual harassment. He joined ABC News in 1997.

Other legal stories he has covered for ABC News include the murder trial of British au pair Louise Woodward in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the fourth trial of Dr. Jack Kevorkian; the trial of the Unabomber, Theodore Kaczynski; the Microsoft anti-trust case; and the Portland, Oregon, trial of anti-abortion activists sued for contributing to a website that the jury found illegally threatened abortion providers. For Nightline—among other stories—Moran covered the unique death-penalty case of Horace Kelly, a man who had gone insane on California’s death row and was then brought before a jury, which was asked if he should still be executed; the tragic rash of heroin-overdose deaths of teenagers in Plano, Texas; and the remarkable gathering of dozens of former death-row inmates freed when evidence of their innocence came to light. For this piece, Moran was awarded the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award by the Death Penalty Information Center. He was also in Miami in the spring of 1999 when Elian Gonzalez was seized by federal agents and returned to his father, and he covered the protests and the civil disturbances in the city that followed the government’s action.

Prior to joining ABC News, Moran was a correspondent and anchor for Court TV. He received critical acclaim for his nightly coverage of the day’s events in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, and for his extensive reports during the trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, when the Los Angeles brothers first faced charges for the shotgun murders of their parents.

For Court TV, Moran also traveled to Bosnia and The Hague, in the Netherlands, to cover the first international war-crimes trial since World War II that of a Bosnian Serb named Dusko Tadic. In addition, he was Court TV’s correspondent covering the Supreme Court confirmation debates over Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer. Before joining Court TV, he was a reporter and assistant managing editor for Legal Times.

Moran has written for many publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The New Republic Magazine—where he began his career in journalism.

The Art of Biography

Since the days of James Boswell, the biography has taken a significant place in the canon of literature. Turning history and biography into art is a craft approached from different directions and employing different medians. This course will discuss the challenges of turning research into biography, and biography into drama. David Maraniss, Pulitzer Prize-winning biography writer, will discuss his biographies while award-winning playwright and documentary film maker Eric Simonson will discuss turning biographies into theatre and film. Both will address their collaboration on When Pride Still Mattered, which became the Broadway play Lombardi.

Class text: “When Pride Still Mattered: Lombardi” by David Maraniss. Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (September 7, 2010). ISBN: 1451611455
Class text: “Lombardi ” by Eric Simonson. Smith & Kraus (January 1, 2011). ISBN: 978-1575257990

Optional/Suggested reading list:
“Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero” by David Maraniss. Simon & Schuster (April 3, 2007). ISBN: 978-0743299992
“First In His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton” by David Maraniss. Simon & Schuster (March 6, 1995). ISBN: 978-0671871093
“Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright” by Jeffrey Hatcher & Eric Simonson. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. (January 1, 2006). ISBN: 978-0822221487

David Maraniss is an associate editor at The Washington Post. In addition to Into the Story: A Writer’s Journey Through Life, Politics, Sports and Loss, (publication date, January 2010), Maraniss is the author of five critically acclaimed and bestselling books, When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi; First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton; They Marched Into Sunlight—War and Peace, Vietnam and America, October 1967; Clemente—The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero; and Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics That Stirred the World. He is also the author of The Clinton Enigma and coauthor of The Prince of Tennessee: Al Gore Meets His Fate and Tell Newt to Shut Up!

Maraniss is a three-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and won the Pulitzer for national reporting in 1993 for his newspaper coverage of then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton. He also was part of The Washington Post team that won a 2008 Pulitzer for the newspaper's coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting. He has won several other notable awards for achievements in journalism, including the George Polk Award, the Dirksen Prize for Congressional Reporting, the ASNE Laventhol Prize for Deadline Writing, the Hancock Prize for Financial Writing, the Anthony Lukas Book Prize, the Frankfort Book Prize, the Eagleton Book Prize, the Ambassador Book Prize, and Latino Book Prize.

Eric Simonson ’82 is a company member of Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. His plays include Lombardi, Louder Faster, (with Jeffrey Hatcher); Fake, Honest, Speak American; The Only Thing; Carter’s Way; and Work Song: Three Views of Frank Lloyd Wright (with Jeffrey Hatcher); they have been produced at numerous theaters across the country. Adaptations include Slaughterhouse-five and Bang the Drum Slowly. He is also a director of plays, film, opera and documentaries. He is the recipient of a Tony nomination for The Song of Jacob Zulu; an Emmy nomination for his film On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom; and the winner of an Academy Award for his documentary film A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin. He lives in Los Angeles with his son Henry.

August 12-17
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

The United States and the Middle East in the Modern Era

The United States experienced tremendous challenges in the Middle East throughout the modern era. In the first half of the century, Americans played a minimal role in the region as the Middle East was dominated by Britain and France. However, in the aftermath of World War II, the nation became the predominant power in the region. Americans have sought good relations with Israel and the Arab states, while also trying to protect their economic interests in the Persian Gulf. While the Middle East presented great problems for the United States, there is also tremendous reason for optimism regarding the future. This seminar will review the triumphs and challenges facing America in the Middle East.

