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OLLI
E-News #5-07 of Feb. 2, 2007
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NEWSFLASHES
> 11:30 TODAY: RESTON MEETING to
discuss the dues
increase, Baptist Church, Lake Anne.
Refreshments will be provided.
>
THIS WEEKEND: WATCH
OLLI ON
"FOREVER YOUNG" TV. If you missed previous showings, read this
article
and watch on Sun, Feb 4, 7:30 AM or 9:30 PM,
on cable channel 10 in Fairfax County (see the Forever Young Website for
other local channels).
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ALERTS
> COME TO A RESOURCE GROUP MEETING:
The Literature, Language & Theater Resource Group meets
1:15-3:00 Wed, Feb 7, Tallwood. Snacks provided. Bring your ideas &
wishes.
> MINI TOWN MEETING: 11:30-1:00 Fri, Feb 9, Tallwood.
Informal discussion of "The Dues Increase." Bring your lunch.
>
SPRING-TERM CATALOG:
Should be posted online during the weekend of Feb 10-11.
> THE OFFICE WILL BE CLOSED MON, FEB 19,
for the Presidents' Day holiday.
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REMINDERS
> YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETS ON THE
3RD FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH.
The next meeting is Fri, Feb 16, 10:00, Tallwood. All members are
invited to attend & participate.
> ARE
YOU RECEIVING OLLI E-NEWS IN
YOUR INBOX?
If you have email but are not
receiving OLLI E-News each
Friday, notify the office. Until you start receiving the newsletter via
email, read it online every Friday for
the latest news even when classes are not in session.
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| ARTICLES AND
NOTICES
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DEPARTMENTS
> LETTERS TO THE EDITOR.
Concern about the use of DVDs instead of teachers.
> MS.
OLLIE ETTAKIT.
OLLI's manners expert
returns after a hiatus.
> CENTER FOR THE ARTS.
Upcoming arts and music events at Mason. By Jan Bohall
>
MASON
HIGHLIGHTS. Other events at nearby Mason. By Barbara Kyriakakis
> COMING ATTRACTIONS. Upcoming
OLLI non-class
events for the next two weeks. |
HOW DOES OUR OLLI COMPARE WITH OTHERS?
Some thoughts; a look at four other LLIs
 By Charles Duggan,
Treasurer, former President
I
HAVE BEEN ASKED HOW OLLI AT GEORGE MASON compares
to other lifelong-learning institutes, both OLLI and non-OLLI. Well, to
start with, no one else serves free coffee and cookies. But more on
that later.
 Obviously, I am biased, but I am
also convinced that we have one of the finest and most vibrant lifelong
learning institutes in the nation. What makes OLLI-GMU extraordinary is
a combination of the comprehensive nature of our program and the way in
which we operate. I have explored the Websites of dozens of other
institutes and have found few that compare to the richness and breadth
of our program or the value we offer. Ours is a 250-course program
spread over four terms with unlimited registration (subject to class
limits), free parking and a perquisite I have found nowhere else – free
coffee and cookies. Our average member takes more than four courses per
semester – about fifteen per year, with some signing up for seven or
more each term.
This is not what I have found at other
institutes. Most others institutes offer far fewer courses than
OLLI-GMU and few have the richness of our offerings. Also, they
typically limit registration and have more serious parking issues, and
I
have yet to find any that provide free coffee much less our abundance
of cookies.
To give you a sense of what I am saying, I
have picked a couple of examples of programs that I believe are
comparable in quality to OLLI-GMU. Log on to their Websites and check
them out for yourself.
- The first is OLLI at
Northwestern University, Evanston and Chicago, Illinois. The
Evanston program is in a suburban environment like ours and offers 40
classes per semester. Members can also choose from 40 additional
classes at the downtown Chicago location. Now, here is the rub. The
annual fee is $515 or $350 per semester. The fee covers registration
for the first three classes each semester with a $35 charge for each
additional class. Parking is $110 per semester and I am told that it is
not close to the assigned classrooms. They do not have a dedicated
building, and, of course, no coffee and cookies.
- Another
example is our sister OLLI
at American University, across the Potomac. They offer two 10-week
terms,
charge $400 annually or $225 for one term, and registration is limited
to three courses per semester. Parking is $1.50 per hour and is about a
five- to ten-minute walk away. Coffee is available at $.25 per cup.
Even closer to home are the Arlington Learning
in Retirement Institute ("ALRI," also affiliated with George Mason) and
the Lifetime Learning Institute of Northern Virginia ("LLI NOVA,"
affiliated with Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale).
- ALRI offers
two terms per year, with
approximately 30 classes each term. The annual membership is $55 and
each class costs $45. Classes are held at seven different locations and
all but three require paid garage or metered parking. As most classes
are held at downtown locations, there are ample local facilities to
purchase coffee.
