Courses

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

When you were wading in the lake at summer camp, did you ever wonder what kinds of critters lived beneath the surface? Or why your feet and legs felt so cold while the rest of your body remained warm as bathwater? On hikes along local woodland streams recently, have you thought about life under the water and how it might be affected by organic debris, effluents, and urban runoff? And why are we seeing more of those ominous algal blooms that discolor the water and cause problems for livestock and humans? Together, we’ll penetrate the surface of lakes and streams to explore these mysteries and more.

INSTRUCTOR
Fred Benfield taught and conducted research in freshwater ecology for some 50 years as a member of the Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech.

This six-week course will acquaint you with key words and important literary, grammatical, and syntactical features from the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament). Knowing these elements of the language will make you a more discerning reader and enable you to compare different translations. Did you know, for example, that the first word in Genesis does not include the definite article, “the”? We’ll discuss this small omission and its implications as well as other linguistic details that open the doors to varying interpretations.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Lawrence Kushner, The Book of Letters: A Mystical Hebrew Alphabet.
• Dave Adamson, 52 Hebrew Words Every Christian Should Know. 
  • Available online or through advance order from Blacksburg Book

INSTRUCTOR
Russell Gregory is an emeritus professor of religious studies, Radford University. He recently taught in the Governor’s School at Radford.

Travel along (virtually) on fascinating journeys. Speakers will share their adventures along with photos/videos enhancing their stories. There will be plenty of time for participants to ask questions and share comments.

Sept. 23 - Join Steve and Victoria Cochran as they journey from Istanbul, Turkey to Bucharest, Romania. They will share stories of the history, people, culture, food and wines of the five Eastern European nations they traveled through along the way.

Sept. 30 - Travel with Sandy Weber through Morocco from the Atlantic to the Sahara. She’ll delight us with tales of Marrakesh, Casablanca, and Fes, including camel rides and a cooking class.

Oct. 7 - Molly McClintock and Irene Peterson will share gorgeous photos and interesting stories about their January tour of Costa Rica. From cloud mountains to rain forests to the Pacific coast, they saw some of the world’s most biodiverse regions and inhabitants.

Oct. 14 - Trek the 1800-mile-long Te Araroa Trail in New Zealand along with Shari Edelson. She will share tales of New Zealand’s unique plants, animals, geology, and culture — along with some hair-raising adventures!

The literature of war is vast, as old as war itself and encompassing multiple genres. This course introduces participants to a few of the many moving literary responses to the Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Vietnam Conflict, and the Iraqi war. We’ll read March, Geraldine Brooks’ Pulitzer-prize retelling of Little Women from the perspective of the absent father, a Civil War chaplain. We’ll discuss poems by Wilfred Owen, Brian Turner, and others who memorialized their battlefield experiences. And we’ll explore the first of the linked stories about American soldiers in Vietnam in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried.

Participants will purchase only the Geraldine Brooks novel, March. Selected poems and the pdf of the short story “The Things They Carried,” will be shared as online links.

INSTRUCTOR
Britton Glidersleeve, a retired faculty member and administrator from Oklahoma State University, grew up in a military family, lived in two war zones, and was married to a veteran of the Vietnam conflict, Têt era, DMZ. These experiences left her with a fascination for the literature of war, which she taught during her university career.

Contemporary headlines frequently refer to a “crisis” in public education—an “impending” or “alarming” crisis or even “a crisis of epic proportions.” Are American schools in crisis, and if so, what can we do about the situation? Two highly experienced professionals will provide grounding and perspective on these questions by addressing six specific challenges confronting public education today: closing achievement gaps, improving school safety, creating effective Special/Exceptional programs, testing (assessment), what is it, what are its uses, making school funding more equitable, and increasing the quality of parent engagement.

INSTRUCTORS
Nick Fischer is a former teacher, principal, and superintendent of public schools.
Gunin Kiran served two terms as chair of the Montgomery County School Board. 

Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin (Booker Prize, 2000) follows the rise and fall of the Chase family from the turn of the nineteenth century, through World War I, the Depression, and World II, to the present. But it is far from a conventional historical novel. A tale of two sisters, it interlinks multiple genres: newspaper reports, the account of an adulterous romance with unnamed lovers, a science fiction story, and a novel within a novel (called The Blind Assassin). In this discussion-based class, we will explore Atwood’s most “Canadian” novel, a best-seller second only in popularity to her Handmaid’s Tale.

