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OLLI
E-News #40-08 of October 24, 2008
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TALLWOOD GETS A FACE LIFT!
From the executive
director
SHORTLY AFTER THE END OF OUR FALL TERM,
the GMU maintenance department
will descend upon Tallwood to provide a much-needed face lift.
- During
the week of November 17th, they will repaint the main Tallwood building
(TA-1, social room and annex).
- During the
week of November
24th (Thanksgiving week), they will re-carpet all Tallwood
classrooms, the social room and the annex.
At the request of the carpet installers, the
OLLI office and Tallwood facilities will be closed from November 24th
through 28th. OLLI members who need to use the Tallwood
facilities during this time should contact Maria Buczek in the office
at 703-503-3384
to confirm the availability of space.
BOARD
HIGHLIGHTS
Last Friday's
Board meeting
 By Kathleen Meyer, Secretary
THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS MET in a three-and-a-quarter-hour
session on
Fri, Oct 17, for its regular monthly meeting.
Executive Director Thom
Clement reviewed the draft OLLI budget for 2009 that will be presented
to the membership at the Town Hall Meeting on Fri, Oct 31 (10:00 to 12
noon). The proposed 2009 budget assumes no change to
the current $350 dues for full membership. The final 2009 budget will
be voted upon by the Board at the
November Board meeting.
Several resolutions were discussed, and all
received overwhelming Board approval.
- "Introductory" membership rate.
Effective with the spring 2009 term, the Board approved an
"introductory" new-membership rate of $150 for one term; new members
choosing this option could continue their membership for a full year by
paying $250 for the ensuing three terms.
- Loudoun pilot program. The Board
extended
the Loudoun pilot program through all of calendar year 2009 (previously
it had been extended through the summer 2009 term) with a final
decision on the program's future to be made by the Board at its Oct
2009 meeting. If the program is terminated at that time or earlier,
Loudoun members will receive a pro
rata dues refund. The Board agreed to underwrite (i.e.,
subsidize out of operating funds) the Loudoun program in 2009 by an
amount up to $10,000.
- Elections to the Board. The Board
accepted and directed implementation of the recommendations of the Ad
Hoc Committee to
Review OLLI Nominating Procedures. Key recommendations were: (1) To
establish a committee to explore and recommend ways and means of
implementing an electronic election process for the 2009 Board
elections; and (2) To delete from "What Is Expected of an OLLI Board
Member," a document given to prospective Board candidates, the language
'requiring Board members
to contribute to Friends of OLLI.'
- New signage. The Board approved up
to $750 from Friends of OLLI funds for permanent signs for parking
areas, classrooms and common areas.
Tallwood Administrator Maria Buczek with one of the two new signs
already posted.
Photos by Rod
Zumbro.
- Chairs. The Board approved up to
$9,000 from Friends of OLLI funds for reupholstering all chairs in TA-2
and TA-3 as was done last year for TA-1 chairs.
- Audiovisual equipment. The Board
approved up to $4,533 from Friends of OLLI funds for upgrades to OLLI's
audiovisual resources at Tallwood and for Internet improvements at
Reston.
The largest portion is for a new, high-quality video projector for TA-3.
The next Board meeting will be held on Fri,
Nov 21. All members are invited to attend.
Back
to top
HELP WANTED: EXHIBITS COORDINATOR
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OLLI NEEDS A VOLUNTEER to
coordinate wall exhibits in the Tallwood social room annex. The
coordinator
works with the OLLI Photography Club, art instructors, and other
members to schedule displays in the annex.
The job also includes the
selection and design of wall hangings (posters and art work) throughout
Tallwood. This is particularly important now that the main Tallwood
building (TA-1, social room and annex) will be re-painted during the
week of Nov 17, and afterwards will be the time to make any
desired changes to wall hangings in the main Tallwood building.
If you are willing to help OLLI in this
way as our Exhibits Coordinator, please contact Executive Director Thom Clement or Tallwood
Administrator Maria Buczek. |
 TIRED OF WRESTLING
WITH WINDOWS BY YOURSELF?
