OLLI Observer
August 12, 2018    
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In This Issue
 Volunteers Needed to Explore 
New Course Delivery Methods

Technology has changed the way we learn and socialize at OLLI and everywhere else. OLLI instructors and presenters have adopted a wide range of presentation styles enhanced by technology, and our hearing loop enhances the ability to hear presentations with great clarity, 
The OLLI Steering Council, as part of its strategic planning process, is interested in exploring various options for online learning to potentially provide additional capabilities to the wonderful programs we currently have, at the same time that we provide the sense of community that is the hallmark of our organization.  If you have knowledge or skills in this area and wish to help OLLI identify new learning opportunities, please contact Bobbie Rockwell ( [email protected])  to join with other OLLI members to explore new opportunities. 

  
       Lewis Rothlein   
I love volunteering at OLLI because of the interested students and the overall buoyant feel of the place!  
 
Lewis teaches "The Art of Solving Crosswords, Level 1 and Level 2."
  OLLI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Energy Savers Network (ESN)
Help Homeowners 
Reduce Energy Losses
 
Asheville City Schools
Give your time and make a difference!  
 
Habitat for Humanity's ReStore
Changing Lives One House at a Time
 
VOLUNTEER NOW ... 
You can make a 
difference!
Email for more information: 
"Death Café" is a conversation about a subject that too often alienates members of our death phobic culture. A new movement is at play in recovering the ritual of being with death through personal storytelling of fears, loss and death; a deepening ritual emerges, and we build a culture of dying wisely.  
 
Join us at our next Death Cafe, facilitated  by Thirdmessenger's Karen Sanders, Greg Lathrop and Sa'id Osio. You can learn more about death cafe at   http://deathcafe.com/
Work for the 
Buncombe County 
Board of Elections

 
  • Completely non-partisan position
  • Short-term commitment: Training, set up and Election Day
  • One day of training, one day of work and a lifetime of experiences
  • Paid positions from $175 to $260
  • You must be a registered voter in Buncombe County
  • Team effort with lots of support from experienced people

Apply at buncombecounty,org/vote
Call 828.250.4200 or [email protected]

UNC Asheville 
Theatre Department Auditions  
Wednesday and Thursday, 
August 22 and 23, 6-10 p.m.      
Belk Theatre on the UNC Asheville Campus
 
theatre Auditions for "War of the Worlds"  are in Belk Theatre on   August 22 and 23
6-10 p.m.  Callbacks will be  August 24 .  A sign up sheet will be posted in Belk Theatre on  Aug. 20 . Scripts are on reserve for two-hour check out at Ramsey Library. For more information, call Suzie Morris at 828.251.6610. 

"War of the Worlds: The 1938 Radio Script" by Howard E. Koch will be performed live at the Belk Theatre on  Friday and Saturday,  September 28 and 29,  7:30 p.m . (doors will open at   7 p.m.), and again at   midnight  on   September 29th  (doors will open at   11:30 p.m.)


History Book Lovers
Special Interest Group Meeting 
Friday, September 21, 1 p.m.

The group will be discussing Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Grann. This book has been on the New York Times bestseller list for over 57 weeks, so it should provide tons of material for conversation.

For more information, please contact Mike Wang at  [email protected]


2018 OLLI Art Bazaar      
 
R egistration is open for the 2018 OLLI Art Bazaar.  The Bazaar is s cheduled for Friday, November 9, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and Saturday, November 10, 
11 a.m.-3 p.m.  
This year's bazaar will again be a two day format, and the registration fee is $35/for a single table; $70/for a double table. 

Exhibitor space is limited. Don't wait to get your registration sent in.  If you are interested in participating or know of an OLLI member who would like to join the fun, let us hear from you!

Click here to download and print an Exhibitor Registration form or you may drop by the OLLI office to pick up a registration form. 

We are looking forward to an exciting bazaar and hope you  plan to be a part.  And if you can't exhibit this year, be sure to mark your calendar to attend and get a jump-start on your holiday shopping.  Click here to download an event flier to post in your community center, place on your Facebook page, hand out to friends....you get the idea!

Questions, contact Sheila Murphy  [email protected] 
Dear OLLI Members,
Please remember that it's time to renew your membership for 2018-19, whether or not you wish to take College for Seniors courses during Fall 2018. To be a member of OLLITalk or to participate in Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and to take full advantage of the benefits of being part of our community, you must be a current member.   Click here to visit our online registration site.

