February 2022
A New Semester is Here!
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- President's Message
- New Member Orientation
- Long Range Planning Survey
- Call for Course Proposals
- Still Time to Register
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- New Board Members
- John Ward's Repeat Presentation
- Upcoming Special Events
- Zoom Works Fine
- January is Over
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The ALL Office at Cape Cod Community College is closed temporarily.
Feel free to contact us:
E-mail: lifelonglearning@capecod.edu
Telephone 774-330-4400 (please leave a message)
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Happy New Year again! Our Spring semester classes have begun, meteorological winter is 2/3 over, and it’s staying lighter later. All good things, in my book. There are several interesting events coming up in the next few months, including a presentation of Cape Cod photography by John Ward on February 9, with a repeat presentation on February 16. I have seen some of the pictures in the series and they are wonderful. This is the type of presentation that really works well via Zoom.
I am very happy to report that Paul Coteus and Joan Freedman joined our Board of Directors in January. They are each profiled elsewhere in this newsletter. This brings us closer to our full complement of board members for now, though two long-serving members’ terms expire at the end of June.
There is a lot of other information elsewhere in this issue of ALLways, so please read on.
Jim Lathrop
ALL President
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Twenty ALL members attended a New Members Orientation on Wednesday, January 26th via ZOOM. The event was moderated by Dianne Tattersall, ALL Vice President. ALL President Jim Lathrop welcomed the new members, explaining the history of the organization, and the Board of Directors committee chairpersons spoke about their committees’ purpose and responsibilities. New members also learned about the various volunteer opportunities, future special events, and possible social events. New members introduced themselves and spoke about their background and how they came to join ALL. The meeting was enlightening and helpful for new members and board of directors.
Dianne Tattersall
ALL Vice President
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Long Range Planning Committee Survey |
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At present we've only been able to hold classes via Zoom, but, hopefully, we'll be able to gather in-person again, soon. We are putting out a survey to get your advice to help us design an even better future for ALL. Please respond to the survey when it arrives in your email box. We want your thoughts about how we should move forward. To that end, this survey is going out to those of you who stopped attending when we started using Zoom as well as members who stayed with us on Zoom.
Marilyn Nouri
Chair, Long Range Planning Committee
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Time to Think about Fall Course Proposals |
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Welcome to ALL’s spring term. We are deeply grateful to our wonderful coordinators who have provided us with such a great variety of courses. We will be ready to receive proposals for the fall semester in early March. It is our hope to be able to offer in-person courses in the fall at Cape Cod Community College, as well as continue to provide courses via Zoom. As of this writing, we will only be offering Zoom courses in the fall. Please consider joining our faculty and sharing your expertise with ALL of us. |
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Miriam Kronish
Chair, Curriculum Committee
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Still Time To Register for Classes! |
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Did you forget to register?
These classes still have openings!
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See our catalog for full course descriptions. |
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Please follow the registration directions in the catalog when completing your registration form. |
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Are you already registered?
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Jean DeVincentis
Registration Committee Chair
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Welcome Two New ALL Board Members |
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Paul Coteus and Joan Freedman joined the ALL Board of Directors in January. Their photos and biographies follow.
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Paul Coteus - Paul Coteus is a retired elementary particle physicist. After post-graduate research at the University of Colorado and the Fermilab proton accelerator in Batavia, Illinois, he joined IBM Research and directed the engineering of four generations of Supercomputers. He retired as an IBM Fellow in 2019 and immediately headed to Cape Cod, where he found ALL. His current passion is finding reasonable ways to remove and sequester excess carbon dioxide from our atmosphere and oceans.
His first class as a coordinator for ALL was "Climate Change and What You and I Can Do About It", taught with retired guidance counselor Cindy Bucken. His second class was “Cape Cod Climate and Weather”, taught with amateur meteorologist John Ward. He is currently mulling his next class.
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Joan Freedman - Joan was born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts and currently lives in Yarmouth. She received her education at Fitchburg State and did post graduate work at the University of Connecticut. The majority of her professional career was spent in preschool through college as a school psychologist. At the end of her career, she, along with her colleagues, developed testing mechanisms to evaluate and screen preschool children for autism and autism spectrum disorders. Few tests were available ten years ago, and one-quarter of the children came from bilingual households. Her job was to evaluate students and develop an education plan based on strengths and needs.