Assessing interest in an OLLI computer club
By Paul
Howard, Audiovisual
Support Committee Co-chair
DO
THE CHALLENGES OF PERSONAL COMPUTING leave you
screaming at your monitor? Help may be on the way.
Would you be interested in joining a computer
club at OLLI, devoted to helping you find solutions to your problems,
and featuring presentations on worthwhile software and hardware
solutions to issues you face every day?
I’m assessing the interest of OLLI members in
forming a group that could accommodate the interests of Windows
computer users from beginner to fairly advanced.
Please send an email to me with your name,
phone number, and a list of the things you’d most like to learn from
such a club, and I’ll attempt to get an organization started to meet
these needs. The group would operate on a "user helping user" basis and
needs members to teach as well as to learn –
which seems like a perfect fit for OLLI!
 COLLECTION
OF OLD CATALOGS AT DOCSTORE IS EXPANDING
A special find is the Fall 1991 catalog
THE COLLECTION OF
OLD OLLI CATALOGS HAS GROWN by
two, thanks to Palmer McGrew and Beth Davis. A couple of weeks ago
Palmer, our OLLI Historian, was working on some historical documents
and came upon the Fall 1991 and Winter 1992 catalogs. He turned them
over to Beth, who scanned them into PDF files.
You can read and enjoy these windows into the
early years of OLLI by clicking on the highlighted links at OLLI's Document
Storage Web site.
A special find is the Fall 1991 catalog shown at right; if you view the
catalog, you will see that 17 years ago
during our very first year, OLLI (then LRI) offered a fall term of 21
excellent courses for $200 annual membership.
Note:
If you are a course
instructor or coordinator and you want to add links to materials or
actual documents for your course to
our Document
Storage site for easy Web access by class members, please contact me.
IS YOUR
ESTATE-PLANNING CHECKLIST UP TO DATE?
New class on Wed, Oct 29, 9:30-11:00 in
TA-2
SARAH
PARKS, J.D., LL.M., A PROFESSIONAL ESTATE PLANNER, will
be teaching a new estate-planning class, a special addition to our
fall-term schedule. She is
the founder and principal of Custom Estate Planning in Fairfax. A
frequent former
instructor at OLLI, Sarah has also taught classes for Fairfax County
Adult Education and at NOVA's Lifetime Learning Institute.
She has been a resident of Hawaii for the past
two years. Back by popular demand, Sarah has agreed to share her wisdom
during her short visit to the mainland. On Wed, Oct 29, at 9:30 at
Tallwood (TA-2), she will talk about estate-planning options available
to meet
the needs of a typical hypothetical family and discuss the various
documents in an estate plan.
If you have never done any estate planning,
this class will be a survey of your options and will provide an
explanation of the terminology and concepts involved. If you already
have an estate plan, the class will be a good review of the concepts
and goals of estate planning, allowing you to review the choices you've
made and see if anything needs to be updated.
If you want to attend, please sign up in the
Tallwood office.
-- This notice contributed by
Economics and Finance Resource Group Chair Leo Brennan;
arrangements for Ms. Parks' OLLI class courtesy of Audrey Markham
Sullivan.
Back
to top
PRESENTATION TO THE
NATIONAL PARK SERVICE ON OCT 29
All members invited
IN APRIL, THE
BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVED A RESOLUTION in
recognition of the contributions of the National Park Service to OLLI.
Executive Director Thom Clement, accompanied by the History/Current
Events Resource Group Co-chairs Bob Bohall and Emmett Fenlon, presented
a plaque to Rangers Michael Kelly and Jennifer Epstein at a meeting
with their supervisors on Jun 24, 2008.
To provide an opportunity for OLLI members to
share in this recognition, a special presentation will be made this
coming Wed, Oct 29, at 11:00 in TA-1, immediately following the NPS
course on Abraham Lincoln. All OLLI members are invited to attend this
brief presentation.
