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Have you taken the Beginning American Mah Jongg class and want to play more, with guidance? Want help seeing where your tiles are leading you? Want to improve your game? We will spend most of every in-person session playing mah jongg. In between classes I will share a weekly video, where I'll demonstrate a game, narrate what I see in the tiles and how I choose what to do next. There will also be weekly optional homework which we’ll review at the next class and an occasional short lesson on a requested topic. Students provide their own 2025 National Mah Jongg League card (nationalmahjonggleague.org or 212-246-3052, $14-$15). $5 copy fee to instructor for handouts.

Mystery Stories bring us puzzles to solve and criminals and witnesses to analyze. In the end, we try to solve the case before the book's detectives do. Sadly sometimes we miss a clue, or don't see the twist coming. But that just means we need to read the next book. 

• In the Woods by Tana French

• The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

• The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham

• Postmortem by Patricia Cornwell

The course is 8 weeks (no class on Oct 20th and 27th).

Begin, or continue, a journey with Polish. We will build on your knowledge of language, memories and love for all things Polish. With addition of new phrases, simplified grammar, and conversation you will prepare to embark on the next trip to the Chicago Polish store, write a Christmas note in Polish to your loved one or simply reminisce about conversations you overheard growing up. Text and other materials will be announced during the first class and emailed to you.

With gentle movement T'ai Chi promotes calm mental focus and alignment while building leg strength, endurance, stability and balance. The course progresses gradually from simple to complex, without strain. The basic form that we learn in the class can prepare students for more complex traditional forms. For many T'ai Chi becomes a health-giving lifelong practice. See https://taichihealth.com for more information.

Cardio drumming is a low-impact, full-body workout set to the great music of the '60s, '70s, and '80s. If you have never tried this form of exercise, you are in for a real treat. Using drumsticks, a 65-75cm stability ball, and a 16–24-gallon bucket (with rope handles), we work at our own pace using our arms, legs, and core! All fitness levels are encouraged, even if you must sit. Please purchase your bucket and ball at Meijer, Walmart, or Lowe's. Drumsticks are available from the instructor for $3.

Discussions of the relationship between “science” and “religion,” as stated by historian Ronald L. Numbers, originated in the early 19th century, when students of nature first began referring to their work as science rather than as natural philosophy. Before that time, no one pitted religion against science. We will explore the evolving relationship between science and religion in the U.S.—from Puritan natural theology to Darwin, the Scopes Trial, Intelligent Design, climate change, vaccines, and AI. We examine how religious beliefs and scientific knowledge have interacted in public and private life, sometimes clashing, but most times coexisting, and often shaping each other. $5 copy fee.

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. There will be a $2 copy fee collected in the first class. This semester will have only 9 classes, starting on September 15!!