OLLI Observer
May 26, 2019    
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In This Issue

Summer 2019 Registration Re-Opens
  Tuesday, 
May 28, 10 a.m.
for Add/Drop and 
Open Registration

If you are one of the almost 540 people who registered during the initial registration period, you should have received your s chedule  Friday, May 24. If you registered and did not receive a schedule, please call us when we return to the office on Tuesday, May 28, 10 a.m. Remember that you can log into your online account to see if you were registered in the courses you requested.


Print catalogs are available on the upper level of the Reuter Center. Click here to read the Summer 2019 catalog online

Click here for access to the OLLI course webpage where you will find instructor biographies, course outlines and materials lists and even presentations for some courses.

Important Dates
Monday, May 27, all day:   The Reuter Center will be closed in observance of the Memorial Day holiday. 

Tuesday, May 28, 10 a.m.: Add/Drop begins. At this time you may register or add more College for Seniors courses or add your name to a waitlist if a course is full.  We will have helpers on hand Tuesday, May 28, 10 a.m.-3:30 p.m. for anyone who wants help registering.  Remember that this portion of the registration is first-come, first-served.  Add/Drop closes after the second meeting of most courses. 

Friday, May 31, all day: The Reuter Center will be closed for the Creative Retirement Exploration Weekend (CREW), which brings people from all over the country to learn more about relocation in retirement.

Monday, June 10, 9 a.m.: Summer 2019 courses begin

Tuesday, August 6: Fall 2019 catalog will be available online

Thursday, August 15, 10 a.m.: Fall 2019 CFS Registration begins.
 
Elder Financial Vulnerability
Just this week some OLLI members were targeted by a scam that seemed to come from a trusted source, asking them to quickly go to buy gift cards and send codes to the sender. OLLI members have also been targets of scams that use phone calls or emails that warn you of a computer virus and ask (or sometimes demand) access to your computer, passwords and credit card information to solve the problem. Some grandparents receive calls from someone who sounds like a grandchild in danger who needs money wired.

Scientists are studying the tendency of older adults to fall victim to financial scams and have begun to diagnose "age-associated financial vulnerability" in highly functioning older adults who are nonetheless falling victim to financial scams. American Public Media's program Marketplace has been running a series on this issue:   Click here to listen to the series "Brains and Losses" and learn more about "elder financial vulnerability."

We at OLLI seek to cultivate a strong sense of community and want to help one another. We applaud that impulse but remind you that you should always take your time and seek advice when you make any financial decision. Never share passwords or give out credit card information to someone you don't know and trust. If someone cares about you and needs your help, that person should always be willing to slow down and explain and reassure. We are happy that we are a caring community and know that we can be that and be a safe and savvy community.

Let's be careful out there.

pottery-wheel.jpg
Art Bazaar Exhibitor Information Meeting
Tuesday, May 28, 10 a.m.
Reuter Center Room 206 

For those interested in participating in the 2019 OLLI Art Bazaar, Friday, November 8 and Saturday, November 9.
Learn the facts and decide if the Art Bazaar is for you. 

Registration forms will be available at the meeting.

Contact Sheila Murphy at:   murphy.sheila.a@gmail.com with any questions. 

  Great Smokies Writing Program - Info Session
Tuesday, May 28th, 4:30 - 6:30 pm
Zillicoah Beer Company

Want to sign up for a summer GSWP class, but don't know which one is right for you? Come talk to our instructors at our pre-semester get-together! This event is BYOD (buy your own drinks), and will be a great way to talk writing with our summer instructors and get all your pre-registration questions answered. 

For more information, Click Here

College for Seniors Instructor Support

Two-day training to enhance your instructor skills with PowerPoint or Keynote

Beginning PowerPoint
June 3 and 6, 9:30 a.m. - noon
Reuter Center Room 206
 
Advanced PowerPoint Techniques
June 3 and 6, 1-3 p.m.
Reuter Center Room 206
 
Introduction to Keynote
June 3 and 6, 9:30 a.m. - noon
Reuter Center Room 207

Click here to register for the workshops.


