https://www.llcodekalb.org/event/new-fall-classes/
LIFELONG LEARNING COMMUNITY CLASSES
September 16 – October 22, 2025
All Classes meet at Oak Crest in DeKalb
Egyptomania: The Western World’s Long Obsession With Ancient Egypt
Tuesdays, September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
From the worship of Isis to Napoleon’s conquest, from looted tombs to the traveling King Tut show, the West has had a sustained fascination with the religion, culture, and art of ancient Egypt. This class will trace the phenomenon across two millennia, starting with the Romans and Greeks and ending with Steve Martin’s “King Tut” revel on Saturday Night Live.
Convener: Christopher Nissen is Professor Emeritus of Italian at Northern Illinois University. His previous contributions to Lifelong Learning have included courses on Venice, Italian Civilization of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and The Art and Literature of European Decadence and Symbolism, among others.
Notables: A Speakers Series
Tuesdays, September 16, 23, 30, October 7, 14, 21) 1 – 2:30 p.m.
Our Lifelong Learning program has been offering Notables, our weekly speakers series, since we began over 20 years ago. If you had come to every talk since then, you would have heard over 350 speakers! This fall, our Lifelong Learning Community continues the tradition of weekly talks by NIU faculty and community members with time for questions, on topics including local food insecurity and nutrition for older adults.
Over the years, attendees have found that they always learned something new at Notables, often about a topic that turned out to be surprisingly interesting or relevant in ways they weren’t previously aware of. So, join us every week or occasionally; each week is an independent topic. And you’re always welcome to bring a guest.
Convener: Lifelong Learning Notables Committee: Linda Schwarz, Ginny Omerod, Elizabeth Bass. (We’d love to have another committee member or two to help us with ideas for topics and speakers and with help contacting them via email. If interested, contact Elizabeth at ebass@niu.edu. Time commitment of about 10 hours/year.)
America’s National Parks: The Windswept & Waterworn
Wednesdays, September 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22 9:30 – 11:30 a.m.
“…and the mountains will crumble to the sea…” (Stand by Me, lyrics by Ben E. King.)
Erosion, the great equalizer, reinforces the maxim, “What goes up, must come down.” Erosion, whether by wind or water, strives for flatness. Yet, in its pursuit, it is amazingly creative, polishing and sculpting the landscape. The strange and unique terrains of many of our national parks are created by these insidious, relentless forces of water, wind, and the freeze-thaw cycle. Erosion also often allows us a glimpse at its handiwork as it exposes a geologic layer cake.
During this class, we will explore, examine, and discuss the national parks formed by erosion, including one of the national park’s crown jewels, the Colorado River’s Grand Canyon.
Climbing the Colorado Plateau, we will appreciate the two distinctive topographies of Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks. We will marvel at the iconic features of Arches, Canyonlands, and Capital Reef National Parks, all located in Utah. In the Dakotas, we will see the otherworldly terrain of the Badlands National Park and the serenity of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
The layer-cake phenomena of erosion exposes the 1.7-billion-year-old basement rocks at the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado; and one ancestral form of the Cuyahoga River is now 500 feet below the present river in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. One of the most intriguing of the national parks formed by erosion is Alaska’s remote Kobuk Valley National Park, located within the Arctic Circle. There, strong, unrelenting polar winds have created shifting sand dunes.
Erosion convinces us “… ain’t no mountain high enough, ain’t no valley low enough, ain’t no river wide enough…” (Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, lyrics by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.)
Convener: Linda Fulton is a retired DeKalb middle-school teacher with a lifelong interest in the natural wonders and beauty of our world. She has visited many national parks among her frequent travels. She has led numerous Lifelong Learning classes on topics from movie music to natural phenomena.
Memoir
Wednesdays, September 17, 24, October 1, 8, 15, 22 1 – 3 p.m.
Have you ever thought about writing down your memories for yourself or for your family, but not gotten far when faced with a blank page? Then consider signing up for this class about being in the present, about keeping your eyes and ears and heart open to record the details of your life. There will be in-class prompts, among other techniques, to help to inspire you and to make you comfortable with beginning or continuing a memoir, whether of a specific experience or of your whole life. Telling our own stories is always fascinating; memoir is just one of the tools we can use. It is hoped you will be inspired and find this class enjoyable.
Convener: Sylvia Gillberg has an undergraduate degree from NIU and a master’s degree from Chicago State University. She has taught students from kindergarten through college. These 21 years of experience have allowed her to explore writing from many different perspectives of which memoir is one