THE OBSERVER
April 19, 2022
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Editor: Susan Rauch
Associate Editors: Micky Josephs
Ariana Caragliano
Contributing Editor: Irene Sax
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General Membership
Meeting
April 29th at 2:00PM
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This GMM will include participation by LP2 members in breakout groups led by Board members, organized in a mini town-hall format, to get member feedback on the past year and identification of issues to be considered at the Advisory Board retreat on May 3rd. You can REGISTER HERE.
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Dear members,
We are winding down the semester and I’m hoping we can soon reap the May rewards of a very rainy April! I hope you are all staying well and looking forward to summer happenings. We have a lot of upcoming events to look forward to, including two science talks: Fridays@1 this week, and a Science Seminar on Monday, May 9 at 4pm. We have intersession activities that week including a discussion led by member Bill Siegel on the Abraham Accords. Keep reading for details and registration information.
As we look to fall planning, please get into the habit of checking the program calendar kept current on www.LP2NYC.org. When member-led events are published in the Observer, the calendar will be updated. Signature event series and regular committee meetings will be on the calendar as well, for reference, as you plan activities for your peers.
An FYI: we are starting a new mailing list for “lifetime members” or alumni to continue receiving the Observer and other relevant program updates.
Lastly, as the infection rates are rising in New York City, please remember to report to me if you test positive and have been on campus so that I can do appropriate follow-up for the health and safety of our community per University protocols. If you aren’t feeling well (even with cold- or allergy-like symptoms), stay home, test, and wait to return to campus until you have a negative test.
Meeting ID: 874 5029 5130
Passcode: 383634
Take good care,
Mariel Villere
212-817-2474
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Schedule for submitting articles for The Observer and Website
Members wishing to submit information for publication in The Observer or listing on the Website have a new deadline: the Wednesday before the Monday publication date. In addition, we urge you to send us your material as early as possible so that it can be entered onto the LP2 calendar, which is managed by the Graduate Center. If you have an event to publicize, please notify Micky Joseph at [email protected] at least a month in advance to ensure that the event receives maximum publicity.
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On Friday, May 13th, at the end of the spring semester, members will no longer be able to access information on the Zine. Thank you, Joan Iaconetti, the IRP member who designed and implemented the Zine years ago, when the rest of us were engraving in stone, and Harold Berkowitz, for your stewardship of the Zine over the past several years. As the Zine Czarina (old-member reference), I can tell you how many lightyears this leap to www.LP2nyc.org represents.)
After May 13th, if you go to www.irpzine.org you will be redirected to the new website at www.LP2nyc.org automatically. The new site is mostly public, but the Member Directory and Faces can be accessed only with a password. Setting your own unique, personal password makes information on the site more secure and will help keep everyone’s personal information safe. (We strongly urge all members to create their password and login to the new site before this transition. To create your password, you may need access to the Zine Directory to check which email address is listed for you.)
Go to www.LP2nyc.org, then click on Log In in the upper left corner. Click on Forgot Password to set your password. There will be prompts that explain the next steps. You will enter your personal preferred email; this is your personal email from the Zine Directory. Then check that email for a new link to reset your password. Take a minute now to check the Zine Directory and make sure you know what email address appears there.
Need Help? Detailed step-by-step instructions are available. If you need these instructions and/or one-on-one help, email [email protected].
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LP2 Calendar for Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 Semesters
Mark Your Calendar (or copy and paste this announcement)
FALL 2022
Start: Monday, 9/12/22
12 week end date (with a 13th week buffer in parentheses):
Monday SGs end: 19-Dec (26-Dec)
Tuesday SGS end: Dec 6 (13-Dec)
Wednesday SGs end: 14-Dec (21-Dec)
Thursday SGs end: 8-Dec (15-Dec)
Friday SGs end: 9-Dec (16-Dec)
Six Week Classes:
1st Session
Monday 9/12 – 10/31
Tuesday 9/13 – 10/18
Wednesday 9/14 – 10/26
Thursday 9/15 – 10/20
Friday 9/16 – 10/21
2nd Session
11/7 – 12/19
10/25 – 12/6
11/2 – 12/14
10/27 – 12/8
10/28 – 12/9
Holidays:
Monday Sept 26 - Rosh Hashana
Wednesday Oct 5 - Yom Kippur
Monday Oct 10 - Columbus Day
Monday Nov 21 -- Friday Nov 25 - Thanksgiving week
SPRING 2023
Start: Monday 1/30/23
12 week end date (with a 13th week buffer in parentheses):
Monday SGs end: 15-May (22-May)
Tuesday SGS end: 2-May (9-May)
Wednesday SGs end: 3-May (10-May)
Thursday SGs end: 4-May (11-May)
Friday SGs end: 5-May (12-May)
Holidays:
Monday Feb 13- Lincoln’s Birthday
Monday Feb 20- President’s Day
Spring Break: Sat. March 18-Sun April 2 *2 weeks*
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Policy Statement Regarding Board Elections
Annual Advisory Board elections are at the foundation of the governance structure of LP² as an organization and fundamental to the concept of Peer Learning. Those who want to become Board members and contribute as Board members are encouraged to have someone nominate them or to step forward and nominate themselves. In so doing, we ask that, as part of their statement as a nominee, they set forth their qualifications and ideas for the members to consider when they vote. However, we strongly oppose general campaigning and electioneering for a position on the Advisory Board. Nominees should feel free to speak to their friends and encourage them to vote. It is not OK for nominees or others on their behalf to canvass large groups or to send out general communications seeking support. It is absolutely a violation of LP² norms to engage in any form of negative campaigning.