- LLI NOVA offers three
terms per year and charges
$110 per member. This past fall they offered 34 classes ranging from
one to ten weeks. Twenty five of the 34 were four weeks or less.
Classes are
held at 17 locations; when held on the NOVA campus, parking is $1
per hour.
If you are interested in checking out any of
the other OLLIs around the country, you can find the links to their
Websites from the OLLI National Resource Center Website map;
click on a state to view a list of Institutes in that state.
TAX PREPARATION
SIMPLIFIED
What You Have Always Wanted to Know About
Taxes But Were Afraid to Ask
  OLLI IS
PLEASED
TO OPEN the February 6th session of the winter-term course "Tax
Preparation Simplified" to all OLLI members and guests who would like
to hear Linda de Marlor‘s presentation, "What You Have Always Wanted to
Know About Taxes But Were Afraid to Ask."
Linda (photo
at right) will give a short PowerPoint
presentation and then field questions on real estate, legal and
financial issues. She has appeared on hundreds of national television
and radio shows, teaches tax law to educational institutions, speaks
four languages and can do taxes in six languages. She is an annual
presenter to the Widowed Persons Service of Northern Virginia. Don’t
miss this chance to ask questions of a nationally recognized expert.
The Church of the Good Shepherd is located at
9350 Braddock Road at the corner of Braddock Road and Olley Lane,
approximately 4 miles west of the Capital Beltway (I-495). From
Tallwood, turn right onto Roberts Road, turn left at Braddock Road and
continue east for three traffic lights. You will see the church which
faces Braddock Road. Turn left onto Olley Lane (you can not enter from
Braddock Road; the entrance is on Olley Lane). Turn right at the second
driveway marked Church Entrance. You may park on the gravel overflow,
if necessary.
Enter through the red double doors and follow
the OLLI signs to the auditorium. |
This notice was provided by OLLI member
Leo Brennan, chair of the Economics and Finance Resource Group
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Back to top
LEWIS & CLARK EVENT
An open program by an author who traveled
the trail
SPECIAL PROGRAM BY A LEWIS & CLARK
TRAIL EXPERT
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 OLLI
MEMBERS WHO HAVE ENJOYED PREVIOUS OLLI CLASSES ON LEWIS & CLARK
or who just have an interest in the subject are invited, with their
guests, to join the National Capital Chapter of the Lewis & Clark
Trail Heritage Foundation for an open event -- lunch and a program
about the Lewis & Clark Trail -- on Tue, Feb 20, at the Library of
Congress.
Lorna Hainseworth, author and trail expert, will
speak about her book, Road Spirit
Rules. Through a variety of media, Lorna will share the
experiences that occurred during her travels on the Lewis & Clark
Trail from Washington, DC, to Seaside, Oregon, and back.
The event starts with a self-serve buffet
lunch ($10.50 plus gratuity and tax) at 12 noon in private dining room
"C" off of the Montpelier Dining Room, 6th floor, of the Madison
Building, Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave., SE, Washington,
DC.
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| For
more information or to make reservations, contact OLLI member Virlinda
Snyder by email or phone. |
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
applicable, we will try
to include follow-up information from the relevant officer, committee
chair or staff
member in the same or a subsequent 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. 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.
Use
of DVDs in place of teachers
I would like to voice my
objection to the increasing tendency to make presentations in the
courses by DVD rather than via live speakers. The advantages to the
latter are obvious: the ability to ask questions and make comments, and
the personal contact engendered. At the very least, the catalog's
course description should indicate if presentations are via DVD.
-- Mel Gottlieb, OLLI member
Response
from Executive Director Dick Chobot:
The use of
media, including
DVD, as an adjunct resource in a course is an accepted practice at OLLI
and has been discussed in the Program Review Committee. Where DVD or
another medium is to be used as a major resource, we strive to include
this fact in the catalog. Justification for the use of a medium such as
DVD is to expose course participants to recognized experts. However,
such materials are not a substitute for the human voice.
Our instructors are volunteers. As such, they
decide how to organize and present their courses. We appreciate a
member's willingness to put him/herself out in front as a volunteer
instructor. Media should never be the sole instructional element in a
course. But it should be available as one resource for an instructor.
I agree with the author regarding the
advantages of interaction with a speaker. Speakers or facilitators will
continue to be the bedrock of OLLI courses. However, OLLI also needs to
judiciously experiment with available media and instructional formats
in its continuing quest for program flexibility and enhancement,
without sacrificing program quality. Members need to be intelligent
consumers and be guided in course selections by their comfort level
with specific presentation style and class formats. OLLI staff needs to
offer accurate information, as is provided in the catalog, on the use
of media in courses; members need to use this information in making
course selections that conform to their instructional preferences.
