Session 8: September 2013
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Wednesday
21 August
2013 -
Volunteer Training
KCDC runs on the time, generosity, and spirit of volunteers, and we invite you to join us in organizing the September session. 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: KCDC
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Tuesday
3 September -
Tenants’ Rights in D.C.
Your landlords may be super-flaky and greedy, but are they also breaking the law?
user Instructors: Daniel Hornal, Marc Borbely
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Thursday
5 September -
Know Your Rights When Interacting With the Police
If you’re stopped by a police officer or even arrested, do you know what rights are yours? We’ll teach you, in a way that makes this information easy to remember if you’re on the spot.
user Instructor: Seema Sadanandan
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Saturday
7 September -
Explorative Jogging: Rock Creek Park
Lace up your running shoes, do some stretches, and gawk at the park’s little-known treasures, such as a hidden Rockefeller mansion and a haunting trove of U.S. Capitol building stone.
user Instructor: Meghan Hardy
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Bookbinding!
Sew your own sketchbook after we school you in several book-making techniques, all in the bustling atmosphere of the Mt. Pleasant Famers’ Market.
user Instructor: David Ramos
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Urban Homesteading: Fall and Winter Gardening
Cold weather is no excuse for letting your garden lie fallow. Some plants thrive in the cooler seasons; we’ll tell you which ones and how to give them the TLC they need to be happy.
user Instructor: Jonathan Scott
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Sunday
8 September -
Holocaust History Through a New Lens
Join a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum educator for a behind-the-scenes look at the new exhibit “Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity in the Holocaust.”
user Instructor: Sonia Booth
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Monday
9 September -
Speed Skillsharing
It’s like speed dating, only you’re sharing useful information with strangers rather than forced small talk!
user Instructor: YOU!
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Newspaper Basket Weaving
Hurry! Before print is dead for good, grab some Washington Posts (or whatever) and make a cute catch-all that you can recycle when you’re bored with it.
user Instructor: Juliana Rincon
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Tuesday
10 September -
Nim: A Mathematical Approach to Game Theory
Learn a few basic principles of game theory with the help of a strategy game called Nim.
user Instructor: Rikki Irwin
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Wednesday
11 September -
Corporate Social Responsibility: Fact or Fiction?
Why does BP fund renewable energy research? What’s up with McDonald’s running a children’s health charity? Do corporations actually care or do they just pretend to?
user Instructor: Halley Aelion
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Revitalize Your Love Life: BDSM for Beginners
Forget “50 Shades of Grey”! Learn what real BDSM is all about and how to incorporate it into your own love life.
user Instructor: "Kirk A. Gard"
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Thursday
12 September -
Spice Up Your Writing With Culinary History
Did you know that Kraft mac and cheese has a royal provenance? Have you ever thought of your everyday dishes as exotic cuisine? Learn how to find and utilize that kind of information to enrich food writing of all kinds.
user Instructor: Claudia Kousoulas
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Short-Circuiting Small Talk
Authenticity, curiosity, and empathy: Add these qualities to your conversational toolbox for deeper discussions and relationships.
user Instructor: Vipin Thek
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Saturday
14 September -
The Island: A Bike Tour of Industrial Sites, Lost Canals, and Neighborhoods in SE/SW
Bicycle through the hidden industrial heart of D.C. in search of lost neighborhoods, forgotten factories, and municipal works.
user Instructors: David Ramos, Elena Goukassian
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Write a Book!
Discover the art of the personal essay (and who doesn’t love talking about him/herself?), then get going on a book of essays with your fellow students.
user Instructor: Caitlin Dewey
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Sunday
15 September -
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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The Perfect Pie
Intimidated by homemade fillings and beautiful lattice-top crusts? You won’t be after this intro to all things pie.
user Instructor: Teeny Lamothe
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Monday
16 September -
Pragmatism, Postmodernism, and Cultural Relativity
These terms aren’t as scary as they sound. Learn to appreciate such concepts in this philosophy crash course.
user Instructor: Justin Marshall
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Effective Advocacy for D.C. Statehood
A lack of equal voting rights is so central to D.C.’s identity that it’s inscribed on our license plates. But what can you do about it?
user Instructor: Tim Hampton
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Tuesday
17 September -
Fundamentals of Human Figure Drawing
Pick up a No. 2 pencil and render the human body in all its glory and imperfection.
user Instructor: Sam Huang
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Wednesday
18 September -
Shindigs, Soirees, and Fiestas
You’ll need more than an ice sculpture and booze to throw a successful social event. Learn the basics from two seasoned event-planning professionals.
user Instructors: Joanna Klatzman, Lindz Routt
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Hands-on! An Introduction to Massage
Wield the power of massage in the war against stress!
user Instructors: Aries Indenbaum, Elizabeth Goldberg
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Friday
20 September -
The Magic of Car Maintenance
Spend Park(ing) Day learning the basics of auto maintenance, on a real live functioning vehicle.
