Dutch oven cookery may require some special knowledge, but most cowboy cooks swear that a perfectly prepared Dutch oven creation gives a cook far more satisfaction than a microwave wonder. Although Rawlings and Mickey Lemon are amateur Dutch oven cooks, they have entered cowboy cook- offs, like the famous local contest in Glenwood, just for fun. The Lemons will review what to look for in a Dutch oven, how to temper it and clean it when you've bought one, and basic concepts about fire building and maintenance. The class will learn some sources for recipes and some hints from folks who have stood the heat of the fire. For the second session, class members will travel to the Lemons' home where the cast iron cooks will illustrate what books can't show.

Russell Kleinman, retired Silver City surgeon, invites WILLites to his home to learn about wireless telegraphs and similar wonders that emerged at the dawn of the Age of Technology. Kleinman will confer with participants in a WNMU classroom, explaining a bit about his new book on the wireless telegraph and about what the class will see in his home, and then the class will caravan to take the tour.

What do walnut shells and cochineal bugs have to do with woven masterpieces? Lots. Indeed, these are just two of the many minerals, insects, and plants of New Mexico used to brighten our world. Hosana Eilert, a master weaver from northern New Mexico who now has a shop on Texas Street, will describe the sources, the process and the products of natural dyeing. She will introduce the Spanish sheep that have rebounded from their near disappearance. She will touch on the traditions of the Spaniards, the Navajo, and the Hispanic Americans of Chimayo. Hosana learned her art from Irvin Trujillo, a National Heritage Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts and during her time with us, both her background and enthusiasm will inspire class participants.

Materials furnished. Please bring any personal or meaningful items to incorporate into your doll's design. In this three-hour workshop, participants will create a spirit doll or totem to be used as a ritual or sacred object. The doll can be for growth and healing, for celebrating aspects of one's personality, or for bringing clarity to a life situation. The workshop will begin with a history of spirit dolls/totems followed by a guided meditation for relaxation, bringing personal intention into focus. Then each participant will create a doll. Finally, class members will share their new creations. Facilitator Karen Lauseng is a certified/registered hypnotherapist and an internationally known artist whose work has been exhibited in over 100 shows and in numerous magazines and books. Karen received her BFA and MFA degrees from Kansas State University and has taught a variety of college and community art courses. By facilitating the spirit doll workshop, Karen merges her passion for art and the creative process with her lifelong interest in spiritual healing and growth.

Beads. They have served as money (remember Manhattan), as the earliest form of art and personal adornment, as a device for counting, and as the focus of religious practices. Kathy Anderson will cover the finding and identification of the earliest beads, describe their use, and identify the role of beads in history. Anderson will tell about the material stuff from which beads have and are being made and how ancient people created beads, using what we might regard as primitive tools. Kathy will illustrate the discussion with many beads from her collection. Class members should feel free to bring their own nameless beads for help in identification

Learn about one of only two animal rehabilitation programs within the state. Gila Wildlife Rescue has been quietly doing this work in Silver City for over 25 years. They rescue raptors and large or small mammals and, after restoring them to health, return them to the wilderness. Dennis Miller, the founder, will speak and show a Power Point presentation that introduces the important work this organization accomplishes. Miller has been licensed to care for New Mexico wildlife since 1979. He retired in 2008 from his position as professor of biology at Western New Mexico University after 19 years of teaching.

Ft. Bayard was established early in the invasion of Apache territories and then became key in the U.S. Army's response to tuberculosis. To appreciate the importance and richness that Ft. Bayard represents, we have a guide who possesses both knowledge and imagination. He can sketch in the life of the nineteenth century fort before it was reconfigured as a largely medical facility. Richard Mitchem is a retired member of the Army Reserve, a member of the Ft. Bayard Preservation Society, and a volunteer at the Silver City Museum. He has extensively researched the history of the Army in New Mexico and Arizona and is an expert on the U.S. Cavalry and the campaign against the Apaches.

