Are those who ignore history doomed to repeat it? In Chesapeake Forum’s two-session course, “Does History Inform Current Events”, starting Thursday May 12 from 10-11:30 am, participants will examine the potential outcomes of present U.S. attitudes towards its “political enemies” to determine how strong history’s influence is and should be. The class will be held on ZOOM, $20.

It is easy to fear that current national and global events are willfully negligent of obvious parallels to the past. Why is that? Whose fault is it? Societal train wrecks like the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan have occurred too frequently throughout history, yet lessons learned, or not learned, do not help us prevent a repeat of such calamities. Assuming we determine that history’s lessons are too often ignored, or even blocked, what steps can we agree on that would make history’s lessons more influential?

Instructor Hans Kuschnerus is a retired Electrical Engineer who spent most of his career in IT at Ford Motor Company. Hans was an early adopter of computer controls, including putting the first micro-computer onboard for vehicle engine control. Hans was assigned to Europe for 5 years where he learned that much of the user acceptance of new technology is culture driven.

To register for “Does History Inform Current Events” or to find other classes that might interest you, visit www.chesapeakeforum.org.  Scroll down to browse courses.  Classes are available as HYBRID (In-person at the Easton Peachblossom YMCA or  Zoom), Zoom only, or Recording. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Chesapeake Forum was formed in 2020 to provide continuing education opportunities for adults on the eastern shore.

How does the concept of Smart Growth create the city of the future – the Resilient City?  Learn how Resilient Cities make it through crises, and face future shocks and stresses from climate change, growing and diverse population needs, and depleted energy resources in this Chesapeake Forum class, May 5th from 10-11:30 am.

Join International development expert Bruce Purdy as he looks at how today’s cities are making huge investments to address the impact of climate change, plan for rapidly changing social needs, and create greater economic vitality. Examples of U.S. and International Resilient Cities will show the actions they have taken to be smart as they look toward a future of growing uncertainty.

Purdy has more than 45 years of experience planning and financing rural and urban infrastructure projects in more than 25 emerging and developing economies. He holds a B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, an M.A. from the University of Maryland, and undertook extensive coursework in strategic and organizational planning at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

To register for Smart Growth and the Resilient City or to find other classes that might interest you, visit www.chesapeakeforum.org.  Scroll down to browse courses. Classes are available as HYBRID (In-person at the Easton Peachblossom YMCA or  Zoom), Zoom only, or Recording. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Chesapeake Forum was formed in 2020 to provide life-long learning opportunities for adults on the eastern shore.

Slim threads, stories handed down, ancestors who are just a glimmer in the family history.  In Chesapeake Forum’s class “Turning Family into Fiction: The New Land”, starting Tuesday May 4th, you will learn how to turn the faintest of traces into fiction using historical research and imagination to bring ancient stories to life.

Instructor David O. Stewart took his own journey through the past until a picture emerged that was dramatically different from the stories he had heard growing up.  Using census and military records, and local histories in Maine, Stewart assembled a picture of his German immigrant ancestors and their difficult path through time.  Stewart will take students through his writing and research journey,  discuss how history and imagination combine to create historical fiction and review tools that are available for others to pursue their own stories.

Stewart is a best-selling and prize-winning author of five books of American history, most recently George Washington: The Political Education of America’s Founding Father. He also is the author of six historical novels. The New Land, the first of the Overstreet Saga trilogy, was published in November 2021. Earlier novels include The Lincoln Deception, The Paris Deception, and the Babe Ruth Deception.

To register for “Turning Family into Fiction: The New Land,” visit chesapeakeforum.org. Scroll down to find other classes you might enjoy, too.  Classes are available as HYBRID (In-person at the Easton Peachblossom YMCA or  Zoom), Zoom only, or Recording. Scroll down to find other classes you might enjoy, too. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Chesapeake Forum is delighted to welcome “Ruining Your Day at the Beach,” taught by Douglas Levin, Ph.D.  Turns out, it takes more than a day at the beach to understand the ecosystems at play along coastal shorelines.  In this class, you’ll learn that each layer of beach has its place in the eco-system from the walkway where you enter the beach, the berm where you flop down with your towel and the low-tide terrace where you decide to whether or not to take the plunge.

You will learn how the different parts of the beach contribute to its mechanics. Why do beaches erode? Why does it help to swim along the beach to get out of a rip current? You will also examine sand samples from all over the world and determine why beaches are black, white, peppered, or red; learn the difference between tropical and temperate beaches and understand basic beach mechanics.

In other words, a day at the beach will never be the same again.

Doug Levin, Chief Innovation Officer for The Center for Environment & Society at Washington College, has over 40 years of experience mapping globally dispersed sea floors with a myriad of technologies. He has detected oil seep off of Cartagena, SA; done Lease Block Hazard Surveys; and worked on pipeline and fiber optic cable route selections in the Gulf of Mexico, the Aleutian Islands, and the Mediterranean. He has done shipwreck imaging in Thunder Bay; located Cortez’s treasure in Veracruz; and searched for evidence of Noah’s deluge in the Black Sea. For three weeks, he was the NOAA Liaison to BP for the subsurface oil monitoring during Deepwater Horizon, responsible for creating the daily report to the U.S. President. He was the first to use sonar to find ghost crab pots in the Chesapeake Bay and use it to evaluate the Bay bottom for suitable oyster habitat. He’s been teaching K – Gray for nearly 40 years and creating programs where you design, build, and operate working underwater robots; or you break the world’s record for small buoys holding golf balls.

To register for “Ruining Your Day at the Beach”  visit chesapeakeforum.org. Two sessions on Thursday April 21, 28  from 10-11:30, $20. HYBRID. Scroll down to find other classes you might enjoy, too. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Follow the flyway with Chesapeake Forum favorite Wayne Bell, Ph.D as he unlocks the beauty of spring migration in Birds & Birding on the Eastern Shore beginning April 14.

Spring on Delmarva is an exciting time for birding. As winter resident species depart, migrants and summer breeders begin to arrive, some showing up before trees have a full complement of leaves. Now is the time to enjoy colorful warblers in the company of vireos, flycatchers, and orioles. And if you think all shorebirds are just little sandpipers, spring migration should change your perspective.

Each class session will focus on identification of target species likely to be seen on the subsequent field trip to one or more of Delmarva’s special places. Both novice and experienced birders are welcome, and it is not necessary to have taken this course previously to successfully spot birds.

To register for Birds & Birding on the Eastern Shore, visit www.chesapeakeforum.org.  Classroom sessions are Thursday April 14 and May 19 from 2:30 – 4 pm. In-person at the Easton Peachblossom YMCA, Zoom, or Recording available.  Two in-person field trips Thursday April 18 and May 23 from 7 am – 3 pm, $20. Check out the webpage to find other classes you might enjoy, too. If you would like to receive the Chesapeake Forum’s monthly newsletter, please email to [email protected] with your name and preferred email.

Dr. Wayne Bell is Senior Associate and former Director of the Washington College Center for Environment and Society.  A native of Silver Spring, MD, he graduated from the University of Miami, FL, and earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University where E.O. Wilson infected him with a lasting love of all things ecological.  Retired since 2006, Dr. Bell continues his passion for birds and teaching through the Maryland Ornithological Society Youth program (YMOS) and the Chesapeake Forum.