ALL contact information

The ALL office at Cape Cod Community College is open from 9am-3pm Monday through Friday.

Feel free to contact us:

Email: lifelonglearning@capecod.edu

Telephone: 774-330-4400 (please leave a message)

October flew by like an Atlantic hurricane! I harvested the last of the tomatoes and later the butternut squash, and put my garden to bed with grass clippings and the mulched leaves now starting to fall. I wore the first flannel of the year today and turned the heat on in the house.

I’m already looking forward to spring!

You will see a picture of the aurora borealis as captured on October 10th by my smartphone at Sandy Neck Beach. I include this for two reasons. First, I am learning to take photos, courtesy of Daniel Gorman and my fellow classmates in photography class. Second, to illustrate that the camera on my phone sees a lot better than I do – the sky had looked just a dull pink to my eyes.

I feel increasingly immersed, even bombarded, with technology. Do you? I admit it can be overwhelming. But if we can find a way to embrace it, as ALL helps me to do, it can yield big rewards. Now to segue to the next theme which is spring semester. You know it’s coming!

I am so enjoying my classes this semester. From Square Dancing to Shakespeare, through Stories and History from Sandwich, I am learning every week while having fun. I hope you are also. Each of these classes was offered for the first time this semester. Some from seasoned coordinators, but mostly from new ones. And I assure you, these coordinators are happy for the effort they put in. The satisfaction they feel, from others that soak up and appreciate their knowledge, makes their efforts more than worth it.

What will spring semester bring? I am so curious! Who will take a chance and bring their unique perspective to the rest of us? In this newsletter, you will find more information about how to become a coordinator and how to start the process. I know you can do it, and you will be pleased!

Speaking of technology, here is a little info reported at our last board meeting. We now have 344 Facebook followers, up 30% in a month. Also 1,134 people looked at our Facebook page – up 10% in a month. In the last 90 days, 5,500 new people visited our website.

The most searched items were our courses in art & culture, health & wellness, and personal interest, in that order. Over 5,000 new visits to our webpage? I had no idea!! And our most popular activity is art and culture? Calling all artists! As Bonnie Raitt sings in one of my favorite tunes, “[Let’s Give 'Em] Something to Talk About!” That is, let’s see a terrific class offering this spring. Instructions on how to do that are within. 

Remember back before the pandemic? I’m talking pre-Zoom, when ALL was in full swing? There was a weekly international film series hosted by CCCC, with many ALL attendees. I am happy to report that it’s running again. See https://www.capecod.edu/international-film-series/ and information later in this newsletter. It’s free and no registration required. 

Sam Yee, one of our older members, informed me that there is a section, really just a drawer, of the Nickerson Archives at Cape Cod Community College Library, dedicated to the history of ALL. There is a lot of recent history to add to it. If you have an interest in history and would like to become our historian, please send me a note! (pcoteus@mail.com) 

And don’t forget to vote Nov 5th! By the time the next newsletter comes out, we will (hopefully!) know who our next president is and, most likely, many other changes.

Until then, enjoy your classes!

Paul Coteus

ALL President

Photo: Sandy Neck Aurora Borealis by Paul Coteus

The Curriculum Committee is still accepting courses for the Spring 2025 semester and invites you to consider teaching (or repeating) a 6-week or a 12-week course, on your own or partnering with a co-coordinator.

If you go away, or just want to stay off winter roads, consider putting your class on Zoom. While ALL is restricted to weekday campus use, on Zoom you can offer a course at any time, including evenings and weekends!

We hear that members would like more classes in art, foreign languages, health and wellness, and finances and investments.

You might know qualified friends, classmates and others who would like to teach, but have not yet done so in our program. Our committee members are eager to help develop an idea into a course at ALL.

As a current coordinator, perhaps you could identify students who have demonstrated a keen knowledge of a subject of interest and speak to them about offering a course.

Dates for the spring semester are as follows:

12-week courses: January 27, 2025 – April 28, 2025

First 6-week courses: January 27, 2025 – March 10, 2025

Second 6 week courses: March 17, 2025 - April 28, 2025

Finally, we send our sincere thanks to everyone who has already submitted a course for our winter/spring semester.

If you need assistance using ALL's course submission portal, please contact lifelonglearning@capecod.edu. We eagerly await your submisions!

A copy of the spring calendar follows to help with your planning.

