Thursday Morning Lectures

With its vast range of subjects, the Thursday Morning Lecture Series is a wealth of information and inspiration. This friendly and topical series will engage your mind, and give you new ideas to consider, as well as some old ones to revisit. It may spark a greater interest in something you’ve been curious about, or introduce you to a new interest you didn’t know you had. You’ll meet others who enjoy continually learning about themselves and the world around them. Come for just an hour-long presentation, or stay on afterwards for the noontime Organization of Older Students lecture series!

Lectures are held at 56 Brattle Street at 10:30 AM.
Admission is $4.00 ($2.00 for Seniors).

AMAZON RIVERBOAT EXPEDITION

Mary Ellen Rowe

Ms. Rowe approached her first Earthwatch expedition, studying bird migration in Kenya, with trepidation, handing over two weeks of her valuable vacation time to share work, room and meals with a bunch of total strangers. Since that happy time, she has enjoyed 33 other expeditions on six continents. Hear about her latest adventures.
January 14
Event code: LJ14

RENAISSANCE ARTIST SANDRO BOTTICELLI

Judy Schurgin

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) remains one of the greatest Renaissance artists of Florence. Creating some of the most poetic religious and mythological scenes of his age, his works embody the beauty and harmony of the Early Italian Renaissance. We’ll view and discuss the vast array of Botticelli’s works, which include portraits, religious scenes, and paintings based on ancient myths.
January 21
Event code: LJ21

SOLAR SYSTEM DISCOVERIES

John Sheff

At first, all we knew about the planets was that they were “wanderers” against the background stars. When Galileo first turned the telescope to the sky, the planets became “worlds.” A half century ago, unmanned space probes started their explorations and the planets became “landscapes.” What have we learned since? Is our Solar System unique? And whatever happened to Pluto?
January 28
Event code: LJ28

WRITING YOUR MEMOIR

Allan Hunter

Documenting one’s life is the basis of a psychic process called “soul work,” which manifests as a desire to experience being alive to the fullest. This idea is the core of Dr. Hunter’s unusual approach to teaching memoir writing, in which writing your life story becomes a way to grow your understanding of what your life has to tell you. We’ll explore how memoirists can mobilize their own unconscious process.
February 4
Event code: LF04

CELEBRATING THE CHINESE NEW YEAR

Janet Lee Scott

The greatest holiday of the lunar calendar is the Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival. With its traditions and practices, it celebrates the importance of family and wider kinship, but with an accompanying emphasis on gratitude for benefits received during the old year. The talk will take up these traditions and the ways in which Chinese seek for renewal and a better year to come.
February 11
Event code: LF11

DRUM AND DIDGERIDOO

Temple Drummers

The drum and the didgeridoo are the two oldest musical instruments in the world, dating back at least 60,000 years. See and hear both when the Temple Drummers perform for us. From soft trance to fierce tribal drumming, accompanied by two didgeridoo players, they’ll take us on a brief survey of drumming styles from around the world.
February 18
Event code: LF18

CORAL: ANIMAL VEGETABLE OR MINERAL??

Rachel DelVecchio

Coral reefs are beautiful and fragile, and make you think of turquoise waters and sunscreen. But what is coral, really? What makes it into a reef? How are corals crucial to the oceanic ecosystem? This lecture will explore and explain the amazing lives of corals around the world.
February 25
Event code: LF25

THE WINDOW SHOP:
Safe Harbor for Refugees 1939-1972

Dorothy Dahl

The Window Shop at 56 Brattle Street provided a safe harbor for hundreds of German and Austrian refugees who fled Hitler to America. It served food, sold crafts, and offered a place for refugees to work, learn English, and maintain a connection to the past. Dorothy Dahl, who served on its board, will talk about this exceptional enterprise and its Cambridge founders.
March 4
Event code: LM04

BEETHOVEN’S GHOST

Richard Knisely

Everyone loves Beethoven’s emotions: the fist shaker, the tender soul searcher. But have you entered into the miraculous microcosm from which he builds his awesome palaces of sound? Richard Knisely, longtime classical personality from WGBH radio, invites you into Beethoven’s intricate genius, to see and hear how an entire world of music grew from simple ideas. Using Beethoven’s “Ghost” trio, you will learn to recognize these tiny elements and how a macrocosm of magnificent sound grew from them. Bring your curiosity and ears.
March 11
Event code: LM11

SULU AND SABAH: AN UNCONQUERED KINGDOM

Stewart Addington Saint-David

This presentation highlights the history of one of the great independent Muslim sultanates of Southeast Asia: the Sultanate of Sulu and Sabah. It is now divided between the Philippines and Malaysia, and is still presided over by an Islamic ruler. We will focus on the continuity of the present sultanate with its culture and traditions as well as on its role in 21st-century Southeast Asia.
March 18
Event code: LM18