The Quill
Quick Updates for Independent Lifelong Learners
January 10, 2021
#330
|
|
Get Ready for Course Registration!
Two Virtual Information Sessions - Tuesday, 1/19 & Friday, 1/22
Wintersession! Week One - Tuesday, 1/12 - Thursday, 1/14
Poet Laureate Ruth Baden's Poetry Slam - Thursday, 1/14
LLAIC Zoom Happy Hour - Thursday, 1/21
Highlights from the Clark Art Institute - Friday, 1/22
Lost and Found in Spain with Susan Solomont - Thursday, 1/28
Movie Mavens - Friday, 1/15
No Geniuses on Wall Street - Monday, 1/18
Spanish Conversation Group (La Tertulia) - Monday, 1/18
LLAIC Lit-Lovers - Friday, 2/12
French Conversation Group
|
|
GET READY FOR COURSE REGISTRATION!
Course registration begins on Monday, January 25, at 10:00 a.m. Be prepared! Select the courses you may want to take, including alternates in case you don't get your first choices. You'll find days, times, and complete descriptions of our exciting courses on our website. Please note that first-period classes will start at 9:30 a.m.
Before you can register, you have to sign up for membership. If you have an annual membership, you're all set. If you're not sure, click here and sign in with your username and password. (If you've lost them, you can retrieve them now.) Don't worry - if you are already a member, the system won't let you sign up for a second membership.
|
|
|
|
AND THEN THERE WERE TWO!
OUR VIRTUAL INFORMATION
SESSIONS
TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 1:00-2:30
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 10:00-11:30
|
|
Join us for one or both sessions to learn about our outstanding list of spring courses. Because these programs are all online, tell your friends far and wide that they can be a part of the LLAIC community from wherever they live. Click here for a link with which you and your friends can request an invitation to the January 19 session, and click here for a link to the January 22 session.
Several of our course leaders will speak on each day about the topics they will be teaching ... a taste of what is in store. If you haven't chosen your classes yet, here's a good chance to hear about some of them. Because so many of our Course Leaders want to speak about their classes, we need to have two sessions. Click here to see which CLs will speak on each day.
|
|
WEEK ONE OF WINTERSESSION!
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12 - THURSDAY, JANUARY 14
10:00 A.M.
|
|
LLAIC's four-week Wintersession programming begins this Tuesday. By virtue of your membership in LLAIC you are entitled to participate in any or all of the programs that we offer. There is no extra charge. However, you will need a separate Zoom invitation to attend each one.
Every Tuesday at 10 a.m. we will have a New Yorker short story roundtable session. The magazine has very nicely provided a series of four winter-based pieces that we will be using as our texts. All four stories are by highly respected and frequently published authors. The first of these, on January 12, will be "Birnam Wood" which was originally published in 2012 and is written by T. Coraghessan Boyle. Here is a link to that story. In case you can't access it, here is a PDF for you to download. The class will be limited to 23 people for optimal discussion possibilities. Click here before noon tomorrow, Monday, January 11, to request an invitation. You'll get your invite by 3 p.m. that day.
To give you plenty of time to prepare for the following week's discussion, here is a link to the story we will discuss on Tuesday, January 19. “The Buck Stops Here” by Ethan Coen is a bit different than our usual fare. We hope you will enjoy it. If you cannot access it on the internet, here is a link to a version to print out.
On every Wednesday beginning on January 13, Jerry Jacobs will lead a Current Events discussion. That session will also begin at 10 a.m. Click here before noon on Tuesday, January 12, to request an invitation. You'll get your invite by 3 p.m. that day.
Thursday, January 14 brings us the first of our potpourri sessions: Ruth Baden's acclaimed Poetry Slam. Read about it and get your link below.
We hope to see many of you in each of these sessions which LLAIC is providing free of charge to help while away the winter coronavirus blues.
|
|
POET LAUREATE RUTH BADEN'S POETRY SLAM
THURSDAY, JANUARY 14 10:00-11:00 A.M.
|
|
Ruth Baden, LLAIC's Poet Laureate and course leader, will conduct a Poetry Slam on January 14. Members are invited to read a poem or two that they have written - or one by another author that they love and whose work they wish to share. What makes it special for LLAIC is that we will not have a judging. You judge when you decide what to read or bring to the group.
Ruth will read from her book of poems, East of the Moon, plus some poems to be published this month in the literary journal, "Prairie Schooner." She writes and will read about love, death, and living; about growing up and growing old; and especially about women's lives. If we are lucky we will hear her Pavanne for a Dead Potato Latke. Read more about Ruth here.
Ruth will start us off by reading one or two of her own poems. Then members will be invited to read their work. Rules are simple:
- Up to two poems
- Maximum two pages each
To request an invitation to this program, click here. Attendance will be limited, so sign up early if you would like to attend. A wait list will be kept. Invitations will be open until noon Wednesday, January 13. They will be sent out by 3:00 p.m. that day.
|
|
LLAIC ZOOM HAPPY HOUR
THURSDAY, JANUARY 21
4-5 P.M.