OLLI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

MANNA Food Bank Team
Providing Thousands of Meals a Day to Feed Hungry People

Asheville City Schools
Give your time and make a difference

Habitat for Humanity
Changing lives one house at a time

VOLUNTEER NOW...
Make A Difference!


  Bridge Buddies 
Special Interest Group (SIG)
Open for New Members
Tuesday, 2-5 p.m.
The Bridge  Buddies SIG is an eclectic mix of advanced beginner to intermediate players who play in the Atrium  on Tuesdays, 2-5 p.m. The group uses bidding boxes to eliminate questions about who bid what when. To check us out just come by and join us for an afternoon.

SIG contact: Connie Mitchell, 828.254.2209, cmgm050@gmail.com  

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Carolinas' Nature Photographers Association


Member Portfolio Challenge
Sunday, June 9,  5:30 p.m. 
Meet and Greet; Meeting Begins at 6 p.m.
Reuter Center 206

Carolinas' Nature Photographers' Association's twice per year portfolio challenge is designed to showcase members' work by having them present a common themed portfolio.  Their collection may be taken from images over the years and combined by a common theme.  If you are interested in sharing, please notify the co-coordinators at coordinator@cnpa-asheville.org.

The CNPA-Asheville Region's goal is to develop a group that will more fully experience the beauty of Western  North Carolina through photography. Activities in the Asheville Region include monthly meetings, photo outings, seminars, workshops, exhibits, photo contests, and image critiques.

Buncombe Chautauqua
"It's Revolutionary"
June 17-20, 7 p.m. each night
AB Tech's Ferguson Auditorium
340 Victoria Road, Asheville, NC 2880

Duel wits with Alexander Hamilton. Debate democracy with Andrew Jackson. Witness the end of Camelot with Jackie Kennedy. Struggle for human rights with Malcolm X.  Meet four amazing people at the center of a revolution. Hear their stories and ask them how their world changed. 

At Chautauqua performers bring history alive by performing and then answering audience questions in character. Bring your stories. Share your experiences. Get inspired. Because it's not just history - it's personal.

All Buncombe Chautauqua shows will be held at AB Technical College in the Ferguson Auditorium,  340 Victoria Rd, Asheville NC  

Tickets are $7 per show. All tickets are available only at  the door . Groups that wish to be seated together must arrive by 6:30 p.m. The box office opens at 6 p.m. each show night. Cash or check only.

For more information, please contact:   buncombe2018@gmail.com



Advance Care Planning Workshop
Thursday, June 20, 7 p.m.
Reuter Center Manheimer Room

The workshop will feature a panel whose members are experienced in addressing end-of-life issues. The discussion will include communicating your treatment wishes to loved ones and to medical personnel, ethical and legal issues, and the uses of advance directives.  

Ample time will be reserved for questions. Assistance will be provided for anyone wishing to complete a legally valid advance directive, including the notarization required in North Carolina, using the NC ACP "Short Form". 

Preparation for you to do 
before the workshop:  
Talk to your possible "power of attorney for healthcare," the person who would make health care decisions if you are unable.    Click here for a video of a sample conversation, starring OLLI member Mary Campbell.  If you have internet access and a printer,  click here to access a copy of the ACP Short form.  Please print the form, study it, and bring it to the workshop along with any questions you might have for the panel. 

If you have never been admitted to Mission Hospital, but want your advanced directives added to the Mission Medical Record, click here for an Advance Directive Permission form to fill out. Also, if you have existing advance directives, you may mail the "Permission Form" along with a copy of your existing Advance Directive to Mission for addition to the Mission medical record (or you can get help doing this at the next ACP workshop).