Here is the text of the resolution:
Whereas, The National Park Service
has presented programs of consistently high quality for OLLI at Mason
for eight consecutive years; and
Whereas,
Rangers Michael
Kelly and
Jennifer Epstein have demonstrated commitment and dedication to the
mission of lifelong learning; and
Whereas,
Rangers Michael
Kelly and
Jennifer Epstein have maintained high standards of cooperation with the
program coordinators for OLLI at Mason;
Therefore, be it Resolved, That the Board of Directors of the Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at George Mason University hereby
recognizes the outstanding contributions of the National Park Service,
2001- 2008. |
HOW TO EXPRESS YOUR
VIEWS ABOUT OLLI
|
PUBLICLY:
• Email
your "Letter
to the Editor" (see recent sample)
or "Letter to
Ms. Ollie Ettakit" (see recent sample)
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 to a letter to
the editor 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.
• Attend monthly
meetings of your
Board of Directors and make your views known during the period for
public comments.
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PRIVATELY:
• Contact any Board member,
committee or
resource group chair, or the executive
director;
• Send an email
to the entire
Board
(directors are listed on the Organization
page, and email addresses are listed in the online Membership Directory
... or you are welcome to email the editor
or the office to have your
message forwarded to all members of the Board);
• Submit a
suggestion online
or in the suggestion box in the Tallwood social room; or
• Contact the
office by email
or phone (703-503-3384). |
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 EYE ON RESTON
An update on Reston matters
 By Sharon Gilman, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
AT LAST FRIDAY’S
BOARD MEETING, the Board approved the use of Friends of OLLI
funds to provide the installation of "Cat5e" network cabling from the
second floor of the church to the basement classrooms. This will allow
a more robust Internet connection to meet the requirements of frequent
instructors such as Beverly Cosham and Dr. Steven Ruth. This is a much
needed improvement for which we thank the Friends of OLLI and the Board.
Tentative plans are being made for a general
Reston membership meeting on Fri, Nov 14, between 12:00 noon and 2:30.
The meeting will be held at the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne.
We hope to have 60 to 70 members in attendance and will keep you
informed as details are worked out.
Reston programs for the winter 2009 term
starting Jan 2009 have been scheduled thanks to the work of our program
committee. We will shortly begin working on the spring 2009 programs.
MASON ARTS AND
MUSIC
Upcoming performances at Mason, Oct 24-Nov
2
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.
GMU Players #1
Shakespeare
in Hollywood
Written
by Ken Ludwig
Directed
by Mary Lechter
Fri, Sat, Oct 24, 25, 8:00
Sat, Oct 25, 2:00
Also, Oct 30, 31, Nov 1, 2
Set
in 1934, fairies Oberon and Puck play in a Hollywood version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This
comic romp was written by the author of Broadway’s Crazy for You and Moon Over Buffalo, among other
hits. The October 25 matinee is an
OLLI Special Event (Fall Catalog, page 21) featuring a post-performance
discussion with the director and members of the company.
Admission: $8 seniors/students, $12 other adults
TheaterSpace (Lower level of
Performing Arts Bldg, adjacent to Concert Hall. From Level 2 of Parking
Deck take the bridge. Enter first door on left and follow hallway, go
through gray doors and downstairs).
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Fairfax Symphony Orchestra
Marcelo
Lehninger,
Conductor
Featuring
Angela Cheng on
Piano
Sat, Oct 25, 8:00
The
evening’s program will include The
Little Train of the Brazilian Countryman by Villa-Lobos, Nights in the Garden of Spain by
Manuel de Falla and Rimski-Korsakov’s Scheherazade.
This second concert of the season brings a guest conductor, one of six
finalists for music director, to succeed William Hudson. Mr. Lehninger
of Rio de Janeiro serves as music advisor to the Youth Orchestra of the
Americas.
