senior college

Wednesday, April 5, 12, 19 & 26 12:00-2:00 pm. South Coast Senior College Class- Persia, now Iran. Most of what Americans know about Persia comes from the Greeks via the Persian wars — Thermopylae, Pheidippides and the Battle of Marathon, the naval battle at Salamis, Cyrus the Great, Xerxes, and Darius. We know little or nothing of what a great empire ancient Persia was. Most of the rest of what we know flows from post-1979 when Iranians seized the U.S. embassy in Teheran and held 52 foreign service officers hostage for 444 days. We are taught little or nothing of Persia’s place in the world from the ancients to the moderns, or of its critical location which constantly tempted Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and more recently the West during the Cold War and the Age of Oil. We will start this class, not at the beginning of time, but now, with the rise of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Only then will we return to the beginning. Instructed by Lou Salome, Lou is the author of “Violence, Veils, and Bloodlines: Reporting from War zones in Europe, Asia, and Africa”. He earned a BS from the College of the Holy Cross and a MA from Boston College. He is a retired COX Newspapers reporter who has covered the conflicts in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Middle East. Online registration is required to do this, please visit https://south-coast-senior-college.coursestorm.com or call South Coast Senior College at 274-3105. Payment and registration for the class are through South Coast Senior College. The Louis T. Graves Memorial Public Library is located at 18 Maine Street, Kennebunkport, visit our website at www.graveslibrary.org.

The South Coast Senior College has asked Graves Library to help out with getting this class back out to the public.  This will be an in person course for three weeks.  If interested please call the college to register.  Here is the blurb:

[Seems like five years since we’ve had live classes at the Senior College. It’s been at least two years, and maybe three, our last class being in the fall of 2019. Even this relatively short period shows the importance of history in our individual and collective lives. Each of us remembers this period differently. As more time passes and perspective changes, individual histories will morph into a broader national story — I’ll call it A Medical, Social and Political History of COVID.  This brief period alone shows the importance of remembering history and getting it right. Distortions are not allowed, not for any reason.  With this in mind, we, will examine the importance of recorded history as events unfold through time. It’s been said in many ways that in order to understand the present we have to know and understand the past. To me, this is an absolute truth. It’s the reason that individuals and governments try to rewrite history to favor their own point of view. It’s also the reason that knowledge of the past is society’s best defense against distortions in the present and future.  We will view DVDs of historians discussing the importance of history. This will be only a starting point to a wider discussion of history as we, you and me, wish to take it up. I see this as more of a seminar-type class than a traditional classroom effort.]

Your Instructor: Lou Salome.   Lou is the author of “Violence, Veils and Bloodlines: Reporting from War zones in Europe, Asia and Africa.”  He earned a BS from the College of the Holy Cross and an MA from Boston College. He is a retired COX Newspapers reporter who has covered the conflicts in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East.

KNOW BEFORE YOU GO:   

1.Online registration required.  To do this, please visit :  https://south-coast-senior-college.coursestorm.com       There is no charge for this class but space is limited.

2. Proof of Full Vaccination will be checked at door.

3. Masks required.