Members Community Connections Submissions
Share information about events
or news about OLLI and its Community
or news about OLLI and its Community
The OLLI Communications Committee invites you to share with our community of learners events, news, or information about a book you have written. Please follow the instructions below to submit your item of interest and the Communications Committee will promote it on our website, www.olliatduke.org/, and in Spotlight.
The Communications Committee will review your submission for clarity, completeness and adherence to the submission criteria below and determine whether to publish it on the web site, in Spotlight, or both.
You are encouraged to submit your item as early as possible to meet Spotlight Schedule of publication dates and submission deadlines
The Communications Committee will review your submission for clarity, completeness and adherence to the submission criteria below and determine whether to publish it on the web site, in Spotlight, or both.
You are encouraged to submit your item as early as possible to meet Spotlight Schedule of publication dates and submission deadlines
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Events:
Are you organizing or know of an interesting, upcoming event, lecture, or workshop opportunity that fellow OLLI members might enjoy? Tell other OLLI members about it by submitting an event form. Use the Forms button below to go to the Forms page. |
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“Old” is not a Four-Letter Word
The World Health Organization defines ageism as “the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. Ageism can take many forms, including prejudicial attitudes, discriminatory practices, or institutional policies and practices that perpetuate stereotypical beliefs.” The saddest thing is that many of us who are old (at whatever cut-off age you choose to call “old”) are among the most prejudiced against old people. That’s understandable, because society has trained us all to identify “old” with “weak” or “useless” or “failing,” and we have internalized that scorn. Writer Steven Petrow of the Washington Post, for example, recently checked his own attitude when it comes to aging; he realized that “everyday ageism” had infiltrated both his vocabulary and attitudes, so he’s vowed to cut out the cute jokes about aging and even admit his age when it comes to his resume and dating profile. (And, yes, he’s over 60.)
Now that a large number of people in America are entering the category of old, especially the generation bulge of the Baby Boomers, new ways of thinking are fighting to emerge. There has been a plethora of books in recent years seeking to understand the physical and mental changes associated with aging, including two books just this year that illustrate the range of topics: British geriatrician Dr. Lucy Pollock’s The Book About Getting Older (for people who don’t want to talk about it) explores what’s normal and what’s not when it comes to such aging issues as incontinence, dementia, and decision-making; and scientist Andrew Steele’s Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old goes behind the scenes on the latest aging research, including the biological factors that underlie the aging process and emerging new technologies to address and even overcome such factors. And author Stephanie Lowery-Willson has even written a book for children, Age On Together: A Children’s Book on Ageism. Given that attitudes against older adults can be set in children as young as four, it’s never too early to make sure the next generation understands the harm that ageist attitudes can cause.
And if there’s one thing that the pandemic has made clear, it’s the ambiguous place that older adults have in our society. Most impulses during COVID have been to either protect or abandon older adults, neither of which is useful for a group who are as diverse and heterogeneous as any other demographic group. In fact, older adults have been more affected by the pandemic than most, with the number of deaths experienced in older populations, the mental health consequences from social isolation, and the economic fallout from lost income and program cuts. Yet few senior voices seem to be a part of the decision-making process. As one older adult in a long-term care facility complained, “I think there’s been a very paternalistic attitude about whether we are capable of making decisions or the hierarchy knows better what we need.”
If thinking about ageism is a topic that you want to pursue a bit further, two relatively new web sites are a good place to start. One is called “Old School” (https://oldschool.info/). As its site explains, Old School “is a clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. You’ll find blogs, books, articles, videos, speakers, and other tools (workshops, handouts, curricula etc.) that are accessible to the general public. Our goal is to help catalyze a movement to make ageism…as unacceptable as any other kind of prejudice.”
The second is the home site of the Stanford Center on Longevity, which says its mission “is to accelerate and implement scientific discoveries, technological advances, behavioral practices, and social norms so that century long lives are healthy and rewarding” (https://longevity.stanford.edu/). It notes that people are living longer lives, so more information is needed from economics, medicine, sociology and other disciplines about what makes a longer life better; the Center says it “will also advance a new narrative, which redefines what it means to be ‘old’ and values people at different stages of life.” One project is named “The New Map of Life” and aims to identify “Six Principles to Guide Long Lived Societies.” It’s worth noting for OLLI members that one of the principles is “Education is a lifelong pursuit.”
by Beth Timson
The World Health Organization defines ageism as “the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. Ageism can take many forms, including prejudicial attitudes, discriminatory practices, or institutional policies and practices that perpetuate stereotypical beliefs.” The saddest thing is that many of us who are old (at whatever cut-off age you choose to call “old”) are among the most prejudiced against old people. That’s understandable, because society has trained us all to identify “old” with “weak” or “useless” or “failing,” and we have internalized that scorn. Writer Steven Petrow of the Washington Post, for example, recently checked his own attitude when it comes to aging; he realized that “everyday ageism” had infiltrated both his vocabulary and attitudes, so he’s vowed to cut out the cute jokes about aging and even admit his age when it comes to his resume and dating profile. (And, yes, he’s over 60.)