In the early morning darkness of March 9, 1916, ragtag troops under General Pancho Villa dashed across the Mexican-U.S. border and attacked the dusty railroad town of Columbus, New Mexico. Richard Dean, the president of the Columbus Historical Society and a direct descendant of one of the civilian Americans who died in that raid, invites WILL class members to be his guests in a tour of the town as he points out where the events of 1916 took place. As a way of assuring that peace has been made, those participants with U.S. passports will raid the Pink Store in Palomas, Chihuahua, Mexico, for lunch.

A Course in Miracles, an educational program, is spiritual rather than religious in its perspective. Although it uses Christian terminology, this course expresses universal experience, and its underlying philosophy of being is reminiscent of ancient refrains, echoing the world's most hallowed traditions. Facilitator Louis Baum, Sr., has studied this spiritual thought system since 1978 and reports that its ideas have helped transform his life. He says he was an angry, insecure, jealous, self-centered, stubborn, dishonest person. He changed. And his mind, that was once in constant turmoil, now remains at peace. Louis is an artist and barista, owning AIR Coffee Co.

In large part, Grant County's history has been engraved on copper. Richard Peterson, manager of regional communications for Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, will describe the history of copper mining in our area. He will bring his account up to date by discussing current production and reclamation efforts. At his company Richard is responsible for news media relations and external communications in North America. He earned graduate degrees from WNMU and in 1990 joined Chino Mines.

Mining in Grant County started with pre-historic digging for turquoise. Later Spanish explorers and Civil War veterans mined for gold and silver. In the late 1800s and into the War years of the 1900s we began mining for industrial metals. The Cold War saw the start of mining for radioactive elements. What makes this area so rich in mineral diversity? Facilitators Kevin Cook and Sylveen Robinson-Cook will look at the geologic setting of Grant County and how it has made this area unique and created this mineral abundance. Kevin and Sylveen own and operate the Royal Scepter Gems and Mineral Shop. They both hold master degrees in geo-science from New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro. Silver Citians since 1996, they are members of the Grant County Rolling Stones Rock Club.

When constructed in the 1930's, the Murray Hotel brought Silver City a deluxe institution of sophisticated hyper-modern hostelry and dining. A Murray advertisement in the Silver City Daily Press cited the Waldorf Astoria without mentioning fruit salad. Because a revived Murray opens its doors this fall, now is an appropriate moment to consider the Murray, its rise and fall. Facilitator Tom Hester once studied history (University of Texas, Austin and University of Pennsylvania) and now volunteers as a researcher for the Silver City Museum.

A map and compass can help us navigate when no roads or towns are available for reference. The class will discuss the different types of maps and learn how to read and interpret topographic maps. Participants will learn the functions of a compass and how to navigate with one and how to use it in conjunction with maps. Facilitator Brian Fuller is a professional engineer who enjoys hiking, camping and backpacking in the Gila National Forest and wilderness areas. Brian is a member of the Grant County Search and Rescue Team and is a New Mexico State Police Search and Rescue Field Coordinator.

The harvest is in. The temperature is dropping. Autumn is the perfect time to think Soup! Come join us while we create soups that will warm your soul--then sit down to relish our handiwork. Two savory soups and the chocolate dessert soup will be concocted by Doc Campbell, who has facilitated a popular chocolate course, has been creating delicious things to eat since childhood.

This is a three hour studio visit with the world's most exquisite handwork. There will be a lecture and film explaining the 46 kinds of stitches used in traditional silk embroidery in Japan. No actual embroidery will be done. Examples, tools, frames and materials used in the embroidery will be exhibited. Facilitator Kathryn Elms is a certified teacher of the Kurenai-Kai Japanese Embroidery Center that was founded in Japan and has a center in Atlanta.

The Enneagram is a Sufi teaching that describes nine personality types. A metaphysical tool used for centuries in the Mystery Schools of Central Asia, the Enneagram illuminates our personality fixations: childhood strategies of relationships shaping our adult participation in the world. The most important reason for studying personality typology is to lessen suffering caused by repeated unconscious patterns of behavior. Additionally, we can gain invaluable information for ourselves and others, deepening insights into our relationships and aiding spiritual growth. Facilitator Kathleen Scheid has been studying the Enneagram since 1991 when she completed a month-long training at Esalen in Big Sur, California. She holds an MA in counseling psychology and is a licensed marriage and family therapist.