Comments/questions/suggestions about OLLI?
Here's how to express your views--
- Privately--
- Contact any Board member
or the Executive Director;
- Send an email to the entire Board
(email the office, which will
forward your
message to the Board of Directors distribution list);
- Submit a suggestion online
or in the box in the Tallwood social room or on one of the "parking
lots for ideas" in classrooms; or
- Contact the office by email
or phone (703-503-3384).
- Publicly
(if you would like your comments to be seen by other members, including
the Board, and the Executive Director): Email a "Letter
to the Editor" or a "Letter to
Ms. Ollie Ettakit" for publication in OLLI
E-News.
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MS. OLLIE
ETTAKIT
Answers to your pressing questions about
OLLI etiquette
 By
Ms. Ollie Ettakit, OLLI
News
staff manners expert
Please
respect the instructor's request to
hold questions
Dear Ms. Ettakit:
A clear strength of the OLLI program is its consistent strong class
participation by OLLI members. This being said, I believe we owe it to
our wonderful volunteer speakers to hold our questions to the end of
the presentation when they explicitly ask us to do so. I'm sure that it
is very disappointing to our speakers to be unable to convey those
points they believe to be central to the topic at hand. It is also
frustrating to students to have their appetites whetted for material in
an opening outline only to be left wanting when the closing bell
sounds. Shouldn't we be more courteous to our speakers and fellow
classmates?
-- Carol Schuster, OLLI member
Dear
Gentle Reader,
Yes.
You show remarkable restraint, my dear, in the
courteous manner of
presenting your suggestion. Some of our readers might have preferred to
comment pejoratively upon a person who interrupts the speaker, which I
am sure is a rare occurrence here at OLLI. Unless the question is a
simple point of clarification, e.g., "You meant 1870, not 1970,
right?," it is clearly poor manners to ask questions during a
presentation when the speaker has requested that all queries be held to
the end, and I would hope that the class liaison would assiduously
enforce that request.
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| Email
your OLLI
etiquette questions to Ms.
Ollie Ettakit (who is distraught that she cannot reply personally) via
the OLLI E-News editor. |
 COMING EVENTS AT THE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Something for everyone at nearby Mason,
Feb 2-11
By Jan Bohall, OLLI
E-News staff writer
For tickets, call 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.
Cirque Eloise
Rain |
Vagina Monologues
by GMU Sexual Assault Services |
Tumbling, juggling, acrobats and
contortionists are featured, with
performers outfitted in old time bathing costumes of the Gay ‘90s.
Highlighted
are the daring of the flying trapeze and more thrilling acrobatics. The
Quebec-based company is here for a third booking.
Fri, Feb 2, at 8:00
Sat, Feb 3, at 2:00 and 8:00
Admission: $44, $36, $22
Family Friendly: Children 12 and under half price, with an adult
Concert Hall
Come
45 minutes early
for each performance for an artistic discussion in the Grand Tier Lobby.
Come at 1:00 on Sat for a family friendly, pre-performance reception in
the main lobby.
SPECIAL: At 12 noon on
Sat in Mason Hall, bring the grandkids and join the Friends
of the Center of the Arts for clowns, face painting,
balloon-animal
creation, favorite circus food and fun
before
the performance. Cost for Friends,
$10; for others, $12. Please
contact CFA's Kathy Beyer for questions or reservations by email or phone (703-993-4188). Mason
Hall is the brick building across the courtyard from the Concert Hall.
Look for the balloons at the entrance.
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Feb
2, at 8:00
Sat, Feb 3, at 2:00 and 9:00
Admission: $25 adults, $5 GMU students
Harris Theater |
Virginia
Opera
Agrippina |
This comic opera is said to be Handel’s
first masterpiece, written when
he was only 24. When the Roman Emperor Claudius is reported to have
drowned, his wife Agrippina schemes to have her son appointed in his
place. But Claudius is rescued and his reappearance sets off political
and sexual complications. It will be sung in Italian with English
supertitles.
Fri, Feb 9, at 8:00
Sun, Feb 11, at 2:00
Admission: $86, $72, $44 – Fri
$90, $76, $48 – Sat
Concert Hall
Come
at 6:30 on
Friday evening for a wine and cheese tasting in the
lobby. A pre-performance artistic discussion will be held in the
Grand Tier Lobby 45 minutes before each performance. |
Back to top
MASON HIGHLIGHTS
A brief listing of other events at nearby
Mason
 By Barbara Kyriakakis, OLLI
E-News assistant editor
- Russian Space Experts
Visit Mason
- Russian Cosmonaut and Russian Head of Foreign Relations talk about
life in space and the future of space exploration: "The Russian
Perspective." Guests include Yuriy Usachev (Russian cosmonaut)
and Alexander Martynov (Head of Foreign Relations, Russia). The
presentation will be held Mon, Feb 5, at 2:00 in the Harris Theater and
in
Mason Hall Conference Room at 6:00.
