Monday Courses   

This course is designed for students who have taken the Absolute Beginners Pickleball class or who have a rudimentary knowledge of the game. It will be taught by seasoned instructors who are experienced players and have taught before. Expect to build on the basic game to include advanced strategy in play. We will meet for 1½ hours at Lithia Park courts for five consecutive days. There will be an emphasis on sportsmanship and safety. This skills-building course will focus on different types of serves, lobs, third-shot drops or drop shots, drives, partner communication, stacking, and different types of scoring. We will introduce Nasty Nelson, Bert, and Erne. The last day will be a FUN Round-Robin whereby players will rotate play with all players. The instructors will be from Ashland Oregon Pickleball Club.

NOTE: If you have mobility issues, this course may not be for you. A waiver must be signed prior to the first class. Students are expected to have their own paddle, know the basic game, have court shoes, and a hat or visor. Safety glasses are recommended. Bring a hydrating drink and snack. If inclement weather occurs, class will be canceled.

This course is designed for anyone with little or no knowledge of maintaining and repairing a home. Class members will learn how water, gas, and electricity come into a home and how to shut them off, how to change the filter in a furnace and clean the coils on a refrigerator, and why they should. We’ll talk about paint, how to replace a light switch or plug, fix a stuck door, what is a good set of tools, and what you should watch for outside the home such as clogged gutters, water leaks, siding damage, invasive vegetation, and more. We’ll talk about the advantages and disadvantages of buying through big box stores vs. independent merchants and how to choose a contractor if needed. Above all, we will talk about what the class members want to know about maintenance and repairs to the building that keeps them safe and comfortable. You will learn to take care of your home, so your home can take care of you!

NOTE: Each term of this previously taught course is different, as there are new issues brought to class. If you have taken the class before, you will likely gain knowledge in something not previously discussed or that you didn’t quite understand the first time. There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

We know we should have an up-to-date Advance Directive so that loved ones will know what healthcare we want if serious illness leaves us unable to make our own decisions. Still, you may not have one or yours may be outdated. This course will enable you to complete the revised 2021 OR AD to capture what will be important to you in the future. We’ll focus on selecting and preparing your all-important Health Care Representative and defining your wishes for prolonged care in nuanced cases of dementia and chronic disease, as well as for future end-of-life care. You’ll be able to complete the form and create addenda that may expand its value to you and your loved ones. Besides your engagement in class, you will need to devote time between our meetings to clarify your thinking and talk with your HCR. Are you ready to take advantage of this guidance to finally complete your AD? Your loved ones will be grateful! 

NOTE: If you have a valid, legally executed AD that accurately reflects your wishes, you do not need to complete the 2021 version. If your current AD needs to be updated, you must use the revised 2021 form to do that. Your choice and preparation of a health care rep will be your first and most important work in developing your AD. Prepare for class by thinking about who you’d like to have speak for you. There are two in-person sections of this course offered. 

In this course, we will explore the structure and primary movements of the feet, ankles, toes, and legs and how they are connected to the entire skeleton. Each class features an exercise, or “lesson,” involving gentle movements done slowly with minimal effort, while paying attention to one’s own personal experience. Students will determine how big, how fast, or how “well” they do the exercises as they are guided through enjoyable sequences, exploring and discovering ways of moving with spontaneity and awareness. These exercises are safe, fun puzzles for the nervous system and brain, designed to help students remember, learn, and create new patterns of behavior. This course is ideal for all ages and abilities and participants will be involved in their own process of learning. Students will increase their balance, turn more easily, and reduce tension as they adjust and move with more comfort and ease. It is beneficial to repeat this course. 

NOTE: A waiver must be signed prior to the first class. There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

This course is intended for anyone interested in visiting the national parks and learning about the great lodges that were built to attract tourists to these national treasures. There are 15 great lodges — built between 1910 and 1938 — still operating. The course will look at the history of the lodges, their architecture, their amenities, their special features, and their relationship to the parks. Each class will include some history of the related national parks but will focus on how the lodges meld with this history. The instructors will provide tips on how to plan your visits and optimize your adventure based on their personal experiences visiting each of these lodges. The course will consist of a series of lectures supported by slide-show presentations highlighting photography of the lodges and national parks.

NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

In 2020, the average U.S. consumer spent seven hours and 50 minutes consuming media daily, up 15 minutes from 2019, with 58% of respondents saying that their total media consumption had grown. Most people know very little about the history of media or its economic and societal impacts. Over eight 60-minute classes, students will learn about the evolution of media from the invention of the printing press to everyone having a world of information in the palm of their hand. No prior knowledge is required. No assignments outside of class. No required reading. Topics to be covered include: the origins of print, radio, TV, social media and the size of their audiences; how different types of media generate income; how media is or is not regulated; news vs. journalism; commercial vs. noncommercial media; an attempt to forecast what might be in the future for media. Discussion and interaction will be encouraged, but the course will not be about blame, anger, grievance, opinions, or entertainment.

NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day; there is no class on Monday, February 17, in observance of Presidents Day.

Learn a complete tai chi form for health and longevity that you can do anywhere and that is adaptable for all ages, body types, and abilities. No previous experience is necessary. Reduce pain and stress, improve balance, gain focus/concentration, find comfortable ways to move, and gain benefits from a 3,000-year-old Chinese movement form, tai chi. When students finish the six-week course, they will have three tools for dealing with change, transition, and life in general. Students will have the tai chi 17 form including movements from a Yang Short Form, so they will be prepared to study further if they wish. Students will have learned a sequence called Finished the Form, which they can use alone as a practice or as a warmup or cool-down for other practices. A basic knowledge of tai chi/martial arts and how to promote health and mind/body awareness will be obtained. Each time students take this previously offered course a deeper understanding of this lifelong practice is gained. 

NOTE: A waiver must be signed prior to the first class. There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Most of us spend half our adult lives going through major life transitions like retirement, marriage, loss of a loved one, divorce, inheritance, career change, empty nest, big health challenges — yet we haven’t been trained in vital skills needed to master (or even manage) these life passages. Change happens quickly, but major life transitions can take years, and the transformation that results from working through them skillfully lasts a lifetime. This course explores how students have handled these significant “life-quakes” in the past and can use them now and in the future as times of reimagining and reinvention. We will explore the four phases of major life transitions both in the research and through personal experience. These challenging passages launch life’s next chapter and hold great potential gifts for “post-traumatic growth” while allowing the opportunity to design the ideal next chapter. Emphasis will be on developing the creative skills to flow through major change.  

NOTE: Suggested but not required reading: “The Way of Transitions” by William Bridges and “Life Is in the Transitions” by Bruce Feiler.

This course will help those affected by the death of a loved one in a relationship navigate the daily struggles of this powerful life phase, and begin to take their own pivotal next steps toward emotional, mental, physical, and financial well-being. Loss is a passage with no timetable, often marked by grief and the challenge of taking on new and perhaps unfamiliar skills and responsibilities. This course is a compassionate exploration of the knowledge and resources to find the support and strength you need, as well as a gentle reminder that you don’t have to go through it alone. This proven process will provide varied tools to help enrich self-understanding while building confidence, skills, and a vital community/professional support team. We will learn from the experiences of others who are at different points in their healing, as well as from experts in life-planning, grief recovery, and personal finance. Participation during class is encouraged yet optional.  

NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

This course gives students a structured opportunity to write short personal narratives. The format comes from “The Sun” literary magazine, which includes a “Readers Write” section each month. We will review samples from past issues of “The Sun” and write our own responses to the magazine’s prompts. We will also look at upcoming topics and write essays that we may choose to submit for publication in the magazine. Students are expected to commit to writing one 400- to 800-word essay each week and share it on our interactive course website in SOU’s Moodle. When students post essays, others may respond with answers to the following questions, intended to encourage supportive feedback: What did you notice? What struck you? How did you connect personally to the story? All students are welcome, regardless of writing experience. This course has been offered previously; however, all writing prompts will be new. 

NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Add life to your years and years to your life! Enjoy small group personal training (no more than 12 in a class) that helps prevent and reverse physical declines associated with aging. Designed for active seniors, this two-session program focuses on muscle, cardio and bone health, brain health, and body awareness. This course will be presented twice this term with 12 people in each session. Each movement is modified (personalized) to accommodate movement limitations. The instructor will assess students, teach safe movement patterns, and provide each student with a personalized plan for continuing their training at home or the gym.