Class text: “Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East: 1776 to the Present” by Michael B. OrenW. W. Norton & Company (February 17, 2008). ISBN: 978-0393330304

Tim Crain received a Ph.D. in modern European and modern Jewish history at Arizona State University, after completing a B.A. and M.A. from Marquette University. His areas of specialization include Jewish history, European anti-Semitism, and the modern Middle East. Crain is an adjunct assistant professor and the director of outreach for Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. He has received numerous distinguished teaching awards from Marquette University and the University of Wisconsin System. Crain and his family always look forward to their time at Björklunden each summer.

Brevity and the Soul: 200 Years of Russian Short Stories in 400 Pages

Russian literature is justly famous for what Henry James referred to as “loose baggy monsters,” the sprawling philosophical novels of Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and their Soviet and post-Soviet heirs. This seminar examines a less well-known but perhaps richer genre, the short story. The Russian short story tradition rose from the ashes of the Golden Age of Russian poetry, and it has all of the concentrated imagery, psychological and philosophical depth, and verbal fireworks of poetry. Participants will read a sampling of these masterpieces, and discuss the historical and cultural background of each work. In addition, the seminar will look at a few ways that other artists have been inspired to expand on or respond to particular masterpieces in looser, baggier forms such as film, painting, the ballet, and the opera. Participants will read stories by the usual suspects (Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov), as well as a number of authors who are deserving of greater renown.

Class text: “Russian Short Stories from Pushkin to Buida” edited by Robert Chandler. Penguin Classics (July 25, 2006). ISBN: 978-0140448467

Peter Thomas, assistant professor of Russian at Lawrence University, received a Ph.D. in Slavic languages and literatures from Northwestern University. He has taught courses in Russian language and culture at Northwestern, Beloit College and St. Olaf College. He has been teaching in the Russian department at Lawrence since 2006. He is currently preparing three manuscripts for publication. The first, a study of Nabokov’s Russian prose, is under consideration at Northwestern University Press. The second is a translation of a travelogue by the poet Ilya Kutik. The third is a translation of Kutik’s latest poem, the 420-page Epos.

New Fossils and Old DNA: Current Perspectives on Human Evolution

During the past decade, our understanding of our own species’ origins has been challenged, reformulated, and enriched by a series of remarkable fossil discoveries, new insights from the recovery and study of ancient DNA, and new theories about what drove the changes that ultimately led to us. This seminar will introduce participants to the current state of knowledge in Human Evolution Studies. Fossil casts will be used to explore the variety of hominin species that preceded us and to place them into a broader evolutionary context. Participants will then focus on discussing the significance of some of the most surprising recent discoveries, including the 2009 publication of the Ardipithecus (“Ardi”) skeleton, 2010’s Australopithecus sediba, the finding of Neandertal genes in modern human populations, and the theory that the invention of cooking may have been the critical breakthrough that allowed for the evolution of Homo sapiens. And if something else completely unexpected is announced in the months leading up to the seminar, the instructor will try to tackle that too.

Class text: “Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human” by Richard Wrangham. Basic Books; First Trade Paper Edition (September 7, 2010). ISBN: 978-0465020416

Mark Jenike is a nutritional and biological anthropologist who has carried out fieldwork in central Africa, as well as the United Stakes. Jenike is originally from Cincinnati, OH and earned a B.A. with a major in anthropology from Harvard in 1985 and a Ph.D. from UCLA in 1994. He taught at the University of Illinois and Pomona College before joining the faculty at Lawrence in 2004. Jenike is currently chair of the anthropology department at Lawrence, where in addition to courses in biological and nutritional anthropology, he also teaches Ecological Anthropology and, of course, Freshman Studies. His current research interests include diet and physical activity among college students in the United Stages, but he is broadly interested in evolutionary, nutritional, and ecological approaches to understanding human nature and human diversity.

August 26-31
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Writing Our Lives through Fact and Fiction

Ideal for memoirists, personal-essayists, and fiction writers alike, this course uses well-chosen readings, innovative writing exercises, and in-depth workshop/critique of student work to explore all three popular genres. Participants will learn how to write a memoir or essay that has the drama, detail, and narrative thrust of the best short stories and novels, as well as how to write narrative fiction that embodies and expresses authentic truths of the human experience. Participants from previous years are welcome to (and often do!) attend again.

