March 13, 2025 - Southern California has always been synonymous with surf, sun, and rock ‘n’ roll, but recent natural disasters, cost-of-living and other modern realities have altered the So Cal cachet.
“California’s Coastal Imaginary: Management of Our Coast in Three Acts” - a class tracking the evolving image of Southern California through the years - is one of the offerings for CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI)’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) Spring II session, which runs from March 24 to May 2.
Registration is now open for the session, which features 11 all new three and six-week OLLI at CSUCI courses, and three additional Osher Online Zoom classes, which will include OLLI members from around the nation.
“We are introducing our new partnership with Osher Online, which is run by Osher National Research Center based out of Northwestern University,” said CSUCI OLLI Program Coordinator Shaina Salin. “Northwestern is the hub for OLLIs nationwide. These programs will supplement our course offerings with additional online classes so OLLI members can engage in learning at different times of the day, including earlier in the morning or later in the afternoon.”
The three Osher Online classes are: “Bonsai, An Ancient Art in Modern Times,” “Mainstreaming the Margins: A History of LGBTQ+ in America,” and “Car Crazy: 1950s Onward.”
The rest of the classes are either in-person or hybrid (both online and in-person) in Camarillo, Ventura, and Thousand Oaks, or on Zoom only.
“California Coastal Imaginary” is a three-week class being taught by CSUCI Professor of Environmental Science & Resource Management (ESRM) Sean Anderson and his wife, CSUCI Associate Professor of English Stacey Anderson. During each of the three weeks, “Coastal Imaginary” will explore a different era of the California culture beginning with the idealized sun, sand and bronzed blonds of the mid-20th century. The carefree “Gidget” days.
“Part Two will be the coastal dystopia where it’s too expensive to live here and there are homeless people on the beach and oil spills and the recent fires,” Sean said. “The third part will be the ‘California Inclusionary’ which is a more realistic view of modern California. Where the coast is a place for everybody.”
There will be an optional field trip associated with the class, in which students can visit the iconic Paradise Cove Beach Café in Malibu for lunch, look over the old photos of famous Hollywood actors and classic California and hear about what TV shows and movies were filmed there.
As OLLI classes always do, the other course offerings run the gamut from “The Connection between Plate Tectonics, Earthquakes, and Volcanoes” by Ventura College geoscientist Pattie Ridenour to “The Stuart Dynasty: Shakespeare’s Common Folk” by English scholar Charlene O’Rourke.
CSUCI Professor of Spanish Stephen Clark will take members on a visual tour of “Great
Cities of South America” while Ojai Herbal Symposium founder Lenny Kaufer of HerbWalks.com
will introduce the class to the edible and medicinal plants found on the CSUCI campus
with a slideshow and a stroll.
Award-winning journalist and bestselling author Ivor Davis will guide members through some of history’s most significant events with “Music, Movies and Murder: Eyewitness to History,” including his own firsthand experience.
CSUCI Dance Lecturer Elizabeth “Bonnie” Lavin Hughes will teach mind-body awareness and kinesthetic intelligence with a class entitled “Dance and Somatic Education.”
Classes are $60 for each 6-week course or $30 for each 3-week course. Take unlimited courses this session for $150 for individuals or $200 for couples. There is a $15 membership fee for students who are joining in Spring II and did not take classes in Fall 2024 or Spring I 2025.
To explore even more courses and/or to register, visit: OLLI Spring II Session.