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OLLI
E-News #2-08 of January 18, 2008
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| ALERT |
> NEW MEMBER COFFEE: Fri, Jan 25,
10:30, Tallwood. Everyone welcome, "old" as well as new members. Meet
your colleagues, meet the Board, meet the new ED. Refreshments.
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| REMINDERS |
> WINTER CLASSES START MON, JAN 21.
>
MOST
COURSES ARE STILL OPEN. Just sign up and attend. Read
more.
>
EXHIBIT IN ANNEX.
Don't forget to stop by the social room annex, where you will see
photos of some very cute kids--the grandchildren of
OLLI members!
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| ARTICLES AND
NOTICES |
> WELCOME TO THE WINTER
TERM.
From the president. By Pat Carroll
>
INITIAL
IMPRESSIONS.
From the executive director. By Thom
Clement
> IN WITH THE NEW.
Welcome our new members. By Elizabeth Crawford
> THE
BEAT GOES ON. Honoring the Singing for Fun conductor. By Gordon Canyock
> SIGN
UP FOR SPECIAL
INTERESTS. Tallwood members can sign up on Wed.
> THE CONVERSATION PROGRAM. Help
international students with their English. By
Joan Crawford
> WANTED:
TRIP TALES. Share your trip with other OLLI members. By Virlinda Snyder
> PHOTO
OF THE MONTH.
Selected by the OLLI Photography Club.
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| DEPARTMENTS |
>
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
A
suggestion about the OLLI library.
> CENTER
FOR THE ARTS. Arts
and music events. By Jan
Bohall
>
MASON
HIGHLIGHTS. Other events at Mason. By Nancy Ragsdale
> COMING
ATTRACTIONS. Upcoming non-class
events. |
WELCOME TO THE WINTER TERM
From the president
 By Pat Carroll, President
I AM VERY PLEASED TO
WELCOME YOU to the winter term at OLLI, which starts Monday. The
Program Committee has created an excellent catalog of courses for our
education and enjoyment. The committee is always open to new ideas for
courses and new people to help develop and support the curriculum. The
Loudoun Resource Group has a great catalog of courses as well. We are
growing the Loudoun campus and adding to the volunteer group at that
campus.
I want to thank all of our members who have
contributed to the Friends of OLLI. This is very significant in
providing the resources for OLLI scholarships to GMU and upgrading the
capital equipment such as the registration system and the telephone
system that will be installed early this year.
We will be starting the nominating process for
elections of the Board
of Directors of OLLI. This occurs in May but requires a number of
months to create a committee and find volunteers who will serve on the
Board for the next three or, if re-elected, six years. This is always a
difficult and time consuming task. With the help of our many able
volunteers, the process always works well.
Our new executive director, Thom Clement, is
on board and hard at work. He has been meeting with the staff,
committee chairs and Board members. We will be visiting with key
members of the George Mason faculty the next few weeks.
I also want to remind all of our members that
the New Member Coffee will be held at 10:30 on Fri, Jan 25, at
Tallwood. All are invited, but especially new members.
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INITIAL IMPRESSIONS
From the executive director
 By Thom Clement,
Executive Director
EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING for
the beginning of the winter 2008 term at Tallwood and Lake Anne on Jan
21 and at Loudoun on Feb 4. I personally can't wait to see our
instructors and facilitators in action as I drop in on as many
different classes and clubs as I can manage.
During my first two weeks on the job, my
initial impressions of the superb quality and passionate commitment of
OLLI-GMU volunteers and participants are being reinforced during every
interaction and meeting. In conversations with OLLI members this week,
there were two statements that confirmed the value of this vital
organization: One person told me that she had "finally found her
intellectual peer group" through OLLI-GMU. Another new member shared
that "OLLI has been a life-saver" for him during this stage of his
life. I know there are literally hundreds of additional testimonials
that I have yet to hear.
I have had the privilege of meeting one-on-one
with each of the officers and many of the other directors. Each one has
offered valuable insight and perspective. I have visited the Lake Anne
facilities and enjoyed "Let's Do Lunch" with wonderful OLLI folks at
the Jasmine Café. I participated in a great OLLI Open House
at the Loudoun GMU campus. I'm quickly getting up to speed with both
the history of OLLI-GMU and the emerging opportunities and challenges
that we face.
