Amelia Lifelong Learning – New Courses for 2022

By Evelyn C. McDonald
Arts & Culture Reporter
January 28, 2021

To register, see the Amelia Lifelong Learning website – www.amelialearning.com.

Amelia Lifelong Learning (ALL) just posted its new course offerings for 2022. Courses begin in mid-February and run into April. The schedule has an interesting set of courses from the workings of the brain to the Constitution, English poets to cooking with herbs. Literally something here for everyone. (Disclosure: I am a board member of ALL.) While the information is on the ALL website, I’d like to share a few thoughts on some of the courses and instructors that I plan to take.

Norman Wesley will be sharing his expertise in and enthusiasm for English poets from William Blake to T.S. Eliot. Norman is the teacher you always hoped you’d get. Testimonial to his talents is that I took his courses on Milton and grammar for self-defense and they were great, though I did prefer grammar to Milton. Norman not only discusses the poems but also provides a background on the society these poets lived in and wrote about.

Steven Ericson is one of our newer instructors, thanks to his brother and ALL instructor Mark Ericson. Steve is a professor of Japanese studies at Dartmouth. He presented courses on Japan leading up to World War II, the Occupation of Japan post-war, and Japanese economic recovery after the war. This semester he will be discussing Japan’s long-term recovery and its social and cultural challenges.

Marge Powell is an herbalist, board member of the West Nassau Historical Society, and recent chair of Arts & Culture Nassau. She has presented several courses and lectures for ALL, starting with a course in the use of plants in perfume that had the participants blending their own perfumes. One of her lectures concerned the uses of herbs as medicines in northeast Florida around the time of the Civil War. This semester she will discuss the culinary uses of herbs, including a hands-on cooking session.

Speaking of Mark Ericson, he will be doing an encore of the first course he ever taught for ALL. Japan in the Age of the Samurai was a fascinating look at one of the best-known figures in Japanese history. Mark helped students separate fact from fiction and trace the ongoing global appeal of the Samurai legend.

Time doesn’t permit me to take other courses or I would be signing up for something such as Great Decisions, looking at the future, the workings of the brain, or Spanish. As I said earlier, something for everyone in this set of courses. For more information on dates/times and to register, see the ALL website – www.amelialearning.com.