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Travel Study
"
Portrait of Italy" May 14 - 30, 2016
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A literary, historical, and cultural tour of Italy led by OLLI instructor Beverly Allen. From the breathtaking Amalfi Coast to eternal Rome, through the gentle Umbrian and Tuscan countryside to timeless Venice, this leisurely tour showcases ancient sites, contemporary life, priceless art, and beautiful natural scenery. You'll appreciate the small size of your group as you stay in unique accommodations in the Tuscan countryside and a medieval village.
For more information,
go to
olli.berkeley.edu/travel
or contact Cal Discoveries at 888-225-2586 or
caldiscoveries@alumni.berkeley.edu
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Faculty Profile: Anthony Clarvoe
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by OLLI Volunteer Hilary Kaiser
Even though he admits he had difficulty dissecting fruit flies in ninth grade, playwright Anthony Clarvoe has always had a fascination for science and technology. He calls them "good and bad angels" because, as history has often shown, they have the power to save lives and to destroy societies, to call forth our most complex abilities and to evoke our greatest fears. "And that," he says, "makes them rich subjects for drama."
What particularly interests Clarvoe about science is that "it presents us with the moral conundrum of what to do with those abilities. Science has been our great explainer. And it is, or ought to be, our whistleblower, with scientists over the centuries having to deliver bad news about what society is doing to itself."
Students in Clarvoe's course on "Staging Science" this winter will have the pleasure of finding out how this dynamic plays out in the theater. Using plays written by Ben Jonson (
The Alchemist) Henrik Ibsen (
An Enemy of the People), Bertolt Brecht (
The Life of Galileo), Heinar Kipphardt (
In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer), and Michael Frayn (
Copenhagen), Clarvoe intends to show not only how science and scientists are portrayed onstage, but also how much dramatic interest and passion they can evoke.
Several of Clarvoe's own plays deal with scientists and engineers faced with dilemmas.
Pick Up Ax, for example, is set during the dawning days of high tech and Silicon Valley.
Show and Tell is about forensic investigators. Two of the main characters in
The Living, his most produced play, which is set during London's Great Plague of 1665, are a doctor and a mathematician.
Clarvoe's award-winning plays have been commissioned and produced by theaters across the United States; he was also commissioned by studios in Hollywood to write screenplays. After many years based in New York, he and his wife Kate -- an accomplished Berkeley-born actress who now manages experiential branding strategy for high tech companies -- returned to the Bay Area five years ago with their younger son. Since then, Clarvoe has taught playwriting and master classes for PlayGround, the Playwrights Foundation, the San Francisco Playwrights Center, Stagebridge Senior Theatre Company, and St. Mary's College.
Clarvoe's Thursday afternoon course at OLLI, "Writing 10-Minute Plays", will be a hands-on workshop allowing participants to develop their writing skills by creating scenes and short plays through the use of dialogue and character. "Older writers have a lot of life experiences," he says. "They have no lack of ideas of what to write about."
A second-generation San Franciscan, Clarvoe grew up in Moraga and went to Campolindo High School. Many of his friends there had dads who worked at Westinghouse and Chevron and who studied engineering or science themselves, and this had an influence on him. Clarvoe is a magna cum laude graduate of Princeton University, where he majored in English. His best friends at Princeton later moved out to Silicon Valley; their stories and experiences contributed to the writing of his play Pick Up Ax. "I learned early on that scientists and engineers do their work with the same creativity and commitment that artists do. I'm fascinated by what happens when that passionate intelligence has to try to make an impact in the larger world."
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Volunteer Profile: Marty Pollard
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 by OLLI Volunteer Gale Lederer
Marty Pollard, this month's featured volunteer, is a man with a mission. "Older people aren't always comfortable with science and technology," he points out.
