Session 7: May 2013

Registration opens a week at a time, on Thursdays. 

Saturday
20 April
2013

Volunteer Meeting III

time 3:30 p.m.

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

Wednesday
1 May

Intro to Lock Picking

time 6:30 p.m.

This hands-on workshop will teach you the basics of how pin-tumbler locks work and how to exploit them.

user Instructor: Bradford Barr

Thursday
2 May

Propaganda & Culture II: Overcoming Systematic Disinformation

time 6:30 p.m.

A discussion that focuses on the intersection of misinformation, media, and social change. 

user Instructor: Chris Simpson

Interactive Creative Writing

time 6:30 p.m.

Suck readers into your work by letting them decide how to navigate through it.

user Instructor: Daniel Hollander

‘Making Do’ in the Kitchen, Chinese-Style

time 7 p.m.

There is no need to trek out to far-off Asian grocery stores to learn the basics of Chinese cooking. 

user Instructor: Jue Yang

Saturday
4 May

BK Adams Artist Studio Tour

time 11 a.m.

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

Capoeira: Dance, Fight, Play

time noon

Join the ‘roda,’ or circle, in this introduction to the Brazilian martial art form. 

user Instructor: Dale Marcellin

Sunday
5 May

Word Games to Work Out Your Verbal Imagination

time 4 p.m.

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

Monday
6 May

Rags to Rugs

time 7 p.m.

Turn old fabric into a welcome mat, bathroom rug, or something to keep your feet warm while you wash dishes.

user Instructor: Amanda Leslie

Tuesday
7 May

Get Ready for the World Cup: Portuguese 101

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Before the Party: The Business of Event Planning

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Wednesday
8 May

Still Life Drawing, With Just a No. 2 Pencil

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Thursday
9 May

Introduction to Embroidery

time 7 p.m.

Dabble in the art that kept restless medieval noblewomen out of trouble.

user Instructor: Ashley Meadows

Friday
10 May

Community Calendar: Partner Event: Danceportation: A Benefit for Provisions Library

time 7 p.m.

 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

Saturday
11 May

Make a Graffiti Nameplate for Mom

time 11:30 a.m.

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

Park Maps: DC Urban Social and Environmental Justice through Data and Stories

time noon

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

Looking Closer: A Photographic Image-Making Workshop

time noon

Anything can become a dynamic and interesting image if we take an active role in observation.

user Instructors: Anne Jordan, Mitch Goldstein

Sunday
12 May

Tap In (to Improv)

time 1 p.m.

Spontaneity, banter, and playfulness mix to produce hilarious — and useful — results. 

user Instructor: Stan Seiden

Be Handy!

time 1 p.m.

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

How the Sausage Gets Made (Literally)

time 1 p.m.

The class title says it all.

user Instructor: Michael Clark

Monday
13 May

Discover the District’s Jazz Age Poets

time 6 p.m. 📷 Documentation

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

Intro to Lock Picking

time 6:30 p.m.

This hands-on workshop will teach you the basics of how pin-tumbler locks work and how to exploit them.

user Instructor: Bradford Barr

Tuesday
14 May

Podcast Storytelling 101

time 6 p.m.

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

British Television Appreciation

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Dada, Briefly

time 7 p.m.

Lizard submarine ###### egg sminching :))))) Make no sense? Get used to it. That’s Dada. Tada!

user Instructor: Claire Howard

Wednesday
15 May

Know Thyself: Why Happiness Is Up to You

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Political Gridlock, From a Psychoanalytic Perspective

time 6:30 p.m.

We’ll explore the incompetency of America’s political leadership using psychoanalysis. 

user Instructor: Justin A. Frank

Lawyers: America’s Most Valuable Export?

time 7 p.m.

Could shipping our lawyers abroad improve American foreign policy? Listen, ponder, and discuss.

user Instructor: Karen Hall

Thursday
16 May

Mapping the D.C. Food Community: Introduction to GIS

time 6:30 p.m.

