Back by student request, this popular series will again explore six of the many industries & services based in our local economy. The following guests from the listed industries will speak and answer questions:

Week   Presenter       Company

10-Oct Mike Nelson    Dakota Creek, owner

17-Oct Justin Rawls    T. Bailey, Vice President

24-Oct Don McMoran  Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension
                                Educator and WSU Skagit County Extension
                                Director

31-Oct Bill Harris       Fire Chief, Anacortes

 7-Nov  John Roozen  WA Bulb

14-Nov Matt Miller     Mayor of Anacortes

Facilitator: Tom Kuhn (past president of Anacortes Senior College)

Writing about your life can seem like a daunting task. Where to begin? This class will prime the pump, with weekly writing assignments (about 750 words) presented in themes, plus writing tips. Sharing your stories confidentially with others in class will inspire you even more. You'll come to see your life through a different lens and leave a legacy for your family.

(Class size is limited to 10 students.)

Instructor: Teru Lundsten

Teru has been teaching memoir writing in Skagit County since 2010. She worked as a personal historian, helping people preserve their life stories into books for their families. As a journalist she wrote over 200 profiles of people of all ages and from around the world. She has completed a memoir of her early years.

The U.S. health system has been described as “broken” and “the best in the world.” How well has it responded to the Covid crisis, and what can we learn from this experience? In this three-session course, we will discuss the structure of the U.S. health system and how it operates, and explore – together – its strengths and weaknesses as revealed by the pandemic.

Instructor: Aaron Katz

Aaron Katz is Principal Lecturer Emeritus at the University of Washington School of Public Health where he taught graduate level courses in health policy and conducted health policy projects and research on a wide variety of issues. During his 32 years at UW, Aaron held numerous academic leadership positions and has received many awards, including the American Public Health Association’s Award for Excellence in 2006 and the Outstanding Teaching Award from the UW School of Public Health in 2004. Aaron and his artist wife, Kate Dougherty, moved to Anacortes in April 2019 after living in Seattle for more than 40 years. They enjoy hiking, biking, pickleball, eating in the area’s great restaurants, listening to music, dancing, and traveling.

In this class, we will walk you through all of the steps necessary to get a quality show on the boards at ACT. We will demonstrate through one production, all the steps it takes, including:

• How a play is chosen, and each season is designed
• How auditions work and how one might prepare
• The magic of set design, building and painting
• The technical aspects of lighting and sound
• Costuming, hair and makeup
• Volunteer management and opportunities

By the end of this class, you will find that each of the theatre’s fine productions are not just magic, but hard work by a group of dedicated volunteers that have fun while doing it.

Instructor: Susan Buszta

Susan has been involved in Anacortes Community Theatre since 2012. In Anacortes she has had the pleasure of working on the ACT productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Legally Blonde, Little Shop of Horrors, and Gramercy Ghost, Les Misérables. My Fair Lady and many other shows. Susan grew up in Los Angeles, CA and graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a degree in Film Production, designing sets and lighting in Strub theatre in Los Angeles. In the entertainment industry she worked for Hammer Films, Paramount Pictures, Artisan Entertainment, and finally Lionsgate as a creative director. She designed sets, lighting and sound for the Showest Entertainment Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada from 2007 to 2010.

This course will explore the multifaceted and complex relationships between humans and their natural environments from various perspectives: human ecology, conservation psychology, and environmental ethics. This course will also explore the historical and sociocultural factors influencing perceptions of the natural world and the health and societal consequences of the arbitrary objectification of nature and self.

Instructor: Dr. Conesa-Sevilla

Dr. Conesa-Sevilla obtained a BA major (biology, psychobiology, and philosophy) from CAL POLY Humboldt University in 1989. There he was mentored by Dr. Bill Devall. He obtained both an MA and a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Toledo while pursuing studies in psychophysics and cognition. He worked for the California Department of Fish and Game from 1986 until 1989 and undertook a research sabbatical leave to conduct sleep research at the University Hospital/Inselspital, Berne, Switzerland from 2004 until 2006. Additionally, he has conducted research, developed and taught courses in the areas of animal behavior, art cognition, and on visual and auditory perception. He was the editor of The Trumpeter, a journal of environmental philosophy, and is the founder and editor-in-chief of The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE), CAL POLY Humboldt Press.

Within each of us is a field of intuitive guidance and biological healing that isn’t available to our reasoning intellect, nor is it bound by the laws of classical physics.

This inner, quantum realm offers clues to navigating our increasingly challenging lives with more authenticity, grace, and meaning. These benefits also translate into better emotional equilibrium, physical health, and spiritual well-being.

The path to this new potential is found in developing new attention styles that are more focused on ‘sensing’ than ‘thinking’, as well on exploring avenues of bodily expression such as vocalizing, self-touch, and movement. This new style of relating to the body is referred to as embodied self-regulation.

These skills are drawn from advances in neuroscience and somatic psychology and from Chinese Medicine principles and practices.

While the science and principles supporting these embodied self-regulation skills will be discussed, most importantly you’ll have six weeks to practice these new skills in order to change your brain and your life.

Instructor: Dr. Steve Templin

Steve Templin is a retired Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Acupuncture Physician, HeartMath Trauma-Sensitive Certified Practitioner, and certified teacher of a number of energy medicine systems with over 35 years of experience in the field.

Metals have been worked by humans for over 8,000 years. Without metal tools, hardware, utensils, and weapons, civilization as we know it would be stalled in the Stone Age. The overall impact of metals on civilization, starting with copper, then bronze and finally iron, will be presented. Of all the metals, iron has had the most profound impact on our lives. Blacksmiths are the individuals who work iron into useful objects. This is the story of blacksmiths – their knowledge, skills, tools, and place in history.

Instructor: Paul Thorne

Paul is a master blacksmith with over forty years’ experience in industrial, architectural, and artistic forge work. He currently teaches blacksmithing through group and private classes at his Anacortes studio. You can view his work at www.thornemetals.com.

• This 3-week course will provide information about the strong, creative and successful first people into North America. They are the ancestors of all the North American tribes. The new archeological discoveries will be presented including those here in the Northwest. It will also cover what science says about the new genetic DNA data. The class will include:
• Who were the first people?
• When did they come?
• Where did they come from?
• How did they get here?
• What did they find?
• How do we know any of this?
• The Kennewick man controversy.

Instructor: Jim Barrett EdD

Jim has a doctorate degree in Adult Education and Communication. He was employed at the University of Washington for 32 years. He regularly teaches at the Anacortes Senior College and at the Shelter Bay Communiversty.