Now that a large number of people in America are entering the category of old, especially the generation bulge of the Baby Boomers, new ways of thinking are fighting to emerge. There has been a plethora of books in recent years seeking to understand the physical and mental changes associated with aging, including two books just this year that illustrate the range of topics: British geriatrician Dr. Lucy Pollock’s The Book About Getting Older (for people who don’t want to talk about it) explores what’s normal and what’s not when it comes to such aging issues as incontinence, dementia, and decision-making; and scientist Andrew Steele’s Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old goes behind the scenes on the latest aging research, including the biological factors that underlie the aging process and emerging new technologies to address and even overcome such factors. And author Stephanie Lowery-Willson has even written a book for children, Age On Together: A Children’s Book on Ageism. Given that attitudes against older adults can be set in children as young as four, it’s never too early to make sure the next generation understands the harm that ageist attitudes can cause.
And if there’s one thing that the pandemic has made clear, it’s the ambiguous place that older adults have in our society. Most impulses during COVID have been to either protect or abandon older adults, neither of which is useful for a group who are as diverse and heterogeneous as any other demographic group. In fact, older adults have been more affected by the pandemic than most, with the number of deaths experienced in older populations, the mental health consequences from social isolation, and the economic fallout from lost income and program cuts. Yet few senior voices seem to be a part of the decision-making process. As one older adult in a long-term care facility complained, “I think there’s been a very paternalistic attitude about whether we are capable of making decisions or the hierarchy knows better what we need.”
If thinking about ageism is a topic that you want to pursue a bit further, two relatively new web sites are a good place to start. One is called “Old School” (https://oldschool.info/). As its site explains, Old School “is a clearinghouse of free and carefully vetted resources to educate people about ageism and help dismantle it. You’ll find blogs, books, articles, videos, speakers, and other tools (workshops, handouts, curricula etc.) that are accessible to the general public. Our goal is to help catalyze a movement to make ageism…as unacceptable as any other kind of prejudice.”
The second is the home site of the Stanford Center on Longevity, which says its mission “is to accelerate and implement scientific discoveries, technological advances, behavioral practices, and social norms so that century long lives are healthy and rewarding” (https://longevity.stanford.edu/). It notes that people are living longer lives, so more information is needed from economics, medicine, sociology and other disciplines about what makes a longer life better; the Center says it “will also advance a new narrative, which redefines what it means to be ‘old’ and values people at different stages of life.” One project is named “The New Map of Life” and aims to identify “Six Principles to Guide Long Lived Societies.” It’s worth noting for OLLI members that one of the principles is “Education is a lifelong pursuit.”
by Beth Timson
How I Found Online Livestream Jazz to Keep Myself Going
Being faced with no local jazz in mid-March, I kept my eyes open, checking NYC-based Hot House Jazz Magazine and WBGO. That led to my finding ever more quality online performances, performances that have helped to keep me going. Want to know where to find such performances? Here are key links:
hothousejazz.com/calendar
wbgo.org
villagevanguard.com
bluenotelive.com
jazzgallery.org
smokejazz.com
Facebook.com -dizzysclub
smallslive.com
keystonekornerbaltimore.com
andiemusiklive.com/
barbayeux.com
Facebook.com - heyemmet (pianist Emmet Cohen's Trio plays every Monday night)
Facebook.com - robert.griffin.7315 (the only regular local jazz, every Monday evening)
And, if you need further recommendations, go to locavorejazz.weebly.com (which grew out of the OLLI "Guide to Local Jazz" course) & click on "Peter's Blog" for weekly listings and comments. Also, the Durham Jazz Workshop has interesting online jazz education classes. These plus the above links have keep me saner this year!
by Peter Burke
Being faced with no local jazz in mid-March, I kept my eyes open, checking NYC-based Hot House Jazz Magazine and WBGO. That led to my finding ever more quality online performances, performances that have helped to keep me going. Want to know where to find such performances? Here are key links:
hothousejazz.com/calendar
wbgo.org
villagevanguard.com
bluenotelive.com
jazzgallery.org
smokejazz.com
Facebook.com -dizzysclub
smallslive.com
keystonekornerbaltimore.com
andiemusiklive.com/
barbayeux.com
Facebook.com - heyemmet (pianist Emmet Cohen's Trio plays every Monday night)
Facebook.com - robert.griffin.7315 (the only regular local jazz, every Monday evening)
And, if you need further recommendations, go to locavorejazz.weebly.com (which grew out of the OLLI "Guide to Local Jazz" course) & click on "Peter's Blog" for weekly listings and comments. Also, the Durham Jazz Workshop has interesting online jazz education classes. These plus the above links have keep me saner this year!