Class text: To be determined

Paul McComas ’83 is the author of four critically acclaimed books -- the novels Planet of the Dates (2008, The Permanent Press) and Unplugged (2002, John Daniel & Co.) and the short story collections Unforgettable (2011, Walkabout Publishing) and Twenty Questions (1998, Daniel& Daniel) -- and the editor of two fiction anthologies published by iUniverse: First Person Imperfect (2003) and Further Persons Imperfect (2007). McComas teaches writing at Chicago's Tribeca Flashpoint Academy; in the continuing-education program at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois (where he received his master's degree in film); at numerous retirement communities; and through his own private Advanced Fiction Writing workshop, among other sites. His award-winning film and video work has been screened at festivals worldwide and honored by the American Film Institute, and his most recent novel has been optioned for adaptation as a feature film. McComas is a recipient of the Mental Health Association’s Distinguished Service Award. A Wisconsin native, he is always thrilled to be teaching “back home” -- and back at Lawrence! To learn more about his work, visit www.paulmccomas.com.

Masters of Mystery: The Great Directors of Classic Suspense Films

Alfred Hitchcock once said of classic films that "Suspense does not consist of the bang. Suspense is the anticipation of the bang." The seminar will examine Hitchcock's observation and explore illustrations of his directorial techniques in some of his most intriguing films, as well as other well-known masters of the genre (such as Robert Siodmak, Billy Wilder, and John Huston) and several lesser known but effective practitioners of the art of classic thrillers. Participants will examine the importance of story, music, atmosphere, characterization, the unraveling of the mystery, and other key elements that contribute to the effectiveness of the director in producing "the anticipation of the bang."

Jack Rhodes is a repeating seminar instructor who lectures widely these days on classic films. He received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and later became interested in communication and film studies. His principal academic assignments were at Colorado College, the University of Utah, and Miami University (Ohio), where he taught the graduate course on Rhetoric of Film for several years. Rhodes also served as chair of the communication department at Miami and retired as the executive director of Miami's regional campus in Hamilton, Ohio, in 2002. He is the author of three books and several scholarly articles and has recently concentrated his research and lecturing on the Rhetoric of Genre Films of Hollywood's Classic Era.

Classical Humor: Exploring the Element of Humor in Classical Music

Professor Padilla will lead an exploration into the lighter and irreverent side of Classical composers. Seminar participants will consider theories of humor from Plato through Freud and trace the development of musical humor in the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Contemporary styles. The class will focus especially on works from the keyboard literature, listening to and discussing performances of playful harpsichord works by Couperin and Scarlatti, the unusual and innovative sonatas, bagatelles and variations by Haydn and Beethoven, scherzos by Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms, as well as sardonic and grotesque pieces by Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Padilla will also present a public performance of representative works covered in the seminar.

Anthony Padilla is a professor of piano and chamber music at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music in Appleton, Wisconsin. An American pianist of Filipino-Chinese ancestry, Padilla receives public and critical acclaim for performances of “enormous freshness, vitality, and poetry” (Chicago Tribune). Since his debut with the Seattle Symphony in 1983, he has become a popular guest artist throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Highlights include solo and collaborative appearances at the Ravinia, Chautauqua, Schleswig-Holstein, Cascade, and San Luis Obispo Festivals. After his New York debut recital, the New York Concert Review called him “a strong-willed, steel-fingered tornado: he plays the piano with absolute authority and gives new meaning to the idea of ‘interpretation’ to the extent that the U.S. Patent Office might well grant him a number. Nobody could copy him.”

A protégé of the legendary pianist Jorge Bolet at the Curtis Institute of Music, he went on to complete his graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music, where he served as teaching assistant to Jeffrey Kahane and Natalya Antonova. Awarded the prestigious Beethoven Fellowship by the American Pianists Association and top prize at the Concert Artists Guild International Competition, he is also a laureate of the Naumburg, Bachauer, Kapell, and Cleveland International Piano Competitions. He is a founding member of the Arcos Piano Trio, which was recently awarded an Artistic Excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to commission and record chamber works by Latin American composers.

A nationally certified member of the Music Teachers National Association, he is a popular adjudicator and presenter, and his students regularly earn top prizes at state, national and international competitions. His lectures on the element of humor in Classical music have stirred much interest at the MTNA National Conference as well as at state and regional conferences. His recordings include the premiere of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Second Sonata for Piano, and chamber works by Amy Beach, Joan Tower, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich with the Arcos Trio.

September 9-14
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Poetry of Place: A Photographic Experience

This seminar is an opportunity for participants to slow down and look closely at their own creativity, develop ways to deepen their photographic vision and find a fresh approach to express their artistic voice through images. Experience the power of making images that are visual poetry, silent, hushed and profound. Each captured moment a wordless poem, prose or discrete entry into an ongoing diary. Be it narrative, autobiographically or documentary style - transcend everyday life and routine to engage in using the camera as a notebook, the eye the pen and nature the muse. Draw on light, color and shape to compose a message. Be it with land, flora, rock, water or sky – discover the power of symbols and metaphor found in the written word and exchange verbal articulation with the fine art of making an expressive photograph. Intensive class sessions will be held each morning. The first day participants will introduce themselves photographically. The remainder of the week they will visit numerous local sites that will draw out deep inspiration and be amazing fodder for making an expressive body of work with the rest of the afternoon open for self-exploration.

