This Week:
Fall Theme Term on Appalachia
Special Programs
Member Social!
Monday, October 28, 4 p.m
.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
THIS Monday, October 28, 4 p.m.: Join your OLLI friends for a cookout and fellowship. As part of our Fall Member Social, Rodney Sutton will call a square dance, with live music from the Stoney Creek Boys with Rhiannon Ramsey.
Thursday, November
7, 9-11 a.m. OLLI Community Conversation on the theme term.
Whether you took classes, taught one, or participated in other Appalachia programs of OLLI, come and share your experience.
Please mark your calendars to attend these wonderful programs. All programs are free and open to everyone and are funded by our Osher Foundation Endowment.
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Meditation
Special Interest Group
Monday, October 28, 4:15 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Room 120
Meditation with Universal Life Energy to Transform our Conscious Awareness led by Peggy Moore
 Join us for a guided meditation focusing on increasing your flow of energy. Meditation can help calm and center your physical, mental, and emotional systems and help us have a more positive outlook on life.
Peggy Moore has been a student of meditation for over 30 years and is associated with the Institute for the Study of Universal Life Energy. Her meditation techniques incorporate chakra awareness, breathing techniques, and energy work. She periodically teaches meditation and other courses at OLLI.
All OLLI members are welcome at the gatherings of the Meditation SIG. No meditation experience is required to enjoy and benefit from our programs.
Meditation SIG coordinator: Sally Ekaireb
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Best-Selling Author Wally Lamb
Tuesday, October 29, 7-8:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Highsmith Student Union
Blue Ridge Room
Wally Lamb is the author of six New York Times best-selling novels. His first two,
She's Come Undone and
I Know This Much is True, were # 1 New York Times bestsellers, New York Times Notable Books of the Year, featured titles of Oprah's Book Club, and between them, have been translated in 18 languages.
Lamb is UNC Asheville's Goodman Endowed Visiting Artist for fall 2019.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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OLLI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
MANNA Food Bank
Working to end hunger and food insecurity in WNC
Veterans Restoration Quarters
Help Restore the Lives of Homeless Vets
Asheville Terrace Apartments Food Pantry
Provide On-Site Food Pantry Support
VOLUNTEER NOW...
Make A Difference!
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Aging and Brain Health:
Tips from the Latest Research
Thursday, October 31, 9-11 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Room 206
Sponsored by
The Alzheimer's Association of WNC
, this series of lectures will be offered by
Denise Young, regional manager of the Alzheimer's
Association of Western Carolina chapter, along with
area experts.
This second presentation in a three-part series is title "Eating and Sleeping for Brain Health." We will explore the latest research surrounding the foods we eat and reducing the risk of cognitive decline. We will also discuss the importance of sleep and stress reduction as a means to maintaining brain health. Everyone will walk away with practical tips to incorporate into daily routines.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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The Forum
Special Interest Group (SIG)
Friday, November 1, 1 - 3 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Room 205
Topic: "Debt, Private and Public"
The weekly Forum encourages a free-flowing dialogue designed to enrich and expand participants' thinking on a wide variety of topics; the group frequently focuses on current events. All OLLI members are welcome to attend.
Upcoming Topics:
November 8: Financial Support for American Education
November 15: Current Events and Selection of Future Topics
SIG Contact: Beth Johnson johnson1ea@earthlink.net
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Performing Stand-Up Comedy Class Show
Sunday, November 3,
7-9 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
The College for Seniors
Performing Stand-Up Comedy 101 presents
its annual original show. Come join instructor Randy Robins
and his class at its premier performance, designed to have you
laughing, crying and rolling in the aisles. The show will include
adult language and situations.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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Sierra Club:
"Climate Reality and What You Can Do."
Thursday, November 7, 7 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville,
1 Edwin Place (corner of Charlotte and Edwin)
Vice President Al Gore's Climate Reality program will be presented by Brad Rouse of Energy Savers Network, followed by a panel offering solutions, including Roger Helms who has taught College for Seniors classes on climate change solutions, and Sarah Duffer, who has won contests with Draw Down for reducing carbon.
Free and open to everyone
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Plugged-In Buncombe
Local advocacy nonprofits are offering an opportunity to join their staff in attending various City of Asheville and Buncombe County advisory board meetings. These meetings have an impact on important policy decisions made by elected officials, and participation at this level of the governance process is a great way to make needed changes in our community. For details and to sign up,
click here.
