Speaking Up and Writing Down

Giving Voice to Our Own Stories

So many of us enjoy writing, but instead of sharing our work, we accumulate boxes of journals, drawers of poems, files of essays, stories, etc. We keep meaning to write down our insights and experiences, but can’t seem to regularly make space for this to happen. If you’d like help giving voice to your stories, freeing them from memory, letting them have their own life to see where they might lead—this class is for you. Through in-class prompts, vignettes, essays, etc. we’ll experiment with a variety of narrative techniques in search of the larger narrative voice in our writing: the voice that discerns theme, pattern, and metaphor running through our lives: the voice that is more reliable and fresh than memory: the voice which is still evolving and learning. Whether you’re putting together family stories or seeking to publish an essay, a memoir, or any other creative non-fiction project—or you simply want more vibrancy, clarity, and freedom in your writing—this class will let you explore, be heard and get feedback in a supportive environment. We’ll practice getting out of our heads, onto the page, and into a larger life! Returning writers are always welcome to come again and continue their projects.


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Exploring Egypt’s Influential Neighbor

The Archaeology and History of Ancient Nubia

Discover Nubia, the “silent partner” to ancient Egypt’s grandeur. The source of technologies, raw goods (e.g., gold), mercenaries, and considerable interconnections, Nubia shaped ancient Egypt far more extensively than is generally understood. Meanwhile, Nubia supported several powerful, independent, millennia-long kingdoms of its own, including the Kerma and the Kush. Across five lectures, organized chronologically, we will explore the sites that were most critical to the development of ancient Nubian civilizations and have yielded its most spectacular discoveries. The archaeological and textual evidence and their importance are explained. Emphasis will be on the Kerma culture (ca. 2500-1500 BC), the 25th Dynasty/Napatans (ca. 900-300 BC), and the Meriotic kingdom (ca. 300 BC to AD 300).

Week 1: Introduction to Ancient Egypt & Nubia

Week 2: Nubia in the Beginning

Week 3: The Kerma Period

Week 4: The Kingdom of Kush

Week 5: The Pyramids and Royal Cemeteries of Nuri

Professor Creasman’s exciting work at the royal pyramids of Nuri has recently been featured by National Geographic:

Check your local listings for a National Geographic television documentary about the “Black Pharoahs” which will include several projects in ancient Nubia.


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Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci

The Heart and Mind of Early Baroque

The world exalts Caravaggio for his dramatic light and intense naturalism whereas Annibale Carracci is little known, for his ideal beauty and energized classicism. Why has one become a towering figure of the Western Canon and the other only appreciated by students and specialists of the Italian Baroque? These two contemporaries approached the reform of painting at the end of the Sixteenth Century from entirely different directions. Discover how the intensity of Caravaggio and the sensuality of Annibale Carracci converged to create and influence all the glories and excesses of the Baroque and discuss how their works remain powerful and relevant today.

Week 1: The Italy of the Counter Reformation and the need for Reform – The Rome of the late Sixteenth Century. What is old is new again. The Bolognese Academy of Painting of Annibale Carracci and the early Career of Caravaggio.

Week 2: The Early Baroque in Rome – Caravaggio in the circle of Cardinal Francesco Maroia Del Monte and the erotics of Faith. The Saint Matthew Cycle in the Contarelli Chapel for the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi.

Week 3: Annibale Carracci and the Palazzo Farnese – Glorious Classicism and Wondrous Sensualism. The establishment of Baroque Ceiling Painting and the desire for Fame….but with a sense of humor.

Week 4: Rome in 1601 – Drama, drama, and more drama. Annibale and Caravaggio collaborate to create the Cerasi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo. The establishment of an artistic tradition.

Week 5: When Titans Fall – The late careers of Carracci and Caravaggio, still brilliant but falling into melancholia and violence. The profound influence of Annibale and Caravaggio on younger artists and formation of the Baroque ideal.


Instructor: Kevin Justus

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Literary Road Trip – Tucson Session

American Voices

Join Bill Fry for an eight-week exploration of stories and poetry that illustrate the American experience from a variety of vantage points. Starting on a sheep farm in Oregon and moving through Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, New Mexico, New York and more, we’ll read works with a well-developed sense of place as we focus on uniquely American voices in literature.

Week 1: Scottie Jones – Country Grit (2017), a memoir of an experiment with sheep farming in Oregon

Week 2: Theodor Dreiser – Come Into My Parlor (1918), a novella set in Long Island

Week 3: Ernest Hemingway – “Up in Michigan” (1925)

Week 4: Willa Cather – “The Enchanted Bluff” (1909), a short story set in New Mexico

Week 5: Sinclair Lewis – Main Street (1920), a novel set in Minnesota

Week 6: Robert Frost – Selected poetry (1913-1915) set in New England

Week 7: William Dean Howells – “Editha” (1905), a short story set in Ohio

Week 8: O.Henry – “The Cop and the Anthem” and “The Gift of the Magi” (both published in 1906), two stories set in New York City


Instructor: William A. Fry

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The Footprints of Humanity

Perspectives from Archaeology and Paleoanthropology

Paleoanthropologists have tracked the story of human evolution through over 7 million years, by following the archaeological evidence of human development. The story begins with our large bodied Miocene apes in Africa, traces the origins of bipedalism and cognitive expansion, and then follows human expansion out of Africa and into the rest of the world and beyond. We will cover seven major topics in 2-hour meetings, focusing on major discussions within paleoanthropology. Topics include understanding evolution, early hominids and the origin of bipedalism, cooking and anatomy, early migrations, art and cave paintings, the peopling of the Americas, and recent discoveries that are changing how we understand the development of modern humans.