by Peter Burke
A SIG that Needs to Keep Going
For seven years, this long-standing and vital SIG—Growing Thru Grief: An Interfaith Support Group -- had been meeting weekly in person. Then came March 2020, when so much of the U.S. began to shut down activities in person. The pandemic had arrived in force. Bill Dahl, a member of the Growing Thru Grief Executive Committee, relates how the group resumed group in mid-April via Zoom. Zoom was new to many members, and presented new technical and personal challenges: would confidentiality be maintained; would members be able to manage the technology; would the Zoom meetings be secure? These new issues caused attendance to drop from the usual 35-45 participants to a number in the teens.
During this time, the entire country was grieving the loss of normal life. But Dahl and the other Executive Committee members knew this group’s needs would only intensify. The other four members of the SIG’s Executive Committee stepped up, and the support group has gradually returned to health. Those members, “stars” according to Dahl, deserve to be acknowledged and thanked: Joyce Rea, Joan Eastman, Bodie McCann, and Sharon Walker. They persisted in managing the technical challenges and easing the concerns of those unfamiliar with Zoom.
Pre-pandemic, participants could walk into St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, sit down, share snacks and coffee, and socialize with others until the official meeting, from 4:30-6:00 p.m., began. The half hour from 4 p.m. to 4:30 often led to friendships. Sadly, the Zoom meetings cannot replicate that informal, relaxing time, but Zoom does have some advantages.
As Dahl observes, with online meetings, “distance doesn’t exist anymore,” so people have joined from far away. The Tuesday weekly group still has trained facilitators with backgrounds in healing arts, ministry, and medicine, and some who have belonged to the group for a long time. The group continues to provide excellent presentations in addition to its small group conversations.
Do the Growing Thru Grief meetings help those who attend? Dahl believes they do. It’s not talk therapy, but simply a chance to express one’s feelings about losing a loved one to caring and supportive listeners in a safe environment. The group has no set curriculum, no rules, and no criterion other than to be suffering from the loss of a loved one. If you want more information about this group, feel free to send an email to admin@growingthrugrief.org
By Maureen Maguire Lewis
For seven years, this long-standing and vital SIG—Growing Thru Grief: An Interfaith Support Group -- had been meeting weekly in person. Then came March 2020, when so much of the U.S. began to shut down activities in person. The pandemic had arrived in force. Bill Dahl, a member of the Growing Thru Grief Executive Committee, relates how the group resumed group in mid-April via Zoom. Zoom was new to many members, and presented new technical and personal challenges: would confidentiality be maintained; would members be able to manage the technology; would the Zoom meetings be secure? These new issues caused attendance to drop from the usual 35-45 participants to a number in the teens.
During this time, the entire country was grieving the loss of normal life. But Dahl and the other Executive Committee members knew this group’s needs would only intensify. The other four members of the SIG’s Executive Committee stepped up, and the support group has gradually returned to health. Those members, “stars” according to Dahl, deserve to be acknowledged and thanked: Joyce Rea, Joan Eastman, Bodie McCann, and Sharon Walker. They persisted in managing the technical challenges and easing the concerns of those unfamiliar with Zoom.
Pre-pandemic, participants could walk into St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Durham at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesdays, sit down, share snacks and coffee, and socialize with others until the official meeting, from 4:30-6:00 p.m., began. The half hour from 4 p.m. to 4:30 often led to friendships. Sadly, the Zoom meetings cannot replicate that informal, relaxing time, but Zoom does have some advantages.
As Dahl observes, with online meetings, “distance doesn’t exist anymore,” so people have joined from far away. The Tuesday weekly group still has trained facilitators with backgrounds in healing arts, ministry, and medicine, and some who have belonged to the group for a long time. The group continues to provide excellent presentations in addition to its small group conversations.
Do the Growing Thru Grief meetings help those who attend? Dahl believes they do. It’s not talk therapy, but simply a chance to express one’s feelings about losing a loved one to caring and supportive listeners in a safe environment. The group has no set curriculum, no rules, and no criterion other than to be suffering from the loss of a loved one. If you want more information about this group, feel free to send an email to admin@growingthrugrief.org
By Maureen Maguire Lewis
New SIG Proposed: Short Story Discussion Group
Prize winning author Lorrie Moore has said that “A short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.” A well-written short story can make you feel the same thrill, experience the same attachment to the characters, as reading a full-length novel, but typically takes less than an hour to read, rather than days (or weeks).
