Over his lifetime, William Faulkner wrote more than 19 novels and 125 short stories, not to mention 20 screenplays, a play and six collections of poetry.  In Chesapeake Forum’s new class “William Faulkner’s Fiction: Selected Short Stories”, instructor Beverly Williams will concentrate on a handful of Faulkner’s short stories that will serve as way of understanding his major themes including:

• A Rose for Emily
• Was*
• The Fire and the Hearth*
• Pantaloon in Black*
• Barn Burning*
• That Evening Sun*

(*from the novel, “Go Down Moses”)

As Williams explains, Faulkner used his short fiction to work out many of the central ideas and characters found in his novels.   Expect a lively discussion on how Faulkner handled the universal truths in each of the selected short stories.

This is the second time that Williams has taught the work of Faulkner at Chesapeake Forum.  Previous students describe him as a well-informed subject matter experts and say classroom discussions are so animated “there’s never enough time to discuss all of the short stories!”

Bev Williams has a broad background teaching English Literature.  Aside from having taught many times for Chesapeake Forum, Bev is an English teacher at the Landon School in Bethesda and the National Cathedral School in Washington DC.  He has guest lectured at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, VA, and tutored composition, grammar, literature and vocabulary.

“William Faulkner’s Fiction: Selected Short Stories” is a three (3) session course, Tuesday January 17, 24th and 31st from 1-2:30 PM, $35.  To register for this, or any other Chesapeake Forum course, visit https://chesapeakeforum.org.

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities to residents of the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

January is for the birds at Chesapeake Forum.  Dr. Wayne Bell is back with an expanded version of his popular class for fledgling birders that includes two classroom sessions and 10 field trips starting January 19th.  Of course, you don’t have to bird to find new horizons. Chesapeake Forum’s 2023 January schedule has several other courses that will take you away from home or just away from your routine.  To see the full listing visit https://chesapeakeforum.org.

This year, Chesapeake Forum’s Distinguished Scholar Lecture takes on The Future of US/China Relations in a Turbulent World.  This volatile relationship is important to both the U.S. and China and this year’s Distinguished Scholar, Dr Miles Yu, Ph.D., is the perfect guide to what is at stake.  Dr. Yu is the former Chief China Policy Advisory to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and has been on the forefront of recent China policy debates. His lecture will be offered via ZOOM on January 18th.

For events a little closer to home, there are in-person visits to the Talbot County Historic Society in Easton and the Holocaust Museum in Washington plus a virtual getaway to the Edgar Allen Poe House.  Of course, if reading by the fire sounds more appealing, there are several ZOOM courses to snuggle up with including the short stories of William Faulkner, contemporary poetry and history of vaccines.  Enjoy all the camaraderie and conversation of a classroom without leaving the house!

To take a look at all January classes, please visit https://chesapeakeforum.org.  Registration for all courses begins on January 9th.  Classes are offered in-person at the Peachblossom YMCA in Easton, via ZOOM or recording.

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing lifelong learning opportunities for residents of the Eastern Shore.  To receive Chesapeake Forum’s newsletter, please send your email to [email protected]

Miles Yu, Ph.D., former Chief China Policy Advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, will give Chesapeake Forum’s  2023 Distinguished Guest Scholar lecture on Wednesday, January 18th from 5:30-7pm.  In The Future of U.S./China Relations in a Turbulent World, Dr. Yu will share his view on this important and volatile relationship.

Clearly China’s actions are leading to raised concerns here in the U.S. as well as among our allies abroad. Dr. Yu will discuss the ideological, structural, and long-term forces shaping China’s geopolitical strategic intent.  Dr. Yu is the third Chesapeake Forum Distinguished Guest Scholar to be named in honor of its Founder, John F. Ford.

