The Quill

Quick Updates for Independent Lifelong Learners

May 21, 2023

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NEWS

A Preview of LLAIC's Fall Courses

LLAIC Annual Business Meeting - Tuesday, May 23

New Fall Program Coming: Small Conversation Groups


SPECIAL EVENTS

Let's Go: "Visions of Utopia" - Fruitlands Museum - Friday, June 23


GROUP MEETINGS

Spanish Conversation Group (La Tertulia) - Monday, 5/29

Current Events - Wednesday, 5/31

LLAIC Lit-Lovers - Friday, 6/9

Movie Mavens - Friday, 6/16

French Conversation Group

NEWSS

A PREVIEW OF LLAIC'S FALL COURSES


A Guided Tour Through James Joyce’s Ulysses – Part 1

Artful Duos: Famous Liaisons in the History of Art

A Writer's Workshop

Waves of Technology and Human Outcomes

Lifespan, Its Past, Present and Future: Forever Young?

Great Directors of Classic Hollywood Cinema: Frank Capra

The Legacy of the British Empire – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Breaking the Mold: The Unconventional Works of Kate Chopin

What Makes Great Leaders Great

Foreign Affairs Discussion

Taking Photos with an iPhone

A Frank Discussion about End-of-Life Decision Making

Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro: A Guided Tour

Zionism and the Founding and Development of the Modern State of Israel

Memoir Writing: Reflections of our Lives Past and Present

The Positive and Negative Social Consequences of Technology

What Can We Learn from Natural Animal Models About Human Diseases

Visual Analysis: The Art of Seeing Art

Thomas Jefferson

History of 1960’s Rock 'n Roll

The Joy of Winter Birding

Retooling Your Retirement 

The Lilac Players 2.0: A Play Reading Group

LLAIC ANNUAL BUSINESS MEETING

TUESDAY, MAY 23 @ 10:00

ON ZOOM


Please join us at our annual membership meeting. We'll present our nominees for the Board of Directors for your approval, report on our finances and our future plans, and - most important - hear your questions, ideas and opinions.


The nominees are Sue Goldberg and Alex Conn (brief biographies are attached). There will be a vote to install them at the Annual Meeting. We are thrilled that these two energetic, innovative, creative, and dedicated people will help guide our organization for the next three years.


Click here before noon on Monday, May 22, to request a Zoom invitation to this important meeting. You'll receive it that day.

NEW FALL PROGRAM COMING:

SMALL CONVERSATION GROUPS

 

After years of the pandemic, are you hungry for more social connection? Beginning in the fall of 2023, LLAIC will be offering a new program of small interactive interest groups of 6-8 people, each led by a group facilitator and focused on a topic such as:

 

* When Someone in Your Family is Chronically Ill

* Downsizing: Should I Go or Should I Stay?

* The Changing Nature of Our Relationship with Our Adult

Children

* Retirement: Now What?

 

The goals of this new LLAIC offering are to offer an opportunity for meaningful discussions centered upon a topic of mutual interest, and to provide time for group members to get to know each other better and perhaps form friendships.

 

If you have had some experience leading groups and would like to volunteer to be a group facilitator, or if you have comments and/ or questions about these groups, please contact Gail Stone at 781-752- 8397 or gailstone624@gmail.com or Margret Krakauer at 508-965-7976 or mbkrakauer@verizon.net.

SPECIAL EVENTS

"VISIONS OF UTOPIA"

FRUITLANDS MUSEUM IN HARVARD

FRIDAY, JUNE 23 @ 10:30 A.M.

LUNCH ON THE PROPERTY 

In 1843, Amos Bronson Alcott and Charles Lane turned a swath of Harvard farmland into a Transcendentalist experiment in subsistence farming and Emersonian self-reliance, named Fruitlands. It ultimately disbanded after only seven months. In 1914, Clara Endicott Sears opened the grounds to the public, establishing a museum in the property’s 1820 farmhouse. Now, the 210-acre landscape with beautiful mountain views encompasses collections first established by Sears: the original Fruitlands Farmhouse, the Shaker Museum (the first such museum in the country), an art gallery, the Wayside Visitor Center, walking trails and an outdoor cafe.