LP² is a collaborative learning community built on cooperation, inclusion and goodwill. Advisory Board elections have the potential to be divisive and destructive of our very core values if they are treated as political campaigns. To remove any doubt, it is the Advisory Board’s policy and position that electioneering for the Advisory Board is prohibited.
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Fridays@1 with Dr. Ellen Zweibel: The James Webb Telescope - A Keyhole into the Past
Friday, April 22 @ 1PM
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Astrophysicist and plasma physicist Ellen Zweibel will discuss the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful space observatory ever launched. After $10 billion and years of delay, the telescope was flawlessly launched on December 25, 2021. The JWST is three times the size of the Hubble Space Telescope and designed to see further into the past than its celebrated predecessor to study the first stars and galaxies to turn on in the dawn of time.
Ellen Zweibel is the William L. Kraushaar Professor of Astronomy and Physics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor. In 1991, she was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 2016, she received the James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics for "seminal research on the energetics, stability, and dynamics of astrophysical plasmas, including those related to stars and galaxies, and for leadership in linking plasma and other astrophysical phenomena". She investigates astrophysical phenomena and plasmas physics of the sun, stars, galaxies, and clusters of galaxies. Dr. Zweibel was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2021.
We are delighted to have Dr. Zweibel present the Norma Grossman Memorial Lecture in honor of her mother, Norma Grossman. Norma taught biology in Livingston High School in New Jersey for 26 years and was a member of LP2 for more than 25 years. She is remembered by her many friends at LP2.
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Venue: Claude Samton's Loft/Studio
Address : 84 Mercer Street #2 (between Broome and Spring Streets)
Thursday April 28 @ 4PM
Join us at architect/artist Claude Samton's cavernous Mercer Street studio in Soho for an afternoon of socializing and learning. We will visit nearby studios of sculptor Zigi Ben Haim and artist Michelle Doner as well as Claude's work (photomosaics, photographs, book illustrations and writings).
There is limited capacity for this event, so RSVP ASAP to:
Transportation:
Subways
# 6 to Spring Street
R,W to Prince Street.
E,C to Spring Street
B,D,F to Broadway Lafayette Street
Bus # 55 to Spring Street
Back by Popular Demand!
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Update Your Profile! A Workshop on Making Yourself Findable |
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What do you read? What are your interests? Where do you live? LP2 members want to know! Make yourself findable and make new friends. Learn how to update your Profile Photo, Cover Photo, Bio, Interests, Skills, Neighborhood, Contact info and more in the new LP2 Member Directory.
In this half-hour Zoom Workshop Denise Waxman will give a full tour of the new Member Directory, show you how you can search in ways you couldn’t do before, find out more about members you have met in Study Groups and other ways to contact them. Most important you can learn how to make yourself more findable by updating your photo and sharing what you want others to know about you. There will be an opportunity to get your questions answered and one-on-one help. You might even learn another computer trick or two. Write to [email protected] to sign up.
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LP2 GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Friday, April 29th @ 2:00PM (For details, see above.)
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Venue: Studio of Beowulf Sheehan
Address: 64 East 3rd Street, 2nd Floor
Transportation:
Subway: F to 2nd Ave.
Bus: M15 (via 2nd Ave.) to E. 3rd St.
Tuesday, May 3rd @ 10AM & 11AM
Beowulf Sheehan is considered to be his generation's foremost literary portrait photographer, having made portraits of the literary luminaries of our time across the globe, from Karl Ove Knausgaard to Zadie Smith. His book, AUTHOR: The Portraits of Beowulf Sheehan(2018) is a collection of portraits of 200 writers from 35 countries, with a foreword by Salman Rushdie. You can see some of his work here: https://www.beowulfsheehan.com.
He’s also a great storyteller. Beowulf will host our visit to his studio and then we’ll have lunch in a place nearby his Lower East Side location. Because his studio is small, groups are limited to 12 people. There are a few places available for nonmembers of the PhotoSIG in the 10AM group, and perhaps, in the 11AM group.
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Science Seminar Series
Eleanore T. Wurtzel, Vitamin A Deficiency, Synthetic Biology and the Coming Green Revolution
Monday May 9, 2022 @ 4PM
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The world population is expected to increase by as many as 3 billion come 2050. The question is how to feed those growing numbers. For reasons having to do with climate change, the shrinkage of arable lands and a host of other confounding elements, traditional agriculture won’t cut it. A major part of the solution is expected to lie with synthetic biology, a relatively new-to-the-scene multidisciplinary pursuit aimed at substantially increasing plant productivity in an environmentally sustainable fashion. Among those at the forefront of that effort is Dr. Eleanore T. Wurtzel, Professor of Biology at CUNY’s Lehman College and the CUNY Graduate Center Biochemistry and Biology Programs, whose research centers on crop-enhancement strategies designed to combat Vitamin A deficiency, the underlying cause of blindness and increased mortality currently affecting 250 million children world-wide. On May 9th, she will join us for a wide-ranging discussion of how we can meet current and future food resource needs. .