Joan’s avocation has been in politics, and she has been active in local, state, and national campaigns since high school. She has been in elective office, city council, and on numerous boards. Since retiring to the Cape, she has been active in women’s issues and charity work. Until recently, Joan was a Commissioner on the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women. She is also a mediator and a mediation trainer. Joan is married and has children and grandchildren, who all love the beach, books, and movies.
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Repeat Presentation on February 16
John Ward's
"Sagamore to Provincetown -
One Photographer's Journey Around Cape Cod"
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Due to the popularity of John Ward's February 9th special event, John is graciously offering a repeat presentation on Wednesday, February 16th at 1:30 p.m.
Registration for the February 16th event is required.
Contact lifelonglearning@capecod.edu, as described below.
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On Wednesday, February 16th at 1:30 p.m., ALL member and coordinator John Ward will give a repeat presentation of
“Sagamore to Provincetown -
One Photographer’s Journey Around Cape Cod”
Keen amateur photographer John Ward moved to the Cape from Westchester County NY in 2008 and has been taking photographs ever since. He is a member of Cape Cod Viewfinders Camera Club, and has been active as an ALL coordinator over the past five years.
John will show 120 or so images that show the many faces of Cape Cod from his personal vantage point, and will encourage questions during the one hour presentation.
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Registration is required for this ALL event.
To register, send an e-mail to lifelonglearning@capecod.edu.
The Zoom link will be sent to registered members on February 15th, the day before this February 16th encore event.
There is no fee.
Diane Hoover
Chair, Special Events Committee
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Save These Dates:
Feb 16, 2022 1:30 p.m. John Ward's Repeat Presentation "Sagamore to Provincetown - One Photographer's Journey Around Cape Cod"
See above for details.
Feb 28, 2022 3:00 p.m. -- June Calender
Selected readings from Reflections 2022, our annual anthology of writing and art by members of ALL
Additional information forthcoming. Check your e-mail and our website capecodall.org.
March 9, 2022 1:30 p.m. -- Stew Goodwin
“The Triangle - Russia, China, and the U.S.”
Additional information forthcoming. Check your e-mail and our website capecodall.org.
Diane Hoover
Chair, Special Events Committee
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Zoom Works Just Fine
For Many ALL Coordinators
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This continues an ongoing series of stories about Academy for Lifelong Learning coordinators and classes. Please let us know if you have a course or coordinator you would like to see featured. |
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Paul Coteus is a retired elementary particle physicist. His first class for ALL was "Climate Change and What You and I Can Do About It", taught with retired guidance counselor Cindy Bucken. His second class was “Cape Cod Climate and Weather”, taught with amateur meteorologist John Ward. He is currently mulling his next class. He recently joined the ALL Board of Directors.
ALL is a delightful mix of the old and the new. Old because it is like being back in the classrooms of my youth, with the cafeteria, library and gym close at hand . Oops! I was reminiscing about the old ALL! New because the Academy is quick to address challenges and move to a changing reality. When I was at IBM we modeled how a pandemic might quickly spread. The last few years have taught me that living through a pandemic is quite different from the models. Fortunately, through Zoom classes and the consistency of the online ALL schedule, replete with classes old and newly hatched, we are managing.
For me, ALL has been a portal into knowledge and shared experience that I sorely lacked in my technical years. I have taken classes in the origins of religions, origami, the idea of community, fifteen global challenges (who knew?), organic chemistry, DNA, economics, and the sixth extinction – a subject range I would not likely ever have experienced without ALL! ALL has, and continues to enrich my life. So much so that I decided to participate more fully and take on the challenge of becoming a coordinator.
The best classes I have been part of involve a mix of teaching and discussion – just like the best classes we took in our youth. But if you think taking classes is challenging, try and create one! I find it takes at least ten times the effort to prepare and teach a class as to take one. But you get out what you put in. I cannot emphasize enough the pleasures of developing and teaching an ALL class. If nothing else, it has expanded my respect for the efforts other teachers devote to teaching!