The chairpersons of our Planning Committee,
Development Committee, and Program Review Committee have each spoken
with me about the importance of developing a strategic plan for
OLLI-GMU. There is no question that we have the talent and resources to
tackle this project. No doubt we will have different opinions about how
to move forward, but we must do so with a common sense of purpose if we
want to turn each of our challenges into opportunities for growth.
 IN WITH THE
NEW
Welcome our new members
By Elizabeth Crawford, OLLI E-News
staff writer
IT'S
JANUARY. THE WEATHER OUTSIDE MAY BE FRIGHTFUL, and the
fire may be delightful, but so what? We have some place to go, to the
winter 2008 term at OLLI, where we will be happy to see friendly
faces, take exciting courses, and eat some cookies. As usual, nametags
boasting red dots indicate new members, who have made the wise decision
to join us.
Please welcome...
Elliot
Bernold
Peggie Bloodworth
William Brewster
James Brown
Rita Burke
Anne Burnell
Dianne Cobb
Dennis Deuschl
Jerome and Sharon Donovan
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Benedict
and Arlene FitzGerald
Joyce Fuller
Amy George
Robert Greenspan
Jaclyn Johnson
Richard Miller
Evelyn Murphy
Michael Murphy
Chris O'Hare
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Susan
Osborn
Judith Penniman
Janet Rife
Sandy Rittenhouse
Richard Ryan
Alvin Smuzynski
Martin Stark
Anna and Charles Sykes
Gloria Wootall
Lu Wright
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NOTICE FOR MEMBERS WITHOUT EMAIL
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IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN RECEIVING THIS
NEWSLETTER because you do not have email, you've missed some
interesting information about OLLI (only some of which has been
overcome by events). Fall-term classes ended
the week of Nov 5; since then, seven issues of OLLI E-News were published through
last week.
To catch up on what you missed, find an
Internet-connected computer in a family member's or friend's home or at
any branch of the public library and visit the OLLI Website at
http://www.olli.gmu.edu/. On our home page, just hover your mouse over
the top-level "News" menu and click the selection that says "OLLI
E-News weekly newsletter." You'll instantly see the dates of the last
dozen issues; click any one to view that issue.
-- Rod
Zumbro, OLLI E-News editor
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THE BEAT GOES ON
Honoring the Singing for Fun conductor
 By Gordon Canyock,
Chorus
Alumnus
Joyce DeVoll
and Dolores Ecklund;
photo by Ann Wagner
Singing for Fun in action; photos by Rod Zumbro
ABOUT 20 PRESENT AND FORMER MEMBERS of OLLI’s Chorus, the
Singing for Fun bunch, threw a farewell party for their retiring
conductor, Joyce DeVoll, last Friday in a local community center. Joyce
received a ceramic music box in the form of a Victorian Christmas Tree
from her fans as well as many expressions of their eternal gratitude
for her nine years as their leader. The Christmas tree appropriately
plays "A Partridge in a Pear Tree" to remind Joyce of how much fun they
had making fools of themselves acting out the lyrics at our holiday
parties.
A special gift was also given to Dolores
Ecklund, who has been accompanying the chorus for 12 years and usually
has been successful in keeping them on key. Do not despair, Dolores
promises to return and the group will reconvene under new leadership in
the spring term.
SIGN UP FOR SPECIAL INTERESTS
Tallwood members can sign up on Wed
MEMBERS INTERESTED IN
SETTING UP SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
for social purposes outside of the regular OLLI program are invited to
sign up in the Tallwood social room annex on Wed, Jan 23, from
1:00-2:00.
You may contribute ideas for groups that have
not been previously
suggested, especially on the questionnaire that was sent out in the
fall. This will also enable those who showed interest on that
questionnaire but who forgot to leave their names for later contact. |
Submitted
by Debbie Halverson, Membership Committee chair
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Back
to top
THE
CONVERSATION
PROGRAM
Help international students with
their English
By Joan
Crawford, George Mason University
THE
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
INSTITUTE AT MASON will again this spring sponsor TCP, "The
Conversation Program," an activity for international students who would
like to practice their oral English skills by participating in
small-group discussions led by a volunteer native speaker of English.
This is an excellent volunteer opportunity for retired teachers and
others who enjoy meeting internationals.