INSTRUCTOR
Christine Kiebuzinska is a retired professor of English at Virginia Tech with a specialty in Comparative Literature. She taught the LLI course on Contemporary Ukrainian Literature in Fall, 2023.

This six-week course will feature wines from the regions of Eastern Spain including La Rioja, Navarra, Aragon, Priorat, Penedes, and Catalunya. Grape varieties to be tasted include Garnacha, Syrah, Tempranillo, and Monastrell.

INSTRUCTOR
Randall Horst is a wine enthusiast, buyer for Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, and a veteran instructor for LLI. He has taught wine appreciation every term since 2015. 

Sept 24. Hidden in Plain Sight: the Memorialization of Slavery in Charleston
Do Southern mansions and plantations exude charm or violence? How does Charleston acknowledge its slaveholding past? Researchers explored multiple sites in Charleston. They will share their work through stories and powerful photographs recently exhibited at Newman Library

INSTRUCTORS
Laura Zanotti is a professor of political science at Virginia Tech.
Zuleka Woods is a graduate research assistant at the Center for Refugee, Migrant, and Displacement Studies at Virginia Tech.

Oct 1. From Witnessing Persecution to Aiding Refugees
What generates a refugee crisis? How do refugees make new lives in the US? What barriers and challenges do new residents face? We’ll hear from an expert who has been on the front lines abroad and here at home.

INSTRUCTOR
David Maxey witnessed firsthand events that created an ethnic cleansing in West Africa. The experience led to a 30+ year career assisting refugees and immigrants as a Department of Justice representative.

Oct 8. Species Persistence with Deadly Diseases
When new diseases invade, they often cause substantial impacts to populations. We’ll learn how some individuals and populations manage to survive with disease through ecological and evolutionary mechanisms using bats as a prime example.

INSTRUCTOR
Kate Langwig is an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences and a disease ecologist at Virginia Tech. Her research explores how variation among hosts influences epidemiological dynamics, population impacts, and effectiveness of disease interventions.

Oct 15. Farmers Fighting for Fairness
The national food system is as monopolized as it has ever been. The National Farmers Union is working to change that by pushing for strong enforcement of existing laws, improved transparency in markets, truthful labels for consumers, and the commonsense right for farmers to repair their own equipment.

INSTRUCTOR
Rob Larew is President of the National Farmers Union. In addition to his lobbying efforts, he helps to manage a family farm in operation since 1798.

Oct 22. Horse Logging in a Conservation Burial Ground
When the Monastery of the Holy Spirit was faced with a serious infestation of the southern pine beetle in their wooded burial ground, the monks employed a unique but traditional way of felling and extracting the dead and dying trees: logging with draft horses.

INSTRUCTOR
Jason Rutledge, co-founder of Healing Harvest Forest Foundation, will take you on a fascinating journey with the horses (an endangered species of draft horse called Suffolk Punch), their drivers, timber fellers, chain monkeys, Honey Creek Woodland staff, and the monks. He is also the owner of Ridgewind Farm in Copper Hill.

Oct 29. Termites of the Americas; Misunderstood and Fascinating
Most of us think of termites as pests in our homes but they lead intriguing lives in the wild. We’ll learn about amazing termites through Aaron’s collecting expeditions in the Amazon and other habitats in South America.

INSTRUCTOR
Aaron Mullins is an entomologist and lab manager for the Termite Research Lab in Davie, Florida. 

Polly Stewart’s The Good Ones is a suspenseful mystery that follows a troubled woman’s attempts to solve her friend’s disappearance twenty years after the teenager vanishes. It has been praised for its “riveting and unflinching portrayal of adolescent female friendships” and its “sharp, smart, and often sexy” prose.

Read Local is an LLI course series focusing on a single book written by a local or regional author and involving readers who engage with the author face-to-face in stimulating conversation during the first and last meetings.

REQUIRED TEXT

• Stewart, The Good Ones (Harper/Collins, 2023)
  • Copies of the text are available at Blacksburg Books, purchase before or at first class

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Polly Stewart grew up in the mountains of southwest Virginia and teaches English at Virginia Military Institute. She graduated from Hollins University and has an MFA in fiction and a PhD in English from Washington University in St. Louis. Her short fiction has been selected for The Best American Mystery Stories series. Her novel The Felons’ Ball is forthcoming from Harper Books in 2025.