If you are one of those who believe caffeine makes existence possible, you will enjoy this class. Coffee roaster and artist, philosopher and barista, Louis Baum will take you on a whirlwind worldwide tour of the best of the beans. He explains the roasting, brewing methods, etiquette, lore, and history of java.

All students will be able to choose a cleaned and crafting-ready half gourd for their mask. Students will learn simple techniques to create an original wall decoration or their own personal disguise — just in time for Halloween. Each student will also be supplied with all the basic materials needed: paints, dyes and other coloring materials plus beads, feathers and other things too numerous and mysterious to mention. Drills, a mini saw and wood-burning tools will be available to share. (You are welcome to bring your own creative materials. Also, if you have them, bring tools such as an Exacto knife, Dremel drill or wood-burning tool.) Facilitator Karen Rossman has been creating with gourds for over ten years and has a special love for the unique ability a gourd mask has to reveal the ancient and/or whimsical icons that lie within the maker.

Gail Stanford, Herbie Marsden, Mary Ann Finn or Melvin Gelb take participants on four natural-setting hikes to acquaint them with some great experiences they can repeat by themselves, starting from town or very close by. They are an hour to an hour-and-a-half long and easy to moderate in difficulty. All four-hike masters are seasoned trail walkers.

Dennis Jennings has designed a brief course to cover what he says are, "The basics of planning and leading a safe, fun hiking excursion, so everyone comes back with all their fingers and toes and is eager to go out with you again!" This is a course for current and future hike leaders. They will learn how to plan a trip, scout a route and rate the difficulty of a route. What should a leader bring on a hike? What do other hikers need to bring (besides the WILL liability waiver form)? Other areas covered will be emergency/medical/ communication plans, debriefing and reporting. Dennis has had a wide and varied lifetime of hiking and backpacking as well as a quarter century of work as an emergency professional. The lessons learned from his course, "How to Be At Home in the Outdoors," kept some members from getting lost last semester.

Participants will be introduced to the Gomez Peak Trail System by Vicki Johnson, Gay Marks and Frost McGahey. The hike leaders will show you some of their favorite hikes in this trail system. The pace will be leisurely, but there are some steep and rocky elevations. Level of difficulty: moderate.

On this moderate hike in the Burro Mountains, participants will identify - and sample - some edible plants that early peoples used. Hike master Donna Stevens, of the Upper Gila Watershed Alliance, will point out some of our tastier plant species and offer clues to their identification. Donna co-authored Common Southwestern Native Plants. She currently works on two conservation issues: off-road vehicle damage in the Gila National Forest and a threatened diversion of the Gila River. She led an edible Burros hike last spring, and those hikers are still munching.

Want to spend the day hiking a variety of terrains? Hell's Half Acre offers plenty of variety and lots of interest northwest of Silver City. After about a half-hour drive, plan on bushwhacking down a slope into a dry arroyo and from there over sandstone mesas and into a few slot canyons. The hike will be of moderate difficulty with some rock scrambles. The post-Thanksgiving time will give a chance to make up for the previous day's feast and keep resolutions to exercise outside.

We stand entranced before a work of art that has intrigued us with its beauty. Why does it captivate us? Does a painting or sculpture or installation have a vocabulary, a grammar, a voice that can be denied to those of us who don't understand the language? Many of us love art, but have difficulty explaining why. Four outstanding artists — Michael Metcalf, Sandy Urban, Judith Meyer, and Paula Geisler — are going to choose a piece of art that they love and before our very eyes are going to take the work apart and lay its underpinnings bare to us. This deconstruction will allow us to see, maybe for the first time, how a piece of art works and how its meaning and emotional content are conveyed. Elements of art, significance, symbolism, structure, use of color, shapes, and balance, will be isolated and discussed.

