HERE IS
THE NEW QUESTION OF THE WEEK:
"Should
OLLI News continue publishing letters to the editor and to Ms. Ettakit?"
Vote here in this Web poll and
instantly see the results of your vote. Check back anytime during the
week to see how the online membership has voted.
A new question will be posted each Friday, for
your voting pleasure.
Note:
We apologize
if the Question of the Week is not visible, which can sometimes happen
when
this free service we are using exceeds its bandwidth, and we ask you to
re-visit
the site later to see if you can vote.
| Last week's
question was, "Should
registration procedures be changed from
"first-come, first-served" to a lottery system?" Results: Voters
overwhelmingly said "No" (78 percent of voters). Only 16 percent
voted "Yes." Back
to top.
|
| Traveling
with GMU's Center for Global Education |
 By Barbara
Kyriakakis, OLLI News staff
writer
“BARBARA,
WAKE UP!” My husband’s nudge snapped me out of my light
slumber as my head bounced hard against the cold bus window.
Annoyed, I shot back, “WHAT!”
He pointed. Awestruck, I shut my gaping mouth
with “Sorry, dear,” and stared at the magnificent sight that met my
gaze--the celebrated, snow-capped Austrian Alps. On our third spring
break excursion in three years with George Mason’s Center for
Global
Education, we were looking forward to new and unique adventures in
Germany and Austria -- and found them.
Our past experiences with this travel group
proved to be fun, educational and exciting, and this trip was no
different. Our 10-day journey (like all CGE trips, accompanied by a
knowledgeable GMU professor
and a CGE staff member) included a private
concert for our group
in the Salzburg Fortress, ballet tickets to Giselle performed at the
Vienna Opera House, and a visit to the Spanish Riding School to see a
training session of the Lipizzaner stallions with an unexpected
surprise visit by the Queen of Norway. Many other tours were included
in the package as well as airfare for less than $2,000.
Each of the trips exceeded our expectations:
they were first-rate travel experiences.
Rome, Positano, Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast, Paris, and the Loire
Valley—our previous destinations were brought to life by outstanding
tours, interesting lectures, several gourmet meals, and small
three-star hotels so we could savor the flavor of the area we were
visiting.
Note: According to Susanne
Zumbro, who is heading up an informal group
exploring travel options at the request of the OLLI Board of Directors,
GMU’s Center for Global Education is planning a trip to
Turkey (Istanbul and
the Aegean Coast) March 10-19, 2006. OLLI members have been
invited to join this CGE trip.
Also in
the works for OLLI members is a trip to Ireland, September 7-21,
2006. More information on both trips will be forthcoming. -- Gordon
Canyock, OLLI News editor
Back to top.
|
| Story
of OLLI--In Your Own Words |
 By Manny
Pablo, Membership Committee member
OVERWHELMINGLY,
MEMBERS HAVE JOINED OLLI BECAUSE of the recommendation of a friend. You
may belong to a group who would benefit by hearing the story of
OLLI. By all means let them know the
value of OLLI. But if you are reluctant to speak, we have a Speakers
Bureau willing to share our story.
Susanne Zumbro and I spoke to the Fairfax
Women’s Club on Thursday, Nov 13 at the Fairfax Country Club. The
audience of 30 was surprised to learn of nearby OLLI, and seven ladies
requested catalogs while the rest tucked away a copy of our tri-fold
brochure for a future Website visit, phone call, or drop-by contact.
Besides the Fairfax Women’s Club, speakers
have visited or will visit NARFE (National Association of Retired
Federal Employees), Senior Centers in Lake Ridge and in Herndon, and
the Fairfax Garden Club next spring. Some speakers, like the
Duggans,
have used our "OLLI Story" DVD,
some, like Debbie
Halverson, will
speak off the cuff, some have
re-staged brief performances of Readers’ Theatre, like Susanne and I
did.
There are as many styles as there are presenters.
So where do you come in? First off, as we have
seen, every OLLI member can individually tell
the story of OLLI. If
your audience is larger than you are comfortable with, call on our
Speakers
Bureau, who will gladly speak for you to a large audience. And for
those
of you ready for the next step, volunteer for the Speakers Bureau and
tell our story to many! It is a story told many ways, by conversation,
with slides, with the help of our "OLLI Story" DVD, with partners or
alone. But it is a story worth telling.