There will be an orientation/informational
meeting on the Mason campus Tue, Feb 12, 12:00-1:30 for all volunteer
leaders. Leaders meet weekly with a small group of students for one
hour for eight weeks, Feb 12-Apr 9, except for spring break, Mar 10-14.
Volunteers must be available for the Feb 12 meeting but may arrange
substitutions later in the semester. The meetings are scheduled around
the students' class hours: 1:30 and 4:30 Tuesdays, 3:30 Wednesdays.
and If you are interested in volunteering or
in
learning more about this program, the following OLLI members have
participated and are available to answer your questions: Vinnie
Zagurski, Ann Wagner, Anne Lamar, Bob WardMargaret Breen.
Please contact me by email or phone (703-993-3660) for
further information or to sign up for a specific time slot.
RELATED
LINK
• Mason
English Language
Institute's Website
| COMMENTS, QUESTIONS, SUGGESTIONS ABOUT OLLI? |
HERE'S HOW to express your views--
PUBLICLY
|
PRIVATELY
|
| IF YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR COMMENTS published
in this newsletter, email
your "Letter
to the Editor" or "Letter to
Ms. Ollie Ettakit" to the editor. Anonymous
submissions are
acceptable if you provide contact information so we can verify that you
are an OLLI member. Whenever an official response is
clearly appropriate, the editor will obtain and publish the OLLI
response in the same issue so members will have more complete
information and a balanced picture of the matter. |
IF YOU WANT TO CORRESPOND PRIVATELY:
• Contact any Board member,
committee or
resource group chair, or the executive
director;
• Send an email
to the entire
Board
(email the editor or the office to have your
message forwarded to all members of the Board);
• Submit a
suggestion online
or in the box in the Tallwood social room; or
• Contact the
office by email
or phone (703-503-3384). |
|
WANTED: TRIP TALES
Share your trip with other OLLI members
 By Virlinda Snyder, Trip Tales coordinator
In Italy, Rod
Zumbro and Brenda
Cheadle
admire a $260,000 Ferrari
| Starting
next week, visit Italy, Alaska, South America via Trip
Tales, course 902, Thursdays at 9:30. The course is not closed, so
everyone is welcome. |
HAVE
YOU BEEN ON A BIG TRIP RECENTLY
that you would like to tell your OLLI friends about? We are looking for
presenters for Trip Tales in the spring term, Mar 24-May16.
We are planning for the spring term now, and
we would like to hear
from you! Through Trip Tales, OLLI members have been able to
travel to many places around the world and have enjoyed them so much!
Let us know soon if you can help by sharing a trip with others.
Please contact me by phone (703-339-5748) or
email.
PHOTO
OF THE MONTH
Selected by the OLLI Photography Club
"Log
Jam" by Stan
Schretter
LETTERS
TO THE EDITOR
A forum for members to voice their views
on OLLI matters
WE
WILL
PUBLISH your brief letters about OLLI and, if
a response seems appropriate, we will include an OLLI response from the
executive director or the applicable officer or committee
chair in the same issue. Submit your letter via email to the editor or
submit it as a "letter to the editor" via
the online
suggestion box or the suggestion box in the Tallwood Social Room.
To be published in a given Friday's issue, the editor must receive the
letter no later than 7:00 pm on Monday so that any applicable OLLI
response can also be published. Letters can be published
anonymously but you must include your name and email address or phone
number so we can verify that you are an OLLI member.
The
second bookcase
before being filled
A suggestion about the OLLI library
Dear
Editor:
I have a suggestion: Another bookcase is needed. Despite zealous
weeding/giving away during the yard sale, we are overflowing with
donations of books. The lowest shelves are not much use as they are
nearly on the floor and are very hard to see and reach.
The way things are now in the social room,
there is little room for another book case. I understand that an offer
was made by someone (sorry I can't remember who) to redesign the social
room. Could some thought be given to including another book case (maybe
one with lowest shelves a little higher) in this redesign?