Instruments: Some instruments will be available. However, students will need to rent the more popular instruments. Rents will be about $20 a month, and Antonio will help smooth the rental process, as well as suggest where to purchase reeds or sticks or other band consumables. Antonio will meet with everyone before Sept. 23 so that when he raises the baton on Sept. 23, all can participate. Facilitator Antonio Zapata is presently the Director of Music for the Cliff Schools in the Silver Consolidated School District. He teaches K-12 general music, choir and band. He also directs the music for Theatre Group New Mexico. His responsibilities include the instruction of the actors who sing, the choruses, the bands and the orchestras in the musicals coproduced with Western New Mexico University.

Four films represent the root of a chilling talent that would become a genius: Alfred Hitchcock. The four classic B&W films by Alfred Hitchcock were made in the U.K. in the 1930s. Facilitator Cheryl Leidich has an MA in Humanities from the University of Colorado-Denver with a specialty in film theory and criticism.
Films:
Sept. 24 - The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935, 82 min) portrays an innocent Canadian who becomes involved in espionage and murder and must stay a step ahead of both the police and the villains.
Oct. 1 - Secret Agent (1936, 86 min) is an offbeat espionage thriller about spies posing as husband and wife in Switzerland. When their assignment leads to killing an innocent tourist, the "fun" begins.
Oct. 8 - Sabotage (1936, 76 min) follows a movie cashier who suspects that her mild-mannered husband is a traitor who is terrorizing London.
Oct. 22 - The Lady Vanishes (1938, 93 min) concerns a charming old lady who mysteriously vanishes on a train from England to central Europe. A young woman whom the old lady has befriended tries to find her, only to get caught in a web of intrigue

If you love quilts, this course is for you! Quilts give insights to the domestic history of the United States. Participants will make a study of quilts starting from early America in the 1800s to present day. The facilitator's collection of 19th and 20th century quilts will be used to illustrate trends, styles, and colors of various periods. Participants are invited to share their treasured quilts as well. The course will start with quilts in colonial America and end with current styles and trends. Resources, websites and books for further study will also be shared. Maureen Craig is a quilter, quilt collector, professional quilt appraiser and avid amateur quilt historian.

Learn how to use the colcha stitch that has been a part of traditional embroidery in New Mexico since the colonial era. Participants will create a colorful design as they come to understand the history of this art form. ("Colcha embroidery is folk art. There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.") Colcha embroidery is a wool-on-wool or wool-on-cotton embroidery technique indigenous to northern New Mexico and southern Colorado. Spanish settlers used handspun, hand woven cloth made colorful by embroidery yarn dyed with plants, insects or minerals. This is folk art as New Mexican as red and green chilies, high desert vistas and adobe houses. Facilitator Monique Durham was born and reared in France. She earned a degree from the University of Texas at El Paso in Spanish literature and worked as a music archivist at the Center for Southwest Research, University of New Mexico. Embroidery and fiber are parts of Monique's life. She has won several prizes for her colcha embroidery, and her work has appeared in the Albuquerque Fiber Arts Festival, a juried event.

Most critics have declared that these movies-directed by Arturo Ripstein, Luis Estrada, Felipe Cazals and Maria Novaro-rank among the top films made in Mexico during the last 30 years. Many contend that they belong on the world's top film list. Facilitator Armando Maya, a biology professor who retired to his childhood home of Vanadium, has selected and will comment on these sub-titled films. Armando has assembled an outstanding collection of Mexican movies and possesses a deep knowledge of movie biography and history. He calls the love of good Mexican movies, "a madness." It is a madness that benefits us all.
Films:
El Lugar sin Limites (Place without Limits), 1977, Arturo Ripstein. This film launches a sharp critique of machismo culture. A transvestite and his prostitute daughter defend themselves against a thuggish landowner.
La Ley de Herodes (Herod's Law), 1998, Luis Estrada The mayor of a small town is murdered and is replaced by a gentle, humble janitor.
Canoa (Canoe), 1975, Felipe Cazals Based on an actual event, this pseudo-documentary tells of an attack on hiking university students by a village mob.
Danzón, 1990, Maria Novaro. A telephone operator has one weekly diversion: dancing the danzón with a man who suddenly disappears. She goes to find his brother in Veracruz and instead discovers a new world.