Dr. Yu received a doctorate in history from the University of California, Berkeley, a master’s degree from Swarthmore College, and a bachelor’s degree from Nankai University.  As the principal China policy advisor on the Policy Planning Staff to Secretary of State Pompeo, Dr. Yu advised the Secretary on all China-related issues, and participated in key U.S. government interagency deliberations on major policy and government actions with regard to China and other East Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.  He is also a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute and a professor of East Asia and military and naval history at the United States Naval Academy (USNA). He has published widely on China, U.S.-China relations, Asia in World War II, military history and the history of military intelligence.

The Future of U.S./China Relations in a Turbulent World is one (1) session, Wednesday Jan 18th from 5:30-7pm, ZOOM only.  $25.  Registration for all Chesapeake Forum courses begins January 9th.  To register for this or any other Chesapeake Forum course, please visit https://chesapeakeforum.org.

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities to residents of the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.  For each semester’s mailer, remember to include your full street address.

In its first collaboration with Talbot County Schools, Chesapeake Forum is pleased to present, The Real X Games: Life in the Most Extreme Environments on Earth, a TED TALK-style lecture from Pamela Conrad, Ph.D., LIVESTREAMED from the stage of St Michaels High School on November 17th. Dr. Conrad was Chesapeake Forum’s Distinguished Speaker last year, discussing her role in the Mars exploration.

Dr. Conrad is an astrobiologist and planetary scientist who specializes in how planets do or not evolve into habitable environments. To help her understand where life might exist elsewhere in the solar system, Dr. Conrad tries to understand the diversity of environments in which life can thrive. Exploring some of the most tenacious of Earth’s organisms and the “extreme” environments in which they live helps scientists understand what that might mean for finding life beyond Earth.

In The Real X Games, Dr. Conrad will look at some of the most severe environments in the world from deep within the earth to an arid desert to show that, incredibly, these environments, which are so hostile to humans, are home to a surprising range of organisms. It is in hostile environments that scientists like Dr. Conrad search for clues to understand how life develops in extreme cold, blistering heat, even radioactive conditions, and how life might also be able to develop in other seemingly unpopulated climates across the universe.

The Real X Games: Life in the Most Extreme Environments on Earth is a one (1) session course, Thurs., Nov. 17th from 9-10:30 AM. $15. To register for this, or any other Chesapeake Forum course, go to https://chesapeakeforum.org.

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities for residents of all ages on the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Among the things Angela Rieck, Ph.D. did not know when her husband died was that she would have find his 35-year old divorcee decree before she could claim survivor benefits.  In her new Chesapeake Forum course, Emotional and Financial Perils of Losing a Spouse with co-instructor Doris Theune, Ph.D., Rieck shares a list of tasks that survivors are faced with following the death of a loved one – some mundane, some critical and some infuriating – along with ideas for managing the tasks, and accepting help.

Emotional and Financial Perils of Losing a Spouse was inspired by a recent column Angela wrote about what she wished she knew before her husband’s death (https://talbotspy.org/the-widow-and-widowers-gut-punch-by-angela-rieck/).  The column received the highest readership and comments – all from widows and widowers who said how much they wished they had know what was coming.

This course will prepare you for what you will need, so that you can focus on your personal grief and your family.  You’ll learn to identify tasks that you can delegate to loved ones, and tasks that you shouldn’t delegate. There are many wonderful people that want to help and not so wonderful people that want to take advantage of you. Learn how to recognize them.

Angela Rieck, Ph.D. is a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive.

Doris (Dodie) Theune, Ph.D. holds a Ph.D. in Transformative Adult Learning. As a Senior Vice President at The Bryn Mawr Trust & Estate Division, Dodie held certifications in Financial Planning, Life and Health Insurance, and Series 7 designations. She led a popular seminar series, “Taking Control: Financial Management for Women” and “Retirement Planning.”

Emotional and Financial Perils of Losing a Spouse is a two-session course, Wednesday, Nov. 9 and 16th from 10 – 11:30 AM, $25.  In person at the Peachblossom YMCA, Easton. To register for this, or any other Chesapeake Forum course, visit https://chesapeakeforum.org

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities for residents of the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Join docent Yuan Liu, Ph.,D in a special behind the scenes look at the Library of Congress (LC) in a new course from Chesapeake Forum, Touring the Library of Congress – A World of Knowledge starting Nov. 3.  During this two-session virtual course, Dr. Liu will introduce many of the fascinating stories behind the long history of LC, its collections, and functions.  And, she’ll share insider tips on how to make the most of the library’s resources.

