Session 12: Winter 2015

Monday
2 February
2015

Introduction to SNAP/Food Stamps in the District

time 6:30 p.m.

It stands for “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” and it feeds 144,000 people in D.C. alone.

user Instructor: Simone Fine

Tuesday
3 February

Coffee With Qualia

time 6:30 p.m.

Join the owner/main roaster of Petworth’s Qualia Coffee for some learning and some tasting.

user Instructor: Joel Finkelstein

Make a Flashlight From Scratch

time 7 p.m.

What goes on inside a flashlight? Learn by putting one together.

user Instructor: Rustom Meyer

Wednesday
4 February

Security 101: Protect Yourself Online

time 6:30 p.m.

You don’t have to be a hardcore hacker to keep your digital privacy intact.

user Instructor: Patrick Lucey

Writing Science for the Masses

time 6:30 p.m.

Learn to present scientific information in a clear, jargon-free way, and to structure a piece so that it will engage readers (and editors!) from start to finish.

user Instructor: Gabriel Popkin

Thursday
5 February

Audio Storytelling

time 6:30 p.m.

Obsessed with “Serial”? Gain (some of) the skills to make your own gripping radio saga.

user Instructor: Peter Timko

Decolonize! Native Resistance Then and Now

time 6:30 p.m.

An introduction to the rich and powerful history of Native American resistance, from early efforts to contemporary ones.

user Instructor: DeLesslin "Roo" George-Warren

Screenwriting: From Pipedream to the Big Screen

time 6:30 p.m.

Surely you can do better than M. Night Shyamalan’s recent works!

user Instructor: Elijah Mendoza

Marketing for Startups, Small Businesses, and Aspiring Entrepreneurs

time 7 p.m.

What if you built a business and nobody came? Prevent that.

user Instructor: Neal Weese

Stress Relief with Laughter Yoga

time 7 p.m.

Don’t laugh! Laughter yoga is a real thing. Wait — do laugh. That’s the point!

user Instructor: Alban Pruthi

Saturday
7 February

St. Michaels, Maryland, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum

time 10 a.m.

Road trip! Join us for a visit to a charming waterside town and its most famous attraction.

user Instructor: David Ramos

Recycling D.C.’s Nutrients Back to Its Soils

time 1 p.m. 📷 Documentation

Tour DC Water’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant to find out how sewage is transformed into healthy meals for plants.

user Instructor: Bill Brower

The Art of Puppetry

time 2:30 p.m.

Learn how to make puppets come alive with members of Pointless Theatre!

user Instructor: Scott Whalen

Flavors of American Whiskey

time 8 p.m.

Taste whiskey. Learn whiskey. Love whiskey. What else could you want from a class?

user Instructor: Spencer Millsap

Sunday
8 February

Silly Dummy, Tricks are for Bridge

time 2 p.m.

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

Monday
9 February

A Beginner’s Guide to Social Media in China

time 6:30 p.m. 📷 Documentation

What happens online in a country where Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are verboten? A LOT.

user Instructor: Lai Wei

Make a Cell Phone Documentary!

time 6:30 p.m.

Lights, camera, action! Ambient light, that is, and the camera on your phone. The action’s up to you.

user Instructor: Rob Flaherty

Yoga Vinyasa-Tribe

time 7 p.m.

Join the tribe.

user Instructor: Dexter Sumner

Who’s the Rooibos (ROY-boss)? Herbal Tea Basics

time 7 p.m.

What’s an all-natural, caffeine-free beverage that’s super-popular around the world? Besides water.

user Instructor: Erika Rydberg

Tuesday
10 February

Know Your Sources: News Literacy and Media Framing

time 6 p.m.

Put the information you consume into context, and find out how it’s influencing your perspective on current events.

user Instructor: Anastasia Kolobrodova

Spice Up Your Life

time 6:30 p.m. 📷 Documentation

… with spices! Be literal. Learn. Profit.

user Instructor: Katy Chang

Making Minicomics and Zines

time 6:30 p.m. 📷 Documentation

Paper, scissors, creativity and a photocopier: That’s all you need. And a stapler, if you want to get crazy.

user Instructor: Josh Kramer

Tap Dancing: From Vaudeville to Your Own Feet

time 7 p.m.

Expensive tap shoes not required!

user Instructor: Julie Rubin

Wednesday
11 February

Cultivating a Home Yoga Practice

time 6:30 p.m.