Week 1: Understanding the Evolutionary Process and Origin of Species
Modern Evolutionary Biology – We will cover the basics of Darwinian evolution, and current research that help us understand how evolutionary forces mold species.
DNA – The second hour will focus on DNA studies that are illuminating paleoanthropology. We will briefly look at theory, methods, and findings from this area of paleoanthropological research.

Week 2: Early Hominids and the Origin of Bipedalism
Ardipithecus Group and Early Hominids – We will examine some of the earliest fossils in the hominin lineage, discuss significant changes in the skeletal anatomy, and discuss what this suggests us about the behavior of each species.
Origins of Bipedalism – The second hour will focus on theories on the origin of our unique form of locomotion. We will look closely at the evidence and potential links between past environmental change and hominin evolution.

Week 3: Cooking, Technology, Modern Human Anatomy
The Cooking Ape – Desmond Morris famously dubbed modern humans “the Naked Ape” and since then, others have employed similar labels. Here we will explore a theory that connects human digestive anatomy to cooking and to increases in cognitive ability.
The Archaeology of Food – In this second hour, we will examine how archaeologists and paleoanthropologists learn about past diets. We will discuss several methods employed in the exploration of past food systems and look at some findings from this research.

Week 4: Early Travelers
The Travels of Homo Erectus – We will look at the expansion of hominins from Africa into the rest of the world and discuss some of the theories and important sites associated with this first migration and expansion.
Expansion of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens sapiens – In the second hour, we will look at the expansion of modern humans and Neanderthals in the upper Paleolithic, including the timing and evidence of this migration.

Week 5: Development of Artwork and Cave Paintings
The Upper Paleolithic – In the Upper Paleolithic we see an explosion of new technologies as modern humans move into new ecosystems. We’ll focus on these technological developments and discuss ideas about the interaction between hominin species, as modern humans move into inhabited landscapes.
Cave Paintings, Rock Art, and the Creative Human Mind – In the second hour, we will look more closely at the expansion and development of art in the archaeological record. We will spend time with the famous cave sites, Lascaux and Chauvet Cave, and discuss the importance of the development of art.

Week 6: Expansion into the Americas
Clovis First – The peopling of the Americas is a lively topic in Archaeological research. Learn the history of the research and the development of major theories about the timing, route, and source of the first Americans.
Pre-Clovis Research – In the second hour, we will look at the current research on the peopling of the Americas, discuss major findings and new discoveries, and explore how these findings change our understanding of human expansion into the Americas.

Week 7: Recent Developments in Paleoanthropology
New Species – In this final section, we will discuss new findings that are dramatically changing the way we think about human evolution and explore the new species discovered over the past few years.
Stones, Bones, and Wrap Up – In the second hour, we will continue to talk about recent developments and talk about the implications for future research on the origins of modern humans.


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The History of Parliament

The Parliament of the United Kingdom has remote origins that stretch back into British history. It has evolved over the centuries into the governing body of the UK, regarded as the mother of parliaments. The institution has become a primary identifier of national identity, one that now considers all aspects of British life. The history of Parliament is in many ways the history of the United Kingdom itself.

Week 1: Medieval Origins
Parliament originated from the tensions within feudal relationships. Norman bodies such as the curia regis and the magnum concilium were forerunners of parliamentary development as was the sealing of Magna Carta in 1215. By the middle of the 13th century English society had started the long road to the 21st century parliament.

Week 2: Early Modern Parliaments
In the 15th and 16th centuries Parliament cemented its position as a fundamental part of the constitution. But what exactly did it do? Were its functions political, administrative, military, judicial or legislative? The Tudors (1485-1603) attempted to make Parliament ‘a creature of the monarch’, a role increasingly resented by members.

Week 3: The Sovereignty of Parliament
The Stuart century (1603-1714) settled once and for all who was to govern: the king or Parliament. The ‘struggle for the constitution’ resulted in turmoil that eventually led to the English Civil war (1642-1660) when both the monarchy and Parliament disappeared. The Restoration (1660-1688) restored the crown’s power until the Glorious Revolution (1688-89) settled the question for good. Parliamentary sovereignty became the centerpiece of the modern British constitution.

Week 4: The Modern Parliament
Since 1689 Parliament has gradually established its place as the key institution of the modern constitution. The greatest accomplishment occurred when Parliament obtained the power to tell the monarchs what he/she must do supplanting its original authority of simply telling the monarch what he/she could not do. The EU and Brexit is simply the latest in a long line of issues that Parliament must resolve.


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Literary Road Trip – Oro Valley Session

American Voices

Join Bill Fry for an eight-week exploration of stories and poetry that illustrate the American experience from a variety of vantage points. Starting on a sheep farm in Oregon and moving through Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, New Mexico, New York and more, we’ll read works with a well-developed sense of place as we focus on uniquely American voices in literature.

Week 1: Scottie Jones – Country Grit (2017), a memoir of an experiment with sheep farming in Oregon

Week 2: Theodor Dreiser – Come Into My Parlor (1918), a novella set in Long Island

Week 3: Ernest Hemingway – “Up in Michigan” (1925)

Week 4: Willa Cather – “The Enchanted Bluff” (1909), a short story set in New Mexico

Week 5: Sinclair Lewis – Main Street (1920), a novel set in Minnesota

Week 6: Robert Frost – Selected poetry (1913-1915) set in New England

Week 7: William Dean Howells – “Editha” (1905), a short story set in Ohio

Week 8: O.Henry – “The Cop and the Anthem” and “The Gift of the Magi” (both published in 1906), two stories set in New York City


Instructor: William A. Fry

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