OLLI 60s Singles Bundle

The 1960s began with Kennedy and US-USSR nuclear confrontation and ended with Nixon and US drawout from Vietnam. This class traces the origins, events, and adversaries of the Cold War and speculates about lessons it may teach US leaders regarding the emerging new Cold War with China and Russia.

Explore 50 years of environmental policy at national and state levels. Subjects include air and water quality and availability, wildlife conservation, and the Endangered Species Act. We’ll also cover current environmental challenges such as climate change, energy, and environmental justice issues.

The 1960s were a time of new audiences for the blues. As African Americans largely turned away from the blues in favor of gospel and soul, whites in America and in the UK discovered the blues. This course will trace the changing audiences for the blues during the 1960s. We will discuss Samuel Charters’s pioneering scholarship that introduced blues artists to young white audiences, leading to the “rediscovery” of several blues artists. Simultaneously, British rock bands, like Cream, Led Zeppelin, and the Rolling Stones, covered the blues and introduced a new generation to the music. Finally, new artists, such as Hot Tuna, Canned Heat and the Butterfield Blues Band, appeared to change the sound of the blues.

Much of the technology that we enjoy today was developed in the fast-moving decade from 1960 to 1969. Lasers, L.E.D.s, push button phones, space travel, the computer as we now know it – including the mouse, and most importantly the integrated circuit. Which of these did the public know about and which were kept under cover until later decades, and why? Learn more in this fun and enlightening investigation of world-changing technologies.

The 1957 launch of Russia’s Sputnik started a USSR/USA science and technology race to see who would send humans into and explore space. Despite initial setbacks on both sides, remarkable progress was documented and climaxed in 1969 as American astronauts walked on the moon. We will examine those early missions, the challenges they mastered, and the technology developed by this generation of pioneers. Our exploration of the cosmos opens a whole new field of science and daily brings us closer to better understanding our planet and all that surrounds it.

The 1960s changed America. Comedy brought change to culture and our culture transformed comedy. As mirrors of what was happening in our society, stand-up comics and sitcoms began to explore life in novel ways. Situations started to become more realistic and, in some cases, edgier. TV sitcoms became less idyllic and more representative of “real life.” Issues not previously discussed openly in entertainment venues became the new norm. We will discuss the icons who showed us a new side of ourselves we hadn’t seen before, and the influences of rock and roll, Vietnam, drugs, and “the age of Aquarius” which brought unexpected changes that continue to affect us today.