Session 7: May 2013
Registration opens a week at a time, on Thursdays.
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Saturday
20 April
2013 -
Volunteer Meeting III
KCDC runs on the time, generosity, and spirit of volunteers, and we invite you to join us in organizing our next session. This volunteer meeting will be the second of three, in preparation for our month of classes in May. Organizers will be on hand to talk about the variety of ways you can volunteer, including teaching a class, facilitating, photographing, and doing outreach.
user Instructor: Knowledge Commons DC
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Wednesday
1 May -
Intro to Lock Picking
This hands-on workshop will teach you the basics of how pin-tumbler locks work and how to exploit them.
user Instructor: Bradford Barr
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Thursday
2 May -
Propaganda & Culture II: Overcoming Systematic Disinformation
A discussion that focuses on the intersection of misinformation, media, and social change.
user Instructor: Chris Simpson
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Interactive Creative Writing
Suck readers into your work by letting them decide how to navigate through it.
user Instructor: Daniel Hollander
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‘Making Do’ in the Kitchen, Chinese-Style
There is no need to trek out to far-off Asian grocery stores to learn the basics of Chinese cooking.
user Instructor: Jue Yang
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Saturday
4 May -
BK Adams Artist Studio Tour
BK Adams is a mainstay of the D.C. art scene. Visit him in his natural artist’s habitat, where he’ll explain his process and lead a short walk.
user Instructor: BK ADAMS-I AM ART
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Capoeira: Dance, Fight, Play
Join the ‘roda,’ or circle, in this introduction to the Brazilian martial art form.
user Instructor: Dale Marcellin
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Sunday
5 May -
Word Games to Work Out Your Verbal Imagination
Bring your love of wordplay, puns and verbal acrobatics to this session on word games that require nothing (like iPads or Facebook) but your brain to enjoy. Yes, Words With Friends nerds, this is for real.
user Instructors: Axel Tifft, Forrest Miller
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Monday
6 May -
Rags to Rugs
Turn old fabric into a welcome mat, bathroom rug, or something to keep your feet warm while you wash dishes.
user Instructor: Amanda Leslie
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Tuesday
7 May -
Get Ready for the World Cup: Portuguese 101
Love the way Portuguese sounds? Gearing up for the next Summer Olympics? Ever wonder what Brazilian soccer announcers are saying? Pick up some basic sounds, words, and slang in this beginner class!
user Instructor: Raissa Mendes
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Before the Party: The Business of Event Planning
You’ll need more than a chocolate fountain (are those even still a thing?) and booze to throw a successful social event. Learn the basics from two professional event planners.
user Instructors: Joanna Klatzman, Lindz Routt
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Wednesday
8 May -
Still Life Drawing, With Just a No. 2 Pencil
Even if you’re the last person picked for Pictionary, this beginner class is for you. No fancy supplies or art degrees necessary.
user Instructor: Sam Huang
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Thursday
9 May -
Introduction to Embroidery
Dabble in the art that kept restless medieval noblewomen out of trouble.
user Instructor: Ashley Meadows
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Friday
10 May -
Community Calendar: Partner Event: Danceportation: A Benefit for Provisions Library
Transport yourself this Friday night! Provisions Library is holding a fundraiser with dancing, a flash talk by Eric Schulze, andDJ Gavin Holland.
user Instructor: Partner event
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Saturday
11 May -
Make a Graffiti Nameplate for Mom
Forge your own tagging style, use it to make a work of poster-board art, then bestow your masterpiece on your mom(s).
user Instructor: Rajan Sedalia
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Park Maps: DC Urban Social and Environmental Justice through Data and Stories
Come explore and geek out through the hidden corners of Rock Creek Park. Rock Creek is in bloom, so we’ll be outside to find post-apocalyptic urban landscapes overtaken by nature and create open data!
user Instructor: Mikel Maron
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Looking Closer: A Photographic Image-Making Workshop
Anything can become a dynamic and interesting image if we take an active role in observation.
user Instructors: Anne Jordan, Mitch Goldstein
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Sunday
12 May -
Tap In (to Improv)
Spontaneity, banter, and playfulness mix to produce hilarious — and useful — results.
user Instructor: Stan Seiden
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Be Handy!
You’ll be ready to buy a fly tool belt and rock some protective eyewear after this class, in which you’ll master the basics of power tools and hand tools. Leave with a fun step stool and enhanced self-esteem.
user Instructor: Hanna Sherrill
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How the Sausage Gets Made (Literally)
The class title says it all.
user Instructor: Michael Clark
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Monday
13 May -
Discover the District’s Jazz Age Poets
For lovers of history and/or poetry: We take a look at verse penned in D.C. during the Harlem Renaissance.
user Instructor: Willona Sloan
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Intro to Lock Picking
This hands-on workshop will teach you the basics of how pin-tumbler locks work and how to exploit them.
user Instructor: Bradford Barr
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Tuesday
14 May -
Podcast Storytelling 101
Make the world listen! Master the basics of audio recording, and begin piecing together a story with sound alone.
user Instructors: Désirée Bayonet, Tatyana Safronova
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British Television Appreciation
Mine this rich vein of quality comedy and drama, crap reality shows, lurid documentaries, quiz shows, and snooker.
user Instructors: Beth Marlowe, Holly J. Morris, Sami Simon
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Dada, Briefly
Lizard submarine ###### egg sminching :))))) Make no sense? Get used to it. That’s Dada. Tada!
user Instructor: Claire Howard
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Wednesday
15 May -
Know Thyself: Why Happiness Is Up to You
Don’t use your genes or your parents as an excuse: Making positive change in your life is within your grasp. Psychologists and neuroscientists say so!
user Instructor: Linda Peia
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Political Gridlock, From a Psychoanalytic Perspective
We’ll explore the incompetency of America’s political leadership using psychoanalysis.
user Instructor: Justin A. Frank
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Lawyers: America’s Most Valuable Export?
