Lifelong Learning at Meeman

Dorothy C. King Hall - the Meeman Center's home

Because it's not all about gardening (gasp!), I want to tell you about a wonderful community of learners in Memphis.  The Meeman Center for Lifelong Learning, across from the Rhodes College campus on University, is one of those places that quickly becomes a second home for anyone interested in continuing their education.

The classes are small and participation is encouraged, but not required.  The format for most of the classes is this:  three to eight weekly sessions, from 5:30 to 7:30 with a break (and wonderful refreshments provided by the Meeman.)  An instructor from the Rhodes academic staff leads each class, so you get the advantage of some of the best minds in their fields.

The courses are varied, as you would expect from a liberal arts university, so there's sure to be something that will pique your interest.  Most of us Meemanites have the difficult problem of narrowing our choices!  After all, there are only so many days in the week!

The Spring 2013 course schedule is online now.  You can also request a free catalog at this link. Take a minute and peruse the classes and consider joining one.  I guarantee you'll be so glad you did.

Here are some of the classes I'm interested in this semester:

Lore of Literature
Constitutional Controversies
As You Like It
Hilary Mantel
Anna Karenina
Search for Values

So many good opportunities, so little time!

Opportunity to learn about English Landscape Gardens

GARDENS, LANDSCAPE, & LITERATURE IN ENGLAND 1650 TO 1850:

“WHAT ARE MEN TO ROCKS & MOUNTAINS?”

The Meeman Center for Lifelong Learning

Six Thursdays, January 19 – February 23

5:30 – 7:30 pm  $180

Led by Michael Leslie, Ph.D.  (husband of MG Alice Leslie!)

University of Edinburgh

Professor of English Literature

Dean of British Studies at Oxford

England’s most famous contribution to the visual arts is probably the great garden tradition of the 18^th century and after: the “English Landscape Garden,” or “Jardin Anglais,” or “Englischer Garten.”  We see its effects still in Memphis, in the design of Overton Park, the Dixon Gardens, and even the campus of Rhodes College.  In this course we’ll consider the origins of the English landscape garden and the ideas and attitudes that contribute to it:  admiration of classical literature and art, the idealization of Italy in the works of Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin, the sense of England as an empire of liberty, changing ideas of nature, and much more.  To explore the topic, we’ll read literary works and look at images of many of the great surviving landscape gardens, such as Stowe, Stourhead, Blenheim, Castle Howard, Rousham, Studley Royal, Rievaulx; examine the way the form changes; and end with some of the American landscapes most clearly connected with that tradition:  New York’s Central and Prospect Parks, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted; and George Kessler’s Overton Park in Memphis.

Handouts will be provided.

To register, visit www.meeman.rhodes.edu

Or call Cissy Whitaker at 901-843-3965