Videos of courses that are "Live-stream + Recorded" will post weekly starting the second Friday of the term, with a new video being added each subsequent Friday. This gives staff the time needed to properly produce and deliver the content.

Monday, Starts September 21

Pre-recorded Video Only

ONLINE ONLY - Cutting Edge Issues in Law

William Sokol

This encore course is PRE-RECORDED and unavailable for live streaming. YouTube video links will be posted in "Course Materials" on Sept. 21 and available for viewing anytime until Dec. 31. We will host two livestream classes — Sept. 25, 11-12:30 (PT) with Berkeley Law Dean Erwin Chemerinsky discussing the recent Supreme Court term, and Oct. 2, 10:30-noon (PT) with Jonathan Simon on criminal justice reform.

It seems that each vital social and political issue of our times finds its way to our court, and Berkeley School of Law’s renowned professors are engaged in all of them. OLLI has the honor to present six professors in six weeks who will discuss some of the most critical legal issues being addressed by our courts and legislatures. From religion and the Supreme Court and building a just economy through labor-law reform, to cybersecurity, the death penalty, and the use of lethal force by American police. Join us for what will be intellectually invigorating deep dives into these fraught issues.
127 slots available
Register
$120.00

ONLINE ONLY - Planets!

Gibor Basri

This encore course is PRE-RECORDED and unavailable for live streaming. YouTube video links will be posted in "Course Materials" on September 21 and available for viewing anytime until December 31. We will host two livestream Q&A classes with the professor: Oct. 23, 10:30-noon and Nov. 13, 10:30-noon.

The Earth wasn’t always called a planet. Now Pluto is having problems. What defines a planet? How do they appear, live, and die? Planetary exploration started 50 years ago, exoplanets (around other stars) were first discovered 25 years ago (garnering the latest Nobel Prize), and it has been less than a decade since we have understood that most stars have planetary systems. Many of those turn out to be quite different from ours. Explore the progress we have made, how we have made it, and what we have learned about other planets, including whether they may sustain life.
202 slots available
Register
$120.00

Live-stream and Recorded Video

9:30am - 11:00am PT

ONLINE ONLY - The Business and Policy of Healthcare

Christopher Ohman

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

In the United States, we pay twice what other industrialized countries pay for health care, yet we live shorter lives afflicted with more disease. While nearly one-fifth of the U.S. economy is devoted to health care, many people are not getting the services they need. The political debate about health care has focused primarily on finance. Figuring out who pays the bill, while critically important, is not enough. The bill is too big in the first place. This course will focus on policy proposals that control costs and aim to change the business of health care.
188 slots available
Register
$155.00
12:00pm - 1:30pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - COVID-19 and Economic Policy Issues

Jon Haveman
This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.
 
Economics plays a central role in every aspect of society, primarily through the actions of governments at the federal, state, and local levels. This course will address a set of policy issues that revolve around economics, exploring their origins and associated underlying data. Rather than prescribing specific policy solutions, the course will focus on what the economics profession collectively understands to be true about each issue. There will be a special emphasis on the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
178 slots available
Register
$155.00
2:30pm - 4:00pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - Photographs and American Land Use

Sandra Phillips

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

This course offers a chronological examination of photography related to American land use, from daguerreotypes to digital images. While photography was used around the world to document the control of nature for agriculture and other purposes, in the United States, land has also been used for pleasure. Sites such as Niagara and Yosemite are as characteristic of land use in this country as are the construction of the transcontinental railroad and mining operations. We will examine the history of American land use, how the ideas of conservation evolved, and photography’s role in this aspect of our culture.
176 slots available
Register
$155.00

Live-stream Only

2:30pm - 4:00pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - How to Write Children's Picture Books

Dashka Slater

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time and will NOT be recorded or available for viewing later. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard.

Children’s picture books are an enduring and unique form — but how do you go about writing one, especially if you can barely draw a stick figure? This workshop-style class will take you through the process of developing an illustrated children’s book from the idea to the finished manuscript (no illustrating required — this is a writing class!). There
will be weekly writing assignments, and we will workshop student work in-class. This class is designed for both experienced and beginning writers wishing to delve into the process of writing for children.
0 slots available
Unavailable
$235.00
Tuesday, Starts September 22

Live-stream Only

9:30am - 11:00am PT

ONLINE ONLY - Dreamwork

Barry Friedman

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time and will NOT be recorded or available for viewing later. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard.

Dreams are vehicles to help us realize who we are, who we can become, and help us understand our relationship to the world and the divine. Learn how to work deeply with your dreams through personal sharing and response. We will discuss major archetypal motifs that appear in our dreams and connect us to mythology and meaning. This creative process is at once enlightening, transformative, and healing.
0 slots available
Unavailable
$235.00
9:30am - 11:00am PT

ONLINE ONLY - It's All About the Song

Peter Elman

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time and will NOT be recorded or available for viewing later. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard.