We are awaiting instructions for OLLI members to obtain 2018-19 parking permits through the university's office of parking and transportation.  Be assured that there will be plenty of permits available and that ticketing will not start until September 1.  We appreciate your patience as we navigate this new system and your support as we manage this change in the ways we do business.

We will have volunteers and staff on hand to help with all forms of registration from 10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday, August 13-15 and 8:30 a.m. through noon on Thursday, August 16. Please remember that our initial registration closes at noon on Thursday, August 16 and will not open again until Monday, August 27, 10 a.m.  

UNC Asheville classes will begin on Monday, August 20, and we welcome Chancellor Nancy Cable to campus beginning on Wednesday, August 15.  

Through this time of change at the university, rest assured that the values and mission of OLLI remain vital and are always built and enriched by our community of teachers and learners,
Catherine Frank
Executive Director


 Check the links here to see OLLI and UNC Asheville current events:
 
calendar
Ready to Teach with College for Seniors
School starts 
Register Now for Skilltalks
What makes a great College for Seniors Instructor?  It starts with SKILLTALKS, 
Tuesday, August 21,  8:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. 

The next deadline for College for Seniors course proposals for Spring 2019 is November 2, 2018.
The Forum Special Interest Group
Friday, August 17, 1-3 p.m., Reuter Center Room 205 
 
  Meeting Topic: "Current Events and Voting on Future Topics" 

   The Forum encourages a free-flowing dialogue designed to enrich and expand participants' thinking on topics ranging from changing demographics of retirees to  nuclear disarmament.

SIG contact: Beth Johnson, [email protected]



The many facets of Elizabeth Pou: Crime Fiction Lover and 'City Mouse'
by Carol Gillen
 
Elizabeth Pou's North Carolina roots run deep. Although she grew up on a farm near Winston-Salem, she realized in early childhood that she was a "city mouse" at heart. After receiving her law degree from UNC Chapel Hill, her professional career took her to Atlanta, then Los Angeles, and ultimately to the Big Apple, where she worked in publishing. She says, "I loved New York more than any city I had lived in, enjoying a 'big band' of what is acceptable and could fit in without having to conform to 'expected norms.'"

 

Buncombe County Community Health Seeks Volunteers 
to Help with Listening Sessions
 
Buncombe County Community Health is collaborating with various organizations and individuals to host listening sessions and record StoryCorps-style conversations with community members to learn more their experiences and ideas about how to improve the health of Buncombe County.
They are looking for community members through OLLI to participate in a listening session from now through early September.

Participants in these sessions or story recordings may be asked about their opinions and ideas about what helps or hurts the health of Buncombe County. They may also be asked about experiences with specific health issues or topics or accessing certain types of health services.

If you have questions or would like to support these sessions, please contact Zo Mpofu at 828-450-9322 OR email: [email protected]
Carolinas' Nature Photographers Association Meeting
Sunday, August 12, 5:30 p.m., Reuter Center Room 206
 
Weather in the mountains
The Carolinas' Nature Photographers Association (CNPA) was founded in 1992 to promote nature photography in the Carolinas, to help conserve and preserve the diverse natural ecosystems in the Carolinas and to educate others  interested in nature and wildlife photography. The association is divided into regions for more close-at- hand activities. 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. The monthly meetings are held at the Reuter Center on the second Sunday of each month from 5:30-8 p.m.  For more information please go to: www.cnpa-asheville.org 
Travel Special Interest Group
Friday, August 17, 2 p.m., Reuter Center Manheimer Room
   
First Chester Pankowski will give a presentation on National Parks (NPs) in the western U.S. Chester has taught a course on the national parks at College for Seniors and enjoys traveling to our national parks. This presentation will introduce sources of information on national parks to help your travel planning. He will also describe many natural and cultural features of our most well-known national parks in the Western U.S.
During the second half of the program, Ed Donnelly will discuss his wife Kathy Gainey's and his seven-day driving adventure through sunny Portugal's southern and western coastal areas. He will cover where they went, what they saw, where they stayed and what they liked and didn't like about the vacation.

