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NEWS
Notes from the Board
Want to Lead a Course This Fall?
SPECIAL EVENTS
LUNCH@LLAIC: Tuesdays, 4/14 until end of semester
Trivia Day: Tuesday, 4/21
LLA: Ivy Cubell - Body Language: Don't Read My Lips - Wed., 4/22
Regis LLARC: Lunch, Listen and Learn Series - Thursdays thru 4/30
LET'S GO: The Icon Museum - Sunday, 4/26
Judy Collins at Tanglewood - Sunday, 8/30
AFFINITY GROUPS
Spanish Conversation Group (La Tertulia): Monday, 4/20
French Conversation Group: Monday, 4/27
Current Events: Friday, 5/1
LLAIC Lit-Lovers: Friday, 5/8
Movie Mavens: Friday, 5/15
Not a member yet? Click here to join LLAIC.
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NOTES FROM THE BOARD
This month’s combined Ops Committee and Board meeting drew a larger group than usual, which made for a lively and productive discussion.
Makeup classes during break week went smoothly, and the fall schedule will not conflict with the Jewish holidays. Yvonne Sachs and Maryann Wyner have graciously agreed to serve as door greeters. The Let’s Go group is seeking one additional member; the Nominating Committee has recommended Pat Cole as the newest member of the Board, and the full membership will vote at the Annual Business Meeting on June 2. (Anyone who would like to inquire about the Board can contact VP of Administration Alex Conn.) The Curriculum Committee is now accepting proposals for fall courses.
Much of the meeting focused on membership and finances. The Board is eager to make better use of the LLAIC website as a recruitment tool. While the site itself is well-regarded, there is consensus that the content “above the fold”—what visitors see without scrolling—needs to work harder. First impressions matter online, and we want to highlight both the well-documented health and cognitive benefits of lifelong learning and the distinctive advantages LLAIC offers beyond its courses. Encouragingly, an SEO check for “lifelong learning” placed LLAIC second in search results, just behind Tufts.
Costs continue to rise across the board—registration software (ProClass), room rentals, and technical support have all increased. Fees have not kept pace, and the current structure projects serious annual deficits going forward. Compounding the challenge, most members enroll in only one course, and the growing number of five-week offerings has reduced overall course revenue. After careful deliberation, the Board voted unanimously to raise the annual membership fee to $125 and the per-session course fee to $12, both effective July 1, 2026. New members joining next spring will continue to be welcomed at the reduced one-time fee of $65.
LUNCH@LLAIC continues this week and runs through the end of the spring session.
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WANT TO LEAD A COURSE THIS FALL?
Although it’s spring, winter has barely let go—we’ve had late snow and cool temps, but the forsythia and some daffodils are blooming, so real spring must be on its way. Courses in the second half of the semester start this week, and since the Curriculum Committee always thinks ahead, that means fall and fall courses.
Teaching a course is a wonderful opportunity to share a topic that interests you with other like-minded people! Courses can range from more traditional topics such as 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 ten weeks, although there is some flexibility for six- to eight-week courses.
We will continue offering classes in person at Temple Shalom in Newton. It’s a lovely facility, with plenty of space—just waiting to be the location for special programs and before- or after-class lunches. You can choose to lead in-person classes there, or Zoom classes. 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 the fall course proposal form from the LLAIC website! 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
TUESDAYS AT TEMPLE SHALOM
175 TEMPLE STREET, WEST NEWTON
4/14 UNTIL THE END OF THE SEMESTER
LUNCH STARTS AT 1, PROGRAM AT 1:30
Join us at Temple Shalom on all your Tuesday afternoons from April 14 through the end of the semester for lunch and a delightful program! Drop in before class, after class, or just for the program.