- School
of Management’s Hot Topics in Technology Management
Speaker
Series presents an evening with Internet pioneer Robert Kahn,
Chairman,
CEO and President of the Corporation for Research Initiatives on Tue,
Feb 6.
Reception at 6:30, lecture at 7:15, Mason Hall. Free and open to
the public. RSVP to jpalmisa@gmu.edu.
- Art and
Visual
Technology’s Visual
Voices Lecture Series is bringing John Moore,
Gutman Professor of Fine Arts, University of Pennsylvania, to the
Harris Theater on Thu, Feb 8, from 7:30 to 9:00. His
lecture "Here and There" is free and open to the public.
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 more
complete OLLI
Staff Forecast of Non-Class Events. Board, committee, resource-group and
'membership-type' meetings are highlighted
in bold. OLLI members are
welcome at all Board, committee and resource-group meetings (except
executive sessions).
Feb
2 Friday 9:30 AM
Drama Club, TA-1
10:00 AM
Recorder Class, TA-2
10:00 AM Spec
Event E: Digital Photo Walk II, Downtown D.C.
10:30 AM
Fiction Writers Club, Annex
11:30 AM
Recorder Club, TA-2
11:30
AM Reston Support Cmte Mtg, LA
12:30 PM Drama
Club Rehearsal, TA-1
1:30 PM Homer Book
Club, Annex
6
Tuesday 8:15 AM Walking
Club, Lake Anne Church
7 Wednesday 9:30
AM Painting Workshop, Reston Storefront Museum
1:15
PM Literature, Language & Theater Resource Group
Mtg, Tallwood
1:30
PM Special Events Cmte Mtg, Tallwood
1:30 PM Bridge,
TA-3
2:00 PM History
Club, TA-1
9 Friday 9:30 AM
Drama Club, TA-3
10:00
AM Ad Hoc Oversight Cmte on Database Upgrade Mtg,
Tallwood
10:00 AM
Recorder Class, TA-2
11:30
AM Mini Town Meeting, Tallwood
11:30 AM
Recorder Club, TA-2
12:30 PM Drama
Club Rehearsal, TA-1
1:00 PM Spec
Event F: Russian Theater, TA-1
1:30 PM Homer
Book Club, Annex
11 Sunday 2:00 PM
Spec
Event G: Agrippina, CFA at GMU
13 Tuesday 8:15 AM
Walking Club, Lake Anne Church
`
14 Wednesday 9:30 AM
Painting Workshop, Reston Storefront Museum
1:30 PM Book
Club at Tallwood, TA-2
1:30 PM
Bridge, TA-3
2:00 PM Spec
Event H: Culture of the Deaf, TA-1
16 Friday
End of Winter Term
9:30 AM
Drama Club, TA-3
10:00 AM Board of
Directors Meeting, TA-1
10:00 AM
Recorder Class, TA-2
10:30 AM
Fiction Writers Club, Annex
11:30 AM
Recorder Club, TA-2
12:30 PM
Drama Club Rehearsal, TA-1
1:30 PM
Homer Book Club, Annex |
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. We encourage OLLI
members and
staff employees to submit news items and write articles; deadline to
the editor is 7:00 PM Wed for that week's issue. 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 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
three popular email systems:
- Outlook
Express.
Click Tools; select Options; in the Read tab, uncheck "Read all
messages in plain text."
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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.
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
because it
is normally impossible to view the newsletter in GMU
Webmail
as a single
integrated
document, with text and accompanying images. You could forward the
newsletter to your Web-based email account such as Yahoo Mail or
Hotmail and read it there ... or just read it online at
the OLLI
Website after it is posted
each week. Little Known Facts about
the posting:
- The
new weekly issue is
usually posted Thursday evening.
- it
is identified by
the next number in
sequence for that year -- e.g., if last week's issue were
enews1-07, the next issue would be enews2-07 and could be found
at www.olli.gmu.edu/enews2-07.htm.
Perhaps the easiest solution for those of you with GMU email accounts
is to configure your desktop email system such
as Microsoft Outlook Express or Mozilla Thunderbird to retrieve mail
sent to your gmu.edu address. To do this, see these
instructions.
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OLLI
E-News Editorial Staff
Assistant
Editor, Database Manager
Barbara Kyriakakis
Assistant
Editor
Arleen Richman
Photo
Editor
Michael Coyne |
| Copyright
©
2007 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. |
|
Updated:
February 2, 2007
Copyright © 2007 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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