Much of what we hear and learn about the Civil Rights Movement relates to developments in the Deep South, especially in Alabama or Mississippi, in the 1960s. What about other times and places, in particular Virginia? In this course, we will get acquainted with personalities and events in Virginia that shaped not only the Commonwealth but places far away, including the Deep South.

TEXTS

Required readings—documents, essays, interviews—will be distributed as handouts or as links to online materials. The following books by Wallenstein, while not required for the course, provide very helpful background: Blue Laws and Black Codes, Courts, Conflict, and Change in Twentieth-Century Virginia, and Race, Sex, and the Freedom to Marry: Loving v. Virginia. Available from Newman Library, Virginia Tech.

INSTRUCTOR
Peter Wallenstein is an award-winning professor of history at Virginia Tech. He has published widely on the Black Freedom Struggle in Virginia and elsewhere.

The course explores the prospects for and possible implications of the 2024 general election for the U.S. presidency. The discussion before the election will explore whether and how citizens appear likely to express their needs, demands, and expectations by voting (or not voting) and for (or against) whom they may vote. After the election, attention turns both to the accuracy of pre-election predictions, hopes, and fears and to how the contestants and their supporters respond to results. Meanwhile, the presumptive president-elect must turn their attention to governing amidst an increasingly formalized transition process.

INSTRUCTOR
Karen Hult is professor of political science at Virginia Tech and a core faculty member in the Center for Public Administration and Policy. She serves on the board of the White House Transition Project and studies and writes about the U.S. presidency and executive branch. She has been an election night analyst on WFXR News and the National Public Radio affiliate WVTF. She speaks with journalists about the U.S. presidency, the White House, and Virginia policy, politics, and government.

Aging in place is not merely a matter of maintaining mobility, health, and wits; it requires homeowners to keep their dwellings safe and in good repair. Relying exclusively on paid labor can be a slow, expensive, and chancy proposition. In this four-week course, you will improve your confidence and develop basic skills in home repair in several important areas: preventive maintenance, plumbing, and electricity. Learn what you can tackle yourself and when to call a pro. At the final meeting, the instructors will address questions you have submitted and acquaint the class with a variety of local and online resources to improve and extend your skill set. You will be ready to tackle your own do-ityourself projects with a personal home repair kit and a binder with instructions and resources.

INSTRUCTORS
Lisa K. Garcia grew up in Lynchburg with an electrical engineer and do-it-yourselfer for a father and a mother who figured out a lot of “how to” before the internet and Google had all the answers! A professional business consultant, she has taken on a part-time role in Community Development with the New River Valley Timebank.
Jeremy Glenn was a licensed electrician in Florida before moving to Virginia in 2023 and is now working to get his Virginia electrician’s license while working as a handyman in the New River Valley.

The 70s were a decade when “far-sighted rebels changed science fiction forever with stories that made female community, agency, and sexuality central to the American future.” (Amazon’s ad for our anthology.). We will be reading and discussing short stories by women in the 1970s and a fascinating short novel by Octavia Butler from 1982. Butler’s Dawn, which opens her Xenogenesis trilogy, deepens and expands the exploration of gender and race in a compelling narrative about the remnants of post-apocalyptic humanity interacting with their saviorconquerors, the unusually gendered space travelers who “trade” genetic material with creatures from many worlds.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Lisa Yaszek, Ed., The Future is Female, Vol 2 The 1970’s. Library of America, 2022. (Anthology of short stories.)
• Octavia Butler, Dawn. Grand Central Publishing, 2021

INSTRUCTOR
With a background in anthropology and literature, Karen Swenson taught both medieval literature and speculative fiction at Virginia Tech. As an associate professor emerita, she is enjoying retirement and LLI.

As the visibility of transgender men and women increases, the efforts to restrict their rights also grows. Come meet local transgender men and women, hear about their very different and personal transitions, and about how the current political climate impacts them. As with last semester’s panel with Jewish residents, this is an opportunity to ask difficult questions and gain insight into the lives of others in our community.

As we approach the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, this course will remind participants of why Americans made the radical decision to break from the British Empire, how they managed to win their independence in the face of the world’s greatest army and navy, and how the Revolution affected different people – including women, African Americans, and those who remained loyal to the king

INSTRUCTOR
Daniel Thorp has been teaching American history at Virginia Tech for forty years and is the recipient of college and university teaching awards.