LUNCH@LLAIC is open to guests and no RSVP is necessary, so bring a friend! The next two programs are as follows:
- 4/21 Don Bermont - Trivia Day (see next block)
- 4/28 Alice Freedman – Reinventing English: The Troubled Future of Reading, Writing, and Thinking
When you hear your adult children or grandchildren saying: “nepo baby,” “brolgarchy,” “agentic,” “lewk,” or “rizz,” you might not know what they are talking about. These are real words that have entered the dictionary in 2025. The English language is changing at a faster rate than almost ever before. Not only are new words and new expressions becoming popular, but the language is more evocative and idiomatic. Digital technologies have altered the way we write and read. In this presentation/video, you will learn about the history of the English language and how its evolution reflects contemporary culture, technology, and social dynamics.
Future programs:
- 5/5 Dave Rabinowitz – The History of the Bicycle
- 5/12 Joanne Fisher – Fashion Future: What’s Right and Wrong with the Industry
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CELEBRATE TRIVIA DAY AT LUNCH@LLAIC
TUESDAY, APRIL 21 @ 1 P.M.
TEMPLE SHALOM, 175 TEMPLE STREET, WEST NEWTON
HOSTED BY DON BERMONT
On April 21, at Temple Shalom, the LLAIC Social and Entertainment Committee will be holding an afternoon of LLAIC Team Trivia Competition. Everyone is encouraged to come and bring whatever fragments of memory about useless people, places, and things you can gather.
We will form teams and compete by answering trivia questions generated by AI. The scoring system will be modified to realistically fit our abilities. You may get credit if it’s clear you know the answer, but can’t remember the exact name or place. Example: you can get credit for “She was married a lot and often to the same guy,” when you can’t immediately think of Elizabeth Taylor.
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). Even if you just THINK you might want pizza, please notify Jen so that she orders enough! Prizes may or may not be given.
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LLAIC LOVES ART
IS THRILLED TO WELCOME BACK
IVY CUBELL
BODY LANGUAGE: "DON'T READ MY LIPS"
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22 @ 1:30-2:45
Be it triumph, defeat, exhilaration, or agony, body language conveys intense emotions, even more than facial expression. Let’s explore some of the most intriguing art objects, historic to contemporary, where artists have intentionally deemphasized or eliminated faces. We will focus on the gesture of the body and the pregnant spaces between figures. What story is being told? How is it being told? Why is it being told? Please use as large a viewing screen as possible!
Ivy Cubell has been a Gallery Instructor at MFA Boston since 2002. She leads tours through the collections, develops training curricula for MFA docents, and presents digital art seminars. Since 2020, Ivy has led several courses at LLAIC.
Click here before noon on Tuesday, April 21, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
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REGIS LLARC:
LUNCH, LISTEN AND LEARN, SPRING 2026
REGIS COLLEGE FINE ARTS CENTER
THURSDAYS UNTIL APRIL 30
11 A.M. to 2 P.M.
LLARC's Lunch, Listen and Learn (LLL) series for spring 2026 is being held in-person at the Regis College Fine Arts Center, in its beautiful atrium, with a Zoom option. (For a Zoom link, send an email request to Bill Koehler.) LLAIC members are welcome. The first 30 minutes of the sessions will be for socializing, allowing time for meeting new people, catching up with friends, and general camaraderie. Please bring your brown bag lunch. Speakers begin promptly at 11:30 a.m. Click here for descriptions of the programs.
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THE ICON MUSEUM AND STUDY CENTER
230 UNION STREET, CLINTON
SUNDAY, APRIL 26 @ 10:30 A.M.
Please join us at 10:30AM on April 26 for a docent-led tour of the Icon Museum and Study Center in Clinton. The Museum holds a permanent collection of over a thousand Russian, Greek, and Ethiopian icons and Orthodox works of art. An icon is regarded by the faithful as a bridge between heaven and earth. Its visual language reflects the culture and traditions of the Eastern Christian world.
Following the 60-minute tour we will be walking for about 5-10 minutes to the Zaytoon restaurant on 72 High Street. This is a Middle Eastern restaurant. You will have the choice of a buffet or ordering from a menu.