Admission: $55, $45, $35, $25
Free student tickets available
Concert Hall
Come early for a free ConcerTalk by Mr. Lehninger at 7:00
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GMU Choral Ensembles at Providence
Presbyterian Church, with the
University Chamber Singers, the
Select Women’s Choir, and the
University Chorale
Sun, Oct 26, 7:00
The
choral ensembles will sing works to include Galuppi’s Dixit Dominus and Rheinberger’s Mass in A, Alleluya Psallat, and Let the People Praise Thee, O God
by William Mathias. A brass choir from GMU will join them for a
Gabrieli triple choir selection. The GMU Choral Department will host a
reception following the concert.
Admission: Free
Providence
Presbyterian is
located at 9019 Little River Turnpike in Fairfax, about two miles west
of I-495 and shortly west of Guinea Road.
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GMU Wind
Symphony and Fairfax Wind Symphony Concert
Tue, Oct 28, 8:00
Admission: $10 seniors/students
Concert Hall
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Mason
Dance Company Fall Concert
Thu, Fri, Oct 30, 31, 8:00
Fri, Oct 31, 2:00
Admission: $10 seniors/students, $15 other adults
Harris Theater
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Ballet Flamenco José Porcel
Fri, Oct 31, 8:00
Spain’s preeminent ensemble of dancers, musicians and singers return to
the Center for the Arts with traditional flamenco blended with a
contemporary flavor. José Porcel is the founder of Ballet
Flamenco.
Admission: $44, $36, $22
Family Friendly: Children 12 and under, half price with an adult
Concert Hall
Come early at 7:15 for a free artistic discussion on Grand Tier III.
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Keyboard Conversations with Jeffrey Siegel
Basking
in Beethoven
Sun, Nov 2, 7:00
In
this second of four performances at George Mason this season, Mr.
Siegel weaves stories about the composer with his virtuosity at the
piano. His program will include Beethoven’s Minuet in G, Prestissimo,
Largo mesto, variations on God Save
the King, and the Farewell
Sonata.
Admission: $38, $30, $19
Family Friendly: Children 12 and under, half price with an adult
Concert Hall
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Other events at nearby Mason
 By Barbara Kyriakakis, OLLI
E-News Staff Writer
•
Cinema Series – Mamma Mia. Sat, Oct 25, 6:00
and 9:00. $1.00 with Mason ID. JC Cinema.
• ESP
Seminar
– "From Bloodroot to Black Ducks: Ecological Studies in Northern
Virginia," presented by Dr. Larry Rockwood. Tue, Oct 28, 3:00, SUB II,
Room 7.
• Johan
Galtung Lecture Series – "Terror, Trauma, and Democracy,"
presented by Research Professor Noelle McAfee. Tue, Oct 28, 4:30 to
6:00, 555 Truland Building, Arlington Campus.
• ICAR Lecture –
"Testimony from Hiroshima & Hiroshima A-bomb Photo Exhibition."
Tue, Oct 28, 7:00 to 9:00, Sub II Ballroom.
• Johan
Galtung Lecture Series – "Globalizing God: Religion,
Spirituality and War." Wed, Oct 29, 7:20 to 9:00, 555 Truland Building,
Arlington Campus.
• Astronomy
Observing Session – Wed, Oct 29, 7:30, Research I,
Observatory. Open to public. Observing session canceled if sky more
than half overcast one hour before scheduled session (check Web site).
• Provost
Forum
– Forum on the State of Mason Academics. The forum provides an
opportunity for exchange and questions between Provost Dr. Peter
Stearns, relevant members of his staff and the university community.
Thu, Oct 30, 11:30 to 12:30, JC Cinema.
• GMU
President Alan Merten Lecture – "A Syrian Journey: Reflections
by President Alan Merten," Thu, Oct 30, 6:00 to 7:30, 555 Truland
Building, Arlington Campus.
• Recital
– Jazz Combos. Thu, Oct 30,
8:00, Concert Hall, Grand Tier III.
• New
York City Bus Trip – Sat, Nov 8. Seats are filling quickly.
Sign-up in the Rec Sports Office in the Aquatic and Fitness Center. $40
with Mason ID.
• George Mason
University Toastmasters Club – 1st, 2nd & 3rd Thursday
of each month, 12:00 to 1:00, SUB I, Room A. Visitors welcome. Optional
lunch $5.