Time will be carved out for one-on-one time with each participant as well as informal group discussions that will create a lively environment for learning and sharing. Photographic exercises will be a part of this experience to guide students into a deeper photographic practice. Opportunity to take advantage of morning and evening light will be offered (optional) so participants may venture out to capture the magical deep vibrato of early morning and evening summer light. Lots of laughter and introspection is to be expected in the breathtakingly beautiful Door county landscape.

Who should attend:
Open to all levels of photographic experience but best suited to those looking to expand their photographic creativity, vision and vernacular. In the mindset of making not taking photographs, the goal is to make a body of work during this retreat that has a deeper sense of personal expression and emotional connection.

Workshop details and logistics:
Carpooling will be necessary to escape into the preserved natural landscape of Door County. Walking into sites on unpaved trails will be part of the experience.

Formats:
All types, size and style of cameras are welcome – digital and film. Always remember –it’s not the camera … it’s the photographer! The seminar will also equally embrace those who shot black & white and color.

Equipment:
Arriving with photo equipment that is portable is ideal: camera(s), lens(es), tripod, extra digital cards, extra batteries, camera cloth, and camera manual. Non-photographic supplies: card readers, camera cords and laptop computers, notebook, pen/pencil, sunscreen, refillable water bottle, cell phone, hat and a small amount of cash for daily beverage stops.

Suzanne Rose is an award recipient of the Fellowship in the Visual Arts from the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts (NFAA), Peninsula Arts Association (PAA) & Wisconsin Arts Board (WAB) and the first individual artist to receive the Fred Alley Visionary Award from the Peninsula Arts Association. Most recently, Rose was the artist-in-residence at the Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh, WI, where she was invited to turn her lens on Oshkosh. Making two thematic bodies of work as well as writing an extensive on-line journal of her experience available at www.thepaine.org.

As a traditional (film-based) and digital photographer, Rose’s approach to photography is simply as “a mindful minimalist”—in style and philosophy. She uses Hasselblad cameras, DSLRs and iPhone camera apps to express herself in a multitude of traditions and mediums.

As the head of the photography department at the Peninsula School of Art, Fish Creek, she is a dedicated in supporting photography locally by offering photography workshops for adults and children. At the Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, WI, she conducts weeklong photographic retreats and workshops for adults.

Rose was educated at the prestigious School of the Art Institute of Chicago. After residing in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood for almost a decade she has gladly returned to her home state where she is a full-time resident of southern Door County. For the past 18 years, she has happily dwelled in a 100-year-old brick farmhouse off the beaten track with her artist husband, Jim Rose, and daughter.

She has been the subject of major exhibitions at the Fairfield Museum, Corcoran Gallery of Art and Miller Art Museum. Her photographs can be found in many public and private collections, including the Racine Art Museum, Racine, WI, Chazen Museum of Art, Madison, WI, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Please visit www.suzannerose.com to discover Rose’s photography, workshops, students’ work and testimonials, exhibitions and more. To contact Rose directly please email at suzanne@suzannerose.com or call (920) 365-6952.

Julius Caesar

To Alexander Hamilton he was “the greatest man who ever lived,” to ancient Rome’s greatest historian, he was “the entire and perfect man,” and to his loyal legionaries he was “the bald-headed adulterer of Gaul.” Those are opinions, but the crucial fact is that Julius Caesar was one of the most compelling historical figures of all time. Military genius, politician par excellence, and charismatic but complex personality, Caesar transformed the Roman Republic into a monarchy of unparalleled power, wealth, and imperial dominion. How? Why? Philip Freeman’s utterly fascinating biography answers those and many other questions in a riveting and painstakingly researched narrative that chronicles the life and times of the larger than life Roman who gave his name to all subsequent rulers of the Roman Empire. As Barry Strauss, whose book on the Trojan War was our text for last year’s seminar, puts it, Freeman’s biography is “elegant, learned, and compulsively readable.” The period from Caesar’s birth to the Ides of March is one of the best documented in history. Participants will get to know Caesar and also meet many of his contemporaries, e.g., Pompey the Great, Cicero, Mark Antony, even Varro, and, of course, Cleopatra. Class discussions as sure to be as lively as Freeman’s prose.

Class text: “Julius Caesar” by Philip Freeman. Simon & Schuster; Reprint edition (May 14, 2009). ISBN: 978-0743289542

Daniel Taylor ’63 is the Hiram A. Jones Professor and Chair of Classics Emeritus at Lawrence University. Author of two books on Varro—Declinatio: A Study of the Linguistic Theory of Marcus Terentius Varro (1974) and Varro De Lingua Latina X: A New Critical Text and English Translation with Prolegomena and Commentary (1996)—and a dozen or so articles, he has been acknowledged as the leading Varro scholar of his time. He also edited The History of Linguistics in the Classical Period (1987) and has published widely on Greek and Latin grammar, the history of linguistics, and even baseball. He received two year-long research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which he spent in Florence (Italy), and served as the first Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Linguistics at the Universita di Trieste (Italy). Professor Taylor has been honored with the Excellent Teaching Award at Lawrence University, accorded the National Award for Excellence in Teaching the Classics by the American Philological Association, and acclaimed as the Distinguished Foreign Language Educator of the Year by the Wisconsin Association of Foreign Language Teachers. He graduated with honors in Classics from Lawrence in 1963 and earned M.A. (1965) and Ph.D. (1970) degrees from the University of Washington (Seattle). Now retired, he lives in Summit County, Colorado, and serves as a trustee of the county library.