The visit features a one-hour guided tour, "Visions of Utopia,” where we look deeper into the stories of the historic Fruitlands Farmlands and Shaker Gallery. We will then move our cars up a fairly steep hill to another parking area next to the outdoor cafe, for a delicious lunch of soups, salads, sandwiches and more. The chef uses vegetables grown on the Fruitland farmland. The small art gallery -- a mix of Hudson River School artists, indigenous art, and contemporary fabric art -- can be visited after lunch. Unfortunately, because this tour involves historic buildings, it could not be made compliant for wheelchairs.


The guided tour begins at 10:30 a.m. Full admission is $12.00. We are limited to TWENTY guests. This is an entirely outdoor tour, so in the event of predicted rain, we will issue refunds and reschedule to another time. Parking onsite. Please send your $12.00 check and this application to:  

                                               Linda Brooks

                                               21 River Rock Way

                                               Wayland, MA 01778

GGROUP MEETINGS

SPANISH CONVERSATION GROUP

¡Bienvenidos a La Tertulia!

MONDAY, MAY 29

Bienvenidos a todos a la Tertulia. We look forward to seeing you at our next Zoom meeting.

 

Our format consists of reading and discussing articles from various Spanish language media sources of general high interest. There is no homework although everyone is invited to submit articles they might find for our agendas.


The hosts for the group are Miriam Grodberg and Larry Krakauer. Contact Miriam at mgrodberg@comcast.net with any questions.


CURRENT EVENTS

WEDNESDAY, MAY 31 @ 10:00-11:15

MODERATED BY JERRY JACOBS


We can promise that this well-informed, passionate group will have plenty to say about the battle over the debt ceiling, the Australian reaction to Biden skipping his visit, the continued stir about chatbots, Rachel Rollins's resignation, and whatever else is happening by the 31st. Jerry will guide us expertly through our usual lively discussion.


Click here by noon on Thursday, May 30, to request an invitation to the May 31 meeting. You'll receive it that day.


AN UNQUIET MIND: A MEMOIR OF MOODS AND MADNESS

BY KAY REDFIELD JAMISON

FRIDAY, JUNE 9 @ 10:30-12:00

DISCUSSION LED BY JOE MORE


A deeply powerful memoir about bipolar illness that has both transformed and saved lives—


Dr. Kay Redfield Jamison is one of the foremost authorities on manic-depressive illness. She has also experienced it first-hand. Even while she was pursuing her career in academic medicine, she was affected by the same exhilarating highs and catastrophic depressions that afflicted many of her patients. An Unquiet Mind is a memoir of enormous candor, courage, wit and wisdom, which examines manic depression from the dual perspectives of the healer and the healed, revealing both its terrors and its cruel allure. First published fifteen years ago, it remains the definitive book on manic depression. "It stands alone in the literature of manic depression for its bravery, brilliance and beauty." - Oliver Sacks


Click here before noon on Thursday, June 8, to request a Zoom invitation. The meeting will open 15 minutes early so we can socialize before we begin the discussion. Contact Joan Chasan if you have trouble signing up. All book lovers are welcome.


The June meeting will be the last until Friday, September 8.  We will resume our monthly meetings then, and we will post the readings as soon as we have them. Please give serious consideration to what book YOU would like to lead the discussion for and what month you’d like to do it. Contact Sandy Grasfield at sbgsbg@verizon.net with your choice or for more information. Thanks.

MOVIE MAVENS

FRIDAY, JUNE 16 @ 2:00 P.M.

Watch this space for the name of the film that we'll watch on our own before we gather on Zoom for a lively discussion.


Click here before noon on Thursday, June 15, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.

THERE ARE NO GENIUSES ON WALL STREET

MONDAY, JUNE 19 @ 10:30-12:00

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.


Check next week's Quill for the link to request a Zoom invitation before noon on Sunday, June 18. If you have any questions about the group, contact Richard Lewis: lewisdmd@yahoo.com or 617-448-4439.



FRENCH CONVERSATION GROUP

The French Conversation Group is now reading Une si longue lettre by Mariama Ba. It takes place in Senegal, the author's country. It is in the form of a letter from a mature woman to her childhood friend,

and mentions some of the customs and problems of the countries

formerly in French West Africa.


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 Betty Salzberg at bsalzberg127@gmail.com.

Learn more about LLAIC at www.llaic.org

Call us: (508) 453-1205

Write us: info@llaic.org


Editor: Barbara Mende

Contributing Editor: Shelly Levine

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