MARCH
2020
The MSCN Newsletter

 Welcome to Your MARCH 2020 Issue!

Lady Wearing Spectacles - American 19th Century

This month's featured artwork shows an elegant lady wearing spectacles. A perfect picture for this March issue of the MSCN newsletter. Not only are many of us styling spectacles nowadays, but our upcoming May statewide gathering is titled "2020 Vision for Maine's Senior Colleges."

Thanks to the hard work of the SC Belfast conference committee, and staff at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center, we can now share conference details and officially open conference registration!

MSCNconference
MSCN Conference

MSCN 2020 Statewide Conference

"2020 Vision for Maine's Senior Colleges"
Saturday May 2, 2020.


The title for the MSCN Statewide Conference is "2020 Vision for Maine's Senior Colleges." This play on words touches on the history and the future of Maine's unique lifelong learning network.

The conference recognizes twenty years of senior colleges delivering classes to Mainers aged 50+. None of these classes would be possible without the network's army of volunteers, working at all levels, from instructors and board members to greeters and mailing helpers! Senior colleges have also become highly adaptable; adjusting and changing as the environment around them has changed. With this in mind, the conference organizers invite you to to share your expertise and creativity, and plan for the next twenty years!

The conference will feature workshops designed to help hard-working boards. It will also present three exciting sessions with SC Belfast star presenters Sandy Cirillo, Pete Reilly, and Neil Harkness.

We are also proud to have the knowledgeable (and humorous), Dr. Lenard Kaye, as the conference keynote speaker. Len is the Director of the University of Maine Center on Aging (UMCA). Len Kaye will also present a workshop titled "Moving Beyond the Ivory Tower: How Older Adults Can Contribute to and Shape Research in Maine." He will co-present with Jennifer Crittenden, (Assoc Director of UMCA).

The conference is an opportunity for you to get together with other senior college board members, volunteers, and members to network and chat and swap notes and contact information.

There are many beautiful places to stay in the Belfast area, and UMaine Hutchinson Center has organized a special discount rate for participants to stay at the Fireside Inn. (Use block booking name: "Senior College Conference 2020".)

Many thanks to the staff of the University of Maine Hutchinson Center and the Senior College at Belfast for hosting this one-day conference on Saturday, May 2nd.

How to Register
To register, go to the "2020 Vision for Maine's Senior Colleges." Conference page. You can see the day's schedule plus additional information, including a list of hotels in the area.

Anne Cardale. MSCN Program Director

SAGEandZOOMSAGE at the University of Maine in Presque Isle

ZOOM Comes to The County

Participants in Alice Bolstridge's class "The Power and Influence of Big Money."

During the month of February, members of six Maine senior colleges and one from Massachusetts participated in UMPI SAGE (Seniors Achieving Greater Education)'s first Zoom-at-home course. It was also the first Zoom class in Maine to have members from so many senior colleges.

The instructor, Alice Bolstridge, PhD, drew from her experience as a volunteer activist for peace and justice, from 4 ½ months observing the second session of the 128th Maine Legislature, and additional research from her book to present The Power and Influence of Big Money. The focus was on its effects on both the legislative process and citizens' lives. Topics included problems in education, income inequality, health care, the environment, elections, and other issues. Using this technology provided a unique opportunity to experience lively discussion during each of the four classes, while being able to both see and hear the instructor and each of the participants. To prepare participants for this course, SAGE offered Zoom-at-home tutorials, hosted by Nancy Roe, a Zoom enthusiast and founding member of SAGE.

Submitted by Nancy Roe, SAGE at UMPI

GoldLEAFinstituteThe Gold LEAF Institute

The Gold Leaf Institute's Spring term kickoff
View from my window by  Jan Benschop

On a cold, blustery day with high winds whipping freshly-fallen snow dust around St. Joseph's Parish Hall in Farmington, Staff and presenters of the Gold Leaf Institute conducted their Spring term kickoff. This Spring term boasts a record number of offerings, with quite a few of them pre-filled at the time of the kickoff.

