Spring 2014 calendar for lifelong learners

For the new year, the University of Victoria’s Division of Continuing Studies is offering another great season of courses for people who want to learn more about the world around them. The Spring 2014 Continuing Studies Calendar is packed with more than 200 adult education courses covering a wide range of topics involving the arts, humanities, history and contemporary issues.

Among the new courses offered this spring especially for adult learners:

“Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon” March 6 to Apr. 10 (page 5 of the spring calendar): Rediscover Emily Carr as modernist, environmentalist, and recorder/interpreter of First Nations culture. Find out why she remains locally relevant and internationally significant in light of newly discovered works. Instructor: Kerry Mason of UVic’s Department of History in Art, an art historian and one of BC’s leading experts on Emily Carr.

“Freelance Journalism in 2014” Jan. 27 to March 10 (page 10): Navigating the wilderness of freelancing can be daunting. Should you focus on websites or magazines? What about newspapers? Explore the basics of what makes good journalism good. Instructor: Greg Pratt, a local freelance journalist and editor who has written for Wired, Revolver, Urban Male, Douglas business magazine, and more.

“Hope in the Dark” Jan. 13 to Feb. 6 and “Bring on the Apocalypse” March 3 to 27 (pages 56 and 57): Explore the topic of environmental change and its treatment in the media and popular culture as a scenario of collapse. Both courses intend to shift the discussion away from ecological despair toward wild possibility. Instructor: Richard Pickard of UVic’s Department of English, an assistant teaching professor at UVic and former president of the Association for Literature, Environment, and Culture in Canada.

“Local Stories and Experiences of the Holocaust” Jan. 26 with Dr. Helga Thorson of UVic’s Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies and UVic humanities student Jason Michaud; “Talking About the Holocaust” Feb. 2 with Dr. Kristin Semmens of UVic’s Department of History; “Holocaust Memorialization: A Personal Photographic Essay” Feb. 16 with former UVic I-witness Holocaust Field School participant Ray Illsley; and “Music in WWII British/Canadian Internment” Feb. 23 with Suzanne Snizek of UVic’s School of Music (all on page 33): These are four of the various special presentations and workshops this term on the theme of remembering the Holocaust.

The new calendar is available online at www.continuingstudies.uvic.ca/calendar/ and at libraries and recreation centres in Greater Victoria.

Register now at www.continuingstudies.uvic.ca, or by calling 250-472-4747 or in person at the continuing studies building on the UVic campus.

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