Make maps using geographic information systems (GIS) software while learning about D.C. community gardens. Designed for GIS virgins.

user Instructor: Florita Gunasekara

Edit Anything!

time 6:30 p.m.

We’ll provide the red pens.

user Instructor: Holly J. Morris

Saturday
18 May

Crash Course in Ruby on Rails

time 10 a.m.

Learn the fundamentals of the popular web application framework.

user Instructors: Andy Fiedler, Sean Perkins

Urban Garden Bike Tour

time 10 a.m.

We will pedal our way across town to survey the transformations urban gardeners have wrought upon the city’s landscape.

user Instructor: Eliza Barclay

Seven Things We Learned From Frank Sinatra

time 2 p.m.

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

Sunday
19 May

The Leader Within

time 2 p.m.

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

Small-Scale Urban Composting

time 2 p.m.

Composting is easy and, even in a tiny space, good composting practices can produce amazing dirt!

user Instructor: Vickie North

Monday
20 May

Mass Incarceration in America

time 7 p.m.

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

Tuesday
21 May

Podcast Storytelling 202

time 6 p.m.

Make the world listen! Master the basics of audio editing and compile a landscape of sound.

user Instructors: Désirée Bayonet, Tatyana Safronova

Appraising the Cutting-Room Floor

time 7:30 p.m.

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

Bento 101: A Guide to Japanese Packed Lunches

time 7:30 p.m.

 Learn the elegant techniques of bento, a portable Japanese meal, and leave the Lean Cuisines behind.

user Instructor: Brian Higginbotham

Wednesday
22 May

Decoding the Russian Alphabet

time 6 p.m.

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

Tactical Technology for Social Mobilization and Resistance

time 7 p.m.

Explore new tech tools that community organizers, activists, and protestors can use to bring about social change.

user Instructor: Evan Papp

Thursday
23 May

Nature Lab: Chocolate Cicadas

time 6 p.m.

No, we’re not going to eat them! (At least not in class.)

user Instructor: Bill Angelis and Leslie Sluger

How to Complain Effectively to the Government

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Write It Right. Right Now.

time 6:30 p.m.

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

Saturday
25 May

Hidden Rivers and Lost Neighborhoods, a Tour by Bicycle

time 11 a.m.

Go back in time to D.C.’s early days, when waters rushed through farmland and Union Station was Swampoodle.

user Instructor: David Ramos

Journalism Gig Acquisition

time 1 p.m.

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

Abandoned Buildings Biking Tour: Schoolhouses

time 5 p.m.

Our popular series returns after a winter break! This time on bikes! (Rescheduled from May 19th)

user Instructor: Elena Goukassian

Sunday
26 May

We’ve Got Spirits, Yes We Do!

time 5 p.m. 📷 Documentation

That’s right, it’s a hands-on class about vodka, rum, whisky, tequila and gin! 

user Instructor: Liz Liberman

Monday
27 May

Abandoned Buildings Biking Tour: Schoolhouses

time 1 p.m.

Our popular series returns after a winter break! This time on bikes! (Rescheduled from May 11th)

user Instructor: Elena Goukassian

Tuesday
28 May

Edit Anything!

time 6:30 p.m.

We’ll provide the red pens.

user Instructor: Holly J. Morris

Thursday
30 May

Hemp History

time 6 p.m.

Hemp! What is it good for? The answer: A lot more than you may think. 

user Instructor: Ben Droz

There’s Nothing to Fear About Classical Music

time 6:30 p.m.

Learn exactly enough to spend an evening at the Kennedy Center without feeling dumb.

user Instructor: Seth Arenstein

Saturday
1 June

Get Your Zine On

time 1 p.m.

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

Saturday
8 June

KCDC’s 2nd Birthday Potluck Picnic

KCDC Event time 1 p.m.

KCDC has just been promoted from baby to toddler! Come celebrate with us!

user Instructor: Knowledge Commons DC