Embark on your artistic journey or refine existing skills with our comprehensive 6-week drawing course, designed to take you from the basics of pencil and paper to creating detailed, textured, and lifelike drawings. Through a combination of structured exercises, personal projects, and constructive feedback, you’ll develop confidence in your abilities and a deeper understanding of artistic principles.

MATERIALS
Before class, students should acquire wooden graphite pencils (HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, no mechanical pencils please!), an eraser, a sharpener, and a spiral-bound or tape-bound sketchbook, 9” X 12” or larger. Student-grade sketchbooks (Artlot, etc.) are fine. Optional supplies will be discussed in the first class.

INSTRUCTOR
With a foundation in commercial architecture, Joseph Cooley brings a unique perspective to art classes, emphasizing the essentials of line drawing and the power of visualization. He is committed to helping students gain skills to see and capture the world with newfound clarity and creativity.

This presentation will briefly review foundational concepts and terms before examining in more depth some of the current controversies in AI. One such controversy centers on “data dignity,” the relatively recent argument that those whose work is appropriated to train language models should be fairly compensated for their labor. But who knows what new developments in AI might be controversial in Fall 2024? The field is dynamic and volatile, at times defying predictions. The specific controversies featured will be drawn from headlines yet to be written.

INSTRUCTOR
Tim Lockridge is an associate professor of English at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He teaches courses about writing with technologies and visual design. Writing Workflows, his book about writing technologies, was published in 2020 by the University of Michigan Press.

This course will cover podcasting, what it is and how to find and use interesting, worthwhile podcasts on a variety of subjects: news, true crime, psychology, popular culture, sports, cooking, gardening, reading. Whether you seek information, inspiration, or entertainment, podcasts can be a rich resource. But how do you find the ones that align with your interests, how do you differentiate the good ones from all that is out there, and what’s involved in a subscription once you decide? The instructors will provide context and technical assistance. Participants are invited to share their favorite podcasts.

INSTRUCTORS
Travis Carter is the Systems Manager for Virginia Tech Continuing and Professional Education.
Carolyn Meier, Carolyn Rude, and Sandy Hagman have been on the LLI Tech Committee for several years and have taught courses on digital photo organization and on making books and cards.

Agatha Christie sold more works of fiction than any other English-language author. In this course, we will examine two of her detective novels set in the Middle East: Death on the Nile [Egypt] and Appointment with Death [Jerusalem/Petra]. Discussions will center on imperialism, nationalism, archaeology, and the modern history of the Middle East as represented in the novels. Christie’s autobiography and other writings will also shed light on her views of the Mysterious Middle East.

REQUIRED TEXTS

• Agatha Christie, Death on the Nile
• Agatha Christie, Appointment with Death 

INSTRUCTOR
William Ochsenwald has presented eight earlier courses for the Lifelong Learning Institute. He is an emeritus professor of history and author of The Middle East: A History; Religion, Society, and the State in Arabia; and The Hijaz Railroad. He has not as yet solved any detective cases in the Middle East.

In the last decade or so, the U.S. Supreme Court has decided important cases related to searches and seizures. But many of the specific questions about police searches, on which lower courts have ruled, have not yet come under their scrutiny, including: the permissible scope of a traffic stop, the legitimacy of warrantless cell phone searches seized in an arrest, and what constitutes reasonable suspicion to stop and frisk. Students will read and critique selected lower court decisions that have potential impact on future Supreme Court cases.

INSTRUCTOR
Jack Call, professor emeritus of criminal justice at Radford University, used his J.D. and Ph.D. degree in political science as the basis for teaching law-related courses at RU. He has taught numerous courses for LLI over the last several years.

A digital file created with PowerPoint is an easy way to share photos online with family members, and it is cheaper than a memory book. In this class, you will learn PowerPoint fundamentals, such as selecting a template, importing photos and text, and designing slides. As the class progresses, we may explore advanced skills, such as embedding html links and videos and adding a music background. Participants will work on a personal project and learn how to convert it to a pdf file. Beginners are welcome. Each person needs a laptop or iPad with PowerPoint installed.

INSTRUCTOR
Liz Craine does tech support for a local hospital system and enjoys using technology to make life better for the community. She taught the LLI course on using online health portals in fall 2023.