This workshop is free and open to adults of all ages.  
Living Solo

OLLI's Living Solo group has grown to more than 100 members. The group is comprised of OLLI members living independently and seeking connections. This is not a dating group, but is made up of individuals who want to do activities and make connections here in Asheville with OLLI members.  This is a self-identifying group. If you have a significant other but feel solo, feel free to join. Please come join us and meet new people!

Join Living Solo for OLLI members through a Meetup app!  We started a group in Meetup called OLLI UNC Asheville Living Solo. It is a private group with only OLLI members included. 

How to join! 
  • Join Meetup using your preferred email address; enter a password (your favorite or one unique to Meetup)! 
  • Search Groups using key word: OLLI or look around; we are there!
  • Click the yellow OLLI UNC Asheville Living Solo image! 
  • Click the red Request to Join button
Any questions? 
Contact Barbara Rapchak

Dear OLLI Members,
Please remember that the Reuter Center will be closed on Monday, May 27 to observe Memorial Day and again on Friday, May 31, for our Creative Retirement Exploration Weekend. This means that SIGs and all other meetings scheduled for those days will be canceled or take place elsewhere.

Thanks to all of you who registered for College for Seniors College for Seniors summer courses that begin on June 10.  Add/Drop begins on Tuesday, May 28; you can add courses or register for the first time.  We will have helpers at the Reuter Center at that time.

We hope you will mark your calendars to attend the Green Opportunities Kitchen Ready Showcase Dinner, Defiant Requiem,  Buncombe County Chautauqua, Concerts on the Quad, Brevard Opera at OLLI programs or the Wilma Dykeman Riverway series.  There are opportunities to learn more privilege and oppression, ways to manage hearing loss, how to collect oral histories for the WNC LGBTQIA Oral History Project, advance care planning and all of the subjects covered by our special interest groups (SIGs) and community partners like the Astronomy Club of Asheville. What a great place to be in the summer!

We will be cleaning out the Lost and Found at the end of the first week of summer courses, so please come by if you think you may have left something behind.  

Remember that this is your community. If you have questions or suggestions or would like to serve on a committee or volunteer, please let us know by responding to this email,
Catherine Frank
Executive Director


 Check the links here to see OLLI and UNC Asheville current events:
 
calendar
 
Help Us Clean Out the 
Lost and Found Drawer!
Claim your items by 
Friday, June 14, 5 p.m.

Our lost and found is full of coffee cups, water bottles, jackets, vests, cushions, notebooks, caps and a variety of things our members leave behind.  We will clean out and donate everything to a local nonprofit on Friday, June 14, 5 p.m.

You can help us throughout the year by checking in the spaces around you as exit to make sure that you leave things as good or better than you found them and that you keep track of everything you bring into the building.
 
Calling All OLLI Foodies!
Green Opportunities 
Kitchen Ready Showcase Dinner
Arthur R. Edington Education and Career Center 
133 Livingston Street

Green Opportunities'  mission  is to train,  support , and  connect  people from marginalized communities to sustainable  employment  pathways. The Kitchen Ready culinary job  training  program and creates  employment  opportunities for training program graduates. Meals at the Southside Kitchen generate revenue that supports training programs and increases long-term financial sustainability and  expands the pipeline of experienced, dependable GO graduates to permanent, living wage jobs in our community.
 
The suggested donation for this showcase dinner is $10 or pay-what-you-can. All donations support the Kitchen Ready training program. Seating is limited. 
 
Here's a little something to get your mouth watering. Click to see the menu and read more about the dynamic Kitchen Ready program.
Defiant Requiem
Saturday, June 2, 7:30 p.m.
Thomas Wolfe Auditorium


  Defiant Requiem tells the little-known story of the Nazi concentration camp, Terezín. Led by imprisoned conductor Rafael Schächter, the inmates of Terezín fought back...with art and music. Through hunger, disease and slave labor, the Jewish inmates of Terezin hold onto their humanity by staging plays, composing opera and using paper and ink to record the horrors around them. We were fortunate in May to have conductor and creator Murry Sidlin come to the Reuter Center to tell the story that inspired his work and the research that led to his composition.  We hope you will take advantage of this unique opportunity to see and hear this stirring performance, p resented by The Defiant Requiem Foundation. Proceeds to benefit Carolina Jews for Justice.


