A Second Chance

Mid-Course Feedback Forms

In case you missed the action in September, you still have time to join one of our wonderful classes starting in November:

On Tuesdays:

On Thursdays:

At our website you will find the course descriptions, the course leader bios, and the meeting dates. And of course the registration information!

And if you're in an eight-to-ten-week course, you'll be getting mid-course feedback forms this week. Please fill them out; they really help our course leaders. Thanks!

If you're in an eight-to-ten-week course, you'll be getting mid-course feedback forms this week. Please fill them out; they really help our course leaders. Thanks!

Please arrive at 10:45 a.m for our 11:00 a.m 60-minute docent-led tour, which will cost $8.00 and includes admission and parking. We hope that you will join us at the picnic tables for a brown bag lunch. (Don’t forget yours!) We aren’t going out for lunch because of Covid. We will enjoy lunch surrounded by the beautiful surroundings of the deCordova Sculpture Park. Also, everyone must wear a mask while on the tour. We've learned that there are benches throughout the park for people to use and there is a paved walkway.

To reserve your space for the docent tour, please print out and complete the attached registration form, enclose a check made out to Terri Kasper for $8.00 per person and send it to Terri at the address on the registration form. This trip is limited to 16 people.

Our deadline has been extended; our check must be received by Wednesday, October 6. If you're sending in a check, contact Terri Kasper at 617-543-1955 or [email protected] so she'll know to watch for it. in case of pouring rain, we will cancel the trip and refund your money.

Sign up by sending your name and e-mail to Joan Chasan before registration closes at 10 p.m. on Wednesday, October 6, and you will receive a Zoom invitation by 3 p.m. Thursday, October 7. The meeting will open 15 minutes early so we can socialize before we begin the discussion. Contact Joan if you have trouble signing up. All book lovers are welcome.

This haunting, harrowing, gloriously moving recollection of a life on the American margin is the story of Rick Bragg, who grew up dirt-poor in northeastern Alabama, seemingly destined for either the cotton mills or the penitentiary, and instead became a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for The New York Times. It is the story of Bragg's father, a hard-drinking man with a murderous temper and the habit of running out on the people who needed him most, and of his mother, who went eighteen years without a new dress so that her sons could have school clothes and picked other people's cotton so that her children wouldn't have to live on welfare alone.

Click here to see the upcoming book selections through April.

The LLAIC Spanish Conversation group, La Tertulia, meets via Zoom every other Monday from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. We focus on print and short video articles from Spanish language media from around the world, choosing topics of general interest for every reading appetite. We take turns reading or viewing and then discuss the content, vocabulary, style, world view and other relevant themes.

Participants should feel comfortable reading, speaking, and understanding Spanish at an advanced intermediate level or higher. We address vocabulary and grammar issues as needed, but the focus is on conversation. No preparation is required. The hosts for the group are Miriam Grodberg and Larry Krakauer. Contact Miriam at [email protected] with any questions.

Click here to request an invitation before noon on Tuesday, October 12. You'll receive the invitation by 3 p.m. that day.

Click here to request an invitation before noon on Thursday, October 14. You'll receive the invitation by 3 p.m. that day. New members are always welcome.

The Movie Maven film choice for October is Sand Storm, a 2017 Israeli film in Arabic directed by Elite Zexer with a 93% rating from Rotten Tomatoes. The film won six Ophirs (Israeli Oscars) including best picture, best director and best supporting actress. Set in a Bedouin village in the Negev (southern Israel), it tells of the plight of women in traditional patriarchal societies struggling to live within the limits of their tradition. This urgent family drama also won the Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize.

As stated in the Los Angeles Times movie review, “It’s set in the heart of the desert, but the disturbances of the quietly impressive 'Sand Storm' rage not in the natural world but in the intimate corners of the human heart.”

After you watch the film on your own (available on Netflix), please join us on Zoom on October 15 at 2:00 p.m. for a lively discussion. Please click here by Thursday, October 14, to receive a link by that afternoon.

Newcomers welcome!

Click here before noon on Sunday, October 17, to request an invitation to the October 18 meeting. If you have any questions, contact Richard Lewis: [email protected] or 617-448-4439.

Shelly Levine, who has been an independent college counselor for over thirty years and now works with Dunbar Educational Consultants, will try to explain the lunacy that seems to have taken over the world of college admissions in recent decades. Join us for a lively discussion of all aspects of the current college admissions scene and become an expert advisor to your grandchildren.

Click here by noon on Tuesday, October 19, for a Zoom invitation which will be issued by 3:00 pm that afternoon.

At our September Happy Hour, topics we talked about included the importance of volunteers to LLAIC, disinformation about vaccines and masks, third shots, burning bras to make a point, lies vs. reality, good outdoor garden trips (like Tower Hill), butterfly bushes, farmers' markets, where to get good tomatoes, how to serve them (with sugar?), chicken soup add-ins from ramen noodles to sugar to ginger, and where to buy used books. 

Click here for a Zoom invitation before noon on Wednesday, October 20. You'll receive it before 3:00 that afternoon.

The French Conversation Group is now reading La Gloire de Mon Pere by Marcel Pagnol.

We are a group of intermediate to advanced level speakers. We read books aloud, taking turns, and stopping often to discuss any interesting aspects of what we are reading. If you are interested in this group, please contact Richard Mansfield at [email protected].

Learn more about LLAIC at www.llaic.org

Write us: [email protected]

‌ ‌ ‌ ‌