To schedule the Speakers Bureau, notify Debbie
Halverson,
Membership Committee chair. She has a whole subcommittee
waiting to speak out. Back to
top.
| Coming
Events at GMU, Oct 24-30 |
By Jan
Bohall, OLLI Catalog editor
GMU
Music Faculty Recital:
Dr. Sonya Sunhee Kim, piano
(details
- pdf)
Mon, Oct 24 at 8:00
Admission free
Concert Hall, Center for the Arts
|
GMU
Symphony Orchestra
Tue, Oct 25 at 8:00
Admission $5 for seniors
Concert Hall
|
GMU Players Mainstage:
Uncle Vanya
Thu, Oct 27 at 8:00; Fri & Sat, Oct 28–29 at 2:00 & 8:00; Sun,
Oct 30 at 2:00
Admission $7 for seniors
Harris Theater
|
King’s
Singers
and Sarband:
Sacred Bridges
Fri, Oct 28 at 8:00
Admission $44, $36, $22
Concert Hall
Ask
about the
pre-performance discussion at 7:15
|
Keyboard
Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel:
Mozart and Schubert: Romantic Fantasies
Sun, Oct 30 at 7:00
Admission $35, $27, $17.50
Concert Hall
|
Young
Artists
Piano Musicale
Sun, Oct 30 at 6:00
Admission free
Concert Hall Lobby
|
GMU
Vocal Jazz
Ensemble
Sun, Oct 30 at 3:00
Admission free
Johnson Center Bistro
|
|
REMINDER:
OLLI HAS A NO-REFUND POLICY if you are unable to attend a fee activity
for which you have paid with your registration.
In the fall term alone there were 15 fee
activities, and it seems
likely that the number of fee activities will remain the same or
increase. OLLI's policy, as stated in member confirmation-of- schedule
letters and in the course catalogs, is that members are expected to
sell their spots to someone else if they are unable to attend a fee
activity.
Wait lists for events are posted at Tallwood
and Lake Anne.
If
there is no wait list, members are welcome to post notices on the
bulletin board advertising spots for sale. Back to top.
 By Kitty O’Hara, OLLI
News Staff Writer
GMU AND THE FAIRFAX LAW FOUNDATION are joining once again to present an
evening of music by the GMU Jazz Ensemble in the Concert Hall of the
Center for the Arts at GMU on Friday, Nov 18, at
8:00.
This is
your opportunity to enjoy some great jazz and help support a
number of
worthy programs at the same time. The concert is expected to be a
sellout, with some 2,000 people in attendance.
The proceeds will help support the GMU Music
Department and the Fairfax Law Foundation. The Foundation is a
501(c)(3) non-profit organization which, since 1982, has provided an
array of educational and charitable services to benefit the Northern
Virginia community. Their programs include, among
others: educational programs for at-risk youth; courthouse
educational tours for junior high students in Fairfax County; pro bono
programs; and programs for victims of domestic violence.
Jazz 4 Justice has received national
recognition awards from the America Bar Association as well as awards
from the Virginia State Bar. For more information or to make a
contribution to the Foundation, contact Ed Weiner at 703-273-9500.
Seniors may purchase tickets at the CFA box office for $5. Back to top.
| Don't
Have Email? Please Reconsider! |
 By
Rod Zumbro, OLLI
E-News
editor
"WHERE TO YOU SUGGEST
THAT I BUY A
COMPUTER?" A
long-standing OLLI member was asking for
advice. “No one writes letters
anymore; everyone sends emails.”
She told me she had been inspired by
my recent
article (Afraid
of Email and
Computers?)
about the Internet tutorials offered at libraries. Her
strategy was well thought out. “I’m going to buy a computer and then
call the library for an appointment.”
Did you know that fully 85 percent of
OLLI
members have email? If you are one of the few OLLI members
without
email, you are missing out on a fascinating world of instant
communications that is incredibly efficient compared to postal mail and
the telephone.
You
don't need a computer -- just a free Web-based email account, that you
can open and use from any library Internet terminal.
You may say, “I know nothing about computers,
and I don’t want one.” That’s all right—you don’t need one to do email.