At the Intersection of our Privilege and Our Oppression
Sunday, June 2, 2 p.m.
Asheville Jewish Community Center
236 Charlotte Street
 

Issues surrounding race, class, sexual identity, gender and religion have exploded into the national dialogue. These are difficult and confusing issues to discuss, especially when social and cultural identities overlap. 

"Intersectionality is the complex, cumulative way in which the effects of multiple forms of discrimination (such as racism, sexism, and classism) combine, overlap, or intersect, especially in the experiences of marginalized individuals or groups" (Webster's). The theory of intersectionality is also the idea that when it comes to thinking about how inequalities persist, categories like gender, race, and class are best understood as overlapping and mutually constitutive rather than isolated and distinct. This training provides thoughtful discussion and self-reflective activities to help you lean into the discomfort by increasing your awareness of the intersecting social dynamics impacting us all.

Instructor Jesse Pitt has spent the last 18 years working with diverse groups of middle and high school students. He loves facilitating courageous conversations about the uncomfortable social issues affecting our diverse culture. He moved to Asheville in 2002 to work with the NC Outward Bound School as a climber, wilderness instructor and eventual director of the high-school based Unity Project. He is a graduate of Skidmore College and Western Carolina University and has been a counselor at Asheville Middle School since 2007.

To learn more and to register, email  rochelle@jcc-asheville.org

Registration fee is $10 for the class, which is open to everyone.
Stitch in Time
Monday, June 3, 2-4 p.m.
Reuter Center Lower Atrium
 
This is a fellowship group for stitchers of all types (knitting, crochet, quilting, needlepoint, embroidery, cross stitch, sewing, etc) to help encourage, inspire, and support each other.  All skill levels are welcome!


 

SIG contact: Gay Lambirth, 281.433.1060, gaylambirth@yahoo.com

Hunger Doesn't Take a Summer Vacation

When you are at OLLI, please remember to drop some change in the contribution jar for the Asheville Terrace Apartments food pantry. Money collected in the jar (located near the exit of the Reuter Café, by the recycling bins), helps provide nutritious food to the over 200 low-income senior citizens living at Asheville Terrace Apartments. A poster next to the jar explains the partnership between volunteers from OLLI, Asheville Terrace Apartments and the MANNA Foodbank that supports this effort. Donations are especially important in the summer months, as one of the other donors of food to Asheville Terrace Apartments has had to suspend its operations for the time being. 


To make a contribution to the OLLI-ATA-MANNA partnership, make a check payable to MANNA FoodBank and add the following notation in the memo line or at the top of the check (or in a note sent along with the check): "For Asheville Terrace Apts, Acct no. 01087." Mail it to MANNA FoodBank, 627 Swannanoa River Road, Asheville, NC 28805-2445.
Dr. Erika Hendrickson
Hearing Loss Association of America (HLAA)

5 Keys to Communication:
Having Realistic Expectations and Advocating for Yourself 
at Home and in Public
Dr. Erika Hendrickson,  Mountain Audiology

We dnesday, June 5, 10:15 a.m.
Seymour Auditorium, CarePartners Campus
Building 22 (Top of the Hill),
 68 Sweeten Creek Road

For more information about HLAA 
contact David Nelson, 828.505.1874
Cassie Gavin
Sierra Club Meeting
Thursday, June 6, 7 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation
1 Edwin Place (corner of Charlotte and Edwin)
Asheville

Governor Cooper's Order 
to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Cassie Gavins,  Sierra Club Lobbyist for the NC legislature, will talk about the governor's order to reduce NC's carbon emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2025 and explain what the order means and how citizens can help in the effort.

