ate: Monday, October 27, 2025
10:30 am – 12 Noon
Tortolita

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Meryl Streep has been described as ‘the best actress of her generation.’  In a career that spans over 5 decades, she has been showered with awards including 3 Academy Awards, 8 Golden Globes, and 4 Emmys.  This 2 part class will be a review of her career; including interviews, Bios, and short clips from her best movies.

Presenter: John Abeln is a retired novelist who previously had a career in International Healthcare. He has lived in the Highlands for five years and helps with managing the Lifelong Learning program

Date:  Monday, October 27, 2025
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Tortolita

Course Description:

The 2015 Paris Agreement established a UN-sponsored framework for negotiations on climate change and global warming. In subsequent meetings, experts and political leaders have come together seeking common cause for this growing global crisis. What is the future of these efforts, and what have they yielded? What is the U.S. role in fostering cooperation on climate change? In a divided country, what are the possible futures for American policy leadership?

Presenter:  Part of the Great Decisions* program from the Foreign Policy Association.  Facilitator: Ed Laake

 Date:  Tuesday, October 28, 2025
10:30 am – 12 noon
Catalina II

Course Description:

Join exceptional cellists from the University of Arizona  Cello Quartet, under the direction of Dr. Theodore Buchholz, for a cello  concert celebrating Halloween. The program will feature themed music for cello quartet as well as solo cello. Costumes are encouraged.

Presenters: The University of Arizona Cello Quartet are graduate cello students studying with Dr. Theodore Buchholz;  String Area Coordinator, String Chamber Music Coordinator, and the Founding Director of the University of Arizona String Project.

Date:  Tuesday, October 28, 2025
1:30 pm – 3:00 pm
Catalina II

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Are we free to choose our actions, or is what we do predetermined?  We’ll discuss the problem of free will and how it relates to the common tenets of the major monotheistic religions (Christianity, Islam and Judaism).  We’ll also discuss the relationship between physics and free will.

 As with my previous courses, I will present some key ideas and then I look forward to some good questions and discussion.

Presenter: David Baker (PhD Princeton) is associate professor of philosophy at the University of Michigan.  He joined us for thought-provoking discussions of ‘The Nuclear Threat’ in Fall of 2023 and ‘Does Time Flow?’ in Fall of 2024.  Dr. Baker will join us by Zoom from Ann Arbor.

Date:  Friday, October 31, 2025
10:30 – 12 Noon
Catalina II

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Based on the book Everything Must Go by Dorian Lynskey, this course will present a taxonomy of the different ways we have envisioned the end of the world across time, from ancient religion to contemporary imagination.  The course will include a group discussion on Lynskey’s classification scheme and why we find this topic so endlessly fascinating.

 Presenter: Caleb Deupree is a resident of the Highlands and a member of the recently identified endangered species: men who read books for pleasure.  He not only reads books, but books about books.  Everything Must Go is already one of his best books of 2025.

 Date: Monday, November 3, 2025
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Fox Theatre

COURSE DESCRIPTION: 

The Fox Tucson Theatre — hailed as the “Crown Jewel” of downtown — is a nationally acclaimed historic theater now evolving into a vibrant performing arts hub in the Southwest, spearheading the downtown’s revitalization and driving economic growth for the city.  Join us for a tour of this beautifully restored Southwest Art Deco gem and hear many remarkable stories it embodies.

Please be aware that there are many stairs to climb on this tour (about the same as on last fall’s tour of the Mirror Lab) and that there are no elevators.

 Parking info: If people park on the street at a meter, make sure it is a two-hour meter, as the tour is longer than the one-hour meter can accommodate.  The preferred option for parking is at the La Placita garage, which is two blocks south of the Fox.

 We will be gathering for lunch at a nearby restaurant after the tour.  Location and directions will be sent as we get closer to the date.

Date:  Tuesday, November 4, 2025
10:30 am – 12:00 noon
Catalina II

Course Description:

The expansion of the grass-fire cycle in the deserts of North America is driving ecosystem level transformation from patchy desert scrub to invasive grassland. A novel fire regime in the Sonoran Desert is forcing a new approach to land management, where there are currently more questions than answers. What is the ecological trajectory of the Sonoran Desert? What should we be managing for? In this talk I will summarize the history and trends of fire in the Sonoran Desert and discuss future conservation strategies.