user Instructor: Peter Willis
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Saturday
21 September -
Community Calendar: SHARE Fair 2013
Want to learn how to respond to street harassment, fundraise successfully, or sew and mend your own clothes? Come learn, share, and have fun at SHARE Fair, an activism-themed skillsharing event.
user Instructor: SHARE Fair
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Learning to Look: A Primer in the Visual Language of Painting
Feel inadequate when people gaze knowingly at artwork and say things like so-and-so “uses non-objective balance rather than realistic subjects to command the viewer.” This class will teach you basic artistic concepts that you can use to better understand the masters … or just show off.
user Instructor: Gregory Lambert
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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 Instructor: Holly J. Morris
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Write to Relax
Massage, deep breathing and … writing? Yes, writing can be an effective tool in reducing stress. Join us and give it a shot.
user Instructor: Patrice Carolyn Forrester
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Sunday
22 September -
Ooooh Yeeeeah: Stretching Together
More and more of us are learning how good it feels to stretch, but we’re accustomed to doing it alone. We’ll show the power of posing with a partner.
user Instructor: Kirsten Bourne
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Food and Culture at the Museum
Tour the exhibit “FOOD: Transforming the American Table, 1950-2000” at the National Museum of American History with one of the show’s co-curators.
user Instructor: Cory Bernat
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Knotty by Nature: Sailing for Beginners
Sick of high gas prices? It could be time to convert to wind power! Learn how in this out-on-the-water class.
user Instructor: Sarah Meharg
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Monday
23 September -
How to Make Ice Cream
Learn how to choose ingredients, create flavors, cook custard, and churn, churn, churn.
user Instructor: Patrick McMullen
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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
24 September -
Give Me Fermentation, or Give Me Death!
For some of us, life wouldn’t be the same without fermented foods (like yogurt) and beverages (like beer). Learn how microorganisms work their magic, taste some of that magic, and take some magic home.
user Instructor: Anastasia Kolobrodova
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Silly Dummy, Tricks Are for Bridge!
Play a game that offers a mix of fast-paced communication challenges, mathematical puzzles, and strategic conundrums. No need to retire first.
user Instructor: Paul Block
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Urban Aquaponics
Raise organic fish in your own backyard, which will make your organic-tomato-growing neighbors really jealous.
user Instructor: Carlos Villamar
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We’ve Got Spirits!
That’s right, it’s a hands-on class about vodka, rum, whisky, tequila and gin!
user Instructor: Liz Liberman
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Wednesday
25 September -
An Insider’s Guide to D.C. Style
Can I wear harem pants to my consulting job? Is it hip or overdone to rock a fedora in Adams Morgan? Should I even care about such questions?
user Instructors: Elizabeth DeMeo, Jessica Phippen
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Phonebook Papier Mâché
Yes, phonebooks are still a thing. What purpose do they serve, other than doorstops? How about papier mâché sculpture?
user Instructor: Rebecca Ernest
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The Science of Creativity
Are Nobel Prize-worthy ideas born of sudden inspiration or rigorous process? The co-founder of ThirstDC discusses the surprising science behind innovation and imagination.
user Instructor: Eric Schulze
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Thursday
26 September -
Tie-Dye: The People’s Pattern
Dude, like, look at the colors. Groovy.
user Instructor: Amanda Leslie
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Saturday
28 September -
Stream Restoration in Wards 7 & 8 Bike Tour
Rehabbing down-at-the-heels D.C. streams improves the communities — wildlife and human — around them. See how it’s done.
user Instructor: Josh Burch
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Cancelled
CANCELLED: Family Scratch ClubBrings your kids and dig into Scratch, an MIT-designed programming language in which you create animations, games, and stories by snapping together digital bricks.
user Instructor: Aaron Morris
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Cancelled
CANCELLED: Finding Poetry Between the LinesTry your hand at found poetry: the literary version of collage. You’ll select words and phrases from a source text and then remix them to create an original piece.
user Instructor: Jenni B. Baker
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Sunday
29 September -
Quand la France s’ennuie: Revolt, Situationism, and 1968
Graffiti, posters, anti-art, manifestos, and the intersection of art and politics: a supposedly “bored” France goes on to be the subversive icon of 1968 in many ways—but to what end, and with what legacy? We will attempt to piece together (a very short) history of situationism and its role in 1968.
user Instructor: Milica Bogetic
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The Indie Rock ‘n’ Roll Revolution
Trace this genre from its 1990s origins to where it stands today, and discuss how indie rock has influenced 21st-century pop culture.
user Instructor: Neal Fersko
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Monday
30 September -
The Glory Days and Misappropriation of Bruce Springsteen
“Born in the U.S.A.” was, contrary to popular belief, a pretty dark album. Meet the real Bruce Springsteen via this lecture and discussion.
user Instructor: John Rigby
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Free Will(y): The Animal Origins of Conscious Choice
Grab the concept of free will by the horns and sink your teeth into studies unearthing its mysterious roots!
user Instructor: Vivianne Greenwood