SPRING 2025 CLASSES
Come To Our Enrichment Classes
PALS (Perimeter Adult Learning Services) is pleased to announce that it will be presenting classes for the Winter 2025 session running for 7 weeks on Mondays, March 31 – May 19, Dunwoody United Methodist Church. No class April 14 (Easter Week). The classes will be at Dunwoody United Methodist Church once again. A detailed description of the classes is as follows:
10:00 – 11:00 — THE GOTHIC IN AMERICAN LITERATURE (AND FILM) – Gautam Kundu will discuss how American Gothic (often characterized by darkness, claustrophobia, madness, monstrosity and haunting) entered the American literature mainstream and the tensions that were created. Among the questions we will explore include: What is the relationship between the distinctly interior notion of America as an idea (a dream) and the psychological nightmares expressed in many of these texts?
Recommended films will be announced at each class. It is also highly recommended that at a minimum, a synopsis of the books be reviewed prior to class.
- Week 1 — American Gothic Roots—Religion, Science, and the Haunting of “Paradise.” Introduction — Syllabus, images and key concepts of the American Gothic mode. Origins of the American Gothic, English Gothic traditions and Puritanism. Discussion: Cotton Mather, ”Wonders of the Invisible World.”
- Week 2 — Haunted American Houses and Minds (1750—1775) Discussion: Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown”; Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher” and Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper.” (Supplemental readings: Charles Brockden Brown, “Wieland ”; Poe: “Murders in the Rue Morgue;” Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery.”
- Week 3 — Haunted Anglo- American Houses and Minds : Victorian Gothic (1870 – 1899) Discussion: Henry James, “The Turn of the Screw” ; “The Jolly Corner.”
- Week 4 — The Southern Gothic (1901—2000) Discussion: William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”; Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find.”
- Week 5 – – Discussion: Zora Neale Hurston “Spunk.” Toni Morrison “Beloved.”
- Week 6: — Haunted American Cities (1901—2000) Discussion: H.P. Lovecraft, “The Haunter in the Dark”; Ambrose Bierce. “Eyes of the Panther.”
- Week 7 — Wrap-up Discussion: Stephen King, “Children of the Corn,” and Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener.”
10:00 – 11:00 — THE FOLK ROCK REVIVAL – Tom Dell will guide us through this cultural resurgence that brought traditional music back into the limelight. Spanning roughly from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s, this revival was characterized by a renewed interest in the songs, stories and sounds of America’s rural and working-class communities, celebrating the raw and authentic expressions of human experience. We will hear about Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and later Bob Dylan, who led the charge. They reached back into the American past to rediscover the ballads, blues, and spirituals that spoke to everyday struggles and triumphs.
Rooted in social consciousness, the folk revival was intertwined with the civil rights movement, anti-war protests, and other social justice causes, making the music a vehicle for change.
10:00 – 3:00 — OPEN MAH JONGG – Bring your own Mah Jongg card and come play. There is no instructor for this weekly session. This is for experienced players
10:00 – 12:30 — BEGINNER MAH JONGG – Rhea Berger will teach beginners Mah Jongg. This class will be based on the National Mah Jongg league rules. Seating is limited to 12, please contact Iris Katz at 770-698-0801 to make sure a seat is available before registering.
11:30 -12:30 BRITAIN 101 – Clive Gillon will cover the chronological history of the British Isles from approximately 500 BC to 1200 AD; from the Celts to the Normans. Discussion will focus on Britain’s many invaders from mainland Europe including the Romans, Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. Presentations will be PowerPoint and video.
11:30 – 12:30 ART OF THE 1500s — Marilyn Morton will discuss how this was a century of challenges and responses. The Protestant Reformation begun by Martin Luther in 1517, presented new spiritual options and issues to European Christians, especially in the north which resulted in violence and hatred between Catholics and Protestants. The differences between their arts are easily identifiable as Protestants did not use religious art in their churches, thereby eliminating a major source of income for artists and causing a steep decline in art patronage. In our examination of this century, we will consider the art of each major mover of the time and Examine the work of the major artists.
PALS WILL NOT HAVE CLASSES IF DEKALB AND/OR FULTON COUNTY SCHOOLS ARE CLOSED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER
THERE WILL NOT BE A 2025 PALS SUMMER SESSION
The 2025 PALS FALL session will be held at Dunwoody Baptist Church from September 8 – November 3 (No class September 22).
One fee of $55 covers up to 2 classes each Monday.
Tuition is FREE for anyone 90 and over.