Could shipping our lawyers abroad improve American foreign policy? Listen, ponder, and discuss.
user Instructor: Karen Hall
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Thursday
16 May -
Mapping the D.C. Food Community: Introduction to GIS
Make maps using geographic information systems (GIS) software while learning about D.C. community gardens. Designed for GIS virgins.
user Instructor: Florita Gunasekara
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Edit Anything!
We’ll provide the red pens.
user Instructor: Holly J. Morris
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Saturday
18 May -
Crash Course in Ruby on Rails
Learn the fundamentals of the popular web application framework.
user Instructors: Andy Fiedler, Sean Perkins
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Urban Garden Bike Tour
We will pedal our way across town to survey the transformations urban gardeners have wrought upon the city’s landscape.
user Instructor: Eliza Barclay
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Seven Things We Learned From Frank Sinatra
Old Blue Eyes’ fast rise to fame and enduring popularity can teach us a great deal about how our cultural institutions function.
user Instructor: Neal Fersko
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Sunday
19 May -
The Leader Within
Some individuals have a presence that enables them to conduct their lives with purpose and confidence, and inspire those around them. How do they do it?
user Instructor: Luk Chong Yeung
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Small-Scale Urban Composting
Composting is easy and, even in a tiny space, good composting practices can produce amazing dirt!
user Instructor: Vickie North
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Monday
20 May -
Mass Incarceration in America
This class will examine our society’s use of the criminal “justice” system as a mechanism for producing mass suffering and prisons as a mechanism of control over certain populations.
user Instructor: Alec Karakatsanis
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Tuesday
21 May -
Podcast Storytelling 202
Make the world listen! Master the basics of audio editing and compile a landscape of sound.
user Instructors: Désirée Bayonet, Tatyana Safronova
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Appraising the Cutting-Room Floor
Discover the factors that determine whether a film will be the toast of the festival circuit or gather dust on a shelf. Then discuss whether those factors should even matter. Short films will be watched, popcorn will be eaten.
user Instructor: Jared Earley
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Bento 101: A Guide to Japanese Packed Lunches
Learn the elegant techniques of bento, a portable Japanese meal, and leave the Lean Cuisines behind.
user Instructor: Brian Higginbotham
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Wednesday
22 May -
Decoding the Russian Alphabet
Cyrillic isn’t as intimidating as it may seem to the uninitiated. By the end of this class, you’ll be able to write your name and other words using its letters (a quick way to impress/befuddle your co-workers/friends/family).
user Instructor: Karyn Dubravetz
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Tactical Technology for Social Mobilization and Resistance
Explore new tech tools that community organizers, activists, and protestors can use to bring about social change.
user Instructor: Evan Papp
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Thursday
23 May -
Nature Lab: Chocolate Cicadas
No, we’re not going to eat them! (At least not in class.)
user Instructor: Bill Angelis and Leslie Sluger
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How to Complain Effectively to the Government
Getting your grievances addressed is, in theory, not so hard — there are people in all levels of government employed to hear you out. But finding those people isn’t necessarily easy. Master the system, then defeat it!
user Instructor: Patrick Lucey
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Write It Right. Right Now.
The principles of strong prose apply to all levels of writing. We’ll show you how to pen even the most casual of emails with aplomb.
user Instructor: Seth Arenstein
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Saturday
25 May -
Hidden Rivers and Lost Neighborhoods, a Tour by Bicycle
Go back in time to D.C.’s early days, when waters rushed through farmland and Union Station was Swampoodle.
user Instructor: David Ramos
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Journalism Gig Acquisition
Land a job or a freelance assignment in the ultra-competitive world of journalism. It’s not as hard as it sounds!
user Instructors: Holley Simmons, Holly J. Morris, Rachel Kaufman
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Abandoned Buildings Biking Tour: Schoolhouses
Our popular series returns after a winter break! This time on bikes! (Rescheduled from May 19th)
user Instructor: Elena Goukassian
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Sunday
26 May -
We’ve Got Spirits, Yes We Do!
That’s right, it’s a hands-on class about vodka, rum, whisky, tequila and gin!
user Instructor: Liz Liberman
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Monday
27 May -
Abandoned Buildings Biking Tour: Schoolhouses
Our popular series returns after a winter break! This time on bikes! (Rescheduled from May 11th)
user Instructor: Elena Goukassian
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Tuesday
28 May -
Edit Anything!
We’ll provide the red pens.
user Instructor: Holly J. Morris
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Thursday
30 May -
Hemp History
Hemp! What is it good for? The answer: A lot more than you may think.
user Instructor: Ben Droz
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There’s Nothing to Fear About Classical Music
Learn exactly enough to spend an evening at the Kennedy Center without feeling dumb.
user Instructor: Seth Arenstein
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Saturday
1 June -
Get Your Zine On
Learn about this wonderfully imaginative type of publication, and create a mini D.C.-themed food zine with the Runcible Spoon.
user Instructor: Malaka Gharib
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Saturday
8 June -
KCDC’s 2nd Birthday Potluck Picnic
KCDC has just been promoted from baby to toddler! Come celebrate with us!
user Instructor: Knowledge Commons DC