The cost for the tour is $10. The tour is limited to 12 participants. The museum stretches over three floors but is handicap accessible.
There is ample street parking next to the museum.
To reserve a spot, please fill out this registration form, or contact the people listed below to check on reservation status. You will soon receive a final email with carpool information.
For more information please contact:
Pat Cole (508) 314 1137 patdre@yahoo.com
Margalit Lai (508) 272 8447 margalit.lai@yahoo.com
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JUDY COLLINS IS COMING TO TANGLEWOOD!
SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 @ 2:30 P.M.
On Sunday, August 30, Judy Collins will appear at Tanglewood as part of the Popular Artist’s Series co-starring Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash with special guest Amanda Shire. Cost: $59 in the shed.
Tickets are extremely limited!
To guarantee your place, kindly email Leslie Tannenwald, LLAIC Theater Committee member, to indicate your interest or mail a $59 check to her at 280 Boylston St., Unit 605, Chestnut Hill 02467. Please indicate whether you are willing to drive and how many people you can accommodate in your vehicle.
Reservations will be accepted on a first-come first-serve basis.
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AFFINITY GROUP MEETINGS
Free to LLAIC Members
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SPANISH CONVERSATION GROUP
(LA TERTULIA)
MONDAY, APRIL 20 @ 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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FRENCH CONVERSATION GROUP
MONDAY, APRIL 27 @ 1:30-3:00 P.M.
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On April 13, 2026, we started reading short stories from the book French Stories/Contes Francais: A Dual-Language Book, edited by Wallace Fowlie. We’ve started with the first story, Micromégas, by Voltaire.
You can see a link to the Kindle version of the book on Amazon here. Once there, you can click a box on the right to order it in paperback. CAUTION: There are other similar DUAL LANGUAGE books edited by Wallace Fowlie. Be sure to buy the edition with “Ten Short Stories by Voltaire, Balzac, Gide, Camus …” et. al., available from Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The complete list of stories is included in the description. You can see the actual table contents by clicking on the “Read sample” link just below the picture of the book’s cover. It seems to take you to the FORWARD; if so, you must click the < arrow on the left side to move back through the table. You can also scan to the right, and read almost all the first story, Micromégas.
We meet for an hour and a half by ZOOM every other Monday at 1:30 p.m. We are intermediate to advanced French readers who read the French text out loud and discuss the stories in French. Please email Betty Salzberg if you would like to join us.
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CURRENT EVENTS
LED BY JERRY JACOBS
FRIDAY, MAY 1 @ 10:00 A.M.
What will have happened in the Middle East by then? Will we lose any more congresspeople? Will the Ceitics justify our faith in them and the Red Sox exceed it? Stay tuned.
Newcomers are always welcome to this erudite and forceful group. Click here before noon on Thursday, April 30, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
Planning ahead: Please mark your calendars for Tuesday, May 19 from 1 to 2:30 for an in-person current events session at Temple-Shalom. More info coming soon.
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LLAIC LIT-LOVERS:
THE LION WOMEN OF TEHRAN
BY MARJAN KAMALI
LED BY PHYLLIS COHEN
FRIDAY, MAY 8 @ 10:30
EXCITING NEWS! Marjan Kamali, the author, has accepted our invitation to join us on May 8 when we discuss the book. Hopefully, since Iran is so prominent in current news, she will share some of her insights on that as well.
Please join us any time after 10:15 for socializing. Click here to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
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June 12 - Table for Two by Amor Towles - Carole Levy
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MOVIE MAVENS
FRIDAY, MAY 15 @ 2 P.M. ON ZOOM
Watch this space for the name of the film that we'll watch on our own and then gather at 2 p.m. on May 15 for a lively discussion. Click here by noon on Thursday, May 14, for your Zoom invitation, which will be sent that day.
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