A new slate of classes and lectures at Renesan

As the United States government descends into chaos, people are clicking all over the internet for articles to explain the history behind the current issues being discussed — from voting rights to health care, international diplomacy to religious liberty. If you have grown weary of reading endless think pieces in the isolation of your own home, there is another option. Renesan Institute for Lifelong Learning offers a wealth of reasonably priced daytime classes in which participants learn about complicated topics with experienced teachers and discuss ideas with one another. A new semester starts Tuesday, Sept. 5. Thursday-afternoon lectures include Earth Day: Before and After, on Sept. 28, in which Denise D. Fort examines Rachel Carson’s 1962 environmental alarm Silent Spring; The Cuban Missile Crisis: A Secret Intelligence Perspective, taught by Bruce Held on Oct. 12; and Liberty Enlightening the World: A Celebration of Freedom and Friendship, on Oct. 26, in which Richard Blankmeyer traces the Statue of Liberty’s history and the events to which it has stood witness.

Lectures and multisession courses are offered in history, art, literature, science, mathematics, music, philosophy and other subjects, as well as field trips and a symposium. The fall 2017 symposium, Nov. 13-16, is Making Sense of The Sixties: Then and Now, led by David Farber at the New Mexico History Museum, in conjunction with the museum’s Voices of Counterculture in the Southwest exhibit. Online registration for Renesan’s fall 2017 semester begins at 8 a.m. Monday, Aug. 14; walkin registration begins at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15, at St. John’s United Methodist Church (1200 Old Pecos Trail), where all classes are held unless otherwise noted on the website. For a complete list of classes and lectures, cost information, and online registration, visit www .ssreg.com/renesan. — Jennifer Levin