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Travel SIG
Home Exchange
Friday, November 15, 2 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Room 206
Come learn all about home exchanging from an experienced home exchanger (55 to date). Home exchanging is a wonderful way of traveling, allowing you to be more than a tourist. Our speaker will cover all aspects of home exchanging, from finding exchange websites, composing a listing, what to look for when corresponding with potential exchangers, and more. Everyone always has lots of questions and they will all be answered. By doing a home exchange you will save at least 50% of typical travel expenses. Imagine having a house or apartment instead of a hotel room to live in. Picture having a kitchen to cook meals in, living in a residential neighborhood, meeting neighbors and shopping in local markets. It opens an entirely different way of traveling the world.
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Death Cafe
Friday, November 15, 5 - 6:30 p.m.
UNC Asehville's Reuter Center Atrium
Death Café is a conversation about a subject too often ignored in our death phobic culture. A new movement, a shift, is at play in recovering the ritual of being with death through personal storytelling of fears and loss; a deepening ritual emerges and we build a culture of dying wisely. Join us at our next Death
Café. Facilitated by Thirdmessenger's Karen Sanders, Greg Lathrop, and Sa'id Osio.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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Storytelling Performance:
OLLI Members Tell All
Wednesday, November 20, 7 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
College for Seniors instructor Chuck Fink hosts the evening with performances by graduates of the class Moth Storytelling: Telling Personal Stories, coaches, and guest tellers from the class sessions. Come and enjoy listening to your fellow OLLI members tell stories about what makes life special for them and now for you.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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The Autumn Players
The Last Night of Ballyhoo
by Alfred Uhry, Directed by Wendy Strauss
Sunday, November 24, 2:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
Join us for this performance of the Tony Award for Best Play by the author of Driving Miss Daisy. Nazis have just started rounding up Jews in Europe, while the elitist German Jews in 1939 Atlanta are busily focused on the social event of the season, affording marriageable daughters a golden opportunity to find proper husbands for themselves. When a decent young man of Eastern European background enters the picture, romantic plans get humorously tangled up, and personal beliefs are put to the test.
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The Reuter Center Singers Present:
Broadway Now and Then!
Sunday, November 24, 2:30 p.m.
Biltmore United Methodist Church - Asheville
It's a celebration of
Broadway Now & Then!
Come musically experience past and present Broadway show tunes and hits. The performance will showcase musical selections from
Hamilton
,
Grease
,
Showboat, Oliver
,
Fiddler On The Roof
,
Opening Night!
and more.
Chuck Taft, who has directed the choir for its full 20-year history, will conduct, and Nora Vetro will accompany on the piano.
With 20 years as a singing organization, the Reuter Center Singers have fostered connections among members and the community at large from the beginning. The group is now based at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville. They rehearse on Monday evenings from 6:15-8:15 p.m. at the Reuter Center and welcome new members.
Free and open to everyone. Donations at the door are welcome.
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Dear OLLI Members,
We hope to see many of you for the Fall Member Social tomorrow, Monday, October 28, beginning at 4 p.m. This is a great opportunity to share food and cheer with your fellow OLLI members and, as part of our theme term on Appalachia, to hear music from the Stoney Creek Boys and Rhiannon Ramsey, the fiddle prodigy from Madison County. Rodney Sutton will call a square dance for those who want to participate! And please mark your calendars to attend the Community Conversation on the theme term on Thursday, November 7, 9 a.m., to share your insights as the result of the term and to thank our many wonderful instructors.
Our Winter 2020 catalog will be posted on November 1 online; we will send a notice when the print copy is available. Find the link for the "sneak peek" in this newsletter.
We have opportunities throughout the year to take advantage of programs by other UNC Asheville departments, including this week's lecture by best-selling author Wally Lamb. Right here at the Reuter Center, in addition to the many College for Seniors programs and courses you can take advantage of lectures like this week's Fab Friday lecture by Karen Sanders on being your own advocate in health care situations and Midday Music with local chamber music group Pan Harmonia. On Sunday, November 3, you can witness the talents of your fellow members who have been participating in Randy Robins'
Performing Stand Up Comedy 101.
We also hope you mark your calendars for the OLLI Art Market November 8 and 9 and read the article in this week's newsletter about fabric artist Deanna Murchison. We are grateful to the volunteers who are creating OLLIChat and hope you will read Carol Greenman's article on that member-run service. And if you want to be part of planning curriculum or teaching in College for Seniors, attend an information session on Friday, November 8.