True Crime in Books and Film

Truman Capote is credited with introducing the “non-fiction” novel with his masterpiece In Cold Blood. The book’s impact on American literature is enduring. Edgar Award-winning author Harry MacLean will discuss the origin and history of the true crime book, beginning with this work. The class will also study three other true crime classics: Fatal Vision, by Joe McGinnis, Executioner’s Song, by Norman Mailer, and In Broad Daylight, by Harry MacLean. Participants will study the translation of these books into films, which will be shown in the evening. They will also consider the impact the writing of these books had on their authors, as well as the variety of research methods used in writing non-fiction crime books. If time permits, the craft of writing narrative non-fiction will also be discussed.

Optional/Suggested reading list:
“In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. Vintage; First Edition (February 1, 1994). ISBN: 978-0679745587
“Fatal Vision” by Joe McGinnis. Signet (August 1, 1984). ISBN: 978-0451165664
“The Executioner’s Song” by Norman Mailer. Vintage; 1st Vintage International Ed edition (April 28, 1998). ISBN: 978-0375700811
“In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri” by Harry MacLean. St. Martin's True Crime (November 28, 2006). ISBN: 978-0312942366

Harry MacLean ’64 had a successful career as a lawyer, working as a juvenile court magistrate, law professor, First Assistant Attorney General for Colorado, and General Counsel of the Peace Corps. His first book, In Broad Daylight, won an Edgar Award for Best True Crime and was a New York Times bestseller for 12 weeks. The book was made into a movie of the same name starring Brian Denehey, Chris Cooper, Marcia Gay Harden and Cloris Leachman. MacLean’s second book, Once Upon A Time, A True Story of Memory, Murder and the Law, was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times. His third book, out in 2009, The Past Is Never Dead, The Trial of James Ford Seal and Mississippi’s Struggle for Redemption, was nominated for the William Saroyan Award by Stanford University. He is currently working on a memoir of his days as rookie prison guard at a maximum-security prison in Delaware. Learn more at www.harrymaclean.com.

September 16-21
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Reading the Door County Landscape

This early fall class will include many outdoor field trips as well as some colorful slide programs. Participants will enjoy the beauty of September colors in plants, butterflies, birds and mushrooms. The geology of Door County will be explored in some of the area parks. Be prepared for some long hikes on established trails.

Please bring: a notebook, a pen, hiking boots, 10X lens, binoculars and rain gear.

Exploring the Fascinating Indian Subcontinent through History, Literature, Film & Wildlife

Few places are as poorly understood by Americans—or are as important for their future—as India and Pakistan. Why should people care? Because India and Pakistan have nearly 20 percent of the planet’s population, have produced the second largest number of English-speaking scientific professionals in the world, and have nuclear weapons.

Each day this interesting and engaging seminar will focus on different aspects of this intriguing region of the world. Topics will include an overview on the history of the area and the British Raj, the crucial role of the Pushtun people in the turbulent history of Pakistan and Afghanistan, evolving geopolitics involving Kashmir, China, Tibet, and Nepal, the uphill battle to save wildlife, and lessons the United States might learn from those who have tried—and failed—to mold the region in their image.

Discussions will be enhanced by short video clips, internet resources, Skype calls, readings, award-winning wildlife documentaries (Land of the Tiger and Crane Hunters of Pakistan), and a dinner featuring food of the Subcontinent. Optional afternoon or evening sessions will feature notable feature length films. Among the films from which class members may choose are: Passage to India, Ganges, Lagaan, The Jewel in the Crown, Gandhi and The Far Pavilions. Participants who have traveled in the area are welcome to share their photographs or personal experiences during the week.

Class text: “Plain Tales from the Raj” by Charles Allen. Futura Publications (June 11, 1992). ISBN: 978-0860074557

Optional/Suggested reading list:
“Train to Pakistan” by Khushwant Singh. Orient Longman (February 2, 2006). ISBN: 978-8125028215
“The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty: Delhi, 1857” by William Dalrymple. Vintage (March 11, 2008). ISBN: 978-1400078332
“A Passage to India” by E. M. Forster. Borders (2006). ISBN: 978-1587264412
“India After Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy” by Ramachandra Guha. Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (August 12, 2008). ISBN: 978-0060958589
“Through the Tiger's Eyes” by Stanley Breeden & Belinda Wright. Ten Speed Press (February 1, 1997). ISBN: 978-0898158472

Steven Landfried ’66, Ph.D., is internationally known as an innovative educator, conservationist, author and photographer. The first public affairs officer for the International Crane Foundation, he served 25 years as a consultant for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. His efforts to save critically endangered Siberian cranes along Indo-Russian flyway have taken him to India and Pakistan at between 25 and 30 times. These journeys have taken him to the remote mountains of northern Pakistan, historic cities of southern India, the slums of Mumbai (Bombay), and national parks in both countries.

