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NEWS
It's That Time of Year!
Almost No School This Week
Want to Lead a LLAIC Course?
SPECIAL EVENTS
LUNCH@LLAIC Continues Through 12/16!
LLAIC Loves Art: Smithsonian Art Museum - Wednesday, 12/3
LET'S GO: Jim and Margery at the BPL - Wednesday, 12/17
Save the Date: LLAIC Loves Art: Brooklyn Museum - Wed., 1/21
AFFINITY GROUPS
Spanish Conversation Group (La Tertulia): Monday, 12/1
Current Events: Friday, 12/5
LLAIC Lit-Lovers: Friday, 12/12
Movie Mavens: Friday, 12/19
French Conversation Group
Not a member yet? Click here to join LLAIC.
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IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR!
We are so thankful for our LLAIC community and all that it provides to keep us learning and living. From interesting courses to stimulate our minds, affinity groups to engage us in new adventures, lunch programming to enrich us and LLAIC Loves Art to expand our knowledge of the world of art, we are most grateful. We are grateful to our Course Leaders who devote many hours to preparing and giving courses, to our volunteers who run our organization so efficiently, and to Jen and Brendan for their work in keeping us all connected. It is truly an amazing village!
As members of this LLAIC village, we ask for your donation to help us. We all know costs are rising and LLAIC is striving mightily to keep our membership and tuition fees low while still providing the benefits of a world-class lifelong learning environment.
If you would like to make a tax-deductible year-end donation, here are two simple ways:
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Click here to donate.
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Or, if you prefer, you can send a check made out to Lifelong Learners: An Independent Collaborative to our treasurer Joel Shwimer, 21 Stagecoach Road, Bedford, MA 01730.
Thank you for your continued support. We look forward to seeing you in our spring semester!
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ALMOST NO SCHOOL THIS WEEK
If you have a make-up class this week, you know who you are. Most of us will have the week off before we return for the last week of the semester. Happy Thanksgiving!
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WANT TO LEAD A LLAIC COURSE?
As we near the end of a successful fall, the Curriculum Committee is looking for spring courses. Teaching a course is a wonderful opportunity to share a topic that interests you with other like-minded people! Courses can range from history, math, science, and literature to current events to classes looking at music and film—and even topics related to food and animals! The Curriculum Committee can help with developing your idea into a course—generally running from five to 10 weeks, although there is some flexibility for six- to eight-week courses.
If it’s possible, please consider offering a course in person; but if that doesn’t work for you, Zoom will continue to be an alternative. There’s full tech support for all virtual courses, with a dedicated person managing Zoom so the course leader can focus on teaching. There’s also training as needed on A/V equipment for in-person classes and on Zoom for virtual ones.
While course leaders teach on a volunteer basis, they receive a free annual membership and may register early, tuition-free, for up to two courses in the semester they are teaching or in the following semester. So think about what you’d like to explore, and download a course proposal form from our website to fill out. And if you know anyone who might be interested in teaching, let them know about us!
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SPECIAL EVENTS
Free to LLAIC Members
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LUNCH@LLAIC IS EXTENDED!
TUESDAYS AT TEMPLE SHALOM
175 TEMPLE STREET, WEST NEWTON
11/18, 12/2, 12/9 AND 12/16
LUNCH STARTS AT 1, PROGRAM AT 1:30
Due to popular demand, we have decided to extend LUNCH@LLAIC beyond the original end-of-fall classes. So, in addition to our next program on Mary Shelley, we have added two more programs. Join us at Temple Shalom on these additional Tuesday afternoons for lunch and a delightful program! Bring your own lunch (we provide designer water and hot beverages) or email Jennifer Young if you want to order pizza ($3 for one slice or $5 for two).
LUNCH@LLAIC is open to guests and no RSVP is necessary, so bring a friend! The remaining presenters and programs are as follows:
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December 2 - Sally Jordan - "Mary Shelley: The Girl Who Created Frankenstein." Our culture is full of versions of Frankenstein and his creature. From cartoonish representations like Boris Karloff’s lumbering monster in the 1931 film of the book, to The Shape of Water (2017), Guillermo del Toro’s thoughtful cinematic adaptation of this parable about what happens if we create a nonhuman “person,” the myth has a tremendous hold on our imaginations. Yet the anonymously published first edition of Frankenstein was written by teenager Mary Shelley in 1818. and was the tale’s first appearance. This presentation will explore her intriguing and inspiring story.
