In this course, we will explore the more recent history of baseball in America, through similar lenses as ones we have already used. Money & labor, culture, shutdowns, and patriotism & nationalism are our main themes for this fourth and final course. We will also look at how contemporary trends such as COVID-19 tie back to a distant history. … [Read more...] about Baseball into the Millennium
Arts and Humanities
Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas
Our relationship to Beethoven is a deep and paradoxical one. For many musicians, he represents a kind of holy grail: His music has an intensity, rigor, and profundity which keep us in its thrall, and it is perhaps unequalled in the interpretive, technical, and even spiritual challenges it poses to performers. At the same time, Beethoven’s music is casually familiar to … [Read more...] about Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas
Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Part 3
Welcome to Part 3 of Exploring Beethoven's Piano Sonatas! I'm delighted to launch another set of new lectures of this course as Part 3. As before, this class is meant for people of all levels of experience with Beethoven's music (including no experience at all!). Remember that you are able to watch the lectures as many times as you like, at whatever pace is comfortable for … [Read more...] about Exploring Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas Part 3
The American Renaissance and Walt Whitman
This course explores Whitman's working class context and explains why Whitman turned into a poet from a printer. You will also learn about Whitman’s free verse within the context of the post-Jacksonian American society. You will realize why Whitman revised some of his writings. … [Read more...] about The American Renaissance and Walt Whitman
The American Renaissance and Ralph Waldo Emerson
This course introduces the concept of American Exceptionalism and explores the role of Emerson as a scholar. You will see how Emerson considered his early writings as part of the American Transcendentalist movement. It also explores Emerson's self-reliance and literary ethics. It further discusses how Emerson responded to the changing world and America’s place in it. You will … [Read more...] about The American Renaissance and Ralph Waldo Emerson
