Active Lifelong Learning
Lifelong Learning - Lifelong Doing - Lifelong Friends
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WELCOME TO CLUB NEWS & NOTES – June 2021
Editor: Ellen Breazeale – breazeales@comcast.net
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CLUB NEWS
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Then He Kissed Me...
ESCOM doesn't have a club for aficionados of the music of 60's girl groups, like the well-known Crystals and the long-forgotten Lockettes.
But...If you're passionate about Martha and the Vandellas or anything else in this world, think about starting an ESCOM Club to share your knowledge and enthusiasm with other
ESCOM members.
E-mail the Clubs Clair, Ellen Breazeale, who will send you a Club Application Form!
Contact: breazeales@comcast.net
Photo Caption: From 'The Victorian Rules of Etiquette'... for engaged couples: A lady needs chaperones. She never goes out alone with her fiancé. Furthermore, the couple must never retreat from a group to whisper together or do anything to "excite smiles"."
Victorian couples often sought short engagements.
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Lipstick on Your Collar.....
Great artists never die...they live on and on sometimes in unusual ways ...like at an ESCOM Zoom meeting
Check out our newest club,
'Reading Great Plays'.
Gary Goner is the club leader. New people who love theater are encouraged to join this fun group!
Photo Caption: The tomb of Oscar Wilde, the great Irish literary author and wit, is located in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, France. Traditionally, visitors would kiss the tomb after applying lipstick to their mouth, leaving a "print". Cleaning operations to remove the lipstick grease caused the stone to become more porous. In 2011, a glass barrier was erected
to make the monument 'kiss-proof'.
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.Leader of the Pack...
ESCOM needs you!
We'd like to form a new club which will focus on the people and events of
World War II.
But...this new club needs a club leader in order to begin. Two people have already signed up as members.
Being a club leader provides a lot of satisfaction and isn't hard. Your ESCOM Clubs Committee will provide you with training in Zoom and
give you a packet of information on what you need to do
to 'manage' successful club meetings.
Please contact Clubs Clair, Ellen Breazeale, to get started.
breazeales@comcast.net
Photo Caption:The Allied leaders of WWII depicted by Mexican artist, Miguel Covarrubias.
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CLUB LEADER NOTES
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No matter what your interest, there’s an ESCOM club that’s ‘right’ for you.
Review the list below. See what’s being offered and contact
a club leader to join the group!
With the onslaught of COVID, the ESCOM Centers at Kentfield and IVC have been closed for the last 14 months. Consequently, most of the clubs are meeting via ZOOM. Some are on hiatus but will return once these Centers open again.
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Arlene Stark
Philosophy of the Mind Club – Zoom
1st & 3rd Monday 10:00 am - noon
This club continues as a tribute to its esteemed late leader, Arlene Stark.
Discussions focus on Science and Philosophy.
Our current area of interest is on consciousness.
We are currently viewing YouTube videos on the subject and reading a recent book,
All interested are invited to participate and contribute.
Photo Caption: From the back cover of 'Conscious..."We take for granted our experience of being in the world. But the very existence of consciousness raises profound questions: Why would
any collection of matter in the universe be conscious? How are we able to think about this?
And why should we? "
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Astronomy Club – Zoom
2nd Monday 10:00 am - Noon
The Astronomy Club is engaged in learning and discussing about the (non-mathematical) current knowledge of the structure of the universe and its components.
This includes the different kinds and lives of stars, planets and planetary systems, asteroids and comets, galaxies and galaxy clusters.
In addition, we follow the contemporary discoveries of numerous active spacecraft and earth-based and space-based telescopes which use the range of the
electro-magnetic spectrum.
We learn and discuss the hunt for exo-planets and the conditions for and against the possibility of life existing elsewhere, black holes, white dwarfs, neutron stars, dark matter and dark energy, the expansion of the universe, the cycles of our Sun and
how life on Earth might be affected.
Our format is roughly an hour of discussion and presentations of book reviews, contemporary space exploration events, and what to look for in the current night sky.
This is followed by a lecture from the Great Courses Series on Astronomy fundamentals and eventually on Cosmology, after which we discuss the material covered and
any contemporary discoveries that provide insights to the lecture.
Contact: Michael Patrick mdpatric@pacbell.net 415-456-2778
Photo Caption: Galaxy Messier 104
Constellation Virgo
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Book Banter Book Club – Zoom
2nd Wednesday 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Biographies, Autobiographies and semi-fictional biographies of lives before and after WWI
June 9: Harriet Tubman
DVD - "They Called Her Moses"
July 14: "Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings"
by Amy May
August 19: "Cleopatra"
by Stacy Schiff
415-897-4844
Photo Caption: Born into slavery, Harriet Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using a network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad.