Whatever the genre, the song is the essence of popular music. We will study the contributions of Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Brian Wilson, Paul Simon, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell, as well as the teams of Carole King and Gerry Goffin, and Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. With audio, video, and live in-class performance, we will explore the musical and lyrical components of songs by these composers, gaining new understanding of the artistry and social context they brought to popular music.
82 slots available
Register
$155.00

Live-stream and Recorded Video

12:00pm - 1:30pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - Global Lens

Michael Fox

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

Foreign filmmakers speaking primarily to viewers in their own countries offer us a refreshing and occasionally jarring view of the world. In this course, we will explore a range of documentary approaches used by films from abroad — most of which haven’t screened in the United States — and discuss strategies, aesthetics, and ethics. We will examine central aspects of nonfiction filmmaking, including the representation of reality, the properties of storytelling, and the interplay between advocacy and art.
86 slots available
Register
$155.00
2:30pm - 4:00pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - The Use (and Misuse) of the American Military

Michael Baker

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

Over the last 75 years, the U.S. military has been used as a foreign policy cudgel in an often inexplicable fashion, making our country appear imperialistic, hypocritical, and erratic. The results are embarrassing — the world’s most powerful military has not won a war since 1945, has destroyed numerous societies, created millions of refugees, spawned disdain for our policies, and created many enemies who will seek payback for U.S. hubris. We will look at case studies of American foreign policy fiascos that have eroded the reputation of America around the world.
141 slots available
Register
$155.00
Wednesday, Starts September 23

Live-stream Only

9:30am - 11:00am PT

ONLINE ONLY - Cultural Treasures of the Soviet Era

Elena Sheygal-Placzek

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time and will NOT be recorded or available for viewing later. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard.

Throughout the seven decades of Soviet rule, the state exerted a tremendous pressure on the artist. In spite of severe censorship and repression, Russian culture produced works of extraordinary genius, such as the novels Doctor Zhivago, Master and Margarita, Quiet Flows the Don, and Stalingrad; the music of Shostakovich and Prokofiev; and many outstanding films and ballets. We will study the reflection of Soviet history in works of culture, explore the relationship between the artist and the state, and take a close look at some of the masterpieces and great personalities.
205 slots available
Register
$155.00
2:30pm - 4:00pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - The Classical String Quartet Part 1

Alexandra Amati

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time and will NOT be recorded or available for viewing later. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard.

The string quartet was a novel genre in the later 18th century, a kind of musical conversation mirroring polite social interaction in Viennese society. Initially a sort of wordless song with accompaniment, it gradually evolved into an egalitarian discourse, with all four instruments sharing in the melodic and harmonic roles. This course will focus on the birth and structure of the genre and explore the quartets Haydn and Mozart composed, played together, and gifted each other, including the ones Haydn composed well after Mozart had died, which toy with romanticism and individuality.
109 slots available
Register
$155.00

Live-stream and Recorded Video

12:00pm - 1:30pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - The Political Economy of China (1978-2020)

Douglas Lee

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

This course is divided into two parts. Part one provides an historical overview of the rise and triumph of communism in China from 1921 to 1997. Part two centers on a wide-ranging discussion of the contemporary Chinese political economy, with special attention on how the Chinese communist party manages China’s economic development. We will discuss domestic politics, leadership, ideology, government, law, public policy, national security and defense, foreign policy and international relations, and economic reform and modernization, and the resultant impact on contemporary Chinese society and culture.
121 slots available
Register
$155.00
Thursday, Starts September 24

Live-stream Only

9:30am - 11:00am PT

ONLINE ONLY - Building a Great Memoir

Louise Nayer

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time and will NOT be recorded or available for viewing later. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard.

There are many ways to uncover potent moments from our past, such as swinging through the trees at twilight as a child or gazing out the window after the death of a loved one. Learn about the basic elements of memoir, including sensory detail, scene versus summary, dialogue, time shifts, tension, and character development. We will read great memoirists, do in-class exercises, and work with one another. Each week, you will hand in pages and receive comprehensive feedback from the instructor, and by the end of the class you will have a substantial body of writing.
0 slots available
Unavailable
$235.00

Live-stream and Recorded Video

9:30am - 11:00am PT

ONLINE ONLY - The Politics of Everything

Darren Zook

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

We almost always think of governments and policymakers when we think of politics, but politics, as it turns out, can be found just about anywhere. This is a course that goes out into the world and looks for politics in the most unexpected of places. For example, none of the questions of “what time is it?”, “how do I get there?”, or “how tall is the Campanile?” can be answered without a heavy dose of politics. Don’t like to get involved in politics, you say? Too late — we are all quite literally born into politics, but that doesn’t mean we can’t have some fun with it and marvel at the wonders of the political worlds we live in.
83 slots available
Register
$155.00
2:30pm - 4:00pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - The Many Faces of Abraham Lincoln

Mick Chantler

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

This course will examine the different visions of Lincoln that Americans have held from his own time to the present. While most Americans have granted him a place in the pantheon of our nation’s greatest heroes, others have ridiculed him as a country bumpkin or decried him as a dictator. Most contemporary historians see the “Great Emancipator” as the foremost advocate for African American freedom and equality, but others view him as a racist and hypocrite. We will sift through the kaleidoscopic images of Lincoln as they evolved over the years, and assess which views are valid and which are unfair.
52 slots available
Register
$155.00
Thursday, Starts October 1

Live-stream and Recorded Video

12:00pm - 1:30pm PT

ONLINE ONLY - Why Shakespeare Matters Today

Michael Moran

This course will stream LIVE at the scheduled time. Zoom links are found in the "My Schedule" block of your Member Dashboard. YouTube video links of the recording will post weekly on Fridays by noon, beginning October 2nd.

The purpose of this course is to explore why Shakespeare’s masterpieces continue to remain relevant centuries after they were written. Tackling these works from the perspective of a director and actor, the class aims to reveal what has fascinated and inspired artists for centuries and the timeless paradoxes, inherent in these classics, that lie at the core of the human condition. This course will focus on how Hamlet, Coriolanus and King Lear speak to our current unprecedented moment of an impending Presidential election, global warming and a pandemic. We will explore how the themes of apocalypse, revelation and plague deeply inform Shakespeare’s masterpieces and how theatre artists use these masterpieces to create meaning from moments such as the one we are living in today. 
95 slots available
Register
$155.00