-- Roxanne Cramer, OLLI member |
OLLI response
by Executive Director Thom Clement--
We
wholeheartedly agree
that additional space is needed for display of our growing collection
of books in the OLLI-GMU library. Dick Hibbert is working with a small
group of volunteers on a design for the Tallwood social room annex that would feature cabinets
and/or shelves around three walls. If the Board of Directors approves
the design and we can fund it partially or in full, then we will need
to discuss the availability and accessibility of that space for library
books. At this time, Dick Hibbert's group has not worked on a redesign
for the social room itself where the current library shelves are
located. Stay tuned for updates on this important project!
Editor's
note. You can read about longtime OLLI instructor Dick Hibbert
in this
profile.
|
 CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Arts and music events at Mason, Jan 18-27
By Jan
Bohall, OLLI
E-News staff writer
FOR
TICKETS, call
1-888-945-2468 (phone orders are handled by tickets.com)
or visit the Center for the Arts Box Office, Tue-Sat, 10:00-6:00. More
info on tickets at the CFA tickets page.
|
The Coldstream Guards is the oldest
regiment in the British Army on regular active duty, dating back to
1650, and one of the oldest regiments in the world. Band members of the
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are soldiers in Scotland’s cavalry and
gained fame with their recording of "Amazing Grace" in the 1970s. Both
will present medleys of sea songs, evocative bagpipe renditions and
marches, including a tribute to Sousa.
Sun, Jan 20, at 2:00 and 7:00
Admission: $48, $40, $24
Family friendly: Children 12 and under, half price with an adult
Concert Hall
Come 45 minutes early to either performance for a free artistic
discussion in the Grand Tier Lobby.
|
Faculty Artist Series
Rick
Novak, Tenor
Sat, Jan 26, at 8:00
Admission: Free, no tickets required
Harris Theater
Details
at left
|
Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Masterworks
3 with Dean
Woody, bassoon
Brahms’
Fourth
Symphony highlights the January concert. Dean Woody, the Orchestra’s
new principal bassoonist, makes his solo debut in Mozart’s Bassoon
Concerto in B-flat. Ticket-holders will also hear Wagner’s suite from
Die Meistersinger, including the Prelude (Overture), the Dance of the
Apprentices and the Procession of the Meistersingers.
Sat, Jan 26, at 8:00
Admission: $55, $45, $35, $25
Concert Hall
Come early at 7:00 for a free, pre-concert lecture.
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Back to top
MASON HIGHLIGHTS
Other events at Mason
 By Nancy Ragsdale, OLLI
E-News staff writer
• Men's Basketball - Wed, Jan 23,
8:00. GMU Patriots host Old Dominion at the
Patriot Center. Adults, $14; seniors (62+) $8.00; children 18 and
under, $6. Tickets available at the Patriot Center box office,
www.ticketmaster.com,
or by phone at 703-573-SEAT.
• Women's
Basketball
- Thu, Jan 24, 7:00. Mason women’s basketball team plays
William and Mary at the Patriot Center. Adults, $5; youth/seniors, $2.
Tickets available at the Patriot Center box office,
www.ticketmaster.com,
or by phone at 703-573-SEAT.
|
COMING
ATTRACTIONS
Non-class events at OLLI for the next two
weeks
The following
list covering the
next two weeks is extracted for your
convenience from the master calendar maintained by the office (see the Forecast
of Non-Class Events for more details, including active links to
more
information on certain events, and to view the
actual OLLI online calendar used by the office). Note: Board,
committee, resource-group and
'membership-type' meetings/events below are highlighted
in bold. OLLI members are
welcome at all Board, committee and resource-group meetings (except
during executive sessions).