Do yoga on your own terms: where you want, when you want, in your pajamas, whatever.

user Instructor: Gwen Fernandez

The Moroccan Arabic Language

time 6:30 p.m.

Salaamu 3laikum kul wa7id!

user Instructor: Rachel Weiner

Embroider Letters!

time 7:30 p.m.

Give me an E! Give me an M! Give me a B! Give me an R! You know where this is going.

user Instructor: Ashley Meadows

Thursday
12 February

Career Happiness Is Not a Myth

time 6:30 p.m.

Some people like, even love, their jobs. If you’re not one of them, there may be hope.

user Instructor: Denise Riebman

Cymraeg Cyntaf: Beginning Welsh

time 6:30 p.m.

Knowing even a little of this complex Celtic tongue will impress speakers of boring old Germanic and Romance languages.

user Instructor: Adam Roush

‘And the Oscar goes to …’: The History, Culture, and Significance of the Academy Awards

time 7 p.m.

Why all the fuss over gold statues of anatomically incorrect men?

user Instructor: John Rigby

3D Printing From Idea to Creation: A Two-Class Workshop

time 7 p.m.

At the end of the second class, you will hold in your hand proof that the future is now.

user Instructor: Adam Schaeffer

Sunday
15 February

Cancelled
Scientific Interpretations of Modern Art

time 2 p.m.

Confused by modern art? Science to the rescue!

user Instructor: Claire Howard

Tuesday
17 February

Cancelled
Beautiful Kitchen

time 6:30 p.m.

Salon? Spa? Naw. Natural beauty is in the kitchen, silly!

user Instructor: Katy Chang

Cancelled
Who’s That Dead White Guy on a Horse? And Other Pressing Questions About D.C.’s Statues

time 6:30 p.m.

Someone put all these sculptures here for a reason. Let’s get to the bottom of it, together.

user Instructors: Jasmine Utsey, Jessica Unger

Wednesday
18 February

Security 202: Encrypt Your Data

time 6:30 p.m.

You may be smart enough to not store incriminating selfies in the cloud … but what about on your hard drive? Data on your physical device needs protection as well.

user Instructor: Patrick Lucey

Cancelled
Customer Service for the Working Professional

time 7 p.m.

Ever tried to cancel Comcast? Then you know how dark things can get. Come toward the light.

user Instructor: Kirby P. Riley

Thursday
19 February

Design Your Own Body-Weight Training Workout

time 6:30 p.m.

Who needs a gym? Create a personalized workout that requires no equipment other than yourself.

user Instructor: Gitanjali Borkar

Cancelled
Who Needs H&R Block? What Taxes Are, and How to Do Them Yourself

time 7 p.m.

Understanding the tax system might not make doing taxes more fun, but … actually, it will make doing taxes more fun. Promise!

user Instructors: Gabrielle Sims, Michelle Kuchinsky

Saturday
21 February

Cancelled
Scanography: Making Art With a Flatbed Scanner

time 2 p.m.

Use it for more than scanning tax forms and old photos.

user Instructor: John Deamond

Holocaust History Through a New Lens

time 3 p.m.

Join a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum educator for a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibit “Some Were Neighbors: Collaboration and Complicity in the Holocaust.”

user Instructor: Sonia Booth

Sunday
22 February

Basic Bike Mechanics

time 11 a.m.

Learn bike repair and maintenance fundamentals from the experts at Gearin’ Up Bicycles.

user Instructor: Gearin’ Up Bicycles

Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Natural: DIY Beauty Products

time 1 p.m.

Make your own skincare stuff out of ingredients whose names you can actually pronounce.

user Instructor: Caryn Cochran

Monday
23 February

Cancelled
Improve Your Google Fu: Become a Better Searcher

time 6:30 p.m.

Join the Google Fu dojo and enhance your search skills — focus, discipline, and a computer are all you need.

user Instructor: David Blum

Very Basic Basque

time 6:30 p.m.

Ikusi eta ikasi! (Translation: See and learn!)

user Instructor: Kutz Arrieta

Tai Chi

time 7 p.m.

Use this Chinese martial art to stay alert and relaxed at the same time.

user Instructor: Sladjana Dankovic

Creating Sustainable Dreams: A Model for Transformation

time 7 p.m.