 Presenter: Born and raised in the Sonoran Desert, Ben Wilder is an avid explorer of his desert home. Ben is a biogeographer, botanist, and desert ecologist whose research looks at the origin and future of the Sonoran Desert.

Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2025
1:30 pm– 3:00 pm
Catalina II

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In a place like Tucson, where diverse cultures and languages intersect every day, bilingualism isn’t just common—it’s a powerful asset. In this talk, Dr. Genesis Arizmendi will explore how being bilingual shapes how we think, communicate, and connect within our communities. Drawing from the latest research, we’ll discuss how bilingualism enhances cognitive flexibility, fosters cultural understanding, and strengthens social ties.

 Whether you speak one language or five, understanding and appreciating bilingual communication enriches our collective perspective, strengthens community ties, and highlights the linguistic wealth we all share. By exploring these dynamics, we can all better understand how language, in any form, connects us and strengthens our communities.

Presenter: Dr. Genesis Arizmendi

DATE: Friday, November 7, 2025
Catalina II

Course Description:

European security is more uncertain than it has been for decades. Putin’s Russia has launched a war with Ukraine on its doorstep, and America’s uncertain role as leader of NATO and security provider has been called into question with the failure of Congress to pass supplemental military support for Ukraine. What are Europe’s options, and how might developments on both sides of Western Europe – in Ukraine and across the Atlantic – impact its choices? What are America’s stakes in NATO and Europe’s strategic dilemmas?

 Presenter Biography: Part of the Great Decisions* program from the Foreign Policy Association.  Facilitator: Ed Laake

Date:  Friday, November 7, 2025
1:00  – 2:30 PM
Aquatic Center

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Tour Marana’s new Aquatic and Recreation Center to see the town’s newest facility.  The nearly 100,000-square-foot center at 13455 N. Marana Main St. includes a 12-lane competitive swimming pool, splash pads and slides, indoor basketball courts and a teen room with a computer lab and video games.

 Presenter: Terry Nierzwicki

Date:  Monday, November 10, 2025
10:30 – 12 Noon
Tortolita

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

see above: Monday, October 27

Date: Monday, November 10, 2025
1:30 – 3:00 PM
Tortolita

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

More than ever, people are communicating with computers through writing and conversation. Emotions are central to the human experience, so computers must understand not only what people are literally saying but also what they are feeling.

 In this talk, Dr. Ellen Riloff will explain why recognizing emotions is essential for computational language understanding and why it remains so challenging, including underlying phenomena such as ambiguity, sarcasm, implicit meaning, and common sense knowledge.

 Presenter: Dr. Ellen Riloff

Date:  Tuesday, November 11, 2025
11:00 AM – Noon
The Presidio

Course Description:

Join us for a journey through Tucson’s layered history with a docent-led tour of the Presidio San Agustín del Tucson Museum. As part of this tour, a historical interpreter will be present to demonstrate a variety of activities that may include Calligraphy, Early way-finding, the Columbian Exchange, or Medicine of the 18th and 19th centuries Tucson. We will also visit the historic Jácome-Siqueiros house, a replica of the original Spanish colonial presidio built in 1776, and a preserved footprint of a 2,000-year-old Indigenous pit house. Learn how these diverse cultures and eras have shaped Tucson.

 We will be gathering for lunch at a nearby restaurant after the tour.  Location and directions will be sent as we get closer to the date.

 Presenter: docent led tour

DATE: Friday, November 14, 2025
10:30 am – 12:00 Noon
Catalina II

Course Description:

Boeing was an icon of 20^th Century engineering and manufacturing excellence. In the last decade it has become a reliable punchline for comedians. We’ll explore how this company rose so high, and then fell so low, combining objective facts with the attitudes and perceptions I observed from engineers and factory floor mechanics during my years at Boeing. Class members will be encouraged to share how this story compares or contrasts with their own experiences of working in the US economy in these years of rapid change.

 Presenter:  Alan Jones spent 36 years working for the Boeing Company as an applied mathematician, consulting for design and manufacturing engineers, sales and marketing, and classified military projects. He retired in 2014, and since 2013 has snowbirded between the Highlands and a summer home on Bainbridge Island, WA.