Terrence Malick’s work can be found on many lists of top American films. His films are lyric, meditative, both strikingly intimate and far-reaching in the questions they dramatize. He directed two powerful movies in the 1970s, and then, twenty years later, seven more. We will look at four of the most recent films: The Thin Red Line (1998, epic WW2 story); The New World (2005, Pocahontas and John Smith); The Tree of Life (2011, his masterpiece, Texas childhood crossed with a meditation on grief and the creation of the universe); To the Wonder (2012, love, broken and restored).

We will discuss one film per week in the order listed above. Please view them before the scheduled class discussion. They can be streamed through Amazon Prime and other platforms, ordered online as DVDs, or checked out of Newman Library.

INSTRUCTOR
Tom Gardner is an emeritus professor of English at Virginia Tech. He writes about American poetry and publishes his own creative work. One section of his recent book Lyric Theology takes a long look at the films of Terrence Malick. 

This six-week course will feature wines from the regions of Eastern Spain including La Rioja, Navarra, Aragon, Priorat, Penedes, and Catalunya. Grape varieties to be tasted include Garnacha, Syrah, Tempranillo, and Monastrell.

INSTRUCTOR
Randall Horst is a wine enthusiast, buyer for Vintage Cellar in Blacksburg, and a veteran instructor for LLI. He has taught wine appreciation every term since 2015.

In summer 2024, Netflix will introduce the first direct adaptation of 100 Years of Solitude by Nobel Prize winning novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. This lavish production is staged in a specially constructed village built outside of Bogota, Colombia. It tells the story of the timeless town of Macondo through seven generations of the Buendía family. This course offers participants the opportunity to watch and discuss the first four episodes of the sixteen-part serialization together at The Burg, a Peruvian fusion restaurant in Blacksburg. Refreshments will be available for purchase. Fluency in Spanish is not required. The series will be subtitled in English.

INSTRUCTOR
Margaret Marsille is a long-time student of Spanish who has spent many winters in Guatemala.

Spring Forest Qigong has roots in ancient Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts. It involves a system of movements and practices that coordinate body, breath, and mind, thus optimizing “vital energy.” The practice can be cultivated at any age and with any physical capability— sitting, standing, or lying down—without any equipment. Spring Forest Qigong has been said to heal physical and emotional pain, enhance the flow of energy, bring energy back into balance, and improve the quality of life.

INSTRUCTOR
Terry Mercer is a certified Spring Forest Qigong Trainer who has led practice groups at libraries, gyms, churches, and the senior center facilities in Roanoke for the past eight years. She is Japanese and has taught Japanese at Virginia Tech for seven years.

Everyone needs to understand disease ecology because many diseases that threaten humans arise initially in wild animals and because the unchecked spread of disease has the potential to alter ecosystems in permanently damaging ways. In this six-week course, active Virginia Tech faculty will share the latest research in such areas as ecology and epidemiology, host-pathogen interactions, zoonotic diseases, and environmental microbiology. Participants will gain insight into the global importance and impact of current research into disease ecology.

CLASS SESSIONS
Sept 26. - Ticks and Emerging Tick-borne Pathogens
Gillian Eastwood, Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech

Oct 3. - An Exotic Tick Expansion & the Trouble for Cattle
Kevin Lahmers, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia Tech

Oct 10. - Birds at Your Table: What Do We Know About Backyard Feeders and Bird Diseases?
Dana Hawley, Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech

Oct 17. - Engineering Solutions to Antibiotic Resistance of Waterborne Contaminants
Amy Pruden-Bagchi, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech

Oct 24. - Disease Transmission Dynamics in a Changing Landscape
Joseph Hoyt, Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech

Oct 31. - How the Avian Flu Virus Moves through Animal Populations from Wild Birds to Mammals
Tanya LeRoith, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, Virginia Tech  

Most adults have friends and interact with them regularly. You probably do, too. But have you been tending your friendship garden lately? Recent research suggests that cultivating friendships is associated with many benefits, including: a healthier, longer life, a happier and more vital outlook, a more alert and productive lifestyle, and a greater capacity to care about and guide the younger generation. This course will acquaint you with the latest research findings on friendship and suggest ways to compensate for the narrowing of social circles often associated with aging.

INSTRUCTOR
Rosemary Blieszner is dean emerita and alumni distinguished professor emerita of Human Development and Family Science at Virginia Tech with a research specialty in family and friend relationships and caregiving in middle and late adulthood.