What are your core values, and how would your life change if your dreams aligned with them?

user Instructors: Catherine Wood, Robin Silverman

Tuesday
24 February

How to Barrel Age Liquor

time 6:30 p.m.

Don’t have a still? Want to avoid trouble with the law? This barrel is for you.

user Instructor: Katy Chang

Back Away From the Discovery Channel: Real Quantum Physics

time 6:30 p.m.

Whatever you’ve seen on TV is probably wrong. Enter the wondrous world of the subatomic, sans the nonsense.

user Instructor: Adam Roush

Become a #FoodPorn Star

time 6:30 p.m.

Do your favorite establishments and your Instagram followers a favor: Take better photos of your food.

user Instructor: Kim Bryden

Small-Scale Urban Composting

time 7:30 p.m.

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

user Instructor: Vickie North

Wednesday
25 February

Cultivating a Home Yoga Practice

time 6:30 p.m.

Do yoga on your own terms: where you want, when you want, in your pajamas, whatever.

user Instructor: Gwen Fernandez

Material Typography

time 6:30 p.m.

Re-learn how to work with type, by bringing physical materials into the process.

user Instructor: David Ramos

Get Giffy With It: How to Make a GIF

time 7 p.m.

GIFs aren’t solely the domain of fangirls and fanboys. Learn how to make your own with Photoshop.

user Instructor: Erica Stratton

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

Thursday
26 February

Save the Data! Personal Digital Archiving

time 6:30 p.m.

Will word.docx files open in 2030? Is your phone a good place to store a thousand baby pictures? How do you rescue your 1992 college essays? FIND OUT.

user Instructor: Katharina Hering

‘Leaning In,’ a Workshop: Life Lessons Learned by Women of Color

time 6:30 p.m.

What does “leaning in” look like for women of color? Don’t ask Sheryl Sandberg — ask this panel of distinguished professionals.

user Instructor: Cheryl Thompson

Me Oh My, Basic Computing With My Raspberry Pi

time 7 p.m.

A Raspberry Pi is a teeny tiny computer. By configuring one, you’ll learn how computers work in general.

user Instructor: Adam Schaeffer

Anesthesia Through the Ages

time 7 p.m.

You will be SO GLAD you live in the 21st century after this class.

user Instructor: Jason Fehr

Saturday
28 February

From Funkstown to Foggy Bottom: A Historical Walking Tour

time 1 p.m.

This neighborhood started out with a silly name and ended up with one, too.

user Instructor: Allison Arlotta

The Art of Desire and Co-Creation

time 1 p.m.

Find out what you really want, through conversation, improv games, and artwork.

user Instructor: Jessica Leigh Lyons

Sunday
1 March

Bread for the Masses: How to Make Delicious No-Knead Bread

time 1 p.m.

user Instructor: Danielle Witt

Monday
2 March

Cancelled
Edit Anything!

time 6:30 p.m.

We’ll provide the red pens.

user Instructor: Holly J. Morris

Who Needs H&R Block? What Taxes Are, and How to Do Them Yourself

time 7 p.m.

Understanding the tax system might not make doing taxes more fun, but … actually, it will make doing taxes more fun. Promise!

user Instructors: Gabrielle Sims, Michelle Kuchinsky

Tuesday
3 March

Cancelled
Cell Phone Documentary Film Fest

time 6:30 p.m.

See the finished projects from our Make a Cell Phone Documentary! classes.

user Instructor: Rob Flaherty

Truthy: Figuring Out What to Believe in Our Hyper-Fast Digital News Age

time 7 p.m.

How do you know what you think is true IS true? Because sometimes the media doesn’t even know.

user Instructor: Claritza Jiménez

Wednesday
4 March

To the Point: The Basics of Acupuncture

time 7 p.m. 📷 Documentation

Very important: There will be no needle-sticking involved.

user Instructor: Seth Shamon

Friday
6 March

End of Session Party!

KCDC Event time 6 p.m.

Come share and celebrate as we wrap up our 12th session. 

user Instructor: Knowledge Commons DC

Monday
9 March

Who’s That Dead White Guy on a Horse? And Other Pressing Questions About D.C.’s Statues

time 6:30 p.m.

Someone put all these sculptures here for a reason. Let’s get to the bottom of it, together.

user Instructors: Jasmine Utsey, Jessica Unger