The roster consists of a wide diversity of subjects, from indoor
expeditions to museums, to various handicrafts and culinary arts,
travelogues and historical exposés, and outdoor nature excursions, with a smattering of science and special-interest films.
Truly, Gold Leaf is brimming with vitality and enthusiasm: certainly
well-worth the time, resources, and efforts of all participants.

Submitted by Jan Benschop, The Gold LEAF Institute

UMAjewettConcertUniversity of Maine Augusta Senior College

UMASC Concerts at Jewett
Present 
Maine-ly Harmony, and Back Bay Four

Sunday, March 8 
2:00 - 4:00 pm 
Jewett Auditorium
(snow date: March 15)

Maine-ly Harmony

The "Concerts at Jewett" series, sponsored by the University of Maine at Augusta College of Arts and Sciences and UMA Senior College, will present Maine-ly Harmony, and Back Bay Four in concert on Sunday, March 8, 2020 at 2:00 PM in Jewett Hall.

Back Bay Four 

These two a capella groups were a hit when they performed in the "Concerts at Jewett" series in 2018. They return to us with even more awards to their credit. This will be a feel good afternoon of skilled harmony and familiar songs by many talented vocalists.
Maine-ly Harmony




Food for Thought Luncheon Series:

"Oyster Farming in Maine" - Presenter Dan Devereaux
March 13, 2020
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

Serving Oysters!

In keeping with our theme of healthy sustainable food from local sources, Senior College USM/LA is proud to have for our March 13 Food for Thought presenter Dan Devereaux, on the co-founders of the Mere Point Oyster Company. His business partner and long time friend is Doug Niven. As they say on their website, "Doug loved to fish. Dan loved to farm. They both loved living and working along the coast of Brunswick, Maine. They started talking one day while watching their kids on the Brunswick playing fields, and the seeds were planted - oyster seeds, that is."

There used to be so many oysters along the Maine coast that you can still find heaps of shells left by the Wabanaki people. But, in the 1970s, oyster populations plummeted as a result of pollution and environmental change. Farming oysters offered an opportunity to restore the native population and enhance nearshore marine ecosystems. In 2015, Doug and Dan officially formed Mere Point Oyster Company (MPOC). They chose to site their farms where they live - in the clear, deep waters of Maquoit and Mere Point Bays. These bays are some of Maine's most ecologically significant areas because of the abundant marine life they support. Oysters are the perfect species to work with as they provide amazing environmental benefits to the marine ecosystem.

Dan will tell their story and help us understand not only about oysters but also about the fragile marine environment and efforts to preserve it. The presentation will be held at noon in room 170 at the USM/LA campus at 51 Westminster Street. Doors open at 11:30. Feel free to bring a bag lunch as we won't be serving lunch (not even oysters?)`



SAGEkickOFFSAGE at University of Maine in Presque isle

SAGE Spring 2020 Kick Off and Courses 

University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) Wieden Auditorium

Friday, March 20, 2020
10:00-11:30AM

This Spring, Seniors Achieving Greater Education members can learn about Our Amazing Planets, Latin, Invertebrate Fossils and Dinosaurs, Senior Science, A Journey in Bee Keeping and even KETO Cooking. Returning this Fall are the very popular Finding Your Ancestors and Chess: A Lifetime Activity. For the first time, SAGE will offer ZOOM at Home training and An Easy Way to Write an Obitu ary course using ZOOM.

Local history tours aboard Molly the Trolley will include Jim Cullen: A Lynching in Mapleton, Former Presque Isle Army Air Base and a Haunted Hearse Tour of Presque Isle.

Seniors Achieving Greater Education
SAGE 
Just for fun, there is
the SAGE Book Club, Games Galore, Senior Open Bowling, and SAGE Night Out.

Arts and Crafts courses will include Acrylic Painting, Playful Book Making, Prompted Collages, Stained Glass Workshop and Collections of all Kinds. 

The Adventures Club will organize activities. SAGE partners with the Caribou Wellness Center for a series of Take it Outdoors trips. 