All you need is a Web-based email account, which you can easily open
for
free, and then use from any Internet terminal at public libraries
everywhere.
However, most people want the convenience of a
home computer. Prices
are
lower than ever, with full-featured, name-brand computers starting at
$300.
| Buying a PC. In a recent article,
the PC World Digital Duo had
this advice: "Simple
tasks--word processing, e-mail, and light Web surfing--require only a
simple, inexpensive machine." |
If you need help
setting up a new computer, just ask one of your
children,
or a niece or nephew, or a teenage grandchild to help you.
On
the Web, you can conveniently do many things online that you
would otherwise have to do via the telephone or in person.
You will need Internet access (providers
include AOL, Earthlink, MSN, Verizon, and Cox), but new computers
typically come with several months of free dial-up access. Many of us
have switched to the "broadband" Internet service available from
cable-TV providers,
telephone companies and separate DSL (digital subscriber line)
providers because broadband is much faster and allows you to use the
telephone while you stay online.
The Internet means not only email but also the Web, where you can
conveniently do
many things online that you would
otherwise have to do via the telephone or in person.
Examples include--
If you don’t
have email, please reconsider. We’d like you to join the rest of us in
this amazing world where we’re all connected.
| Editor's
Note. We have included this
article to give you the same content that you'll
see
next week in the printed OLLI News
in classrooms and also, in case you want to print
this
article and give it to a friend or family member who does not have
email [to print just one
article from this newsletter,
select it with your mouse, right click, select Print, then print the
"Selection"]. Back to top. |
| Note
About New Member Profiles |
AS AN
EXPERIMENT THIS PAST SUMMER, the editor of OLLI E-News sent an email to all
new online members asking if they
would like to be profiled. The net result was one profile. The
editorial staff has decided, therefore, to discontinue that series.
We will continue to profile Board members,
committee chairs and long-time instructors, and we would appreciate
your feedback
on these profiles. Back to
top.
| Town
Meeting--OLLI at the Crossroads |
 By Debbie
Halverson, Membership Committee chair
WERE I LIVING IN A CAVE, I'D STILL BE AWARE that these are exciting
times for our OLLI. We're about to celebrate our 15th year as a
learning institute, and we are coming of age big-time. Not to appear
smug, but still pleased with the recognition of where in the world of
LLIs we stand, we find ourselves in the happy situation of asking
ourselves, "Where do we go from here?"
On Friday, Nov 4, from 10 AM to 12 noon, Tallwood will be the scene of
a
significant dialogue between you, the members, and your Board of
Directors. We're calling it, "Town Meeting: OLLI at the Crossroads."
You need to be there because you will have a
unique opportunity to make
your views known in all areas of OLLI activity. A panel of directors
who head up various committees that determine the workings of OLLI will
set the stage with their present views as to finances, facilities,
program, membership, publications, direction, and development, and they
will also include thoughts about the future. After that, you may ask
for clarification and offer your own suggestions.
Following the panel presentation, you will be asked to cluster in small
groups to be presented with specific questions eliciting your opinions
and thoughts for OLLI as we open up new worlds of activity and try to
solve old problems. Refreshments will be served and a very nice door
prize drawn.
In the next few weeks, you will be enticed by
a sample of the types of questions we will pose; you will see a large
reminder board, and you will see a stack of flyers with tear-off slips
to return to the office or to a designated place in Reston, indicating
whether you will attend. We'll draw for the door prize from the
returned slips, but you must attend the meeting to be eligible.
We're banking on your enthusiasm for OLLI to
make this meeting a priority on your calendar so that you can have a
say in its future. And not to worry -- you'll be reminded of our Town
Meeting many times again. Back to top.
 By
Ms. Ollie Ettakit, OLLI
News
staff manners expert
Parking
Problems
Dear
Ms. Ollie Ettakit,
Many members are parking along the eastern
edge of the pool lot where the spaces are unmarked and in doing so,
leaving a lot of extra space. This cuts down on the number of cars that
can park there. Those of us who arrive only a few minutes before class
starts have trouble finding any free spaces. I sure wish people would
be more careful and park closer.