It's not Thanksgiving yet, but we are thankful every day to be part of the OLLI and the UNC Asheville community.
With gratitude for all that you do to make possible our community of teachers and learners,
Catherine Frank
Executive Director
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Teach a Course in Spring 2020
for College for Seniors
Thinking about teaching?
Course Proposal Deadline
for the Spring 2020 term
(March 23-May 15)
is Friday, November 1
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 Important Dates for OLLI's Winter 2020
College for Senior Registration
- Click here for a "Sneak Peek" at classes for Winter 2020.
- Friday, November 1: OLLI Catalog Available Online
- Wednesday, November 6, 10 a.m.- Wednesday, November 13, noon: Priority Allocation Registration
- Tuesday, November 26, late afternoon: Winter 2020 schedules mailed
- Monday, December 2, 10 a.m.: Winter 2020 Add/Drop and Open Registration opens
- Friday, January 10, 2020, 3 p.m.: Last Day Drop CFS Courses for a Full Refund
- Monday, January 13, 9 a.m.: Winter 2020 CFS Courses Begin
- Monday, February 24: Last day of Winter 2020 CFS Courses
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Registration for OLLIChat, the replacement online community for OLLITalk, is now open to new members.
OLLIChat is an online community where OLLI Asheville
members may share information of common interest with each other. It is designed to look and function like the old OLLITalk.
To get started, send an email to OLLIChatAVL@gmail.com, and the OLLIChat volunteers will send you an invitation. See the article below for more information.
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Information Sharing For the OLLI Community
by Carol Greenman
Do you need solutions to those practical dilemmas which pop up in daily life? A trusted source of pertinent information can help you avoid setbacks; but how can you find and compare the best tips?
OLLI members, welcome to our independent information-sharing resource: OLLIChat!
OLLIChat, the successor to the discontinued OLLITalk, is a secure Google platform designed for the community of OLLI members. In it, participants use their email accounts to safely inquire, inform, and suggest ideas and products to their OLLI colleagues.
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 Information Session about
Private Italy Tours
Renaissance Art Tour
to Florence and Amsterdam
Tuesday, October 29, 7:45 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Long-time College for Seniors instructor Mark Smith, who operates Private Italy Tours Ltd., is offering an information session about upcoming Renaissance Art Tour in Florence and Amsterdam.
Private Italy Tours Ltd. presents small group tours of Italy through its most beautiful and inspiring regions. Discover the art, the history, the food, and the people that are Italy. Private Italy Tours include private guides, exceptional hotel accomodations, and full-time bilingual tour leaders, with only 10 to 14 guests in each tour.
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Need tech help?
Check out The Geek Bar
Tuesday, October 29, 12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
Reuter Center Atrium
 Are you having technical problems or questions regarding your smart phone, tablet, or laptop?
OLLI is happy to announce The Geek Bar, offered on Tuesdays, 12:30-1:30 p.m. beginning Tuesday, October 29, in the Reuter Center Atrium.
Bring your device and question, and one of the Geek Bar Experts will try to address your issue.
All platforms are welcome (Android, Apple, Windows, etc.). The Geek Bar is on a first-come, first-served basis. We offer no guarantees, but our Geeks will do our best to be of help. Note
: This is not software instruction and is generally meant for specific, quick-answer issues.
If you have questions, or if you are a Geek who would like to work at the Geek Bar, feel free to contact Julia Loughran at: julia@thoughtlink.com
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 OLLI Member Social
Monday, October 28, 4 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Atrium
Join your OLLI friends for the Fall Member Social. Take this opportunity to socialize, enjoy delicious food, drinks and a square dance called by Rodney Sutton and live music by the Stoney Creek Boys Get ready for photo booths, music, great food and cheer!
This event is free and open to OLLI members. We do want to get an accurate head count so that we order the right amount of food, so if you have signed up to come, please do attend.
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Experience the OLLI Art Market, Friday and Saturday,
November 8 and 9
Meet the Artists (2 of 3): Deana Murchison
 Deana Murchison will have a broad sampling of her work at the OLLI Art Market Friday and Saturday, November 8 and 9, along with 29 other gifted OLLI artists displaying their wares, all for sale. Find details about the Market, which features free admission and free parking, at the bottom of this story.
