This will be a 4-session Zoom discussion of the book: Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End by Atul Gawande. You will need to obtain and read the book on your own. The class will cover two to three chapters of the book each week. In order to facilitate good discussion, specific discussion questions will be assigned in advance for each week. We encourage you to take part in all four sessions, do “homework” between sessions, and share your thoughts, concerns, and personal plans for the end of life with other participants.

This two-session course will explore the procedures of electing the American president in 2020, including the caucus and primary process leading up to the nominating conventions, the general election in November, and the vote of the Electoral College. The course will give special consideration to the Electoral College because of the possibility that the College can, as happened in 2016, select an individual for the presidency who did not receive the most votes in the general election.