-- Anonymous, Reston
Dear Thoughtful
Reader:
I hesitate to comment on this letter, knowing
that some of you will view this as a minor problem and will even hasten
to say that people should make an effort to get to class on time or
even early. However,
this is a matter of etiquette, which is really consideration
for others’ needs.
The problem is that when the last-minute OLLI
member arrive, they find very few spaces left
when, in fact, if the early birds had parked a tiny bit closer to each
other, there would have been several
extra spaces for those
almost-latecomers!
My fear is that latecomers will start driving
too fast in order to get one of the few remaining parking spaces. We
wouldn’t want the headline in the Fairfax
Journal to read “78-year old
grandmother of eight ticketed for speeding on Roberts Road ”!
The best solution, of course, is to have your chauffeur drop you off at
the door. A second option would be to carpool, although I have not been
able to find any slug lines in the area for OLLI. If you insist on
driving yourself and arrive late when only those unmarked spaces are
available, then I would urge you to park close, but not too close to
the car next to you, leaving sufficient room to open your door and for
the other car’s driver to open his door. I loathe getting dings in my
Rolls-Royce Phantom, don’t you?
|
| Email
your OLLI
etiquette questions to Ms.
Ollie Ettakit (who is distraught that she cannot reply personally) via
the print-edition OLLI
News
editor, Gordon
Canyock. Back to
top. |
Click
the above image to submit your suggestion NOW! Back to
top.
THE
EDITORIAL STAFF WILL
PUBLISH your brief letters commenting on OLLI activities and will try
to include follow-up information from the relevant committee or staff
member, usually the next week.
-- Gordon
Canyock, OLLI News editor
Singing for Fun
The
Singing for
Fun class is naturally grateful to instructor Joyce DeVoll, but I would
like to thank our accompanist, Dolores Ecklund. Dolores has accompanied
the OLLI troubadours for the last several years, even while recovering
from hand surgery. Each week her opening measures signal the start of
ninety minutes of musical good times. Without Dolores, the class would
have to be called Singing for a Lot Less Fun.
 -- Elizabeth Crawford, Fairfax Station
Advertising
OLLI
Recently I
was at
Westminster at Lake Ridge retirement center, where my mother-in-law
lives, and saw the OLLI catalog at their activities sign-up
table. This is a great idea. I put with the catalog a
couple of the OLLI business cards and will put more in the future.
Debbie Halverson, Membership Committee chair,
told me
that OLLI members Ceda and Palmer McGrew gave a presentation at
Westminster and left the catalog. This led me to a couple thoughts. It
would be good to assemble a list of retirement centers in the OLLI
coverage area and then see if there are already OLLI members who could
give presentations and leave information. I think the same could be
true for a number of churches in the area that have seniors
programs.
Debbie and I agreed to seek inputs from the
OLLI membership getting the names of retirement centers and churches
that could be contacted, and if there are any OLLI members involved
with those organizations. Please forward your suggestions to Debbie.
One last thought is to prepare a small poster
highlighting the OLLI program and which could hold copies of the OLLI
business cards that could be hung up in these organizations. Debbie
would also welcome your ideas and creative assistance for preparing
such a poster.
-- John Woods, Alexandria
Back to top
Rod Zumbro
Karen
Hamilton
|
OLLI E-NEWS
Editor
Proofreader
|
About OLLI
E-News. OLLI
E-News is
emailed to OLLI
members on Fridays when sufficient content is available. Each issue
contains new content (during class terms, the same content will appear
the following week in the printed OLLI
News
distributed in classrooms). We encourage OLLI members and
staff employees to submit news items and write articles. Comments,
suggestions or complaints? Please contact the OLLI E-News editor or the
Publications Committee chair, Gordon
Canyock.
Note
about HTML graphics. If you do NOT see
photos and
clickable links in this message, you might want to ask your child or
teenage grandchild to fix things for you. Or you could change your
email settings yourself. Here's how to view html-formatted messages in
three popular email systems:
- Outlook Express.
Click Tools; select Options; in the Read tab, uncheck "Read all
messages in plain text."
- Yahoo Mail.
Click Mail Options/General Preferences; under Security, uncheck "Block
HTML graphics in email messages from being downloaded."
- AOL. Upgrade,
if possible, to an AOL version above 5.0. Back to
top.
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