Friday
Jan 18 9:30am Drama Club -
TA-3
10am Italian Club - TA-Annex
10am Recorder Group - TA-2
10am
Board of Directors Meeting -
TA-1
1:30pm Homer, etc. - TA
Annex
Monday
Jan 21 Winter Term
Begins
1pm LA Bridge Club - Lake
Anne
Tuesday
Jan 22 8:15am Reston Walking
Group - Lake Anne Plaza
Wednesday
Jan 23 1pm Social Activity
Sign-up - Annex
1:30pm Bridge Club -
TA-3
2pm 951-Investigation
Services-FFX Cty - TA-1
Friday
Jan 25 9am 952-Bus Trip Nat'l
Building Museum - Departs Fair Oak Mall Lot#44
9:30am Drama Club - TA-3
9:30am Photography Club -
TA-1
10am Classic Fiction Book
Club - Reston Regional Library
10am Recorder Group - TA-2
10:30am New Member Coffee -
TA-Annex
10:30am 953-#1Holocaust
Museum - D.C.- Smithsonian Metro
1:30pm Homer, etc. - TA
Annex
Monday
Jan 28 1pm LA Bridge Club -
Lake Anne
Tuesday
Jan 29 8:15am Reston Walking
Group - Lake Anne Plaza
Wednesday
Jan 30 1:30pm Bridge Club -
TA-3
2pm 954-Paris to Berlin -
TA-1
Friday
Feb 1 9:30am Drama Club - TA-3
10am Recorder Group - TA-2
10am Italian Conversation -
Annex
10:30am 956-#2 Holocaust
Museum - D.C.-Smithsonian Metro
1:30pm Homer, etc. - TA Annex
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Back
to top
Rod
Zumbro
Editor
Karen
Hamilton
Deputy
Editor
|
About OLLI
E-News. OLLI
E-News, OLLI's weekly newsletter, is emailed to OLLI
members with email addresses on Fridays. When classes are in
session, printed copies of this newsletter are distributed in
classrooms, primarily for members without email. Comments,
suggestions or complaints? Please contact the OLLI
E-News editor or the Communications Committee chair, Gordon
Canyock.
| Submissions. We encourage members
to submit news items, articles and photos for this newsletter; deadline
to
the editor is 7:00 PM Wed (Mon for letters to the editor for which an
OLLI response is appropriate) for that
week's issue. Please limit
articles to about 250 words. Submit material to editor Rod Zumbro
(email rzumbro@gmu.edu, phone
703-569-2750); email strongly preferred. |
Note
about HTML graphics. If
you do NOT see
photos and
clickable links in this message, you might want to ask a teenaged
grandchild or a neighborhood teenager or college student to fix things
for you. Or you could change your
email settings yourself. Here's how to view html-formatted messages
like this newsletter in five popular email systems:
•
Microsoft Outlook
Express and Windows Mail.
Click Tools; select Options; in the Read tab, uncheck "Read all
messages in plain text."
• Mozilla Thunderbird.
Click Tools; select Options and click the Privacy icon; click the
General tab. Uncheck "Block loading of remote images" and uncheck
"Block Javascript." Click OK. Now click View; select "Message Body As
... Original HTML" (not Plain Text). Also in View, select "Display
Attachments Inline" so that selection is checked.
• 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.
| Read the Latest
Issue Before Email Distribution. Eager to read the latest news
from
OLLI? The
new weekly issue of OLLI E-News
is
usually posted to the OLLI Website some time Thursday evening. So
Thursday night or first
thing Friday morning, just go to http://www.olli.gmu.edu/pubs.htm#enews,
where you will find a list of the last 12
issues, and click the issue with Friday's date. |
GMU Webmail.
If OLLI E-News is being sent
to your gmu.edu email address, we recommend against
using GMU Webmail
(i.e., iPlanet "Messenger Express") to read this newsletter unless
you are using Firefox as your browser; in Firefox, just click
the text/html
link to view the newsletter. This does not normally work with Internet
Explorer (although you may be able to make it work by clicking Open
after clicking the text/html link and then selecting Internet Explorer
as the program to use to view the link).
• You
could forward the
newsletter to your alternate Web-based email account such as Yahoo Mail
or
Hotmail and read it there ... or read it online at
the OLLI
Website each Friday.
• Perhaps
the easiest solution for those of you with GMU email accounts
is to configure your desktop email system such
as Microsoft Outlook Express, Microsoft Windows Mail or Mozilla
Thunderbird to retrieve mail
sent to your gmu.edu address. To do this, see these
instructions.
|
OLLI
E-News Editorial Staff
Database
Manager
Barbara Kyriakakis
Photo Editor
Michael Coyne |
|
Updated:
January 18, 2008
Copyright © 2008 Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at
George Mason University. Materials in this publication subject to
OLLI-GMU copyright may be reproduced for noncommercial educational
purposes as long as credit is given to OLLI-GMU.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University
4210 Roberts Rd., Fairfax, VA 22032-1028
Phone: (703) 503-3384; E-mail: olli@gmu.edu;
Fax: (703) 503-2832
Original site design and construction by OLLI-GMU member Rod Zumbro. |
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