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Book Club Forum – Zoom
4th Monday 1:00 - 3:00 pm
415-883-2823
Photo Caption: One-third of all mass market fiction books sold are romance novels with sales exceeding $1 billion every year.
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Book Club Marin County – Zoom
4th Tuesday 1:30 - 3:00 pm
Note: While all meetings are scheduled to end
at 3:00 pm, the ending time is flexible.
Planned reading-always subject to change!
If anyone wishes to attend and purchase any of the selected books, they should feel free to contact Julio Burroughs to obtain book(s) via Book Passage (to avoid shipping cost).
Of course, if you prefer not to purchase, try the Marin Library (they have curbside service).
If you are a library member, you also have access to Hoopla
which has many audio books.
June 22: Shakespeare: Hamlet (Edition to be announced.)
July 27: Federalist Papers #’s 10 (regarding factions) and
74 (regarding Presidential pardons and command of the military).
Also: two poems: Emily Dickinson-"'Hope is the Thing with Feathers";
and Edna St. Vincent Millay-"I, Being Born a Woman and Distressed".
As in the past, we welcome suggestions for future readings!
August 24: Gabriel Garcia Marques novella: "Chronicles of a Death Foreold"
(Vintage International 2003 Ed., Estimated cost $10.15)
Julio Burroughs Julioburroughs@gmail.com 415-927-1488
Photo Caption: Alexander Hamilton wrote 85 of the Federalist Papers, including # 74.
James Madison is the author of # 10.
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Chess Club
Online play on Chess.Com
Every Friday - 2:00 pm
All levels of players welcome.
Contact: Bob Phillips
bob.phillips3@gmail 415-301-1906
Photo Caption: Judit Polgar has defeated nine world champions including Garry Kasparov, Boris Spassky and Viswanathan Anand, and is the only female ever to join an exclusive coterie of players rated above 2700 by the World Chess Federation.
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Current Events and Issues – Zoom
2nd & 4th Thursday 10:00 am - noon
After more than twenty years, we are still actively engaged in discussing current events.
Through participation, ESCOM club members experience teaching and learning opportunities.
We welcome new participants and topics that interest you.
Come, join us. Sit in on one session, no obligation - you may like the experience.
Many have! Hope to see you soon.
Photo Caption: Getting the news in Ancient Egypt.... Hieroglyphs were the formal writing system used. It combined logographic, syllabic and alphabetic elements,
with a total of some 1,000 distinct characters.
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Digital Camera Club – Zoom
1st Monday - Field Outings
3rd Monday Virtual Club Meeting 1:00 - 3:00 pm
Open to anyone who would like to expand their photographic capabilities by learning from others on how to capture images.
Our monthly camera club photo outings are currently scheduled outdoors with social distancing protocols and our virtual meetings are held via Zoom.
Contact: Harvey Abernathy
Photo Caption: Russell Kirsch, who died in 2020, is recognized as the developer of the first digital image scanner. In 2003, Kirsch's scanned picture of his son, Walden, taken in 1957, was named by Life magazine a one of the "100 Photographs That Changed the World".
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Exploring the Relationship Between
Theology & Society – Zoom
2nd Friday 11:00 am - 1:00 pm
The relationship between theology and society includes how people deal with this topic in both their personal
and professional life.
For some people their place of worship is a primary source of theological information.
As a part of our discussion, we will be sharing different life experiences of worship both positive and negative and how these experiences have affected our perspective.
We will also discuss the impact that education, at the primary and university level, and the media has had on individuals and then by extension their families.
Contact: Ken Kaprelian (415) 819-7180
Photo Caption: A tourist visits El Ghriba, the oldest synagogue in Africa,
on the Island of Djerba, southern Tunisia.
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Food Glorious Food! – Zoom
4th Tuesday 1:00 - 3:00 pm
June 22: Vegetarian food and recipes
July 27: Potatoes
August 24: "Omnivore's Dilemma"
by Michael Pollan
Photo Caption: Hummus is a Middle Eastern dip, spread, or savory dish made from cooked, mashed chickpeas blended with tahini, lemon juice, and garlic. The standard garnish in the Middle East includes olive oil, a few whole chickpeas, parsley, and paprika.
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Great Courses Group – Zoom
Every Thursday 1:00 - 2:00 pm
New Series - starts June 3
The Medici, Godfathers of the Renaissance
From a small Italian community in 15th Century Florence, the Medici family would rise to become one of the most powerful dynasties in Europe. Using charm, patronage, skill, duplicity and ruthlessness, they would amass unparalleled wealth and unprecedented power.