Landfried’s work has been featured in scientific publications, the award winning film Crane Hunters of Pakistan, the Bill Kurtis New Explorers series, numerous articles in major newspapers and magazines in the Indian subcontinent, and the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. A former social studies teacher, radio and video producer, Landfried’s abiding interest in the culture, music television and film of the area will be carefully woven into this seminar in thought-provoking and engaging ways. This is will be the fourth time he has led a seminar at Björklunden—each on a different topic.

Writing the Tough Ones: A Poetry Workshop for Experienced Poets

If you’re a practicing poet, maybe you’ve already started wondering if you’ve written more than enough poems by now on the safe subjects, and you’re ready for something more ambitious, more risky, more challenging. Might there be an unwritten poem out there that’s been following you around, but you haven’t quite had the nerve to sit down and write it? Perhaps another that’s taking shape at the far reaches of your imagination, waiting for you to find its vocabulary? And what about the poem that involves your convictions, your core beliefs, your candid thoughts on the current state of things? Now’s your chance!

This seminar will provide an ideal environment for writing these elusive poems, and for receiving valuable feedback from others grappling with similar issues. A poem of protest, for example. A poem of spirituality, which will encourage poets to look inward. A speculative poem, that confronts the intriguing question “What if?” And finally, that poem you’ve been running from, without knowing why.

This seminar will provide a friendly and supportive setting for exploring these larger-than-usual subjects with other poets, and for applying their feedback to your own work. It’s going to be intensive, it’s going to be fun, and you’ll find yourself going boldly where your poetry has never gone before!

Class text : To be determined

Marilyn Taylor, Ph.D., former Poet Laureate of the state of Wisconsin (2009 and 2010) and the city of Milwaukee (2004 and 2005), is the author of six collections of poetry, the most recent of which, titled GOING WRONG, was published by Parallel Press in 2009. Her work has also appeared in many anthologies and journals, including The American Scholar, POETRY, Able Muse, Poetry Daily, Measure, Iris, Mezzo Cammin, Ted Kooser’s “American Life in Poetry” column, and The New York Times. She has been awarded first place in contests sponsored by The Atlanta Review, Passager, The Ledge, and the GSU Review poetry journals, and was also the recipient of the Dogwood Prize for a crown of sonnets titled The Good-Girl Chronicles. Her second book, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, was nominated for the Poets Prize in 2005.

Taylor taught poetry and poetics for 15 years for the English department and the Honors College at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She has presented readings and facilitated independent poetry workshops in dozens of communities throughout Wisconsin and across the country, from California to Connecticut.

Taylor is currently a member of the Council for Wisconsin Writers Board of Directors, and serves on the advisory board for the literary journal Verse Wisconsin, and the advisory board of the Low Residency M.F.A. Program at Gunnison University, Gunnison, Colorado. She is a contributing editor for THE WRITER magazine, where her widely-read “Poet to Poet” column on craft appears bimonthly.

September 23-28
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Improve Your Bridge

Is bidding the key to successful bridge, and the play merely routine, or is the play of the hand the best bet for coming out ahead? Actually, both are extremely important! Most experts agree that everyone could improve their game significantly if they eliminated most of their mistakes in binding and playing. Mistakes are usually made because of poor judgment or ignorance. Errors in judgment aren’t easy to correct but errors due to ignorance are. The great majority of bridge players in North America use the Standard American bidding system, which is a system that has developed over the past eighty to ninety years. It has proven to help partnerships improve their communication skills, which in turn, results in more successful play. The seminar will follow the Standard American format and lessons will be based on information in books and materials from known experts who teach us to bid better and play better by learning to make better judgment calls at the bridge table.

There is a $20 materials fee for a book and handouts - payable upon arrival.

Carolyn Kimbell is a professional teacher and is licensed from the American Bridge Teachers Association and the American Contract Bridge League. Her lessons are interesting and informative and do not intimidate the less-experienced player. She teaches bridge regularly at The Clearing and has conducted classes and workshops at other various locations in Door County. This is her seventh year teaching at Björklunden.

Watercolor: A Fresh Start

This watercolor seminar is designed for absolute beginners as well as for those who have had some experience painting with watercolor but need a refresher to gain the confidence to start again. Explore the fall at Björklunden while enjoying this opportunity to learn or re-learn watercolor from an artist passionate about the medium in a supportive and friendly learning environment. Seminar participants will explore basic traditional approaches to watercolor painting as well as fresh and experimental watercolor techniques. Seminar participants will go home with the skills and tools to keep on painting.

