History   

This class offers a look at how the National Football League (NFL) works and how teams advance to the sport’s biggest stage. This class explores the NFL’s history, organization, league structure, and season timeline, highlighting the business, strategy, and marketing that fuel its year-round appeal. Participants will gain a clear understanding of the playoff system and the unique, single-elimination path to the Super Bowl, before diving into a focused preview of the 2026 matchup, including teams, key players, strengths and weaknesses, and what to watch for on game day—perfect for long-standing and new fans who want to follow the action with greater insight and confidence.

Eighty years later, we still struggle to comprehend how the Nazi regime could ever have happened. In these two lectures, Jess Velona, who has taught courses on Nazi Germany at Fordham, NYU, and elsewhere, provides key answers, using rarely seen historical film footage, eyewitness interviews, and original documents. Explore how beneath an apparently advanced German society lay traditions of authoritarianism, militarism, and antisemitism. Watch the Nazis exploit Germany's bitter defeat in World War I and its fragile Weimar democracy to gain popularity, and then accept an invitation to take power and consolidate a dictatorial regime. See the Nazis' twin evils - escalating persecution and aggressive warfare - merge during the invasion of the Soviet Union to produce mass killing of European Jews. Throughout, Jess will recount extraordinary stories of resistance, rescue, and survival, by Jews and others, in the face of Nazi repression.

From the fifth-century sack of Rome to that telltale thick black eyeliner, the identity of the “Goth” has run like an undercurrent through history. But who were the members of this lost civilization? Join us as we tour through the texts and artifacts that provide clues to a population that vanished a thousand years ago. What secrets still beg to be uncovered about a group remembered as both destroyers and heroes?

Carnival is an ancient celebration, famous for its music, spectacle, and a touch of joyful chaos. In this unique class, you’ll explore two of the world’s most iconic Carnivals—Venice and Rio—delving into their traditions, music, dance, costumes, and the rich history behind why they’re celebrated so differently in Italy and Brazil. Ines Rodrigues, a writer and Italian teacher who grew up in Brazil and lived in Italy, has experienced Carnival on both sides of the Atlantic. She’ll share her stories, along with music, videos, and photos that bring each celebration to life. Enjoy snacks inspired by each location as you immerse yourself in these vibrant cultural traditions.

Originally from the word meaning a tale written in the vernacular, as a genre romances incorporate key aspects of medieval culture, including courtly behavior, questing, magic, and, of course, love & devotion. In honor of Valentine's Day, we will explore the writing style of the medieval romance, and dive headfirst into some of the most enduring romance tales--Arthur & Guinevere, Tristan & Isolde, Pyramus & Thisbe, and more! Join us as we untangle the adventures of these star-cross'd lovers to get at the heart of medieval romance!

Art thefts create sensational stories and celebrity status around thieves and artworks alike, and result in the continuous loss, destruction, and damage of scores of masterpieces. Although some are recovered, restored, and placed back on public view, many more are permanently lost to us, while increasing security measures can severely limit our viewing experience and access to art. We will explore these and other questions as we experience some of the most important stolen artworks.

In these two lectures, Jess Velona explores how Putin's autocracy and invasion of Ukraine have strong parallels in modern Russian history. Examine how Tsarist and Soviet Communist regimes, for all of their differences, exhibited a common penchant for imperial expansion, suppression of ethnic and national traditions, scorn for democracy and individual rights and, at times, military defeat. Then, through interviews of survivors, see how this culminated in the Gulag, the Great Terror, and deliberate famine in Ukraine. Finally, learn how, following the Soviet collapse, Russia's embrace of pro-Western and democratic values proved fleeting, and it failed to come to terms with the crimes of Stalin and others. The result under Putin has been a renewed autocracy fighting to restore Russia's imperial glory, and yet accomplishing little beyond causing widespread human suffering.

Spring skies were full of birds in the Middle Ages just as now, and each had symbolic properties recorded in lavishly illustrated bestiaries. But the medieval mind also pondered hosts of angels and skyborne demons populating the ether. Beginning with a look at the relationship between the earth and heavens in the Middle Ages, we will tour through the bestiaries to learn why the "anthus" bird mimicked a horse's whinny, why the mythical harpy was so treacherous, and how falconry was bound inextricably to courtly culture. Join us as we fly through history alongside these winged creatures of all varieties!

Come explore the evolution of the styles of two of the most famous and influential artists of the 20th century. Matisse was the colorist; Picasso, the master of form and line. Fauvism (“Wild Beast”) or Cubism—two groundbreaking artistic movements--how did each play out? Both of these extraordinary creators made their homes in Paris first, then the South of France. Which one do you relate to? There is no wrong answer!