Free and open to everyone.  Contact: judymattox@sbcglobal.net, 828.683.2176
Astronomy Club of Asheville
Thursday, June 6, 7 p.m.
Reuter Center Manheimer Room

"From Small Step to Giant Leap: The Epic Lunar Voyages of Apollo"
 
presented by  Dominic Lesnar , Astronomy Club of Asheville



This presentation, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first lunar landing, will trace the genesis of the Apollo program and what led the United States to engage the USSR in a race to the moon. We will discuss exactly how NASA sent spacecraft on a half million-mile journey through the vacuum of space, highlighting the mission hardware that allowed astronauts to land, walk, live and eventually drive on a world of inhospitable terrain with danger at each step. Finally, we'll cover the scientific and geological discoveries gleaned from Apollo, and briefly highlight each of the 9 missions that flew to the moon.

The Astronomy Club of Asheville meets the first Thursday of the month (except January and July), with an interesting lineup of speakers and topics.  OLLI members may attend the club meetings and star gazes, with club members on hand to advise and assist them in the basics of astronomy and the techniques of observing celestial phenomena.  For more information on the Astronomy Club of Asheville, including infrmation about speakers and topics, visit their website at www.astroasheville.org

Financial Strategies in Retirement Special Interest Group (SIG) Meeting

Diversifying Assets Using Asset Allocation, Location Allocation and Income Allocation
Guest Speaker John Coleman
Friday, June 7, 1:30 p.m. 
Reuter Center 205

John Coleman, Coleman Advisory, LLC John is an OLLI instructor, Certified Financial Planner and the founder and CEO at Coleman Advisory, LLC. His 37 years in the financial service business included a stint with Dean Witter and several executive positions at other major investment firms. He will discuss using asset, location and income allocation to diversify assets and maximize the tax efficiency of investment accounts and income streams. The meeting is open to all OLLI members. 

Contact Kate Beatty for further information: kkbmom@yahoo.com or 828.231.7710. Check the kiosks for room information.

Oral History Training Opportunity
Saturday, June 8, 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Reuter Center Room 206

The Western North Carolina LGBTQ-A Oral History Project, with the support of the University of North Carolina-Asheville, and the YMCA of Western North Carolina, is sponsoring a training session on conducting oral histories regarding the LGBTQ communities and their allies in Western North Carolina. 

The course will focus on methods and opportunities to participate in an LGBTQ-A Oral History project. All are welcome, but we are limited to 30 participants. Lunch will be served. 
If you have questions contact:  WNC oralhistory@blueridgepride.org

The Autumn Players
Ancestral Voices
by A R Gurney
directed by RoseLynn Katz

Sunday, June 9, 2:30 p.m. /  Reuter Center Manheimer Room

Breaking the rules of her upper crust social world and shocking her family, an older woman in the years before World War II divorces her husband and marries another man. Told lovingly by her grandson as a child, and later, after he becomes a mature adult, this tale, written expressly to be read aloud, nostalgically shows how an entire way of life has been erased by the passing of time.

This event is open to everyone; tickets are $7 at the door.


2019 Mental Wellness Walk
 
Saturday, June 15, 9 a.m.
Meet at Carrier Park Pavilion
220 Amboy Road, Asheville, NC 28806

Registration and Check-In begin at 9 a.m. 
Walk and Program begin at 10 a.m.
 
The organizers of the 3rd Annual 5k Mental Wellness Walk  seeks to raise awareness of the importance of mental wellness and community resources that exist for people with mental health issues. All funds raised will support the work of All Souls Counseling Center and National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Western Carolina. 