When it opened in 1897, the Library of Congress (LC) was the largest library in the world and a monument to American achievement and ambition. Envisioned as a single, comprehensive collection of American publications, the magnificent Italian Renaissance-style Library holds more than 173 million items in its collection, including the world’s largest collection of films, maps, sheet music and sound recordings.

The virtual tour is based on Liu’s award-winning book, “Touring the Library of Congress – A World of Knowledge”.  The book is the product of an entire year of scholarly research, plus reading a copious amount of historical material, interviewing librarians, and visiting several reading rooms, including storage rooms not usually open to the general public.

Dr. Yuan Liu is a neuroscientist, a writer, a photographer, and a book lover living in the DC Metropolitan Area. Her book, “Touring the Library of Congress – A World of Knowledge,” received three different awards for being among the Top 100 Books in China across different categories.

Touring the Library of Congress – A World of Knowledge is a two (2) session course, Nov. 3 and 10 from 4:30 – 6 PM. Zoom only. $25.  To register for this or any other Chesapeake Forum course, please visit https://chesapeakeforum.org

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities for residents of the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Join Chesapeake Forum on November 1st for its first Local Author Series featuring St. Michaels resident Susan Reiss, creator of the locally-based Silver mystery series and In Time mystery/historical fiction. It’s completely free although reservations are required.

Susan will share how she creates a story, the challenges of its development, and the joy of seeing it published… of starting in the mystery genre and weaving it with historical fiction with a dash of romance and ghostly souls… of starting in obscurity and earning bestseller flags on Amazon and an international audience.

“First, I came to St. Michaels by car, then by boat,” said Susan. “Finally, I had the little house in town where I could leave a toothbrush. It was my escape from the crazy world of television, the place where I wanted to write, not scripts. Books.

“Now, more than ten books later, I’ve learned that writing what you know isn’t enough. The key is to write what you love!”

Chesapeake Forum’s Local Author Series is one (1) session, Tuesday, November 1st from 2-3:30 PM, in-person at the Peachblossom YMCA, ZOOM or recording. FREE.  Registration is required.  To sign up for the Local Author Series or any other Chesapeake Forum course, please visit https://chesapeakeforum.org

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities for residents of the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Take a dive deep into the troubled marriage of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra with Chesapeake Forum’s new class, Aeschylus’s Orestria starting November 1st.  Instructor Forest Hansen, Ph.D. is your guide to the complex tale of murder, backstabbing and deceit.

The Oresteia was written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC.   It’s the only surviving example of a Greek tragic trilogy.  And what a tragedy is it!  Over the course of three plays, Aeschylus tells the stories of the murder of Agamemnon by his wife, Clytemnestra (after he sacrifices their daughter), Clytemnestra’s subsequent killing by her son Orestes, and the cessation of the family’s revenge killings by a vote of an Athenian jury plus that of the goddess Athena.

Forest Hansen, Ph.D., earned a BA in English at Harvard, an MA in English at the University of Wisconsin, and a PhD in Philosophy at Johns Hopkins, and took graduate courses in Counseling Psychology at Northwestern University. For more than 35 years he taught a variety of courses in English and philosophy, as well as courses in Greek Civilization, Classics in Western Thought, and required MA interdisciplinary courses on various subjects, including the humanities, natural science, and social science

Explore the themes of revenge and justice, and what role is played by the gods in Aeschylus’s Oresteia, a three (3) session course Tuesday, Nov. 1, 8 and 15 from 10-11:30 AM.  $35.  ZOOM with recording. To register for Aeschylus’s Oresteia or any other course please visit https://chesapeakeforum.org.

Chesapeake Forum is a nonprofit dedicated to providing continuing education opportunities for residents of the Eastern Shore. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.