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All dressed up? Find a class to go to.
BY GENEVIEVE RAJEWSKI
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Despite the fervor with which I greeted every childhood summer vacation, and the malaise that clouded Sunday evenings all school-year long, September’s arrival always sparked a flush of anticipation. The crisp autumn air never failed to bring promise of a fresh start. Sadly, these days, fall provides no escape from the drudgery of a full-time job. However, thanks to adult education, you still can find an excuse to go shopping for pencil cases, lunch boxes, and new clothes. Better yet, you can recapture the best of back-to-school optimism without any of the early-morning classes, steep tuition, or credit requirements. Start by investigating career paths your guidance counselor likely never urged you to pursue. Beginning September 23 at Brookline Adult & Community Education (BACE), the seven-week Just for Laughs: The Art of Stand-up Comedy ($109) class will help participants write and develop routines. Participants will also visit local clubs to watch and critique performances and try out material. Beginning September 10, the Boston Center for Adult Education (BCAE) will offer Create Your Own Comic Book in Just Eight Weeks ($169). Participants will explore character design, scripting, composition, pacing, and techniques from stippling to cross-hatching. Poets will find like-minded others at Grub Street. Starting September 30, a 10-week poetry workshop ($425) will focus on developing voice, rhythm, imagery, and form, and a 10-week master poetry workshop ($550) will help those interested in pursuing publication or an MFA. I don’t know about you, but everything I need to know, I certainly didn’t learn in kindergarten. For example, how do you compile a kick-ass jazz collection without resorting to the Ken Burns set of CDs? How do you appreciate the many nuances of single-malt and blended Scotches? And where the hell is Kazakhstan? Again, adult-centered education comes to the rescue. Beginning September 22, the BACE will offer The Best of Jazz: Starting a Jazz Collection ($103), an eight-week course designed to help participants develop a sense of what they like, what’s good, and what recordings to seek out. Starting November 18, the Cambridge Center for Adult Education (CCAE) will offer the two-part class A Dram Is Better Than a Damn: The Myriad Single Malts of the Highlands ($90). And, beginning September 23, the BACE will offer a seven-week course called A Contemporary View of World Geography ($109). Despite the siren call of distant lands, high-school foreign-language classes never seemed to move beyond verb conjugations. Fortunately, adults can enjoy more varied and entertaining options than high-school freshmen do. Beginning October 17, the BCAE’s two-part Salsa into Spanish class ($77) will provide a salsa lesson to break the ice, followed by an introduction to conversational Spanish. And starting October 3, the CCAE’s five-week Portuguese Through the Movies ($104) will feature two films by Bruno Barreto, grammar points, and discussion of Brazilian culture. Participants will also receive an Afro-Brazilian recipe (in Portuguese) for a dish prepared in one of the films. Where to find it: • Boston Center for Adult Education, (617) 267-4430; www.bcae.org. • Brookline Adult & Community Education, (617) 730-2700; www.brooklineadulted.org. • Cambridge Center for Adult Education, (617) 547-6789; www.ccae.org. • Grub Street, (617) 623-8100; www.grubstreet.org.
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