Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)
Countries: US
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Virgil, Aeneid (Part 3)
Over the course of the three lessons, students focus on four questions: What makes Aeneas a distinctly Roman hero? What was Virgil’s purpose behind writing the epic? What debt does Virgil owe to Homer? How does Virgil betray his own ambivalence in this epic vision, which both celebrates Rome’s greatness and measures its staggering cost? The classes focus particularly on Books II (The Fall of Troy), IV (The Tragedy of Dido), and VI (The Symbolic Death and Resurrection of the Hero). Featured interviews: Professor Maynard Mack (Yale University), editor for the Norton Anthology of Classical Literature, and Professor A. D. Nuttall (New College-Oxford)
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Communication in Single Parent and Other Family Forms
Presents an overview of the specific communication dimensions of single parent families, gay male and lesbian families, and adoptive families. Discussion provides a brief run-down of the ways in which single parent families are formed, and reviews the communication rules unique to single parent families. Issues related to male-headed, single-parent families are also discussed. Also explored are the unique communication structures in gay male and lesbian relationships and adoptive family structures. Featured interview: Professor Marcia Dixson (Indiana-Purdue University).
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Communication Patterns in StepFamilies
Examines the various ways stepfamilies are formed and their key characteristics. The class introduces the four stages of stepfamily development, and describes the communication challenges stepfamilies face with regard to history, labeling, and the ways in which stepfamilies and their members are viewed by society. Discussion offers insights into blended families that include research on the subject and a personal testimonial on becoming a step-mother. Featured interview: Professor Pamela Cooper (Northwestern University).
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Improving Family Communication: Instruction and Therapy
Provides an introduction to the wide range of approaches used to improve family communication. The various theoretical approaches to these strategies are discussed as are the strengths and weakness of particular approaches, such as Marriage Encounter. Students review some of the common denominators that exist between disparate approaches. A discussion outlines the differences between therapy models that focus on the individual and those that involve the entire family as a system. Featured interviews: Professor Mary Anne Fitzpatrick (University of Wisconsin – Madison) and Professor Dr. William Pinsof (Northwestern University), President and CEO of The Family Institute at Northwestern University.
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Optimal Family Communication Patterns
Provides a course review that recaps the ways in which individuals, partners and family members communicate in order to enhance everyday interaction. Particularly optimal communication techniques such as emotion coaching, storytelling and reading, listening are reviewed and future trends in family communication are discussed. Students are coached through a summary of the key course concepts. Featured interviews: Professor Rives Collins of (Northwestern University), Professor John Gottman (University of Washington), and Dr. Charles Wilkinson, Marriage and Family Therapist.
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Genesis, Chapters 1, 2, and 3
Lesson 1 examines the creation stories of Chapters 1 and 2, with special emphasis on their differences of language and style, the concept of “deity”, the purpose of the text, and the significance of being “made in the image of God”. The discussion of Chapter 3 focuses on the enduring vitality of the Adam and Eve story and the Myth of the Fall. Do Adam and Eve assert their basic human dignity in their defiance? What does it mean to be fully human according to the Adam and Eve myth? Why should the gaining of knowledge/experience and the loss of innocence/simplicity require a connection with Sin, Error, and Pain? Featured interview: Dr. Wil Gaylin, author of Adam and Eve and Pinocchio: On Being and Becoming Human
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The Book of Job
When innocent people suffer difficult circumstances, does that deny the concept of a just God? Discussion focuses on the knotty philosophical question of theodicy and on Job’s personal evolution from despair to faith. How does orthodoxy, in whatever form, keep one from an authentic pursuit of meaning? Featured interviews: Rabbi Harold Kushner, the author of When Bad Things Happen to Good People, and Professor David Clines (University of Sheffield), who authored a critical text on the Book of Job
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Homer, Iliad (Part 1)
Discussion in these two lessons focuses on the nature of epics, the tragedy of Achilles, the nature of the Homeric hero, the relation between humans and gods, and the nature of honor as a motivating principle. Discussion also explores the Iliad as both a celebration of and a protest against war.
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Communication and the World/Family Juggling Act
Focuses on the challenges and dilemmas that families face when they attempt to balance work and family. The class explores the problem of “overload”, the clash between personal and social norms, the problems posed by identity issues, and the challenge to developing a social network. Discussion also touches on the dynamics frequently experienced by couples as they try to share life roles and areas of responsibility. Hochschild’s three ideological marital models – traditional, transitional, and egalitarian – are explained. Real-life advice is given by a couple that is successfully managing work and family obligations. Featured interview: Professor Julia Wood (University of North Carolina) and Brian Cooper and Sharon Holyfield Cooper, a dual-career couple.