December 2026 Modules

RING IN THE NEW YEAR OF STORIES!

In one long weekend, we're going to celebrate creativity by attempting a complete short story or novelette, or chapters from your novel! Our format will include EverLearn craft and discussion sessions, WriterSpace focused writing time in excellent company, Bandersnatch Breakout rooms for peer support, and an enthusiastic celebration of Story. So sharpen your quills, line up the inkpots, make a BIG casserole to last the weekend.

Here's the plan, in Eastern Standard Time:
Thursday, December 31, 5:00 PM — class meeting for two hours and ring in the New Year!
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Friday, January 1, 10:00 AM — WriterSpace time to work near each other informally and encourage words to flow — optional and FUN!
Friday, January 1, 2:00 PM — Class Discussion, Learning and Feedback.
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Saturday, January 2, 10:00 AM — WriterSpace time
Saturday, January 2, 2:00 PM — Class Discussion, Learning and Feedback.
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Sunday, January 3, 10:00 AM — WriterSpace time
Sunday, January 3, 2:00 PM — Class Discussion, Learning and Feedback.

What is the meaning of life?

This module examines four of humanity's most influential answers to that question. We will begin with a central ancient Hindu text, The Bhagavad-Gita, where students will learn about meaning from detached action and devotion to cosmic order. Students will then turn to Ancient Greece and learn about Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, where the philosopher located meaning in rational flourishing, virtue, and friendship. Next, students will confront the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament through The Book of Job, which challenges easy answers through the experience of unjust suffering. Finally, we round out our discussion with the modern views of Friedrich Nietzsche and his work Twilight of the Idols, declaring traditional values dead and demanding we create our own meaning.

Students will learn to identify the core arguments of each text and trace the tensions that run through the human conversation about meaning: reason versus faith, action versus contemplation, self versus community, tradition versus freedom. Through four lectures and four discussion periods, students will build a personal toolkit for articulating and living their own thoughtful response to the biggest question ever asked.

This hybrid module will follow an 8-session structure as shown below:

Outline	8-Session Structure
Week 1	Lecture 1: The Bhagavad Gita - Duty and Cosmic Detachment
	Discussion 1: Discussion about Lecture 1 material
Week 2	Lecture 2: Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics - Virtue and Human Flourishing
	Discussion 2: Discussion about Lecture 2 material
Week 3	Lecture 3: The Book of Job - Suffering and the Limits of Reason
	Discussion 3: Discussion about Lecture 3 material
Week 4	Lecture 4: Nietzsche's Twilight of the Idols - The Death of God and the Call to Self-Creation
	Discussion 4: Discussion about Lecture 3 material

The Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories and essays by J.R.R. Tolkien which are filled with all the wonderful elements of story-telling that are to be found in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and yet, for some reason, they are less well-known and less studied. Some, like ‘Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner’s Wife’, offer a compelling insight into the Second Age and the time of Númenor. Others, such as ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, ‘The Quest of Erebor’, or ‘The Hunt for the Ring’, shed further light on the events of the Third Age that are so familiar to readers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We will discuss some of these stories and place them in the context of the other Middle-earth works.

Access to a copy of The Unfinished Tales is essential. Prior knowledge of the stories within is desirable, but you could read them as we go along.

The Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth is a collection of stories and essays by J.R.R. Tolkien which are filled with all the wonderful elements of story-telling that are to be found in The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and yet, for some reason, they are less well-known and less studied. Some, like ‘Aldarion and Erendis: The Mariner’s Wife’, offer a compelling insight into the Second Age and the time of Númenor. Others, such as ‘The History of Galadriel and Celeborn’, ‘The Quest of Erebor’, or ‘The Hunt for the Ring’, shed further light on the events of the Third Age that are so familiar to readers of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We will discuss some of these stories and place them in the context of the other Middle-earth works.

Access to a copy of The Unfinished Tales is essential. Prior knowledge of the stories within is desirable, but you could read them as we go along.

This module is a community-based painting intensive where students learn and practice the art of watercolor painting and give each other feedback (and receive feedback from the preceptor) to complete a painting by the end of the weekend.

An immersive painting experience!

In one weekend, we're going to enjoy brainstorming and each completing a watercolor painting. Prompts, planning, constructive criticism/feedback, and painting together in community are all part of the plan, and you will finish the weekend retreat with at least one finished watercolor painting and the tools to make more!

The module will follow a 2-day, 8 hour structure as shown below:

Outline	Session Structure
SATURDAY	Saturday, Session 1: From 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
	Saturday, Session 2: From 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern
SUNDAY	Sunday, Session 3: From 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern
	Sunday, Session 4: From 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM Eastern