Date:  Friday, November 14, 2025
1:00 pm – 2:30 PM
Catalina II

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The AI revolution is the leading edge of a larger high-tech revolution which promises to transform the world. Experts argue that international cooperation is needed to expand the opportunities these new technologies hold while protecting societies from their dangers. What are the key policy debates in this area, and what are the opportunities and limits on global AI rules of the road? How will the AI revolution impact American national security? What are its policy options to secure the benefits of AI and guard against its dangers?

 Presenter: Part of the Great Decisions* program from the Foreign Policy Association.  Facilitator: Ed Laake.

Date: Monday, November 17, 2025
10:30 aM – 12 Noon
Tortolita

Course Description:

The election of 1800 resulted in an electoral college tie between Jefferson and Burr. Just as it would today, the House of Representatives elects the president. After heated horse trading Jefferson became the third president on the 36th ballot. In 1824 the electoral college once again failed to elect a president, but this time John Quincy Adams became president on the first House ballot with little debate. What changed or more bluntly who changed? Join us for the sunset of the Republic and the rise of popular American democracy.

 Presenter Biography: John Lenzi worked for universities for 30 years after brief stints on Park Avenue and Wall Street. His academic credentials are in psychology, but he has been a history buff from childhood on, reading ancient and US history.

Date: Monday, November 17, 2025
1:30  – 3:00 PM
Tortolita

Course Description:

Doctor Coleman shares scientific research to summarize how stress impacts our bodies, brains, and relationships.  She will discuss easy, quick and important tweaks to manage and prevent stress from wreaking havoc in our bodies.  We will explore user-friendly and free actions to take, and then hope to revisit our progress during the Spring 2026 session.

Presenter: Dr. Tamara Coleman is a Professor of Biological Sciences at Northwestern Michigan College; Faculty of the year 2024. Research interests are How we learn and the Science of stress. Dr. Coleman is also a Yoga Instructor.  She will join us by Zoom from Traverse City, Michigan.

Date:  Tuesday, November 18, 2025
10:30 – 12 Noon

Catalina II

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

In this talk, we will explore the potential for communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations. We will discuss questions such as: Is it possible to exchange messages with aliens and how would we do it? If we can communicate, what meaning and information could and should we convey?

We will also explore who may be receiving our messages and what the anticipated recipients may tell us about our own civilization’s future. Finally, we will discuss the question whether we should only listen and keep a low profile – or also boldly transmit?

 Presenters: Dr. Daniel Apai and Dr. Chris Impey

DATE: Tuesday, November 18, 2025
1:30  – 3:00 PM
Catalina II

Course Description:

The war in Gaza has brought the region to a crossroads. What are the possible outcomes of the war, and how might the United States use its influence to shape a long-term settlement that leaves both Israel and the Palestinians in a better position? How might Arab states in the wider region be brought into a settlement? What are America’s interests in the Middle East and how can it advance them?

 Presenter Biography: Part of the Great Decisions* program from the Foreign Policy Association.  Facilitator: Ed Laake

DATE: Friday, November 21, 2025
10:30 AM- 12:00 Noon
Catalina II

Course Description:

Our favorite art expert, Susie Heintz, returns to the Highlands with her newest program.  Majestic works of Southwestern Art will be examined as we travel from the Taos Pueblo in 1893 to Tucson’s Barrio in 2022. Along this journey, we will encounter the colors, landscapes, people, and cultures portrayed by three distinct groups of artists: The Taos Society of Artists, The Tucson 7, Tucson Barrio Painters. The comradery within each group contributed to their unique artistry. Through colorful paintings and interesting stories, the Art of the American West from Taos to Tucson is reshaped from darkness to light.

This talk will share interesting and beautiful art from the Taos Society of Arts, Individual Taos Masters, The Tucson Seven, and finally present the contemporary painters from the Tucson Barrio. Actual paintings will be displayed on easels, discussed and enjoyed.

We will be gathering for lunch after this class.  Susie will be our guest at our traditional end-of-the-semester celebration.  Location and directions will be sent as we near the date.

Presenter Biography: Susie Heintz is a native Tucsonan who has been a Tucson Museum of Art Docent for 17 years. She holds a B. A. Degree from St. Mary’s Notre Dame and two Masters Degrees from University of AZ.  She has been a teacher, International Educational Consultant and volunteer.  Susie has been married for 48 years to Jim Heintz, bakes the Best chocolate chip cookies and enjoys travel, learning, and reading.