Helen Klebesadel was a member of the Lawrence University faculty from 1990 to 2000 teaching studio art and gender studies. She has continued to offer her summer Björklunden watercolor seminars annually since then. Helen currently serves as director of the University of Wisconsin System Women’s Studies Consortium. Known as an engaging teacher and for her highly detailed narrative watercolor, Klebesadel exhibits her paintings nationally and internationally. She has been invited to teach watercolor and creativity workshops from Texas to Alaska. Maintaining an art studio in Madison, WI, Klebesadel has served as the only visual artist on the Wisconsin Arts Board since her appointment by Governor Doyle in 2005. Learn more about her artwork and exhibition schedule at www.klebesadel.com.

Small Town USA: The Image and Impact of the American Small Town in Literature, Film, and Popular Culture

The American small town, whether a rural community or a fledgling suburb, has played a key role in the development of the country and has inspired novelists, filmmakers, poets, artists, and songwriters to either extol its virtues or decry its shortcomings. This seminar will focus on classic tales that depict small towns and their citizens as they go about their daily routines, resolve crises, and respond to national emergencies such as World War II. It will take a look at classic films and other works that feature the comedic, the mysterious, the charming, and the inspirational aspects of small town life, as portrayed by a variety of talented observers.

Jack Rhodes is a repeating seminar instructor who lectures widely these days on classic films. He received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Texas at Austin and later became interested in communication and film studies. His principal academic assignments were at Colorado College, the University of Utah, and Miami University (Ohio), where he taught the graduate course on Rhetoric of Film for several years. Rhodes also served as chair of the communication department at Miami and retired as the executive director of Miami’s regional campus in Hamilton, Ohio, in 2002. He is the author of three books and several scholarly articles and has recently concentrated his research and lecturing on the Rhetoric of Genre Films of Hollywood’s Classic Era.

September 30-October 5
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

The Secrets to Winning Bridge Revealed: In Bidding, Play and Defense

How do top players always seem to know when to compete and when not to compete? Why do they tend to score better when they declare and when they defend? In a fun and easy to follow cards-on-the-table approach, the magic behind consistently being successful playing bridge is unveiled.

BIDDING: Bidding a little with a lot might seem like cowardice or excess caution. Bidding a lot with a little could be seen as an act of bravado or one of foolhardiness. Knowing these differences and developing the judgment to use them is key to being successful in competitive auctions.

PLAY: Techniques once considered reserved for experts only, are now accessible to intermediate, social and advancing players. These exceptional tools for playing the hand ensure taking all the tricks available in every deal (and sometimes those of your opponents).

DEFENSE: Defenders are at such a disadvantage in bridge, that there was once talk of exposing the dummy before the opening lead to give the defense a better chance. Since that didn’t happen, it’s critical for defenders to recognize the advantages they do have to solve the mysteries of defending a hand, and to know how to make the best of them.

Discover the “tricks” to taking more tricks in this seminar, then, cast your spells at the optional practice sessions and games. Experience the magical time that players, of any age and skill, have when they get together to play and stay mentally fit.

There is a $10 materials fee for texts and supplies - payable upon arrival.

Denise Hoffman has attained the American Bridge Teacher Association’s highest level of recognition, master bridge teacher. She is accredited in all three teaching programs approved by the American Contract Bridge League and is one of only a handful of bridge teacher trainers in North America. She has also served in nearly every capacity of bridge governance, including president of the Wisconsin Upper Michigan Bridge Association, and most recently was elected to the Board of Governors of the ACBL. However, it is as an education liaison that Hoffman is most fervent, instituting numerous projects to support bridge teachers and bridge players, as well as chairing three bridge tournaments per year, two exclusively for novices and intermediate players.

Autumn’s Unleashed Beauty

Our hearts will enjoy the unrivalled beauty of fall’s peak colors while our minds probe the mysteries of creation. How is it possible for a bird to recognize the stars in the night sky at birth? Why are the most successful flowers not really flowers at all but expressions of a harmony and unity of many flowers? How does a dark sky tell us our universe had a recent beginning?

To answer these and other questions participants will correspondingly hike the trails of Björklunden to learn from birds in the mornings, visit local preserves to learn from flowers in the afternoons, and observe sunrises and the dark skies of evenings to learn from the heavens. Sunrises at this time of the year are later than usual and participants will learn about and likely observe the famous “green flash”, best seen from an eastern exposure to Lake Michigan. Björklunden’s sky is one of the darkest and best for seeing the beautiful stars and planets of the heavens, and again this time of the year brings earlier night skies than usual. Daily free time will be determined mostly by weather conditions.

Please bring: binoculars, rain gear, good hiking boots, hand lens or magnifying glass, favorite field guides, flashlight, small backpack or day-pack, insect repellant, and sun screen.