ALL has brought me new friendships as well as the courage and skills to try new things. For example, on January 9, 2022 I took the pulpit of the Unitarian Church of Barnstable to present a talk on “Making Sense of Climate Grief”. Trust me, this is way outside of my previous comfort zone. I would never have had the gumption, or knowledge, to engage in this manner without prior engagement with the Cape Cod Academy of Lifelong Learning. I’ll elaborate a bit to show ALL’s impact.
When I retired from IBM, I decided to focus on doing what I could to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and oceans. I read everything I could get my hands on and pored through the ALL catalog looking for courses that might help. Not finding any, and feeling the need to do something, I created two classes on climate change. For the first, I teamed up with Cindi Bucken who was taking the same class as I on “The Sixth Extinction” – a terrific class by Toivo Lamminen. John Ward and I then co-taught a class on Cape Cod climate and weather. Both were well enough received that we taught them several times.
Cindi introduced me to the concept of “climate grief”. Basically, climate grief parallels the five stages Elizabeth Kubler-Ross described as the response to death and dying: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Coordinating the class helped me realize that much of what I was going through is encompassed in the term "Solastalgia". In simple terms, “Solastalgia” refers to a form of distress caused by environmental change that is upsetting one’s surroundings or home. On January 9 I took the opportunity to share my broadened understanding on this topic with the Unitarian Church of Barnstable. I enjoyed doing the presentation, and it was well received. What goes around, comes around.
Going forward, we will all have an opportunity to contribute to and reshape the Academy for Lifelong Learning of Cape Cod to suit our collective needs. Together we will forge a new and improved, hybrid in-person and remote learning platform – just like many traditional schools are having to. As in any community, each of us can bring our ideas, energy and experience to a wider audience. That is what I am committed to doing. I have found that ALL and lifelong learning is a terrific way to “live well and prosper” on Cape Cod!
Paul Coteus
ALL Coordinator
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Note: The following link is provided for those of you who would like to read Paul’s January 9, 2022 talk at the Barnstable Unitarian Church. If anyone desires more information on determining or reducing one's carbon footprint, feel free to contact Paul directly at pcoteus@gmail.com.
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Ah, January is over! Howling winds, mounds of snow, failed generators and power outages are in the rear view mirror – hopefully. But one never knows, after all, this is New England!
So, we’re moving forward. February is the month in which grown men stand around waiting for a groundhog to see his shadow. It’s also the month of presidents, new car sales, Mardi Gras and Valentine’s Day – that special day devoted to hearts, flowers, chocolate and love. Some jaded people say that Valentine’s Day is a creation of the greeting card companies, but I like to think it’s a good day to remember someone you love with a little something special.
February is also Black History month and I found some book suggestions from Ramunda Lark Young who owns MahoganyBooks in Washington D.C.
Here are a few titles:
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Blacker: A Memoir in Essays, Damon Young
The Beautiful Struggle: A Memoir, Ta-Nehisi Coates
Revolutionary Suicide, Huey P. Newton
Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism, Bell Hooks
A Promised Land, Barack Obama
Just as I Am: A Memoir, Cicely Tyson
February is also the most commonly misspelled month, the Great American Pie Month, the National Snack Food Month, the National Cherry Month (I cannot tell a lie) and the Potato Lovers Month. It may be the shortest month, but there’s a lot going on!
Stay well and positive – spring IS coming!
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Dianne Tattersall
ALL Vice President
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Looking Forward to Spring! |
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ALLways Welcomes Comments and
Suggestions about the Newsletter
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CHECK YOUR E-MAILS OFTEN.
THE ALL OFFICE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED.
Please address your comments or suggestions to lifelonglearning@capecod.edu
We appreciate all our readers, with special thanks to ALL members who contribute their articles and photographs to our newsletters.
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Academy for Lifelong Learning of Cape Cod, Inc.
Cape Cod Community College
2240 Iyannough Rd
West Barnstable, Massachusetts 02668
774-330-4400
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