“Our Dogs, Ourselves: Dogs in Literature, Myth, and Life” (in-person.) Osher Lifelong Learning Center, Towson, MD. Weekly, 9.30-10.45AM, March 4, 11, 18, 25, 2026.
“One can love an animal with such an extraordinary intensity,” Freud wrote, “feeling affection without ambivalence.” Taking a cue from Freud, himself a late-life dog-lover, this course puts the human-canine relationship on the couch for a full, snout-to-tail session of analysis. How have dogs enriched the lives of poets, philosophers, kings, psychologists, writers and others, both notable and ordinary people? Why are themes and motifs about dogs in folklore so consistent across cultures? Do we choose and train dogs in our own image? Why are we warned against loving our dogs too much? Why have stereotypes developed about certain types of dogs and their owners? How are our feelings about dogs deeply rooted in cultural folklore and myth? This course will address how much dogs have to teach us about empathy, anxiety, joy, happiness and what it means to be human.
Images from the Id: The Strange World of Psychic Photographer Ted Serios (online). Monday, May 11, 2026, 7PM ET. Morbid Anatomy.
Can thoughts be captured on film? Can images from the imagination be captured in tangible form? Although widely dismissed as a fraud, the fascinating and peculiar “psychic photographer” Ted Serios apparently produced Polaroid images by staring into a camera, giving tangible access to his thoughts, emotions, preoccupations, and the abyss of the unconscious mind. The images he produced are, like dreams, composite enigmas, merging id and ego, blending and distorting space and time. Wherever these images came from, they remain endlessly haunting, puzzling, and compelling. This lecture will introduce us to the strange world of Ted Serios and his companion, mentor, explicator and champion, the psychoanalyst and investigator Jule Eisenbud, whose belief in Ted’s extraordinary ability never waned.
Two Renegade Sexologists (online) Wednesday June 17, 2026, Last Tuesday Society, Viktor Wynd Museum Of Curiosities, Fine Art & Unnatural History, London.
This lecture will consider the life and work of two renegade sexologists: Richard von Krafft-Ebing, and J. Paul de River. The aristocratic Krafft-Ebing was a German psychiatrist and author of the seminal Psychopathia Sexualis. J. Paul de River was the chief psychiatrist of the Los Angeles Sex Offense Bureau during the 1940s and author of The Sexual Criminal: A Psychoanalytic Study. The work of these two eccentric, obsessive, and sometimes deluded psychiatrists provide compelling time-capsules into the dark underbelly of 19th century Vienna, and the sordid backstreets of mid-century Los Angeles. Lectures will be illustrated and enhanced by vivid clinical case studies of what the authors deem “sexual psychopaths.”
Reading and Writing True Crime, 4-week online course beginning September 15, 2026. Morbid Anatomy. Also available anytime, on-demand.
Are you morbidly curious? Do you love talking, thinking, and reading about true crime? Do you like to investigate, explore, research strange, disturbing events? The recent upsurge of interest in true crime is not new; it feeds on a long-established historical tradition. People have always been drawn to unusual and bizarre criminal cases, but most are merely transfixed by the latest headlines, rarely stopping to think deeply about the complexities of the case. The surface drama, intrigue and suspense in superficial true crime narratives conceals how they are transformed in such a way that panders to public appeal. This class will dive beneath this surface, investigating how crimes are like poems, with their own style, undercurrents, imagery, and moods.
The Uncanny as Creative Catalyst, 4-week online course, Wednesdays, November 11 – December 2, 2026 7:00 – 8:30pm ET (NYC Time). Morbid Anatomy. Classes will be recorded and archived.
The hair on the back of your neck is standing up. Goosebumps are rising on your arms. You feel a shudder of horror, but you can’t explain why. Something creepy is going on. Chances are, you are in the presence of the uncanny. We often toss around this word loosely, referring, for example, to an “uncanny coincidence.” In this course, we will take inspiration from the uncanny in its original meaning, as defined by pioneering psychologist Sigmund Freud. In his famous 1919 paper “The Uncanny,” Freud defined the uncanny as the feeling evoked by being in the presence of something simultaneously familiar and strange. His theory was rooted in everyday experiences related to what is frightening, repulsive and distressing. In this course, we will cultivate the experience of the uncanny as a resource for writing, a springboard for creativity, and a catalyst for discussion. We will challenge ourselves to find examples of the uncanny in literature, film, art, and the popular culture that surrounds us every day. We will engage with the uncanny across a wide range of texts and contexts, drawing our inspiration from the examples provided by Freud: the horrific concepts of inanimate figures coming to life, severed limbs, ghosts, doppelgangers, mirrors, shadows, guardian spirits, animism, magic, telepathy, death and rebirth. We’ll also consider how to incorporate the uncanny into our own creative writing and art.