At our last Happy Hour we talked about books, movies and TV series, food, walks to take, online games and puzzles, vaccines, what we'll do when we get out, and some of our less admired politicians.
We hope you'll join us again on Thursday, January 21, from 4 to 5 p.m. We'll have more virtual holidays to talk about, plus all the news that will have happened. Bring your drinks, snacks, and conversation. Click here to request an invite before noon on Wednesday, January 20. You'll receive it by 3:00 p.m. on that day.
|
|
LLAIC LOVES ART
ENTER A NEW PLACE:
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE CLARK ART INSTITUTE
FRIDAY, JANUARY 22 1:15-2:30
We are delighted to announce a new LLAIC Loves Art presentation from the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA. This is the first of two presentations; the second will be February 17.
Join educator Amanda Bell Goldmakher in considering how a selection of notable paintings from the Clark collection create a sense of physical space and how their composition may affect our viewing experience and interpretation." Included will be Winslow Homer’s 1886 work, Undertow (illustrated below).
Amanda Bell Goldmakher serves as Senior Educator in the Education Department at the Clark Art Institute. Amanda majored in Art History at Vassar College and earned a Masters of Arts Administration from Teachers College at Columbia University. Amanda has worked at an array of arts nonprofits in New York City, Boston, DC and the Berkshires, always with a focus on helping people connect and engage with art.
Please request your invitation by clicking on this link. Attendance will be limited; there will be a wait list. You will receive your link to the presentation by Thursday, January 21 at 3:00 p.m.
|
|
LOST AND FOUND IN SPAIN: TALES OF AN AMBASSADOR'S WIFE
|
|
SUSAN SOLOMONT
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28 10:00-11:30
|
|
When Barack Obama appointed her husband to be U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Susan Solomont uprooted herself. She left her career, her friends and family, and a life she loved to join her husband for a three-and-a-half-year tour overseas. In a story that is part memoir and part travelogue, Susan recounts a time of self-discovery as she learns the rules of a diplomatic household, feeds her culinary curiosity with the help of some of Spain's greatest chefs, finds her place in the Madrid Jewish community; and creates new meaning in her role as a spouse, a community member, and a twenty-first century woman.
Lost and Found in Spain is an insider's account of everyday life in an American embassy that reminds us we are all looking for our place in the world.
|
|
MOVIE MAVENS
ONE CHILD NATION
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15 2:00 P.M.
|
|
This month the Movie Mavens have chosen One Child Nation, a powerful documentary that takes a sobering and unflinching look at China's decades-old policy that the country embraced in the late 1970s to limit population growth.
This is a must-watch documentary! The film is available free on Amazon Prime.
We will gather on Zoom on Friday afternoon January 15th at 2:00 p.m. for a lively discussion of this provocative film. Click here before noon on Thursday January 14th to request a Zoom invite. You will receive the invite by 3:00 p.m. that day.
|
|
THERE ARE NO GENIUSES ON WALL STREET
MONDAY, JANUARY 18 10:30 A.M.-12 NOON
|
|
|
|
Are you an experienced investor, or are you new to "the market" and want to know more? We are an easygoing discussion group that deals with all market-related topics. Bring your opinions, insights, and questions. Or just listen.
Sign up here before noon on Sunday, January 17, to receive an invitation to the January 18 meeting. And save these dates for the next meetings: Februrary 15 and March 22. If you have any questions, contact Richard Lewis: lewisdmd@ yahoo.com or 617-448-4439.
|
|
SPANISH CONVERSATION GROUP
MONDAY, JANUARY 18 AT 1 P.M.
¡Bienvenidos a La Tertulia!
|
|
Newcomers are welcome at the Spanish conversation group, hosted by Miriam Grodberg and Larry Krakauer. We meet biweekly and focus on conversation using current Spanish language media. Please consider joining us to maintain and improve your Spanish language skills and have some fun along the way.
Click here to request an invitation before noon on Sunday, January 17. You'll receive it before 3 p.m. that day. If you are new and wish to attend, please let Miriam know at [email protected].
|
|
A PASSAGE TO INDIA
BY E.M. Forster
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12 10:30-12:00
|
|
Sign up here to request a Zoom invitation by noon on Thursday, February 11. The meeting will open 15 minutes early so we can socialize before we begin the discussion.
Among the greatest novels of the twentieth century and the basis for an Oscar-winning film, A Passage to India tells of the clash of cultures in British India after the turn of the century. In exquisite prose, Forster reveals the menace that lurks just beneath the surface of ordinary life, as a common misunderstanding erupts into a devastating affair. Written while England was still firmly in control of India, Forster's novel follows the fortunes of three English newcomers to India and the Indian with whom they cross destinies. The idea of true friendship between the races was a radical one in Forster's time, and he makes it abundantly clear that it was not one that either side welcomed.
Click here to see a list of the upcoming book selections through May.
|
|
FRENCH CONVERSATION GROUP |
|
The French Conversation Group is currently reading and discussing
La Peste by Albert Camus. The group meets biweekly, usually on Monday afternoons. If you are interested in joining the group, please contact Richard Mansfield at [email protected].
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
