Longboat Key Education center announces winter course load

With the new year come New Year’s resolutions.

The Longboat Key Education Center is here to help with those resolutions that involve learning.

With workshops, classes, field trips, lecture series and performing arts, the winter season, which opens Jan. 4, is going to be busy.

From “Burning Issues in the Supreme Court” to “How to Have the Best of Health - At Any Age” and “The Craft of Writing” to “Sagacity of the Bible,” this winter season’s course load has offerings for a wide range of interests.

Executive Director Susan Goldfarb has cooked up some new workshops that she said she feels are important right now.

She said one of the new classes she is most looking forward to is “The Future of the News,” which is a two-part class that will discuss the current and future position of the print and broadcast media. Alan Cohn, anchor and managing editor of ABC-7 at WWSB-TV will speak at the first class on Monday, Jan. 8 and Matthew Sauer, executive editor of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, will speak at the second on Monday, Jan. 15. The class runs from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and costs $40 for members and $45 for non-members.

Aside from that, Goldfarb is bringing “Self-Care Saturdays” to the center this winter. Whether it’s a full-day retreat on meditation or relaxation, or a two-hour yoga class, the workshops are designed to bring participants a day of rest and relaxation.

The first workshop in the self-care series is “New Year, New You! Begin the New Year with a Reboot!” on Saturday, Jan. 6. The full-day retreat runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and includes guided meditation, relaxation and visualization exercises. After lunch, a healthy one at that, participants will be guided on a silent walk through Joan Durante Park. The day will conclude with reflections and readings of inspirational passages. The workshop is $65 for center members and $75 for others.

Self-care Saturdays continue until Feb. 24.

“I think this is going to be a fantastic season, and if registrations are to be told, we’re already halfway to our goal, which usually is somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 registrations,” Goldfarb said.

Goldfarb said she sees big attendance in classes pertaining to politics, art, literature, yoga, mahjong and film, so those will continue.

Other highlights this season include off-campus field trips to various places including the Sarasota Opera, Burns Court Cinema, the Sarasota Ballet and the Duncan McLellan Gallery.

All classes and workshops are held at The Longboat Key Education Center, 5370 GMD. Call 383-8811 for registration information.