- December 9 - Shelly Levine - "Watergate at 50: The Burglary That Changed the Nation." It has been called “The Scandal that Never Goes Away” — and with good reason. Fifty years after the break-in at the Democratic headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, we still do not know the full story of how the burglary came to happen. What we DO know is that the events that followed, culminating in President Nixon’s resignation in August of 1974, continue to hold lessons about the nature of power that seem to resonate ever more strongly as the years go by. This video tells the story of how a local break-in became a national scandal, and how it profoundly changed the way Americans think about their political institutions.
- December 16 - Richard Mansfield - "Albert Camus and The Human Condition." For generations, Albert Camus has been an existential and moral guide because of his basic belief in the strength of the human spirit. This video explores the foundations of Camus’s thought, focusing on concepts that are central to his vision of the human condition, including the absurd, rebellion, and solidarity. It also traces his intellectual and political trajectory from the interwar period, through the Second World War. Camus is truly one of the most celebrated writers and public intellectuals of the twentieth century, and his writing is so relevant for our times.
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PLEASE JOIN LLAIC LOVES ART ON
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3 @ 1:30 PM AS PRESENTER RALPH KIDDER LEADS US IN A LIVELY SESSION ON CONTEMPORARY CRAFT WORKS
Craft artists push beyond traditions by testing the limits of materials and techniques. Whether using clay, metal, glass, or fiber, these artists create works that blur the lines between art and craft and encourage us to see everyday objects in new ways. Come ready to discuss works that surprise, delight, and challenge the viewer.
Click here by noon on Tuesday, December 2, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
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JIM AND MARGERY ON WGBH
AT THE BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY STUDIO
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 17 AT 11 A.M.
Join hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan for a smart local conversation with leaders and thinkers shaping Boston and New England. They are a great team.
Jim and Margery have been broadcasting together for 18 years. They first worked together at NECN, then moved to radio and eventually WGBH radio in 2013.
Jim is a lawyer and activist. Margery is a journalist who has worked at the Boston Globe and Herald and other publications.
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We will be present at their live broadcast from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on December 17 at the Boston Public Library studio. The broadcast actually goes from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. We are leaving early to go to lunch.
THIS EVENT IS FREE BUT LIMITED TO 10 PARTICIPANTS. We only ask that you fill out the enclosed form so that we have an idea of who is attending.
After viewing the broadcast, we will take a short walk to Cafe Landwer for a delicious lunch. Come join us!! It will be fun!!
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SAVE THE DATE FOR LLAIC LOVES ART
AS THE BROOKLYN MUSEUM PRESENTS A VIRTUAL EXHIBITION OF MONET IN VENICE
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21 @ 1:30 PM
| This is the exhibit that is currently at the Brooklyn Museum. Watch this space for a Zoom link. | |
AFFINITY GROUP MEETINGS
Free to LLAIC Members
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SPANISH CONVERSATION GROUP
(LA TERTULIA)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 1 @ 1:00 P.M.
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 to request an invitation or with any
questions.
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CURRENT EVENTS
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 5 @ 10:00 A.M.
The news doesn't stop for Thanksgiving, and a lot will have happened before we meet next. Join our vibrant group for our usual scintillating conversation. Be part of our ongoing efforts to find answers to the most challenging questions of the day. New members are most welcome.
Click here before noon on Thursday, December 4, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
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LLAIC LIT-LOVERS:
JANE EYRE
BY CHARLOTTE BRONTE
LED BY MARGARET DERGALIS
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12 @ 10:30
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte is our December read, led by Margaret Dergalis. Some of our most satisfying discussions are when we reassess a classic we first read long ago. There are many very inexpensive paperback editions available on Amazon, starting with the Dover Thrift Edition for $5.60.
Click here before noon on Thursday, December 11, for a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
Coming up:
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January 9 – Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane -- Gail Stone
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February 13 – The Lioness of Boston by Emily Franklin – Irma Napoleon
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March 13 – Maya’s Notebook by Isobel Allende – Abby Shapiro
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April 10 - Exit by Belinda Bauer – Dana Kaplan
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May 8 – The Lion Women of Tehran – Phyllis Cohen
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June 12 – Tables for Two by Amor Towles – Carole Levy
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MOVIE MAVENS
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 19 @ 2 P.M. ON ZOOM
Watch this space for the name of the film we'll watch from home and then gather over Zoom for a stimulating conversation - and for the link to click for your invitation.
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FRENCH CONVERSATION GROUP | | |
The French Conversation group is reading Pas Pleurer, by Lydia Salvayre, a novel about the Spanish civil war that won the Prix Goncourt in 2014.
We meet for two hours by ZOOM every other Monday at 1 p.m. We are intermediate to advanced French readers. We read the texts out loud over the internet. Please email Betty Salzberg at bsalzberg127@gmail.com if you would like to join us.
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