ALL Curriculum Committee

This issue of ALLways is focused on encouraging members to try their hand at coordinating a class. In this current semester, six people were brand new coordinators. One of them, Brian Haendiges, was interviewed by Joan Freedman about his experience. Click on the button following the end of this piece to hear his uplifting, delightful story.  

This is a short video about what it was like to become an ALL coordinator.

A longer interview discussing the class Brian Haendiges taught this fall can be found later in this newsletter.

The Reflections 2025 team is waiting for YOU!

The deadline for submissions is November 15, 2024.

We are gathering submissions for the Reflections 2025 anthology. Each one of us has something worth immortalizing in writing for themselves, their family. A poem about life. An essay about the changes you have seen in your life. A short story about something you want your family to remember. Or simply a piece of writing you would like others to read.

Then there is that picture you took with your cell phone that others have said, “That should be published!” Or you are exploring that latent talent for painting and that last painting is something special. Or maybe it is a hobby that you are taking to another level: weaving, ink and pen drawing. 

Whether the written word or a piece of art, the Reflections team is waiting for your submission to this year’s edition of a publication that began in 2000. 

The deadline for submissions is November 15, 2024.

To learn more, go to the ALL website or reach out to us -https://www.capecodall.org/reflections-2025/.  

We end as we begin. We want to hear from you!

Thank you.

The Reflections Team

Please join us on Tuesday, November 19th

from 7-8 pm on Zoom.

Let's explore the world of Google together!



Do you use Gmail?

How about Google Docs?

Your free Google account includes not only email and a means to write documents. It also offers cloud space for your documents, a shareable calendar, along with a suite of Office-like applications. And so much more! 

Please join us on Tuesday, November 19th

from 7-8 pm on Zoom.

Maggie French and Jean DeVincentis facilitate this group on the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 7-8 pm on Zoom.

Contact lifelonglearning@capecod.edu to reserve a spot.

You will receive the Zoom link the day before the meeting. There is no charge for joining.

Future topics will be determined by the group. This is a group of ALL members helping other members!

We look forward to "seeing" you there!



On October 5th, members of Cape Cod Community College's Academy for Lifelong Learning were on a field trip to see Mercy Otis Warren’s house and enjoy time with Nancy Rubin Stuart (third from left), author of The Muse of the Revolution: The Secret Pen of Mercy Otis Warren and the Founding of a Nation, the focus of their study. 

Mercy Otis Warren was born in 1728 in West Barnstable and raised her family at 65 Main Street in Plymouth (where The Edge pizza is today). She was a prolific writer, publishing poems, plays and essays that influenced colonists to establish a new country. With the Sons of Liberty secretly meeting in her home, our founders conceived of a Constitution, a Bill of Rights and a new nation, leaving the monarchic rule of King George III behind. Her most famous work is her three-volume History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution, published in 1805 (free on Kindle).

This optional Saturday activity, attended by some members of the class "Mercy Otis Warren: Muse of the Revolution," was part of a course offered by long-time ALL coordinator Susan Whalley.

As she noted in an email, "We hope that as many people as possible will learn about and appreciate the foundational legacy of West Barnstable's own Mercy Otis Warren. Her vision for a free country based on the dignity of the individual is evident in the efforts she made to create and influence the inclusion of the Bill of Rights within the US Constitution."

Next semester, Susan will be facilitating "Elizabeth Peabody and the West Street Bookshop of the 19th century" focusing on Elizabeth Peabody, Margaret Fuller and Louisa May Alcott. Susan has been co-facilitating "Introduction to Nichiren Buddhism" with Steve Piontek each semester since 2014.

On Thursday, October 10, 2024, over 100 ALL members gathered at the Cultural Center of Cape Cod in Yarmouth for the annual Fall Social.

Everyone enjoyed wine and a variety of appetizers, while getting to know new members, sharing stories about this term’s classes and renewing friendships.

Dr. John Cox, President of Cape Cod Community College shared with the group recent developments at the college and new programs planned for the future. Paul Coteus, President of ALL, updated everyone on the growing enrollment at ALL this term and our expanded course offerings. He also invited folks to consider offering a course at ALL next term. 

The Fall Social was a great success and a fun way to start a new year at ALL.

Alice Mitchell

Hospitality Committee Chair

Joan Freedman recently interviewed new ALL coordinator Brian Haendiges on the course he taught at ALL this Fall.

Brian Haendiges has an extensive background in financial services and insurance and was the CEO of a company.

He has taught business courses for various MBA programs as well as chess classes at a Lifetime Learning Institute in Virginia. Brian has recently retired to Mashpee and enjoyed teaching at ALL this fall.