Don Quintenz, director of education and director of land management at Schlitz Audubon Center in Milwaukee, has been teaching environmental education since 1967. He previously worked with the Milwaukee Public Schools as its environmental specialist and before that was with the Wisconsin Humane Society as an environmental educator. Because he is so familiar with the native flora and fauna, he has a wonderful ability to excite people about the natural world.

The Progressive Era: As Wisconsin Goes—So Goes the Nation

The Progressive Era is one of the most interesting and significant eras in American History. Spanning the period from the 1890s to the 1920s, it spawned many reforms, which became standard features of our civic life. The direct election of senators, primary elections, the extension of civil service and anti-trust enforcement are among the fruits of Progressivism, which remain with us today. It was a time when the excesses of the malefactors of great wealth forced government to redefine the relationship between giant corporations and the public interest. The Progressive call summoned some of the most colorful and distinguished servants of the American public, including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Wisconsin’s own Robert M. La Follette Sr.

The Progressive Era was a time when Wisconsin led the nation. Wisconsin’s Progressive-Era administrations gave birth to the “Wisconsin Idea,” the concept that government and academic experts should help solve social and economic problems. Under the leadership and inspiration of Gov. La Follette and his followers, Wisconsin’s initiatives in the fields of workers’ compensation, unemployment compensation, railroad regulation and corporate taxation became models for other states. Even after World War I drained the strength of the Progressive movement nationally it continued to exert a ripple effect. Acknowledged designers of the Social Security Act, Arthur Altmeyer and Edwin Witte, applied in the Franklin Roosevelt Administration concepts flowing from their participation in the Wisconsin Idea. The Progressive Party remained a political force in Wisconsin for decades to come. Come to appreciate the Progressive story and to understand why it continues to influence American life and public discourse.

Jim Gallen is a practicing attorney and an amateur historian who teaches continuing education classes in history at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, including ones on the Progressive Era, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Jim obtained his B.S. in C. and J.D. degrees from Saint Louis University. He is a top 1000 Reviewer for Amazon.com and Amazon.ca and a top 500 Reviewer for Amazon.uk.

Chuck Chvala is an attorney and commercial real estate owner and manager in Madison, WI. A long-time student of Wisconsin history and politics, he served in the Wisconsin State Senate for 20 years, including approximately six years as Senate majority leader. He also served two years in the State Assembly.

October 7-12
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Writing the Tough Ones: A Poetry Workshop for Experienced Poets

Class text: To be determined

Wisconsin Architects: Creating a Built Environment Spanning 150 Years

This seminar covers the work of a significant number of Wisconsin architects from the 19th century to the present. Focusing on individual styles and influences, the course explores the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, William Waters and many lesser-known but important contributors to Wisconsin’s architectural landscape. The seminar looks at exterior and interior design, how buildings contribute to and relate to their urban or rural environment, and how space and function positively or negatively affect the lives of those sheltered within. Finally, participants discover the unique, individual contributions of Wisconsin architects that influence architectural design nationally.

James Grine, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, frequently offers music seminars at Björklunden. This year, he shares a strong, long-standing ancillary interest—that of architecture and architectural history. Increasingly known as an enthusiast of this aesthetic discipline, he presents regularly on this topic.

The seminar was made possible, in part, by the Robert L. Berner Memorial Endowment for Björklunden.

October 14-19
Sunday-Friday; $765 double; $1,020 single; $365 commuter

Samson

The larger-than-life figure of Samson dominates the narrative in Judges 13-16 of the Bible. This seminar will discuss this story with an eye to Samson's amazing exploits, his flawed but engaging personality, and the fascinating women in his life: his mother, the Philistine woman of Timnah, the prostitute of Gaza and the famous Delilah. Samson’s adventures have inspired much subsequent art and literature. Participants will enjoy reading some portions of John Milton’s Samson Agonistes, perhaps look at a Hollywood treatment of Samson, and read aloud Samson: A Play for Voices. This is a seminar for anyone who delights in a heroic story. The instructor will use the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), but participants may use any Bible they prefer.

Class text: Please bring a personal copy of the Bible (any English translation).
Class text: “Samson Agonistes” by John Milton. Oxford University Press, USA (February 15, 1970). ISBN: 978-0198319108

Note: A free copy of Samson Agonistes (title page + 33pp of text + 15pp of notes) may be downloaded from Dartmouth College's website:
Title page
Text
Notes

Bill Urbrock (Ph.D., Harvard) is professor emeritus of religious studies at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, where he specialized in teaching Hebrew Bible studies and Ancient Near Eastern Religions. Long active in the Society of Biblical Literature, he has published scholarly reviews and journal articles, and has presented many courses, seminars, and lecture series for a variety of civic and educational groups, including Björklunden. Samson: A Play for Voices, one of several dramatic pieces he has written, was first presented at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.

If you have questions, please contact Samantha Szynskie at 920-839-2216. E-mail: samantha.a.szynskie@lawrence.edu. Fax: 920-839-2688. Mailing address: Björklunden, P.O. Box 10, Baileys Harbor, WI 54202.