PALS FALL 2023 CLASSES
Come To Our Enrichment Classes
PALS (Perimeter Adult Learning Services) is pleased to announce that it will be presenting classes for the Summer 2023 session running for 6 weeks on Mondays, June 19 – July 31 (No Class July 3rd). The classes will be at Dunwoody Baptist Church once again. A detailed description of the classes is as follows:
10 am – 11 am: Exciting Stories From World War II – Dan O’Lone will discuss a number of little known stories emanating from World War II, including the true story of Varian Fry who rescued thousands of intellectuals and artists (predominately Jewish) from the coming Holocaust; the beautiful White Mouse, a New Zealander, by way of Australia, working for the British in unoccupied France, rescuing trapped British soldiers, spying on and committing sabotage against the Germans; how a Dutch businessman and a Japanese diplomat saved thousands of Lithuanian and Polish Jews by sending them to Curacao to escape the Germans; the two costliest battles, in terms of men and machines, neither of which occurred on land.
10:00 am – 11:00 am: Can and How Do Minds Change? – Shai Robkin will delve into the questions of whether our minds can change about any particular issue or political candidate. Can you convince someone else to change their mind? How do societies change their collective minds? We will look at emerging research into these questions and examine the underlying forces, many unknown to our conscious minds, that drive changes in individual and collective societal behaviors, focusing on the work of behavioral economists, social psychologists and neuroscientists. We’ll also take a look at what behavioral scientists have to say about some of the most important and often divisive issues of the day and their possible implications for public policy.
10:00 am – 1:45 pm:– Mah Jongg — Bring your own Mah Jongg card and come play. There is no instructor for the session – just fun and self-evaluation.
11:30 am – 12:30 pm: Great Legal Decisions – Betsy Jones will examine a dozen or so court cases from a historical perspective: some decided by the Supreme Court; some decided by international tribunals; some in the local courts, all heavily influenced by community standards and all with a human story behind the headlines. Among the cases we will discuss are Brown v Board of Education; the McDonalds Coffee Lady; Sullivan v New York Times, a supposedly “settled case” that is now constantly being re-litigated; McFall v. Shimp – though not a particularly well known case, it is frequently used to support both sides of the arguments on pregnancy decisions. And closer to home we’ll discuss the Leo Frank case, which is now 100 years old and still is not completely settled.
11:30 am – 12:30 pm: China, Taiwan and India and Their Relationships With the United States – Sydney D’Souza will discuss how, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United States was the sole Super Power with the largest Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the world. Today the Communist Peoples Republic of China (PRC) is challenging the US supremacy and wants to overtake the GDP of the US and its hegemony over the World. This has led to friction between the US and China especially in the South China Sea over the island of Taiwan (Republic of China) and the PRC’s possible takeover of Taiwan by force. India, which was a colony of the United Kingdom (Britain) for over a hundred years before it got its Independence in 1947, has had a number of encounters with China along its border with China in the Northern Himalayan Mountain Range. The actual border has not yet been defined. Presently 100,000 Indian and Chinese troops face each other in the Himalayas in North India. This class will discuss the current geopolitical situation between the United States, the Peoples Republic of China, Taiwan and India.
11:30 am – 12:30 pm – Neil Simon Trilogy – Michele Friedman looks at the contemporary playwright Neil Simon through his autobiographical trilogy, (Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound) and explores the many Shakespearean themes: sibling rivalry, love and loss, ambition and assimilation. So! Let’s watch and laugh, maybe cry and discuss the works of one of the leading dramatists of our age in a new light.