Course

This course replaces an earlier course with Bill Smoot, "The Ethics of Punishment," which will be offered at a later date.

The family is a focal point of life. To look at the family is to see the great themes by which lives are understood: love and hate, connection and solitude, care and indifference, dependence and independence, freedom and duty, comfort and hurt, truth and falsehood, the eternal and the temporal. In this course, we will consider and discuss several short stories, one personal essay, one film, and a handful of poems that revolve around the theme of the family.

• Week One: Doe Season, by David Michael Kaplan
• Week Two: Under the Influence, by Scott Sanders and The Third Bank of the River, by João Guimarães Rosa 
• Week Three: Goodbye, My Brother, by John Cheever
• Week Four: The Summer Hours (film)

Faculty Bio

A lifelong educator and writer of fiction and essays, Bill Smoot has been teaching for almost fifteen years in the college program at San Quentin Prison. He holds a PhD in philosophy from Northwestern University.

This is an In Person-Only Course

• Classes meet in person at the Lafayette Library and Learning Center, at 3491 Mount Diablo Blvd., Lafayette
• Please note: This is primarily a discussion class. Members should read the works before each class.
• Limited to 40 members
• You must be a current OLLI @Berkeley member to register. Learn about membership, including our fee assistance program.

Schedule Highlights

• Course starts on Thursday, Oct. 16, and ends on Thursday, Nov. 6
• Classes meet for 4 weeks, 2 hours per session (10-noon)
• All course materials will remain available to view and enjoy through Dec. 31

 Member Praise for Bill Smoot

This was absolutely one of my favorite OLLI courses. Bill is an engaging and intelligent instructor, well-versed in philosophy and film. The class discussions were excellent, and Bill was skilled at facilitating discussion. 

Everything about this class was a pleasure. Wonderful instructor!

I appreciated the philosophical underpinnings that Bill discussed as a way of broadening my understanding. And I really enjoyed his sense of humor and the way he engages with the class and fosters discussion.

Faculty Q&A

• Read an interview with Bill Smoot from our archive.