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Back to top
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 Upcoming
Non-Class Events to view the real-time 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
Oct 24 9:30am Drama Club - TA-3
9:30am Photography Club - TA-1
10am
Recorder Group - TA-2
10:30am Classic Fiction Book Club - Cascade
Library/21030 Whitfield Place/Potomac Falls
1:30pm Homer, etc. - TA- Annex
Wednesday Oct 29
9:30am Special Event - Estate Planning - TA-2
11am
Special brief presentation to National Park Service; all members
invited - TA-1
1:30pm
Program Committee
Meeting - TA-2
1:30pm Bridge Club - TA-3
2pm
Special Event - 959 Songs You Love Sung With Heart - TA-1
Friday
Oct 31 10am Town Hall Meeting - TA-1
1:30pm Homer, etc. - TA- Annex
Wednesday Nov 5
1:30pm Bridge Club - TA-3
2pm Special Events
Resource Group Meeting - TA-2
Thursday Nov 6
11am Fiction Writers' Club - King Park West Library
Friday Nov
7 FALL08 Term Ends
9:30am Drama Club - TA-3
1:30pm Homer, etc. - TA- Annex
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Back to top
Former longtime OLLI member (1992-2003)
Gene Farkas
Former
longtime OLLI member (1992-2003) Gene Farkas died on Oct 16. He was an
enthusiastic member of our Readers' Theater Troupe and remembered as a
wonderful, caring, gentle man.
Lynn Gramzow writes, "I remember Gene Farkas
at Readers' Theater when it was still being held in the church
off of Main Street. He loved reading plays and was good at it. I saw
how much he enjoyed life just in talking with him. He was also a very
caring person as I observed when he brought his partner Helen to my
house once for dinner. Helen was handicapped, and he carried her all
the way up my front walk. I was in awe of that determination to share."
The following death notice appeared in the
Sun, Oct 19, issue of The Washington
Post.
Eugene Milton Farkas: Age 77, loving
partner of Helen Weinberger of Hagerstown, Maryland, formerly of Falls
Church, Virginia, died on October 16, 2008 at Washington County
Hospital. Born on November 1, 1930 in Middletown, New York, he was the
son of the late Joseph and Anne Grand Farkas. Gene was preceded in
death by his wife of 25 years, Bette R. Farkas, and his brother, Ray
Farkas. He is survived by four daughters: Maryanne Chandler of Tucson,
Arizona; Karen Andrews of Dunedin, Florida; Connie Leuz of Safety
Harbor, Florida; and Michele Poulos of Jefferson, Maryland; one son,
John Wogan of Brooksville, Florida; nine grandchildren and four great
grandchildren. Gene was a veteran of the Korean Conflict, serving in
the U.S. Army. He was a journalist and newspaper editor and retired
from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as an Information Specialist.
No services will be held. The family requests omission of flowers.
Memorial donations may be made to the American Cancer Society, 1037
Haven Road, Hagerstown, Maryland 21742. |
|
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 Editor Rod
Zumbro or 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 (7:00 pm 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
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• Mozilla Thunderbird.
Click Tools; select Options and click the Privacy icon; click the
General tab. Uncheck "Block loading of remote images" and uncheck
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... Original HTML" (not Plain Text). Also in View, select "Display
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• 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.edu 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
Reviewer and Backup Editor
John West
Database
Manager
Barbara Kyriakakis
Reviewer and Photo Editor
Michael Coyne |
|
Updated: October 24, 2008
Copyright © 2008 Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute at
George Mason University. Materials in this publication subject to
OLLI-Mason copyright may be reproduced for noncommercial educational
purposes as long as credit is given to OLLI-Mason.
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at George
Mason University, 4210 Roberts Rd., Fairfax, VA 22032-1028
Phone: (703) 503-3384; Email: olli@gmu.edu;
Fax: (703) 503-2832
Original site design and construction by OLLI-Mason member Rod Zumbro. |
|
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