Sometimes the beginning step is too steep, and we know that we need some extra practice to make that motorboat sound with our tongue for the rr. That's when we sign up for Pre-Beginning. The participants who took the pre-beginning Spanish course last fall claimed that it suited their abilities just perfectly. Cynthia Vega is a WNMU graduate student with a degree in Spanish.

Aqui está. Here is your introduction to basic Spanish conversation, useful wherever Spanish is spoken, to get food, to find a restroom and to say hello to the officer giving you a parking ticket. Facilitator Patricia Cano has taught WNMU students for twenty years. She has superior mastery of Spanish patterns, pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. Patricia can spot where every student needs practice.

With a quarter century of dedicated cycling, including triathlon racing, Tim Matthes is a firm believer in the benefit of exercise no matter what age. Matthes is convinced that people over 55 can be happy aboard a cycle, find freedom and get fit. He has assembled a course that will enable every one of us to reach those goals. He states that this course is "Suitable for someone who is thinking of buying a cycle, or has one and hasn't ridden it in a while." (An optional highlight for equipped class members will be a bicycle outing.)

T'ai chi is, at once, an expression of Chinese philosophy, a "moving meditation," and among the most potently effective martial arts. It's a challenging physical exercise and paradoxically a calming and relaxing internal meditation. The practice of t'ai chi enhances postural strength and balance, mind-body awareness and serenity under stressful conditions. Participants will learn the authentic and original 106-movement Yang Long Form. John Carson Dye learned the Yang Long Form from Master Tung Kai-Ying. John was a t'ai chi student of Master Tung Kai-Ying of Los Angeles; a practitioner of Iyengar-style yoga; a yoga and a t'ai chi instructor in the recreation department of the University of California at San Diego Recreation Department. John earned his Ph.D. from UCSD Department of Neurosciences. Anna Dye, John's wife, will also facilitate the course. Anna began her t'ai chi career as a student of Rami Salo, one of Tung Kai-Ying's most successful European teachers. A member of the Tai Chi Chuan Association of Helsinki, Finland, she regularly attends Master Tung's special classes and camps in the U.S. and Europe.

""I believe that history has a direct connection to us, to the lives we live," said Magdaleno Mazanarez. Magdaleno will discuss four different areas of Mexican history that have had long-lasting effects, reaching even to Silver City. Mexico's history is intertwined with that of the United States. The past and the future of this society are important to America. Manzanarez will unveil and explain part of that history to us. Facilitator Magdaleno Manzanarez is a professor of Political Science at WNMU. He led a popular course in border issues for WILL, basing many of his observations on direct political science research in a Mexican village. He was also one of the lecturers in WILL's One Day University and will be speaking Oct. 14 as part of the WNMU/WILL Economic Summit.

Josiah Royce was born in California's gold rush country, and when it came time for a dissertation at Johns Hopkins, he wrote about the murders, lynching, and mayhem among those who toiled for gold. Royce became one of America's greatest philosophers, adapting his friend William James' pragmatism to idealism. This class will read exciting portions of Royce's California and compare them to the memoir Henry Ailman wrote about settling in Silver City and making his fortune at Georgetown, New Mexico. Facilitator Tom Hester studied Josiah Royce as a graduate student of American civilization and today volunteers as a researcher for the Silver City Museum.

Weather has played an unexpected role in history. From the 1588 defeat of the Spanish Armada, to 1816--the Year Without a Summer, to the meteorological considerations that shaped the 1944 Invasion of Normandy, Mother Nature has affected the course of human history. These historical events, as well as the associated difficulties in predicting weather, will be among the topics covered. Facilitator Eric Walker, a retired airline pilot, led the popular Weather Matters WILL course.