Determined to diminish this "technological divide" not only by serving as spokesman for these subjects on OLLI's Curriculum Committee, Marty has also organized a series of five well-attended OLLI science courses. These classes, focusing upon DNA and synthetic biology, paleontology, engineering, positive psychology, and evolution, were not the familiar one-person-one-place lectures. Instead Marty, who worked for thirty years at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, used his wide connections in the UCB scientific community to round up a diverse series of speakers, including graduate students and post-docs, who are often on the cutting edge of their disciplines. He looked for a variety of perspectives, as when an English professor inaugurated Marty's evolution course with a discussion of the literary influences on Darwin's scientific thought. He also got his students out of the classroom, as when his engineering class visited LBL's machine shop or when his paleontology class held their last meeting at the paleontology museum.
Marty moved to Berkeley from Connecticut in 1976 and earned an MA in mechanical engineering from UCB. He worked in this field at Lawrence Berkeley Lab, specializing in scientific instrumentation and the use of automation-first in air pollution research and then in DNA sequencing, which was part of the human genome project. Retiring at the youthful age of 55, Marty started taking OLLI classes ("primarily those outside my comfort zone") in the spring of 2011. When he mentioned OLLI's lack of science courses to director Susan Hoffman, she asked him to join the Curriculum Committee, where he has worked successfully to ensure greater variety in OLLI's class offerings.
Marty also serves on the Advisory Research and Evaluation Team, which connects UCB researchers with OLLI members in projects such as developing technology for the elderly. He sees this team as "more valuable than a field trip" in terms of science education since it involves OLLI members in actual research.
Marty enjoys his his two-pronged involvement in OLLI -- seeing it as "a way to keep my hand in science" -- and the OLLI community is certainly glad he feels this way.
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Science of Happiness Interest Circle: January
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The UC Berkeley Greater Good Science Center (GGSC) is again offering their eight-week online course "The Science of Happiness." This course explores the roots of a happy, meaningful life. It is co-taught by the GGSC's Dacher Keltner and Emiliana Simon-Thomas.
OLLI volunteer Cheryl Brewster will facilitate an Interest Circle (IC) for this course. Each participant would follow the self-paced course, on their own time, on their home computer. The IC will meet once a month for 3 months to discuss the course content. Participation in Interest Circles is a benefit of OLLI membership.
The self-paced course starts on January 5.
Any OLLI member interested should register online and also indicate that they would like to participate in the course-related Interest Circle by contacting Cheryl Brewster (cbrewster2010@gmail.com).
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Dan Kammen, who will teach a course on climate change for OLLI @Berkeley this Spring, is currently taking part in the UN Climate Summit in Paris. Read an interview with Professor Kammen about his role and the stakes of the summit.
Michael Fox, who teaches documentary film courses for OLLI, was inducted into the San Francisco Film Society's "Essential SF" compendium of local cinema luminaries. Read more
Philippa Kelly's 2011 book The King and I was praised for its insight into the relevance of King Lear in the modern world in a recent commentary on an upcoming production of Lear in Sydney, with Geoffrey Rush as King Lear. Read more
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Thank You for Your Support!
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Thank you for your support!
Nearly 100 OLLI members have made gifts to the OLLI Annual Fund to date -- including 15 gifts during the 24-hour "Big Give" on November 19. Our warmest thanks to our many generous supporters!
Gifts to OLLI's Annual Fund help support faculty salaries, classroom technology and our scholarship program. Please keep OLLI @Berkeley in mind during your year-end charitable giving. You can make a gift online at any time:
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Last month we announced a new member-led effort, ClubOLLI, which covers all sorts of activity, social, and special interest groups.
Over 60 people responded to the initial call for clubs. The topics that garnered widespread interest included movies, walking, books, travel, lunch, Spanish conversation, and healthy cooking. Groups are still taking shape, and not every group has an identified organizer.
We will keep you informed once more groups have a point person. In the meantime, the best way to follow conversations about clubs and learn about potential meetings is to join our online member listserve, OLLIBConnect.