NOTE: All levels are welcome. However, participants must be able to get up off the floor unassisted. This course is not designed for students who already have significant balance challenges such as a history of falls or dizziness. Equipment will be provided. A waiver and a brief, confidential medical history must be signed prior to the first class. Class sessions are in a shoes-off facility. There are two in-person sections of this course offered, both on Mondays. The first starts the first week of the term; the second starts the last week of January.

Add life to your years and years to your life! Enjoy small group personal training (no more than 12 in a class) that helps prevent and reverse physical declines associated with aging. Designed for active seniors, this two-session program focuses on muscle, cardio and bone health, brain health, and body awareness. This course will be presented twice this term with 12 people in each session. Each movement is modified (personalized) to accommodate movement limitations. The instructor will assess students, teach safe movement patterns, and provide each student with a personalized plan for continuing their training at home or the gym.

NOTE: All levels are welcome. However, participants must be able to get up off the floor unassisted. This course is not designed for students who already have significant balance challenges such as a history of falls or dizziness. Equipment will be provided. A waiver and a brief, confidential medical history must be signed prior to the first class. Class sessions are in a shoes-off facility. There are two in-person sections of this course offered, both on Mondays. The first starts the first week of the term; the second starts the last week of January.

Recognizing that most of us have few (if any) opportunities to talk — really talk — about dying, this course may be a remedy. Sensitive conversation will consume most of our time together. The instructor will invite students to suggest topics of interest before the course starts. Discussions will be framed with materials provided before each class meeting. We are likely to examine such topics as: death’s timing, quality of life, meaning and value, getting the care we prefer, aging, dementia, legacy, and our beliefs about death. TED Talks, articles, and books like “Being Mortal” may be used. The instructor’s intent is to prompt us to talk freely and meaningfully about this experience that is part of all our lives. All students will be expected to talk. Those interested in joining in these important, personal discussions need to commit to attend every one of our six meetings so that our conversations can deepen over our time together.

NOTE: Conversations in this in-person course will be deeply personal and confidential. This is best achieved, and the quality and content of discussions built upon, with consistent and reliable attendance. Students who know they will need to miss even one class should not enroll now. This course may be offered again in the future. There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

This course will show 10 classic musical films, starting with “The Blue Angel,” with Marlene Dietrich (1930) and concluding with “The King and I,” with Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner (1956). The other eight are “Love Me Tonight,” “Gold Diggers of 1933,” “A Night at the Opera,” “Show Boat,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Meet Me in St. Louis,” “A Star Is Born,” and “Guys and Dolls.” A handout for each film will be made available the week before the showing of the film, except for the first film, for which the handout will be made available on the first day. The instructor will mention anything special to be noticed about each film just before it is shown, and students may offer comments or questions at that time. A guided discussion will follow the end of the film. Students need bring nothing more than a desire to see these special musical films that are true classics and still enjoyable no matter how many times one views them.

NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Since its appearance in the 8th century BCE, “The Odyssey” has always been profoundly entertaining, a fascinating tale that illuminates the human condition in multiple ways. In our lifetimes, though, it had settled into the male-generated “canon” of Western literature most of us experienced only in school. When Emily Wilson’s translation appeared in 2017, the first in English by a woman, it kindled an excitement well beyond the classroom. What might be revealed about the world of the poem — and thus about our own world — when it was re-created with a scholar’s precision but with a female sensitivity about what and who matters? We will explore together “The Odyssey” in Wilson’s translation and, hopefully, “arrive where we started/ And know the place for the first time.”

NOTE: “The Odyssey,” translated by Emily Wilson, is a required text. Because the course will be almost entirely discussion, students will be expected to read the assigned portions prior to each class.

Will icy roads slow the drive to work tomorrow? Will snow levels result in school closures next week? Will wildfires be severe this summer? Weather has major impact on our lives. Meteorologists strive to provide forecasts that will answer these questions and help us prepare for and mitigate weather’s effects. We will explore the methods meteorologists use to predict short and long-term weather patterns. Weather is very complex and is affected by many factors. The accuracy of forecasts often depends on the level of detail available for use in models, which may be lacking. Topics covered will include atmospheric composition, structure, circulation, and energy transfer; impacts of mountains and oceans on weather patterns; and many other factors influencing weather. A wide range of atmospheric hazards such as hurricanes, tornadoes, lightning, drought, flooding, and climate change will be explored. Students who take this course will better understand how the atmosphere works. 

NOTE: There is no class on Monday, January 20, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.