College releases list of classes, fall trip
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on August 13, 2012 1:46 PM
Step back in time -- to the Revolutionary or Civil War periods of American history.
Take in an exhibit at the state's Museum of Art.
Or enjoy a literary sampler of authors and UNC professors speaking about influential southern writers.
Autumn promises a blend of educational as well as exciting trips and lectures, as the Arts and Humanities program at Wayne Community College announces its upcoming calendar of events.
Bill Brettmann, arts and humanities director, released the latest schedule.
This fall, he will lead a course -- "Adam in America: The Dangerous Myth of Innocence," based on the text of Melville's "Billy Budd."
"Our starting point will be how Americans felt about themselves after the Revolution," Brettmann explained in a promotional brochure. "We saw ourselves as a new people inhabiting a new republic, unique in the world. This sense of national novelty created a hero based on the biblical figure of Adam before the fall."
The course will start Sept. 10 and run on consecutive Mondays through Oct. 1. Classes will be held on at 5:30 p.m. in Walnut 101. Cost is $20 per person for $35 for a couple. The book may be purchased for $7 through the WCC Foundation office.
Two trips will be led by Jewel and Randy Sauls in the fall. On Sept. 7 and 8, a group will head to Morehead City to learn about the Civil War on the Neuse, exploring events that occurred in eastern North Carolina in 1862. Including stops at Fort Macon to the Battle of New Bern, there will also be visits to a half-dozen Civil War battlefields, including Kinston, Whitehall and Goldsborough Bridge.
Registration fee is $35 per person, which includes transportation and a picnic lunch. Hotel accommodations will cost $120.
The Antietam Battlefield trip will be the weekend of Oct. 19-21, focusing on Gen. Robert E. Lee's first invasion of the North that took place 150 years ago this summer. The group will head to Harpers Ferry and follow the progress of the battle, culminating at the National Cemetery, where many of the battle's Union dead rest.
Registration fee is $100 per person, which includes transportation, park entrance fees and two picnic lunches. Dinner both nights, Sunday lunch and hotel accommodations will be paid out of pocket.
During October, WCC will play host to a special literary series highlighting four influential Southern writers.
"A Southern Sampler" will be offered on Monday evenings during October at 7 p.m. in Walnut 101.
On Oct. 8, Rebecka Rutledge Fisher, author and assistant professor in UNC's department of English and comparative literature, will talk about Richard Wright, who wrote "Native Son."
Florence Dore, southern literature specialist for a collective of scholars with expertise in American literature and culture after 1945, will be speaking about Flannery O'Connor -- "A Good Man is Hard to Find" -- at the Oct. 15 session.
Prolific writer William Faulkner, author of "The Sound and the Fury," will be the topic at the Oct. 22 session, led by Joseph Flora, dean of the UNC graduate school.
The series wraps up Oct. 29 with Marianne Gingher, Bowman and Gordon Gray distinguished term professor at UNC-CH, who will speak about Eudora Welty, author of such books as "Livvie is Back" and "The Robber Bridegroom."
This event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged.
Two trips to the N.C. Museum of Art in Raleigh are planned.
The first will be to visit the Edvard Munch Exhibit on Oct. 25. Munch's famous painting, "The Scream," recently sold for $1.9 million. Cost for the tour and lunch is $30. There is also a $35 registration fee.
The second trip will be Nov. 29, to see Still Life Masterpieces: A Visual Feast, an exhibit on loan from the Boston Museum. Lunch and the tour cost $35. Registration is required.
Also, the ongoing lecture series of the 150th anniversary of Civil War battles continues throughout the fall and spring of 2013. The next event will be held Aug. 28, when USAF retired Col. Dan Debree will talk about the Battle of Second Manassas. Josh Howard will discuss the Battle of Antietam on Sept. 18, and Randy Sauls will talk about the Battles of Fredericksburg and Goldsborough Bridge on Dec. 11.
All lectures begin at 7 p.m. in Moffatt Auditorium on campus.
The second annual Praxis Film Festival is also being planned, with dates set for Jan. 25 and 26. Further details will be announced.
To register for all programs, call 919-739-7017 and leave name, phone number and the program name. Registration can also be done online at www.waynecc.edu/foundation/arts-and-humanities/.