By celebrating the diverse experiences and interests of the Study Group Leaders and members who make up OLLI at American University, this podcast’s goal is to provide information about the wonderful courses and people at the heart of our OLLI at AU, while sparking curiosity and maybe a conversation or two.
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David Flaxman Podcasts
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Curiosity Never Retires: Leslie Frantz on the Bronté Sisters
12:25
12:25
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12:25In this episode of "Curiosity Never Retires," Leslie Frantz talks about the Bronté sisters. Between them, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Bronté wrote seven books, including 'Jane Eyre', 'Wuthering Heights', and 'The Tenant of Wildfell Hall' respectively. Leslie talks about how their childhood greatly influenced their writing and explodes some of the my…
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Curiosity Never Retires: Penny Hansen on the Supreme Court
17:32
17:32
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17:32In this episode of "Curiosity Never Retires," long time OLLI favorite, Penny Hansen, talks about her fall 2025 course on the Supreme Court and touches on the legacy of the Roberts court, the way the functioning of the court has changed radically in recent years, and the "shadow docket."By OLLI at American University
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Curiosity Never Retires: Don Ross on Plato and Aristotle
21:21
21:21
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21:21Don Ross received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from Wake Forest University in 1970, his master's from the University of Iowa in 1972, and his doctorate from the University of Chicago in 1979. His publications include articles on ancient and medieval philosophy. He has also done work in Asian and modern European philosophy. This semester he i…
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Curiosity Never Retires: Dan Moskowitz on "The Music That Made America"
14:08
14:08
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14:08Magazine writer Dan Moskowitz has, for more than a decade, tapped his avocational interest in American popular music to lead study groups in the subject at the OLLIs at American University and George Mason. The Library of Congress maintains a national registry of recordings that show the "range and diversity of America," reaching from Edison record…
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Curiosity Never Retires: Christina Fleps on "Renaissance: Not Just Pretty Faces"
10:34
10:34
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10:34Christina Fleps is a retired lawyer who has served as a docent at the National Gallery of Art and art lecturer at the Woman’s Club of Chevy Chase. This course examines Renaissance art from Giotto and Masaccio to Caravaggio and Gentileschi. Embarking from Byzantine icons, our Renaissance tour explores: how artists developed new techniques for realis…
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Curiosity Never Retires - Linda Freeman on "Thomas Hardy: The Sweet and the Strange"
12:44
12:44
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12:44Linda R. Freeman, PhD, retired after teaching for 15 years on the College Park campus as a University of Maryland lecturer in Victorian literature. She has also taught for Smithsonian Associates, Montgomery College, and for 26 years, at OLLI. This class will cover two well-known but totally different Hardy novels. Published in 1878, Far From the Ma…
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Curiosity Never Retires - Jack Dalby on "St. Paul and Early Christianity"
13:50
13:50
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13:50For the past 13 years, Jack Dalby has lectured on the topics of Christian Origins and the Historical Jesus with OLLI programs at George Mason University, the College of William and Mary, and American University. In this episode, "St. Paul and Early Christianity", Jack talks about how Christianity’s origins remain mysterious. Historians debate what …
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Curiosity Never Retires - Howard Spendelow on China and Japan
12:04
12:04
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12:04Howard Spendelow earned a PhD in history and East Asian languages from Harvard University, taught history at Georgetown University from 1979 to 2023, and from 1980 to 2014 he also served as Contract Chair of the Advanced Area Studies Seminar on China at the State Department’s Foreign Service Institute. In this episode, Howard previews his two upcom…
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Curiosity Never Retires - David Flaxman on "Mozart"
12:48
12:48
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12:48David Flaxman is a musician and computer scientist who has been teaching classes at OLLI since 2017. He is president of the City Choir of Washington and the Georgetown Chorale and is a co-founder of the Washington Douglass Chorale. In this episode, David talks about his upcoming class on Mozart and the challenges of teaching a class in hybrid mode.…
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