In 1532, Francisco Pizarro led his band of conquistadors into the Andes where they encountered a sophisticated, wealthy empire. Well-planned cities featured complex ceremonial architecture, storehouses and irrigated fields. A network of roads connected the reaches of a rule second only to Rome's. Pizarro's advance brought to an end the brief 100-year reign of the Incas. They had flourished because they had absorbed many earlier cultures — the Moche, the Wari, the Chimu, and the Nasca, among others. Ted Pressler, who worked in an Ecuadorian archeological dig for two years, discusses the rich history, art, and inventions of the Incas and their friends. One session will be devoted to Machu Picchu and similar sites. Pressler will present a dig that investigated the mysterious seventeen-year standoff between the Inca and tribes in what is today northern Ecuador. Besides the lectures, slides and films, Ted promises "surprises of a culinary and cultural nature."

A line drawn from New Delhi to Beirut defines the axis of the world's most potent political fracture zone. The countries that line transects represent for many observers the locus of serious or even apocalyptic trouble, not only for the United States but for the entire world. While trouble is not new to the region, over the past decade we have seen relatively limited local/regional troubles there explode in size and significance and we have seen America become enmeshed in these conflicts in two seemingly endless wars. Of the world's (perhaps) ten nuclear-armed states, three are along that line and a fourth is apparently about to join the atomic club. All the other major nuclear powers have vital interests in the region--and have the capacity to deliver their weapons anywhere along that line. Anne McCormick and Rick Sherman will lead this class in a four-part discussion of the individual countries from east to west along the line, with insights from Rick based upon his years of experience in the region. The facilitators will provide suggested reading lists and other useful materials, but avid class participation will be vital to make this course interesting to all.

The Iliad is one of the greatest war stories of all time, but to call it a war story does not begin to describe the emotional sweep of its action and characters: Achilles, Helen, Hector, and other heroes of Greek myth and history. The events take place in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of Troy. Powerful language brings clashing, pulsing life to this ancient masterpiece. The first session of this course will be devoted to the epic genre and to the background of the Trojan War, with its historical and mythological attributes. Later sessions will feature the study of the Iliad with discussion centering on six "books" (chapters) each session. While students may read any translation of the poem, Parotti will use the E. V. Rieu translation as the main text. Reading assignments will involve about 100 pages each week. Facilitator Phillip Parotti taught writing, American Literature, and World Literature at Sam Houston State University where he covered The Iliad multiple times. In addition to publishing poetry, essays, professional articles, reviews and short stories, he has published three novels about the Trojan War. Retired from university teaching, Phil returned to Silver City where he was raised, and continues to do volunteer work and write. He has done several WILL Lunch & Learn lectures.

Jack Cunningham introduces WILL participants to rocks, minerals and fossils. He'll cover how to identify minerals, using specimens from the university's collection. He will lead the class on a trip to road cuts, the geology professors' favorite attraction, where the earth is laid bare and the real life example is better than any book. Jack has a PhD in geology. He has taught geology courses at WNMU for thirty years, and has spent summers doing geology in the field (mainly mapping).

This course will snare some slithery issues, including the following: Why isn't a limbless lizard a snake? The evolution of life without limbs--prey capture and venom delivery over the ages. Other topics include diversity of the snakes, reproductive biology, sensory systems and not least - why are most people afraid of snakes. Also covered: what to do about snake bites. This survey of snake biology will be led by Julian Lee, an emeritus professor at the University of Miami and a senior herpetologist who has published extensively about his research on reptiles and amphibians. (Cornell University Press published his The Amphibians and Reptiles of the Yucatan Peninsula and A Field Guide to the Amphibians and Reptiles of the Maya World)

This class will cover fundamental aspects of Buddhist thought and practice. There will be time for discussion as well as for meditation. Esther Melvin studied Tibetan Buddhism at Kopan Monastery in Nepal and among other retreats, attended a Theravadan meditation course at the Mahasi Meditation Center in Burma. Her main teacher in the United States is Bhante Gunaratana, the Sri Lankan founder of the Bhavana Society, a monastery located in the forests of West Virginia.