Comedy is, at its core, truth-telling, combined with hyperbole and misdirection. As Jonathan Winters once noted, “Just tell the truth and people will laugh.” This course offers a helicopter-ride overview of the theory, history, evolution, and elements of comedy, with flexibility to explore high interest topics in greater depth. Participants are invited to suggest follow-up courses, including a possible LLI workshop on the art and techniques of stand-up, where students will have the opportunity to perform their own material in a no-heckling atmosphere.

REQUIRED TEXT

• Raúl Pérez, The Souls of White Jokes: How Racist Humor Fuels White Supremacy.

INSTRUCTOR
Johnny Moore is a professor emeritus of history at Radford University. A self-proclaimed Stand-Up Historian, he has performed his own hour-long shows. 

Rod Serling brilliantly injected social criticism into his Twilight Zone episodes, using the guise of science fiction and fantasy to escape the censorship of sponsors and network executives. The series ran from 1959 to 1964, but many of the subjects have an eerie resonance to present day. Class participants will watch and discuss five selected episodes of the Twilight Zone with themes that continue to be as relevant today as they were 60 years ago.

INSTRUCTOR
Jamie McReynolds is a retired Unitarian Universalist hospital and hospice chaplain.

This six-week course follows the 2024 presidential election through the eyes of cartoonists representing different countries and political perspectives. We begin with an overview of the campaigns to date. Cartoons for subsequent weeks will be organized around issues that emerge as important and timely. The final class, which will be held after the election is over, will provide perspective on the cartoons of the 2024 presidential campaigns. The future of editorial/ political cartooning will also be considered, especially the effects of budget cuts and failures in the newspaper industry and the movement of cartooning to internet sites.

INSTRUCTOR
Edd Sewell is an emeritus faculty member in Communication at Virginia Tech. His primary teaching and research areas were visual communication and humor. He has previously taught several LLI courses about editorial/ political cartooning.

This one-session class will examine the distinctiveness of Scotland’s single malt whiskies. We’ll taste five single malts with distinctive flavors. To be considered a single malt scotch, the whisky must be distilled from 100 percent malted barley at one distillery and aged for a minimum of three years in wooden casks, normally in used bourbon barrels. Distillers are then allowed to get as creative as they would like, and these variations in taste will be the focus of this class.

INSTRUCTOR
Don Creamer is the founding member of ScotchHunter.com. He and his colleagues have been tasting single malt whiskies for more than 30 years, and in that time, tasted and rated more than 500 different expressions.

This one-session class will examine the distinctiveness of Scotland’s single malt whiskies. We’ll taste five single malts with distinctive flavors. To be considered a single malt scotch, the whisky must be distilled from 100 percent malted barley at one distillery and aged for a minimum of three years in wooden casks, normally in used bourbon barrels. Distillers are then allowed to get as creative as they would like, and these variations in taste will be the focus of this class.

INSTRUCTOR
Don Creamer is the founding member of ScotchHunter.com. He and his colleagues have been tasting single malt whiskies for more than 30 years, and in that time, tasted and rated more than 500 different expressions.

Chinese medicine is among the oldest health care systems, having been practiced for over 5000 years. Arising out of Daoism, Chinese medicine seeks to restore balance, thus creating an environment in which illness cannot take root. Classically, a Chinese doctor was only paid as long as the patient remained healthy. This course will examine the principles guiding Chinese medicine and its diagnostic methods.

INSTRUCTOR
Michael Denbow is a professor emeritus from Virginia Tech where, among other classes, he taught an honor’s colloquium titled “Chinese Medicine” for twelve years. He is the owner of Oriental Medicine and Acupuncture Clinic and a licensed acupuncturist. 

In this one-session workshop, you will create heirloom ornaments using the techniques of English paper piecing, a hand-sewing technique that originated in the 1770s as a way of piecing together objects with complex angles. Although the ornaments you create will be beautiful, the techniques are relatively simple: just folding, ironing, stitching, and beading. No experience is needed. Bring your own fabric scissors and a sewing needle. All other materials will be provided by the instructor.

INSTRUCTOR
Paula Golden is a nationally renowned quilter and teacher.

This course offers participants practical tools to cultivate a happier and more fulfilling life based on the science of well-being and positive psychology. Topics addressed will include fostering positivity, generosity and gratitude, mindful living, pursuing worthwhile goals, and coping in the face of challenge. Each class will incorporate theory, exercises, and discussion, followed by homework assignments that provide opportunities for applying the acquired skills.