All Souls Counseling Center is a nonprofit organization that provides quality mental health counseling to uninsured and underinsured residents of Western North Carolina. ( www.allsoulscounseling.org.)  NAMI Western Carolina  is an affiliate of NAMI, the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to building better lives for the millions of Americans affected by mental illness.  www.namiwnc.org

If you would like to volunteer for the Walk, please sign-up for a shift here:  signup.com/go/insqZCN

Brevard Opera at OLLI
Tuesday, June 18, 4 p.m.
Reuter Center Manheimer Room

The College for Seniors Performing Arts Curriculum  Committee collaborates with the Brevard Music Festival to  bring to OLLI this summer a taste of three operas:
Carlisle Floyd's Susannah,  Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and   Johann Strauss Jr.'s Die Fledermaus.  The six-week College for Seniors course The Brevard  Opera at OLLI is part of the regular summer term, with three live performances embedded in the schedule.

Sessions 1, 3 and 5 of the course will be presented in the usual manner of a  College for Seniors course, from 2:30-5 p.m. on Tuesdays, June 11, 25 and July 9, with renowned  music director Pat Heuermann explaining the operas.  

The instructor will continue with sessions 2, 4 and 6 on June 18, July 2 and 16, and those sessions will conclude with live performances by the young artists of the Janiec Opera  at Brevard performing parts of these three operas as well as other musical selections.

The three performance sessions on Tuesdays, June 18, July 2 and 16 by members of the Janiec Opera of Brevard  will be held from 4-5 p.m. in the Manheimer Room. The performances are open to all OLLI members and to UNC  Asheville students and faculty. A period of questions and answers with the Janiec performers will follow these  performances. Sunday, June 9, 2:30 p.m. / 
Reuter Center Manheimer Room.
Wilma Dykeman Riverway
2019 Summer Series

Wilman Dykeman, RiverLink and the Wilma Dykeman Riverway
Saturday, June 22,  10 a.m. - Noon
Smoky Park Supper Club
Boathouse, 350 Riverside Drive

This event includes food and drink tastings and  illustrated presentations. To register contact Garrett Artz, Executive  Director, RiverLink 828-252-8474 or  Jim Stokely, President, Wilma  Dykeman Legacy 828-458-5813

Paddling the French Broad River with Asheville GreenWorks
Saturday, July 27, 10 a.m.- 1 p.m.
Asheville GreenWorks Riverside O ffice, 318 Riverside Drive
Participants will take a shuttle to Hominy Creek River Park,  220 Hominy Creek Road and board canoes,  kayaks and dories, then paddle down the  river. Asheville GreenWorks will share their  history and current activities. To register contact   Dawn Chávez, GreenWorks Executive Director  or Eric Bradford, Director of Operations,  Asheville GreenWorks 828-254-1776  Participation is limited to 20 persons.

The Woodfin Greenway / Blueway and a Creekside Train Ride
Saturday, August 17, 1:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Craggy Mountain  Line, 11 Woodfin Avenue
or meet at French Broad River Academy for Boys, 1990 Riverside Drive

The afternoon will include a train ride (which starts at 1:30 p.m., with participation limited to 35 people) and Illustrated presentations,  followed by a short tour of the French Broad  River Academy's sustainable facility. To register contact  Jason Young, Woodfin  Town Administrator 828-253-4887


UNC Asheville Concerts on the Quad
June 24, July 8 and 15, 7 p.m. each night
UNC Asheville Quad
The 2019 season of Concerts on the Quad - UNC Asheville's free, outdoor Monday evening concert series - will  feature  concerts on June 24, July 8 and 15 beginning at 7 p.m. each night. Featuring music that spans many genres, Concerts on the Quad are family-friendly and informal, with lawn chairs, blankets and picnics welcome. Free parking is readily available on campus for these concerts; alcoholic beverages and pets are prohibited. For more information, call UNC Asheville's Highsmith Student Union at 828.251.6990.

June 24: METAL!
July 8: Brody Hunt and the Handfulls (honky tonk)
July 15: Che Apalache (Latingrass)

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute | 828-251-6140 | olli@unca.edu | http://www.olliasheville.com
Reuter Center, CPO #5000
UNC Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804