Deana has been a fabric artist practically her whole life, long before many of us knew the term "fabric artist." When she was six or eight, her grandmother taught her to crochet and sew. In junior high, she was stitching herself a new outfit practically every day. She never slowed down.
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Fab Friday
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Karen Sanders |
"Strategies and Tips on How to Be Your Own Best Advocate in Health Care Situations"
with Karen Sanders
Friday, November 1, 11:30 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Fragmentation in our healthcare system requires a very active
role for individuals to advocate for themselves and/or family
members to ensure that key information, goals, and wishes are
communicated consistently across providers. Building on several
decades of experience in healthcare systems in North Carolina,
speaker Karen Sanders identifies principles and strategies she
has used for her clients, as well as those she has taught in her
OLLI classes, for helping you get the care you need and deserve
to help you be your own best advocate. Sanders has 40 years of
nursing experience in multiple clinical and leadership positions.
She is an RN Patient Advocate, owner/founder of RN Patient
Advocacy NC LLC, and holistic nurse coach. This lecture is part of
the Health Education Series and is the last Fab Friday lecture for Fall 2020.
Fab Friday lectures are free and open to everyone.
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Midday Music with Pan Harmonia
Friday, November 1, 2 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
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Amy Brucksch and
Kate Steinbbeck |
Flutist Kate Steinbeck and guitarist Amy Brucksch will play music and speak about "Women's Work," featuring music and poetry fusion work, "Rubble Becomes Art
."
Now in its 20th season, Asheville's Pan Harmonia enjoys taking chamber music out of the concert hall and into unlikely spaces all around our community. Learn about the music and meet the musicians in informal conversation. Feel free to bring friends and your lunch. This event is free and open to everyone. For mor information about Pan Harmonia, including information about how to purchase tickets, visit panharmonia.org
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World Affairs Council
"Canada-US Trade Relationship: A 21st Century Partnership"
with Nadia Theodore
Tuesday, November 5, 7:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
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Nadia Theodore |
Following October's Canadian national elections, Consul General Nadia Theodore of Canada's south-eastern consulate in Atlanta will visit Asheville to report on Canada's evolving trade relationships with the U.S. Prior to her current appointment in 2017 Ms. Theodore functioned in executive leadership roles in several of Canada's international trade negotiations, notably, with the European Union (EU) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership, positions which followed her early civil service career in Canada's Permanent Missions to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations.
World Affairs Council (WAC) lectures and discussions aim to advance international awareness and foster Western North Carolina's global ties. Meetings offer a lively line up of topics and compelling presenters. OLLI members receive a discount on WAC annual membership fee. Lectures are free to WAC members and UNC Asheville undergraduate students. All others are $10 at the door. For more details about programs, consult the WAC website, www.main.nc.us/wac/.
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STEM Lecture
Climate Change Vs. Climate Change Deniers
with Hermann Gucinski
Wednesday, November 6, 4:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
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Global climate change science, as any other branch of science, rests on the skeptical demands by its practitioners to see that observations are accurate and systematic, experiments subject to review, replication by other scientists, and correction. Hypotheses should become theory only after careful review, testing, and acceptance in following the standards of the science at this point in time. We discuss the science of global climate change and compare it to bad, misguided, or poorly done science that can lead to setbacks or delay implementation of solidly researched principles.
We will also discuss how denial of scientific advances that is based not on moving science forward, but espousal of political or other rejections of science itself, is not part of the scientific process. Hence, understanding these forms of denial is critical to overcome impediments that have nothing to do with the science itself. We show the range of these, and focus on forms of denial highly likely to sow discord, promote misunderstanding, and benefit groups with a fiscal, political or related prior interest to affect the outcome of pure research.
STEM Lectures are free and open to everyone.
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Dave Smith
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Conversation and Coffee on Legacy Planning
Friday, November 8, 8:30 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Room 205
Enjoy a morning conversation on legacy planning options used to help your heirs and the institutions you love. Dave Smith of the Heaton Smith Group, LLC will lead our conversation and provide insights from his 20+ years of working with nonprofit organizations. Space is limited. Coffee and a light breakfast will be served. Click here to let us know of your interest in the information session.
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Florence Mensah |
Building Education for Sustainable Development: A Conceptual View
With Florence Mensah,
Fulbright Visiting Scholar
Friday, November 8, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Room 206
Florence Mensah will discuss how education can be built for sustainable development in the context of Ghana. She has reviewed literature on education for sustainable development, sustainability in education and best practices of sustainable education and has built a conceptual model of sustainable education for Ghana's education system.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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College for Seniors
Curriculum Committees:
What Makes Them Tick?
