A Road Scholar Program by Rocky Maffit

Author-musician Rocky Maffit presents this engaging and informative introduction to the vast world of percussion. Part lecture, part concert, audiences will delight in this fascinating examination of sound, noise, rhythm, story, and song from around the world. This program is geared towards audiences of all ages. Rocky Maffit is an author and musician who has expertise in world music, percussion, and the history of recording technology and has won several awards as a performer and songwriter. He has also been awarded with a Chicago Book Critic's Award for Rhythm and Beauty: The Art of Percussion . In addition, Rocky has provided hundreds of concerts, lectures, workshops, keynotes, and conferences in libraries, museums, and schools in the US and abroad.

Discussion of "Short History of a Prince," by Jane Hamilton.

Literature & Medicine: Humanities at the Heart of Healthcare is a discussion-based program that brings hospital staff together monthly to reflect on the larger mission of medicine through facilitated conversations about literature.

This discussion session is limited to the employees of Mt. Sinai Hospital.

The Odyssey Project is a college-level course in philosophy, literature, art history, and history for men and women living below 150% of the poverty level.

Its anchor program is the first-year course, which is offered in partnership with Bard College and for which students may receive six units of college credit.

Faculty members are largely from first-rate universities such as University of Chicago, the School of the Art Institute, and DePaul University.

Tuition is free, and the Illinois Humanities Council provides free childcare, free books, and transportation. The six units of credit are fully transferable to other colleges and universities.

This course meets on Mondays and Thursdays.
Admission is by application only. Refer to syllabus for changes in course schedule.

The 2000 presidential election between Vice President Al Gore and Texas Gov. George W. Bush was marked by midnight ballot-counting chaos. Americans went to bed thinking Gore had won only to awake the next morning to the news that results could not confirm a clear winner. Confusion ensued and all eyes turned to Florida and its disputed Electoral votes, along with reports of voter confusion, misinformation, and ballot irregularities.  

In 2004, several states faced allegations of voter purges and electronic vote tampering. While voters had difficulty casting ballots often and faced being turned away from polling places, Republicans and Democrats accused each other of illegal misconduct. 

This year, voting fraud charges began months before the election. John McCain and the Republican Party accused Democrat Barack Obama's campaign of being linked to the community group ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which they charged with submitting thousands of false voter-registration applications. Republican National Committee spokesman Danny Diaz labeled ACORN a "quasi criminal group," and McCain once again questioned Obama's ties to community organizations and activists he deemed questionable.