"Topics of Interest in Retirement" reviewed some of the basic principles of investments, income generation, social and emotional connections, and the importance of other considerations during retirement years. The class also discussed various scams and cybersecurity, risk assessment and diversification, long-term care and estate planning.

Brian noted that the course was not a replacement for seeking professional advice from a qualified financial adviser or legal and health professional who specializes in such matters. His focus was on the sharing of best practices from one another and exploring all other aspects of leading a healthy and happy lifestyle.

Click the button below to access the link to the interview.

Please check websites for complete information.

Holiday Fair – First Church Sandwich, 136 Main St., Sandwich.

Friday, November 8 & Saturday, November 9. 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. crafts, baked goods, silent auction

Upper Cape Tech Annual Craft Fair – crafts, raffles, baked goods.

Sat. & Sun., November 23 & 24, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Free Admission.

Glassblower’s Christmas – 129 Main Street Sandwich.

(Entrance is on Tupper Rd.) Opening day is November 15, Indoor show/sale, free to view. Touring the museum requires admission.

Eastham Turnip Festival – Saturday, Nov. 23 at Nauset Regional High School,100 Cable Rd, Eastham. All things turnip – over 30 local food establishment serving turnip-themed dishes. Lots of activities and live entertainment. Free admission.

Spectacular Soiree on Gingerbread Lane - November 29 & 30, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Hyannis Village Green, walkway to Hyannis Harbor. Decorated artist shanties, holiday market, food & beverages.

Cape Cod Comedy Show - Saturday, November 23, 8:30 – 10 p.m. Resort & Conference Center at Hyannis, 30 Scudder Lane, Barnstable. Tickets available online.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrel - Barnstable Comedy Club, 3171 Main Street Barnstable. Friday & Saturday, starting November 7 – 24,7:30 p. m., Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

Enjoy!

Dianne Tattersall

IN PERSON VIEWING:

Films will be shown in person on Wednesdays from 2-4 pm in the F&M Wilkens Science center, G-06. 

No prior registration required.

Those who attend in person are also invited to sign up for the remote film discussions.

VIRTUAL VIEWING :

Viewers can access the films on their own schedule through the KANOPY film streaming service.

CCCC students, faculty and staff can access the Wilkens Library Kanopy.

Kanopy is also available through the Boston Public Library's ecard program and many local public libraries (Sandwich, Mashpee, Woods Hole, Wellfleet, P-Town.) 

All residents of Massachusetts can register for a Boston Public Library ecard. Find out more here: https://www.bpl.org/ecard/.

IN PERSON SCHEDULE:

November 6 - To Life: A La Vie (France, 2014) 104 Minutes

Helene, Lili and Rose met in Auschwitz, where the three twenty-year-old Jewish girls were deported. The women rediscover each other, as well as help each other to overcome their Auschwitz demons. In French with English subtitles. Director: 

Jean-Jacques Zilbermann.

November 13 - Becoming Astrid (Sweden, 2018) 123 Minutes

Teenaged Astrid Lundgren, future author of Pippi Longstocking, leads a carefree life in rural Sweden. Eager to break free, she works at a local newspaper and attracts the attention of its married editor. After becoming pregnant, she leaves home and leaves her son with a foster mother. When the foster mother falls ill, she uses her imagination for storytelling to connect with her child. In Swedish with English subtitles.

November 20 - Renoir (France, 2012) 111 Minutes

Set on the French Riviera in the summer of 1915, Jean Renoir – son of the Impressionist painter, Pierre-Auguste – returns home to convalesce after being wounded in World War I. At his side is Andrée, a young woman who rejuvenates, enchants, and inspires both father and son. 

November 27 - Lost In Paris (Canada, 2016) 82 Minutes

Lost inParis stars the filmmakers as a small-town Canadian librarian and a strangely seductive, oddly egotistical vagabond. In French and English with English subtitles.      

For additional information click the following link.

Is there a friend who would like to know more about ALL?

We now have a 2-minute video that provides an overview of who we are and what we offer. A link to that video follows. It is also on our website. Feel free to share this newsletter and tell your friends to take a look.

A link to the video is at the end of this article.

The ALL Art Gallery exhibits the works of artists' connection to the Cape Cod Academy for Lifelong Learning. The work of Leslie Healy and Christine Radant is currently on display.

The ALL Art Gallery walls are outside classrooms 106 and 115 and change regularly.

Please contact the ALL office if you are interested in exhibiting your art.