Join us for this four-week series. Our meetings are fun
and filled with lively discussions.
Photo Caption: Portrait of Piero di Lorenzo de Medici by Agnolo Bronzino.
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Moral and Ethical,
Legal Roundtable – Zoom
1st and 3rd Tuesday
10:00 am – noon
The Roundtable is a long running ESCOM Club for discussions, explorations, and issues in our contemporary world.
Stimulating discussions among and between the attendees and the
facilitator are the primary mode of participation.
Join us with your ideas and opinions.
Photo Caption: Al Hirschfeld's depiction of the Algonquin Round Table, a group of
New York City writers, critics, actors, and wits who met for lunch each day at
the Algonquin Hotel from 1919 until roughly 1929.
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Opera and Beyond Club – Zoom
2nd Tuesday 1:00 - 4:00 pm
This session presents full opera recording
Last Wednesday 1:00 - 3:00 pm
This session is a gathering to share the glories of opera. You do not have to know
a lot about opera.
Your enthusiasm and desire to participate
is what counts.
Everyone may contribute by selecting their
favorite opera aria.
The club leader will access it on YouTube and talk about it during the session.
Also, you can share an article about opera, music, composer, an anecdote, your life experiences, etc.
We are all enthusiasts!
* If you would like to suggest an opera or have access to any operas,
please contact the club leader.
Photo Caption: Placido Domingo, thought to be the world's greatest Wagnerian tenor, is pictured here in the lead role for the opera, Parsifal, based on a 13th-century epic poem of the Arthurian knight and his quest for the Holy Grail.
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Spanish Club – Zoom
Every Friday 1:00 - 2:30 pm
Club Leader: Lucy Wait
Intermediate level conversation in Spanish
on various topics, including the
Netflix 60-episode series, Bolívar, which is done in the telenovela style.
Contact: Roberta Schwarz, reschwarz@sbcglobal.net 415-435-3540
or Paula Hammons paulahammons@yahoo.com 415-948-8451
Photo Caption: The Netflix series which dramatizes the life – and loves – of General Simon Bolivar stars Luis Geronimo Abreu, Jose Ramon Barreto, and Shany Nadan.
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Reading Great Plays - Zoom
2nd Tuesday 1:00 - 4:00 pm
We'll be reading a play each month and attempt to release its magic to reveal the author's main objective -- storytelling.
There is no memorization, no accents, no ego and no stress... just the joy of bringing the play alive!!!
June 8/July 13: The Importance of Being Ernest
by Oscar Wilde
August 10: Twelfth Night
by William Shakespeare
Contact: Gary Gonser gonser3@gmail.com
Photo Caption: From a 2011 'New York Times' review: "Within seconds of sweeping onstage, and with a wordless gesture as funny as it is subtle, the great actor Brian Bedford proves beyond question that gender is of no importance whatsoever in portraying the imposing Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s greatest comedy, 'The Importance of Being Earnest'.”
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Trivia Quiz -
Calling All Smarty Pants - Zoom
4th Sunday - 7:00 p.m.
Hosted by Janis Luft, longtime Mistress of Trivia for the Belvedere-Tiburon Library.
General knowledge questions.
Interactive team contest (teams assigned).
June 27 - Hope to see you
for another round of Bear with Me Trivia.
As always, you’ll get 4 rounds of 5 questions, many with multiple answers.
You’ll jot down your own answers and at the end of each round of questions, the club leader will randomly sort you into Zoom rooms where you will decide on a team name (funny, punny names encouraged) and confer with your teammates before presenting your group’s answers.
The winning team gets bragging rights for a whole month!!!
Photo Caption: Little known facts about fruit stickers: In addition to being edible, the adhesive is
controlled by the FDA; the numbers identify whether the fruit is organic or GMO; and
the codes are the same nationwide.
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"Who Done It?" Book Club – Zoom
3rd Wednesday 1:00 - 3:00 pm
We’re a Mystery Book Club
June 16: "The Wives of Malabar"
by Sujita Massey
July 21: "The Blackhouse"
by Peter May
August 18: "The Cuckoos Calling"
by Robert Galbraith
Please contact the club leader for a list of books
selected for 2021.
415-897-4844
Photo Caption: The September 1929 cover of Black Mask, a pulp magazine, featuring part one of the serialization of ' The Maltese Falcon', by Dashiell Hammett. Illustration of private eye
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For the complete ESCOM Club List, Click Here
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ESCOM | Telephone: 415-485-9652 | email: escom@marin.edu
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