We're launching a new Special Interest Group for OLLI members who’d like to regularly exchange perspectives on some great short stories by award winning authors in collections like The O. Henry Prize Stories or The Best American Short Stories.
Our inaugural meeting (via Zoom) will be on Tuesday, December 8, 10:30 AM – 12:00. Please read Lorrie Moore’s short story "People Like That Are the Only People Here," which won an O. Henry Prize Award in 1998 which can be found here: https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/engl-459-spring2014/files/2014/01/Lorrie-Moore.pdf
and we’ll discuss it on the 8th.
For more information or if you’d like to join us, please contact Howard Goldberg at hgoldberg16@gmail@gmail.com or 518-878-8296.
Prize winning author Lorrie Moore has said that “A short story is a love affair; a novel is a marriage. A short story is a photograph; a novel is a film.” A well-written short story can make you feel the same thrill, experience the same attachment to the characters, as reading a full-length novel, but typically takes less than an hour to read, rather than days (or weeks).
We're launching a new Special Interest Group for OLLI members who’d like to regularly exchange perspectives on some great short stories by award winning authors in collections like The O. Henry Prize Stories or The Best American Short Stories.
Our inaugural meeting (via Zoom) will be on Tuesday, December 8, 10:30 AM – 12:00. Please read Lorrie Moore’s short story "People Like That Are the Only People Here," which won an O. Henry Prize Award in 1998 which can be found here: https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/engl-459-spring2014/files/2014/01/Lorrie-Moore.pdf
and we’ll discuss it on the 8th.
For more information or if you’d like to join us, please contact Howard Goldberg at hgoldberg16@gmail@gmail.com or 518-878-8296.
Hugging in COVID Times
OLLI member Nancy Worsham reports that she has created a hug we can do during COVID-19. Two people stand up, turn so you are facing opposite directions (or back to back), then slowly walk backwards until you two touch. Now wiggle your shoulders! You can decide if you feel that his “hug” is safe enough for you.
OLLI member Nancy Worsham reports that she has created a hug we can do during COVID-19. Two people stand up, turn so you are facing opposite directions (or back to back), then slowly walk backwards until you two touch. Now wiggle your shoulders! You can decide if you feel that his “hug” is safe enough for you.
Zooming with Family by Margaret Riley
Since April, my siblings and I have been Zooming weekly. After the first week, we reached out and included their children in different weekly phone calls. Then we branched out and started reaching out to cousins in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, Alaska, and Arizona. We have made it through most of the first cousins on my father’s side of the family tree, and
some on my mother's side as well, and are branching out to second cousins.
We had planned on having a family reunion in August to celebrate the 100th anniversary of my father's birth. Since we were unable to do that face-to-face, on November 15th we will have a virtual family reunion, bringing together all the folks we've met with over the past several months and having them connect with each other. This connection with extended family has definitely been a silver lining to the cloud of this pandemic.
Since April, my siblings and I have been Zooming weekly. After the first week, we reached out and included their children in different weekly phone calls. Then we branched out and started reaching out to cousins in Texas, Colorado, Illinois, Pennsylvania, California, Alaska, and Arizona. We have made it through most of the first cousins on my father’s side of the family tree, and
some on my mother's side as well, and are branching out to second cousins.
We had planned on having a family reunion in August to celebrate the 100th anniversary of my father's birth. Since we were unable to do that face-to-face, on November 15th we will have a virtual family reunion, bringing together all the folks we've met with over the past several months and having them connect with each other. This connection with extended family has definitely been a silver lining to the cloud of this pandemic.
Publication Schedule
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Deadline for Submissions
Feb. 7 Feb. 21 Mar. 7 Mar. 21 Apr. 11 May 2 |
Spotlight posted to members
Feb. 14 Feb. 28 Mar. 14 Mar. 28 Apr. 18 May 9 |
To ensure that your submission is included, please submit it no later than the submission deadline date. Submissions received after that that date may not be posted until the following publication.
We will remove postings after the event date has passed.
Submission criteria.
OLLI at Duke reserves the right to reject any submission that violates Duke University policies. We will not post submissions that promote for-profit businesses or activities, that present a political point of view, or that take a position on social issues. Other forums are more appropriate for those types of announcements.
We will remove postings after the event date has passed.
Submission criteria.
OLLI at Duke reserves the right to reject any submission that violates Duke University policies. We will not post submissions that promote for-profit businesses or activities, that present a political point of view, or that take a position on social issues. Other forums are more appropriate for those types of announcements.