You Do!
Informational Meeting
Friday, November 8, 9-11 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center, Room 206
OLLI members volunteer to serve on one of the 11 Curriculum Committees, which consider course proposals, interview instructors, and develop the curriculum for College for Seniors.
You can learn more about joining one as a way to create the exciting learning opportunities that our members enjoy every term.
Come to an informational meeting on Friday, November 8, 9-11 a.m. in Room 206.
Herb Gunn and Pascale Couturier will be on hand to answer your questions. Call Herb at 828.251.6873 or email hgunn@unca.edu
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Carolinas' Nature Photographers Association Meeting
Member Portfolio Challenge
Sunday, November 10, 5:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center, Room 206
This twice per year member's portfolio challenge is designed to showcase member's work by having them present a common themed portfolio. Their collection may be taken from images over the years. If you are interested in sharing, please notify the co-coordinators at coordinator@cnpa-asheville.org.
The Carolinas' Nature Photographers Association (CNPA)-Asheville Region helps members more fully experience the beauty of Western North Carolina through photography. Activities in the Asheville Region include monthly meetings, photo outings, seminars, workshops, exhibits, photo contests, and image critiques. Meetings are held at the Reuter Center the second Sunday of the month, beginning at 5:30 p.m. with a meet and greet; the program begins at 6 p.m. For more
information visit www.cnpa-asheville.org
These meetings are free and open to everyone.
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Greater Asheville Science for All Book Club
Wednesday
, November 13, 6:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center, Room 206
This month the club will consider Life Everlasting: The Animal Way of Death by Bernd Heinrich and our deeper dive selection is All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes by Sue Black.
Both books are now available at Malaprops Bookstore and Cafe, Asheville, with a 10% discount if you identify yourself as a member of the Greater Asheville Science for All Book Club. Questions or comments, please contact Rachel Muir, Acting Coordinator, dr.nature@gmail.com.
These meetings are free and open to everyone.
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Symphony Talk
Friday, November 15, 3 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
The best way to enjoy Asheville Symphony Orchestra's (ASO)
Masterworks concerts is to come to Symphony Talk.
ASO conductor Darko Butorac will
appear with the soloist for upcoming concerts to talk about
how the orchestra prepares and to offer ways to listen to the
performance. For more information about the ASO or to find out
how to purchase tickets for performances at the Thomas Wolfe
Auditorium, visit ashevillesymphony.org.
This Masterworks performance is titled "From Russia with Love" and feature
Glinka's overture from Ruslan and Lyudmila, Lalo's Cello
Concerto, and Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6, with cello
soloist Zlatomir Fung.
Symphony Talks are free and open to everyone.
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Thomas Wolfe Literary Award Ceremony
Saturday, November 16, 4 p.m.
Asheville Renaissance Hotel
31 Woodfin Street
The Western North Carolina Historical Association has announced the five finalists for this year's Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, an annual recognition of distinction for qualifying works of fiction, nonfiction, drama or poetry.
The five finalists, chosen from 21 nominations, are
- Robert Beatty, "Willa of the Wood," a Serafina series thriller about an orphan in the Great Smoky Mountains set in 1900
- George Ellison and Janet McCure, "Back of Beyond: A Horace Kephart Biography," about an early national park advocate
- David Joy, "The Line That Held Us," a novel about a Blue Ridge Mountains murder cover-up
- Meredith McCarroll, "Unwhite: Appalachia, Race and Film," an examination of the region and depiction of residents in movies
- Terry Roberts, "The Holy Ghost Speakeasy and Revival," a novel about a traveling preacher in the mountains during Prohibition
During the
awards ceremony finalists will offer readings.
The first award in 1955 was given to Wilma Dykeman for her landmark "The French Broad." Last year's winner was bestselling author Charles Frazier for his historical novel "Varina" about the Confederate first lady. Others who have received the award over the years include such notables as Robert Morgan, John Parris, Gail Godwin, John Ehle, Robert Brunk, Michael McFee, Lee Smith, Ron Rash, Wiley Cash, Wayne Caldwell, Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr.
The WNC Historical Association is a nonprofit organization with a mission to promote and preserve regional history, recognize significant contributors and broaden cultural awareness. For more information, call WNCHA at 828-253-9231 or visit
www.wnchistory.org
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