Aren't Bars and Pubs friendly places where everyone knows your name - then why are people getting killed there? We'll read the following three books to find the answers. - Death at the Bar by Ngaio Marsh - The Dirty Duck by Martha Grimes - The Brutal Telling by Louise Penny (Please don't read ahead - we liked to solve the mysteries together.)

This course will include definitions of spirituality and a discussion of the relationship between spirituality and how we conduct ourselves through a myriad of life issues. The class will explore secular spirituality along with religious and personal issues. Through thoughtful discussions we will develop a better understanding about the importance of spirituality. The course will be broken down to give us a personal yet more profound understanding of spirituality by taking a salient look into some social issues that will include mental health and addiction issues. Finally, the class will help us understand why it is vital to integrate spirituality into our lives.

After exploring the benefits of free market capitalism, we examine challenges of our time that stress our social order. Climate changes, income distribution issues, artificial intelligence, foreign trade and demographic concerns are some of the things that cause a lack of trust in the system and that puts free markets at risk. But there are reasons to hope the system can survive and thrive as we look to the future. No formal economic background is needed to join this class.

This semester will continue textbook studies of comparatives and superlatives and move on into cardinal and ordinal numbers. From Begegnungen A2 emphasis will be on occupations and a review of present tense with separable and inseparable verbs. In the reader the Munchhausen section will conclude and we will start coverage of four famous German fairy tales. Finally in Deutsche Welle A1 we will finish the section on home life and move on into A2, concentrating on the banking system in Germany.

A parable from Frederick Nietzsche: A madman careens into a village marketplace shouting, God is dead, God is dead. The villagers, bemused and astonished, jeer and point to this bizarre figure. To them, the madman adds, and it is you who have killed our deity. It is clear: the madman is Nietzsche and we are the villagers. Today, we would be well advised to reflect on this. To Nietzsche’s charge, the great thinker Martin Heidegger responds, devoting a lifetime’s thought to “reconfigure” the divine to a godless Europe. How this came to be is the subject of this course. Come, then, and enter the thought of Heidegger and follow him as he works his way to the divine. Reading text: TBA and handouts. $5 copy fee.

This semester will continue textbook studies which finish relative pronouns, moving on to da and wo compounds. In Begegnungen B1 emphasis will be on verbs with prepositions and how to use them with da and wo compounds; also on recognition of verbs turning into nouns and ending with prepositions used in time phrases. From German Short Stories, the two stories covered are Der Weg Zum Glueck and Die Freundschaft, Die Traueme wahr werden laesst. In Deutsche Welle A2 coverage will be on making a complaint and restaurant situations.

This class will help you understand the timeline of the Old Testament characters, events, enemies and provide a historical perspective as too who may have written the Old Testament books, when written, and who may have made changes. You will also gain an understanding of all the other kingdoms surrounding ancient Israel via maps and archeological findings. "How could this be true" questions will be presented but not necessarily answered.

The class will cover beginning knitting skills: cast on, knit and purl stitches and binding off. Other topics covered: reading patterns, types of needles, tools of knitting, difference in yarns and the use of a gauge. The class will complete a dish cloth or potholder. Participants with some skill and ambition may want to start a blanket. Supplies for first day: NEEDLES size 7 or 8 (made of aluminum, plastic or wood); straight or circular; length-straight (10-14 in), circular (11-14 in) and YARN 1 skein Lily® Sugar 'n Cream® Yarn (Michael's) or Crafter's Secret Cotton Yarn (Hobby Lobby). DO NOT spend a lot on needles until you know what you like.