Following each presentation there will be opportunity for Q&A.
All OLLI members are invited to attend. 
Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society Meeting
Tuesday, August 21, 7 p.m., Reuter Center Manheimer Room
 
Meeting Topic:  Shade Grown Coffee
 
As part of our Shade Grown Coffee Initiative, Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society (EMAS) will present a special August program with Ken Lander, who has been a coffee farmer for 13 years in Costa Rica. The Shade Grown Coffee initiative encourages folks to choose shade grown when they drink coffee.   Shade grown coffee plantations provide important habitat for native birds and for the many neo-tropical songbirds that nest in North America and winter in the tropics. Coffee plantations with native trees and shrubs have four times more bird diversity than open "sun" plantations. For people who love birds and coffee, choosing shade grown is one of the most important things you can do to support neotropical migratory birds.  
 
Save the Date
Farm to Table Dinner on the Quad
     Tuesday, September 4, 5:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville Main Quad

Free Public Lecture by Michael Twitty
Thursday, September 6, 7 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Lipinsky Auditorium
 
 
This fourth annual Farm-to-Table on the Quad will be guest-hosted by Michael Twitty, with the theme "One Southern Family." Twitty will also give a free public lecture Thursday, September 6, 7 p.m. in Lipinsky Auditorium.
More details and dinner tickets will be 
Please note that tickets for OLLI members are $28 each.

Michael Twitty is a culinary historian, living history interpreter, and Judaica teacher from the Washington, D.C. area. He is the creator of  Afroculinaria, the first blog devoted to African American historic foodways and their legacy. Twitty's 2017 book,  The Cooking Gene, was recently honored with two James Beard Foundation awards for writing and for book of the year. 

UNC Asheville departmental sponsors for Twitty's visit: Student Environmental Center, the Office of Outreach and Engagement, OLLI, the Office of Sustainability, Chartwells/UNC Asheville Dining Services, the Healthy Campus Initiative, Study Abroad, the Center for Jewish Studies, and Multicultural Affairs

"I dare to believe that all Southerners are a family. We are not merely Native, European, and African. We are Middle Eastern and South Asian and East Asian and Latin American, now. We are a dysfunctional family, but we are a family. We are unwitting inheritors of a story with many sins that bears the fruit of the possibility of ten times the redemption. One way is through reconnection with the culinary culture of the enslaved, our common ancestors, and restoring their names on the roots of the Southern tree and the table those roots support." 
- Michael Twitty,   The Cooking Gene

The Autumn Players
"God's Favorite" by Neil Simon
Directed by Jim Reid
Sunday, September 2, 2:30 p.m.

The Book of Job as a comedy? Joe Benjamin is a God-fearing tycoon with a Long Island mansion and a prodigal son and two kooky twins among other family members. After Joe is visited by Sidney Lipton - God's messenger (and Joe's tempter) - his life is never the same. 

There will be a Talk Back immediately after the show with the Director and Cast". 

The Autumn Players is a troupe of seasoned actors dedicated to taking the theatre experience into the community. Readings of great literature by experienced performers can spark deep understanding and kindle lasting interest. As words jump from the page with conviction and emotion, stories come to life.
Tickets are $7 at the door.
The Astronomy Club of Asheville
"The Lambda Boötis Stars:  A 75-year-old Mystery" 
presented by  Richard Gray, Appalachian State University
Thursday, September 6, 7 p.m.
Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Dr. Richard Gray
The Lambda Boötis stars (Lambda Boo for short) were discovered 75 years ago by W.W. Morgan, one of the founders of the MK Spectral classification system (the system that astronomers use for classifying stars by their spectra). Compared with other stars of the same temperature and age, the Lambda Boötis stars, at least in Morgan's photographic record, showed no signs of metals or any other element other than  hydrogen.
Modern digital spectra show that metals and other elements are present in the spectra of Lambda Boötis stars, but at very low levels.  The most extreme Lambda Boo stars show metal abundances down by a factor of 100 or more from the Sun.  And this is very curious, because for all other stars, metal abundance is correlated with age - old stars have low abundances of metals, whereas young stars have high abundances.  So, that must mean Lambda Boo stars are really old?  No!  Interestingly, all known Lambda Boo stars are much younger than our Sun, and a few have "just" started fusing hydrogen in their cores. Come learn more about this  75-year-old mystery and its importance in understanding the formation of planets.
Click here to view the Astronomy Club of Asheville website.


 
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute | 828-251-6140 | [email protected] | http://www.olliasheville.com
Reuter Center, CPO #5000
UNC Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804