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Intergenerational Learning Opportunity
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OLLI's Advisory Research and Evaluation Team (ARET) has identified an opportunity for OLLI members to explore intergenerational learning. Please see the following UC Berkeley course description.
Navigating the Human Path: An Intergenerational Design Studio on Aging and the Lifespan
Instructors: Dan Gillette, June Fisher, and Patricia Moore
Wednesdays 11:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in Jacobs Hall; January 20 to May 4, 2016
How can design better facilitate affordable, healthy and meaningful aging in our society?
In this hands-on course, students will choose their own projects and work in intergenerational teams to create hard, soft and digital products, services and experiences.
The course will be taught by a diverse team of industry and research veterans, with guest collaborators from the consumer, health and senior service sectors.
Key components:
- 20 undergraduate design students
- 15 older adults who will audit the course (no registration fee)
- Everyone is a student, researcher, designer, coach, user
- Field-based: classes will occur both in the studio and at field sites
- Project-based
If you are interested, contact Dan Gillette at dangillette@citris-uc.org to learn more.
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Dedicated OLLI volunteer Lucille Poskanzer has been reviewing restaurants near our course venues in downtown Berkeley for years.
She has just compiled an updated guide to all of the lunch spots near OLLI courses. Who needs Yelp when you can have recommendations from a fellow OLLI member?
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2015 saw the passing of two former OLLI instructors:
Steve Tollefson,
a former lecturer in UC Berkeley's College Writing Programs and director of the campus's Office of Educational Development, taught writing classes with OLLI. Obituary
David Littlejohn, professor emeritus of journalism at UC Berkeley and longtime art critic for the Wall Street Journal, died in June at the age of 78. Obituary
We would also like to recognize OLLI @Berkeley members who have passed this year. Please contact us at berkeley_olli@berkeley.edu with the name of the member and any related links or information so that we can include them in our January newsletter.
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Perception and Deception:
Understanding Misunderstandings across Cultures
with Joe Lurie
OLLI @Berkeley is proud to co-sponsor a talk, reception and book signing with Joe Lurie, Executive Director Emeritus at I-House
Tuesday, December 8, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.
Commonwealth Club of California
555 Post St., San Francisco
Reception begins at 5:30 p.m.
Inspired by a West African proverb that says, "The stranger sees only what he knows," Lurie shares a feast of cross-cultural stories and misadventures, exploring the deeper cultural messages that escape people who hear largely what they're used to hearing and see mostly what they're used to seeing. Gleaned from his years of research, travel and managing Berkeley's International House, Lurie's cross-cultural experiences reveal how perceptions and cultural filters affect the way people understand others.
OLLI @Berkeley members are eligible for discounted tickets ($8.00 instead of $20.00). When registering online, enter the promotional code "SpecialForLurie". OLLI members may also register by phone using the same promo code; call the Commonwealth Club at 415 597-6700.
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Members of OLLI @Berkeley have access to the full range of OLLI programming and receive a Student ID card that is honored for discounts at a variety of campus and community locations. See offer details on OLLI's website and be sure to show your OLLI student ID.
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$10 OFF MEMBERSHIP AT CALIFORNIA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION (CAA)
OLLI members receive a $10 discount on a $50 Senior Citizen annual membership at CAA.
$15 OFF MEMBERSHIP AT UC BOTANICAL GARDEN
OLLI members can join the UC Botanical Garden as Cal Affiliates and save $15 on a $55 annual membership.
STUDENT DISCOUNT AT BERKELEY ARTS AND LETTERS
Berkeley Arts and Letters offers OLLI members a student discount on tickets purchased through their website.
Read more
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10% DISCOUNT AT SELECT BERKELEY RESTAURANTS
Show your OLLI student card and get 10% off at:
Jazzcaffe
2087 Addison St.
Five Restaurant & Bar
2086 Allston Way
Turkish Kitchen
1986 Shattuck Ave.
Le Petit Cochon
1801C Shattuck Ave.
Phil's Sliders
2024 Shattuck Ave.
Read more
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