Richard Elliott Friedman, in Who Wrote the Bible, writes: "It is a strange fact that we have never known with certainty who produced the book that has played such a central role in our civilization. For centuries, scholars have assembled small pieces of an enormous puzzle. Now, modern research and recent archaeological discoveries offer answers to the mystery of who wrote the Old Testament." This book reads like a detective story and will be the basis of this 4-week discussion. Facilitator Don Pyle, an architectural engineer, not a Biblical scholar, has devoted a lifetime to the avocational study of archaeology and history, especially that of the Near East. Don has participated in and facilitated a number of relevant discussion groups. He is an Associate Member of Westar Institute, sponsor of The Jesus Seminar, which advocates 'religious literacy' and critical thinking as applied to religious texts and traditions. In 2007 Don helped to facilitate a WILL course "The Historical Jesus."

Attorney, Tim Kane, will cover preparing wills, powers of attorney and medical directives. This course unravels in plain English scores of knotty legal issues that directly affect us. Few of us like to confront our deaths and how our estates will be handled, but in a WILL course, with an acknowledged expert, we can feel comfortable in asking questions and discussing issues that many of us have in common. Someday these topics, which Tim has organized and meticulously prepared, will have relevance for us. No exceptions.

A Blog is a personal Website on which the owner posts thoughts and feelings. People, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, publish observations that shock, entertain or inform. Others can then comment on each post, often creating a rich and enlightening conversation. Free Blog services can get the least geeky among us up and running without stress. Set-up your own Blog through this course. Sean Souders has taught adults basic computer skills for many years and has taught prior WILL courses. He understands how to teach people who are just learning to use computers. He has degrees and certificates in computers and in network technology.

This course provides a step-by-step introduction to discovering your family tree. You will learn how to make the most of sources at home, how to search the Web and to explore archives and libraries. Included are tips on using the census, immigration and passenger records, vital records, resources from the Family History Library and what to do when you hit a 'brick wall' in your research. Plus, participants will learn how to record and document what they learn about their family history and ways to bring their ancestors' past to life. Facilitator David Fryxell was founding editor of Family Tree Magazine, the largest circulation publication about genealogy. He continues to be a contributing editor. Former editor-in-chief of Family Tree Books, David contributes to the Family Tree Resource Book for Genealogists and edits the Family Tree Guide Book and the Family Tree Guide Book to Europe. He is also the editor and publisher of Desert Exposure.

If your idea of a great trip involves 10-day highlights of Europe, then this is NOT the course for you. Do you view yourself as more of a traveler, and less of a tourist? Do you journey with an open heart and receptive mind? Would you like to travel longer, and with less? If you would like to form a personal travel philosophy and seek out destinations that are off the beaten track, then this is course for you. Marcia Andre will guide the class through these topics along with ethical travel concepts. She will weave in examples of personal experiences using three areas of the world with distinctly different cultures and languages: Latin America, the South Pacific and the Azores Islands. Participants will be encouraged to share their personal perspectives and experiences. Marcia's passion in life is organizing fabulous trips that involve multiple forms of transportation to remote, but memorable places. She has organized (or simply advised) many trips for friends and family. Since her retirement from the U.S. Forest Service, she has planned several exciting adventures.

By the end of the class, each participant will produce a 5-minute film ready for Cable Access Television Service (CATS). Everyone will learn how to use a Sony Digital Hi-8 camera, acquire editing skills with Windows Moviemaker, and master tips and tricks for audio. Editing will be done on WNMU PC computers. The facilitator, Joe Kellerman has over four years experience in video production and editing plus over ten years in other forms of graphic communication. He is employed by CATS as a Video Editor.

Whether you make presentations for community organizations or as part of your job, this course can help you improve your impact. Topics will include analyzing audiences, developing presentation content, time management, managing question and answers, creating and using effective audiovisual aides and polishing your presentation style. In the final session, you will practice and receive feedback by making a short presentation of your choice. Facilitator Sonnie Sussillo has designed and delivered training programs for managers, executives and employees, primarily in the federal government, for about 20 years. Presentation skills and training for trainers are staples of her practice. She writes that she's "an introvert — which just proves that anyone can learn to make dynamic presentations."