OLLI@DU / 2023 FALL / COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

The First 100 Words— Beginnings are a Big Deal

LWRL 1013

Thursday

Dates: 9/28 to 11/9 (no class 10/19) (6 weeks)

Time: 1–3 PM

Facilitator: Sandi Ault

Location: Online

Class Limit: 25 Participants

Sponsoring Site: South

Choosing how to begin a piece of work means finding a pivotal moment, idea, proposal, or concept that best defines the journey ahead for the reader—while at the same time seducing them down the path with you. There is no right or wrong place to start a story, but there are means of working from any starting place that will “hook” your readers into wanting to continue reading past the first paragraph.

In today’s world of immediacy, we have stories available on the Internet, e-books, online publications, online news, and film coming right into our homes via cable, satellite, and more. Writers are increasingly challenged to develop the skills required to grab a reader’s attention, whether that’s at the end-use level or at the beginning of a writing career with the initial proposal and query to agents and editors.

In this workshop-format class, we will study good beginnings by great writers, find ways to start a big project, a small proposal, a pitch or query, and a story. We’ll work together in the class to create powerful writing with an economy of language, sharp skills, and good tools from the writer’s toolkit. We’ll hone those skills and master those tools and you’ll see your own storytelling improve each week. And that first 100 words is just the beginning!

Having the Last Word: A Study of Obituaries

LWRL 1002

Wednesday Dates: 9/20 to 10/11 (4 weeks)

Time: 9:30–11:30 AM

Facilitator: Sally Stich

Location: 1st Universalist

Class Limit: 25 Participants

Sponsoring Site: Central

Do you rush to read obituaries in the paper? Join the crowd--obits can be addictive. These “life stories” have evolved in America from a laundry list of one’s life accomplishments, printed in newspapers, to “anything goes” on social media. Bridging the gap between boring and off the wall are beautifully crafted celebrations of life, in such publications as the New York Times, The Washington Post, the Economist—amongst many others. We shall see how they’ve evolved over the last 300 years.

Herman Melville’s 1851 Novel, Moby Dick

LWRL 1012

Tuesday

Dates: 9/26 to 11/14 (8 weeks)

Time: 9:30–11:30 AM

Facilitator: William West

Location: Park Hill UMC

Class Limit: 30 Participants

Sponsoring Site: Central

By 1851, the year of Moby Dick’s publication, the US had become one of the world’s most advanced and prosperous industrial nations. It enjoyed its wealth in good part because of the country’s unsurpassed natural resources. It was the prevailing attitude towards those resources at the time that they should be exploited exclusively for the benefit of mankind without regard to any environmental damage that might be caused. Moby Dick offered a serious challenge to that position with the result that the novel was condemned and became a financial failure for its author. Not until the 1930s did readers and critics begin to see the worth and relevance of its point of view.

Humorous Sci-Fi Short Stories

LWRL 1010

Thursday

Dates: 9/21 to 11/9 (8 weeks)

Time: 1–3 PM

Facilitator: Larry Matten, Platinum Facilitator

Location: Online

Class Limit: 35 Participants

Sponsoring Site: Central

Greetings Science Fiction enthusiasts. This is a read and discuss course. We will read three short stories and then discuss them at the weekly meeting.

Some well-known science fiction authors were asked to select their most humorous work for inclusion in an anthology. Using this anthology, we will consider the various authors’ sense of humor. Is the story really funny? We will explore the use of Science Fiction literature to contemplate modern society and the future. Some of our goals include achieving an understanding of the genre; ability to engage with science fiction; appreciating the broad cultural impact of science fiction; and, learning something about the authors.

If it’s Magic, How Can it be Real? Short Stories of Magical Realism

LWRL 1004

Wednesday

Dates: 9/20 to 10/25 (6 weeks)

Time: 1–3 PM

Facilitators: Becky Stout/Patty Smilanic Location: Columbine United Church Class Limit: 16 Participants

Sponsoring Site: South

While Latin American authors such as Marquez and Allende are credited with originating magical realism, also known as speculative fiction, the genre has burst forth from the pens of Milhauser, Russell, Erdrich, Okafor, Oyeyemi, Liu, Martel, Murakami, Esquivel and many others. Two short stories per week will enable us to discuss the fantastical and imaginative worlds these authors have created. The style originally enabled authors to put forth social, political, and moral ideas in a relatively safe way. What do our selection of stories from authors of diverse cultures say to us? What messages are they trying to convey beyond the strange worlds they have brought us?