INSTRUCTOR
Vicky Dierckx teaches the undergraduate course, Personal Well-being and Professional Success for the Virginia Tech Marketing Department and facilitates Happiness Groups for the Department of Recreational Sports. 

Because imported fabric was expensive and homespun fabric labor-intensive in the early days of the American colonies, piecing together salvaged scraps of fabric became both an economic necessity and a source of creativity and community. This two-part course will explore heirloom quilts from a historical and artistic perspective, providing context about evolving techniques, patterns, styles, and fabrics. Participants will have a chance to explore the instructor’s collection of antique quilts, and they will be invited to bring in their own examples for analysis and discussion.

INSTRUCTOR
Paula Golden is a nationally renowned quilter and teacher.

LLI’s Open Studio Watercolor class is a place for everyone and every skill level, where you learn to let the water do the work for you.

Class will likely include figures, still life, and photos. Participants may also travel to outdoor locations to paint “en plein air.” Students will work at various skill levels with a weekly design and art element focus. More advanced students will be partnered with beginning students in class activities that involve networking, peer tutoring, and critique. Individual and beginning level pull-out sessions will address specific instructional needs.

INSTRUCTOR
Jesi Pace-Berkeley is a Professional Fellow of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and Artist in Residence at the Don and Catherine Bryan Cultural Series, Outer Banks. 

This course will teach you how to prepare Dim Sum, the food of Chinese Tea House lunches. Dim Sum dishes are small items, mostly deep-fried, baked or steamed, often served with sauces. In restaurants, patrons select from circulating carts of these items and are billed accordingly. A Powerpoint sent in advance will introduce the recipes we will prepare. Then we’ll meet at the instructor’s home for a morning of cooking followed by a three-course lunch. We’ll make a variety of Dim Sum dishes such as dumplings or pot-stickers, steamed buns and deep-fried tidbits (e.g., won tons), a total of about 10 dishes.

INSTRUCTOR
Anne McNabb is professor emerita of biological sciences and associate dean of the Graduate School at Virginia Tech. She is also an avid cook who has taught Chinese and Moroccan cooking classes for LLI; she is particularly interested in international cuisines.

Ready to graduate from hats and scarves to fitted sweaters? The two options for LLI’s Fall Knit Along would be great choices for your first attempt. Both are simple, genderneutral designs available in all sizes, one a classic, crewneck, the other an easy colorwork pattern. An optional free app provides help with each step.

“First sweaters” can also be “fancy sweaters”! Experienced knitters, please join us. We can’t wait to see how you make these basic patterns your own through inventive stitchery, artful colorwork, and creative modifications.

Fall pattern choices: Flax and Sparkle from Tin Can Knits. Questions: email nancy.metz@vt.edu 

Participants will be given access to stream a recent documentary, The Unimaginable Journey of Peter Ertel, in advance of a panel discussion on Sep 27. The film is about an ordinary German soldier who was drafted into the army, sent to the eastern and western fronts, captured by U.S. forces, became a prisoner of war, and eventually returned to Germany to help rebuild the country. The film won prizes at several competitions, including the Cleveland International Film Festival. The class will meet on Zoom on Sept 27 with the film’s director/producer and two experts on German prisoners of war who will discuss the film and historical context and take questions.

The film will be available for four days for viewing on a streaming platform. Those taking the class will be given a link and password to view the film during that four-day period.

INSTRUCTORS
Joseph Cahn, an independent filmmaker, is the director and producer of The Unimaginable Journey of Peter Ertel.

Barbara Schmitter Heisler, a retired historian from Gettysburg College, wrote From German Prisoner of War to American Citizen: A Social History with 35 Interviews (2013).

John Gillum is the director of the Aliceville, Alabama museum, which houses memorabilia of World War II German prisoners of war.

As older adults, most of us plan for the legacy we will leave after death. We write memoirs, identify new homes for meaningful possessions, and make or revise wills that distribute assets. But how many of us have considered our probable online afterlife? How many have inventoried our digital accounts, subscriptions, and passwords? How many have examined social media profiles, chats, photos, videos, websites and blogs? Join Heather Moorefield-Lang to discuss Digital Legacies, the lives we have built online— how to edit, curate, and control access to them, and how to share them safely.

INSTRUCTOR
Heather Moorefield-Lang is an associate professor in the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. Her research focuses on accessible technology and makerspaces. She and her husband Jeff have taught several technology courses for LLI.