This is only a sampling. For a complete listing of SAGE Spring 2020 courses and a Registration form, please visit our web page

Follow us on Facebook at SAGE-UMPI for even more information

Submitted by Suzanne Sandusky, SAGE at UMPI

SpringClassesSpring Classes

Spring 2020 Classes &
Catalogs
Reading an Art journal by Vittorio Reggianini





SCBelfastcallingArtistsSenior College at Belfast

Call To Artists!

CALL TO ARTISTS for the annual Senior College Festival of Art (June 4 - 7). Open to Maine artists 50 years of age and up. Registration period is March 1 - 31.

"Glen Cove Tide" by Anne Spencer
Featured Artist, 2020 Festival of Art

Maine artists, 50 years of age and above, are invited to enter one piece of their work in the 18th Annual Senior College Festival of Art, to be held at the University of Maine Hutchinson Center in Belfast, June 4 thru June 7, 2020. Amateur and professional artists are welcome, all media accepted, (some size restrictions may apply). Artists may offer their work for sale if they wish. You need not be a Senior College member to participate. 

Entry forms must be submitted by March 31, 2020. Artwork is to be delivered to the University of Maine Hutchinson Center on Wednesday, June 3, between 5 and 7 p.m.

Click here:  For information sheet for artists (IMPORTANT!)


Submitted by Catherine Bradbury, Senior College at Belfast



OLLIbookCORNER The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

The Book Corner
by Pat Davidson Reef


Leadership in Turbulent Times 
by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Simon and Schuster 2018
Pages 370 Price $30

Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson


In an unstable world, reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's new book "Leadership in Turbulent Times," is reassuring. Goodwin
evaluates America through four of its presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson. It is a unique combination to explore together. Goodwin writes in a warm and intimate style and implies we have suffered many pivotal times in our history, and America has always survived. This book is about two Republican Presidents and two Democrat Presidents and how they faced problems and made decisions.

Do great leaders appear when needed historically, or are great leaders born and live among us unrecognized? Indeed, the four presidents explored by Goodwin bring that thought to mind. Goodwin says," There is no fixed time table which governs the development of leadership. Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson all possessed leadership capacities," Goodwin said. 

She relates that Abraham Lincoln grew up with hardship, which influenced him to have ambition and become resourceful, and these qualities helped him to face the Civil War. Theodore Roosevelt came to sense himself as a leader later in life. He had to prove himself as physically fit despite illness and became a hero in Cuba, actually leading American troops into battle. Roosevelt broke up the railroad monopolies, provided the nation with national parks, cleaned up the New York Police Department, inspired consumer protection laws. He stood alone on many issues, even within his party.  Franklin Roosevelt was raised without siblings on the banks of the Hudson and had many privileges of wealth and education.  He had a variety of executive jobs in the navy but came late to leadership. However, as president, he was mature, had wisdom, brought us through World War II, and gave us Social Security.  Lyndon Johnson loved politics from the beginning and, at the age of 22, gave a speech that led to his ambitious goal to go to Washington. His greatest regret was his involvement with the Vietnam War. His greatest achievement was the 1964 Civil Rights Bill. He did not have the polish of John F. Kennedy, but he was good at crisis management and made the nation stronger by uniting it.

What did all these presidents have in common? All had enormous ambition, drive, intelligence and common sense. Perhaps endurance was their greatest strength? Each had periods of depression, and each conquered personal losses. All were great leaders in different ways, and each had their flaws. If you like to read about the human side of history, you will love this book. It provides an up-close and personal view of the great leaders of our nation. Goodwin gives readers a feeling of security that our country has indeed faced chaos before and survived. We will survive again in 2020.



Image Credits

Images Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons





The MSCN newsletter is sent to each Senior College board. The boards then forward the newsletter to their membership. However, if you are not a member of a Senior College or perhaps you are, and you simply want the news "hot off the press" subscribe here! 
 
Newsletter Submissions 
Submit your articles and photographs to Anne Cardale at acardale@maine.edu .
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Links

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Gold LEAF Institute

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Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

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