Coursera and a Poem for Winter–Emrich

In case the unseasonable weather is a passing fancy and the Groundhog predicts on Saturday that winter will drag on, here is a good way to outsmart the tedium of Baudelaire’s “limping days” of snowdrifts. And a bonus poem from Jeanne Emrich, who reports a brief spell of “warm weather” in Minnesota– 30º.

From NLAPW Nat’l Letters Chair, Katie Witek:

Here’s your chance to go to Harvard! Coursera is an online educational program that provides free access to college-level courses via online lectures taught by world-class professors from well-known universities. Coursera’s goal is “to empower people with education” and improve their lives. You can choose a wide range of courses from the Humanities and Social Sciences to Mathematics, Business, Computer Science and many more. You learn at your own pace and, through interactive exercises, monitor your own progress. No textbooks are required, though some are recommended if students want to buy them or find them at their local libraries. Readings are suggested to supplement the lectures. An online forum provides the opportunity to interact with other students if you wish.
A Pen Woman currently enrolled described the course she is taking as a “fabulous opportunity to do research for my next novel.” She is taking “The Modern World: Global History since 1760” taught by University of Virginia renowned historian Philip Zelikow, who has also served as a consultant to the Bush and Obama administrations. 40,000 students from around the world are enrolled in the course.
Click here to check out the website and take advantage of this program.

“The best things in life are free!”

The Middle of Here

by Jeanne Emrich
Minnesota Branch, MN

Winter’s settled in now, sure of itself once more.
Though the trees, those naked supplicants,
reach for answers; though the gray sky
stares back indecipherably; though even
reflections in the window appear confused,
winter knows what’s what.
It knows it’s always snowing somewhere,
always in the middle of some places’s here.
Like in this parking lot as I leave
the grocery store, armed with asiago,
olives, and nectarines from warmer climes.
Look, snowflakes are falling right into the bag.
Look, the horizon is white and all around.

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