Dr. Wurtzel is a professor in the Department of Biology at Lehman College and a member of the Graduate Center at CUNY. She has a PhD in molecular biology from Stony Brook University and has undertaken postdoctoral fellowships in plant biology at Brookhaven National Laboratory and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Plant Biologists and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
This Webinar event is open to members only. For more
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Monday Afternoons En Plein Air with Carol Borelli
LIVE: Gardens in NYC
Mondays from 2PM to 4PM:
May 16th and May 23rd
Bring your materials and spend a Monday afternoon or two, sketching or painting in one of NYC's beautiful gardens. Our locations will be determined by the size of the group.
The Abraham Accords: A New Development in the Middle East
Thursday, May 19, 4PM (Zoom)
Bill Siegel, an LP2 member, invites Benjamin Rogers, the American Jewish Committee Director of Middle East Initiatives, to discuss the impact of the Abraham Accords on the future of Middle East engagement.
Stories Aloud with Sharon Girard
Mondays at 3PM: July 18th, August 1st , 15th and 29th (Zoom)
Welcome to the pleasures of stories read aloud by volunteers from our group. The stories are emailed in advance. During pauses, we enjoy general comments and questions, not to mention one-liners and insights wise and dumb. Readers change from session to session - giving an opportunity to read to all who wish to do so.
Each Monday, we’ll Zoom for about an hour and a half. This summer, we're considering stories by Grace Paley, Felisberto Hernandéz, Kate Chopin, Zora Neale Hurston, Deborah Eisenberg, Gogol, Nicole Krauss, Eudora Welty, Italo Calvino. We welcome your suggestions.
.Please email Sharon at [email protected] for the Zoom link; also, indicate if you would like to be a reader.
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ONLINE ART SHOW
From: Sara Lishinsky
Title: Portrait of Jessica
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Sara says: I painted this portrait from the photograph her father gave me. In the photograph she is sitting in a car looking down, probably at her phone.
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Calling All Painters, Sculptors, Photographers, Block Printers, Ceramicists and Textile Artists!
Display the creative work you have been doing this summer in the Online Art Show. Send a photograph of your work with a title and a brief statement about it to Carol Millsom at [email protected]. Art works appear in The Observer in the order in which they are received.
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MISSING LINKS DIRECTORY
Linkedin Learning (formerly known as Lynda)
What links would you like to see included? You don’t have to know the actual link, just what you’d like to be able to link to without cleaning out your desk to find the paper you wrote it down on.
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GC-CUNY Campus Covid Protocols
For those who are coming to campus:
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Masks are no longer required in all campus spaces.
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The rest of the Covid-19 policies remain in place. If you do not have a Cleared4 Pass, email [email protected] a week before your intended visit. Cleared4 Pass (or “Blue Pass”) system automatically renews passes on their expiration date, If you lose your pass, email [email protected] to manually extend it.
- Bring GC-CUNY ID or other official ID.
Additional Campus Operations Info: Reporting positive cases and contact tracing:
- If you are feeling sick, DO NOT come to class.
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If you come into close contact (within 6 feet for more than 15 minutes total, even if in segments) with someone who tested positive for COVID-19, please be sure to wear a close-fitting mask around others and test at least five days after exposure (regardless of symptoms). You do not need to stay home unless you develop symptoms.
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If you test positive for COVID-19, do not come to class and isolate for 5 days before testing. Take precautions until day 10 including wearing a well-fitting mask when around others. Please notify me at [email protected] so that I can manage contact tracing while maintaining your privacy and give further guidance per CUNY’s policy, following CDC guidance.
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Unfortunately, the COVID-19 testing centers on CUNY campuses are not available for use by LP2 members at this time. I will update you if this changes. NYC offers free COVID-19 testing and all New Yorkers can receive a free COVID-19 virus PCR test. Diagnostic tests are available through NYC COVID Express sites or through other public and private sites (search via the COVID-19 Test Site Finder). Further information on free testing can be accessed by calling 311 or the NYC Health and Hospitals website.
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The Women’s Group meets at 3:45PM on Thursdays. Contact Arlyne LeSchack at [email protected].
The Men’s Group meets at 3:45PM on Wednesdays. Contact Jay Fleishman at [email protected].
Stitch Away Stress meets at 4PM Tuesdays. Members share skills and enjoy the meditative benefits of handwork. Contact Michelle Harris at [email protected].
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Observer Submissions: Send items for the next week’s Observer to Micky Josephs at [email protected]. See deadlines above.
Online Art Show Submissions: Send Online Art Show entries and suggestions for tours to Carol Millsom at [email protected].
Member Forum If you have something to share with the LP2 community, e.g., a photo, an article, a book or a web site that you’ve discovered and think would be interesting to members, send it to Micky at [email protected].edu for inclusion in the Member Forum.
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