 Volunteer Training with the Marvelous Math Club
Wednesday, March 4, 5-7 pm
UNC Asheville Campus, R
hodes Robinson Hall Room 305
Marvelous Math Club focuses on positively impacting families who live in Asheville Housing Authority residences.
Currently, on Mondays when Asheville City Schools are in session, UNC Asheville hosts Marvelous Math Club from 3 to 5 p.m. at Pisgah View Community Center (1 Granada Street, West Asheville) for elementary school-age children (Math Leaders).
Marvelous Math Club uses math to build community and foster leadership. The design focuses on creating a space where students feel safe physically and emotionally and where learning can occur. We use asset and justice-based thinking and practices as a strategy for making this possible.
Please RSVP to mmc@unca.edu to secure a seat and get materials for the training
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| Residents of Capitol Hill Village |
Aging in Place /
Thriving in Community
Special Interest Group Meeting
Thursday, March 5, 4:15-5:15 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
Topic: Essential Aspects of
the Village Concept
and the Washington, DC Village Model
This groups meets on varied Thursdays,
to provide information and resources for members interested in creating the support needed within their homes and neighborhood so they can "age in place" and thrive in the second half of life.
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Astronomy Club of Asheville
"Feeling Small in a Big Cosmos"
presented by
Thursday, March 5, 7 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
The Universe is vast beyond anything humans can easily comprehend, and it is easy to become overwhelmed by the immensity and disheartened by how insignificant we seem. But in the vastness there is a glimmer of truth that we should hold onto and use to guide us: In all the vastness we are, so far as we currently know, the only beings capable of asking questions about our existence and our place within the Cosmos. We are the stars, come to life for the sole purpose of asking where we came from and why are we here? Such questions are deep and philosophical, but Dr. Larson likes to think we are here because the Universe made us in an attempt to figure out why it is here. We are the Universe looking at itself. We are the Cosmos, made manifest.
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Sierra Club Meeting
Thursday, March 5,
7 p.m.
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Asheville, 1 Edwin Place, corner of Charlotte and Edwin.
"Funding Climate Change Priorities"
Come hear to hear about Asheville City Council efforts. Julie Mayfield, a council member, will present on 100% renewable energy, solar panels, housing weatherization. Steve Hendricks of the Urban Forestry Commission will present on urban forests, and Jeff Jones of the Asheville Transit Committee will present on transit needs.
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The Forum
Special Interest Group (SIG)
Friday, March 6, 1 - 3 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Room 205
Topic
:
Current events and selection of topics for March
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.
SIG Contact: Beth Johnson johnson1ea@earthlink.net
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Financial Strategies in Retirement
Special Interest Group Meeting
"Investment Roundtable:
Are You Taking Too Much Stock Market Risk?"
Friday, March 6, 1:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
- How would you react if the market kept falling?
- Are you sensibly diversified?
- Are your investments appropriate for your age?
- Do your investments fit with your long-term financial goals?
Don't miss this opportunity to listen to opinions on this topic from our members and add your voice to this discussion!
The meeting is open to all OLLI members. Email/call Kate Beatty for further information at
kkbmom@yahoo.com or 828-231-7710.
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Whole Food/Plant Based Living SIG
Friday, March 6, 3:15 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Room 206
Guest speaker: Plant-based Chef Mark Zedella
Chef Mark Zedella is a plant-based chef and culinary instructor who is focused on transforming lives through food and advocating for changes in our food system from seed to plate. He is a graduate of the School of Natural Cookery in Boulder, Colorado, earned a certificate in plant-based nutrition from the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies, and earned a Plant-Based Professional Certificate from the Rouxbe Cooking School. Mark operated his own business in Ohio named "The Duke of Fork" which provided whole-food, plant-based personal chef services primarily to people with health issues, and managed a corporate "wellness through food" program for a non-profit organization. He has taught more than 200 cooking classes and made numerous television and radio appearances promoting a healthy plant-based lifestyle. Chef Mark's motto is, "Cook Well, Eat Well, Be Well." Chef Mark and his wife Loretta, a yoga instructor and movement coach, relocated to the Asheville area in 2019 from Columbus, Ohio, to continue their work of bringing better health and happiness to the community through simple lifestyle choices.
SIG Contact:
Bonnie Wheeler
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Monday, March 9, 4:15 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Room 120
Jacquie Wollin's back to lead us to Alpha! If you have taken Jacquie's
Functional Meditation class and want a refresher, or if you're thinking of taking a meditation class and want a preview, come join us for this program. You will learn about the Sylva Method for functional meditation, and you will be able to experience the positive relaxation benefits of moving into the Alpha state.
All OLLI members are welcome at our programs and no previous meditation experience is necessary to enjoy and benefit from them.
Meditation SIG contact: Sally Ekaireb
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Gardening
Special Interest Group (SIG)
Tuesday, March 10, 4:15 - 5:45 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Room 230
Ground Covers for Sun and Shade
After February's meeting on managing slopes, we will discuss ground covers for sun and shade. This is a SIG member slide presentation with information on each plant's features, where to source them locally or on-line. Information on favorite catalogues, on-line apps, and garden websites will also be shared. All OLLI members are welcome, but seats are limited.
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OLLI VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Haywood Street Congregation
Crisis Ministry
Habitat ReStore
Helping People One Home at a Time
VOLUNTEER NOW...
Make A Difference!
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French Broad River Garden Club presents
"Building a
Mountain Bald"
Friday, March 13, 10 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
Tom Ranney, JC Raulston Distinguished Professor of Horticulture
Science at NC State University, will discuss "Building a Mountain
Bald." Tom received his bachelor's degree from Ohio State
University, followed by a master's and doctorate from Cornell
University. He lives, works, and plays in the mountains of Western
North Carolina where he leads a research program at the Mountain
Horticultural Crops Research and Extension Center in Mills River,
NC. His research program focuses on the evaluation, selection,
and development of new landscape and bioenergy crops. He
has published more than 230 research and popular articles on
diverse horticultural topics. In his talk he will explain the process of
creating a mountain bald at his private residence.
This event is free and open to everyone.
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Curtis Smalling (in orange)
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Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society
"Birds and the Nantahala/Pisgah Forest Plan"
T
uesday, March 17, 7 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
The U.S. Forest Service recently released a new forest plan and draft environmental impact statement that are critical to the future of western North Carolina's forests and the birds that depend on them, including rare and threatened species like the Golden-Winged Warbler and beloved songbirds like the Wood Thrush. Audubon North Carolina has been working on the plan and "is committed to making sure it balances the needs of people who use our public lands while promoting healthier forests for birds and communities."
Curtis Smalling, Director of Conservation for Audubon North Carolina, along with Alice Cohen,Collaboration Specialist for the Forest Plan, and Sheryl Bryan, Fisheries and Wildlife Biologist for the Forest Plan, will update us on the plan. Curtis will share his insights into the revision and the draft environmental impact statement and discuss how the plan balances the future of the national forests with the needs of birds as well as local stakeholder and interest groups.
Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society programs are free and open to everyone. Click here to visit the Elisha Mitchell Audubon Society website.
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Creativity Workshops
Become a Creative Genius (Again)
Parts 1 and 2
Wednesday and Thursday, March 18 and 19, noon - 2 p.m. both days
and
Story and Storytelling
Saturday, March 21, 1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Last year Carl Nordgren hoped to attract 25 OLLI members to a
two-hour workshop on how to grow creative capacity and develop
entrepreneurial instincts; over 75 people attended. He shared recent
research about how biological changes to the brains of people
over 55 invite creative growth. This spring he will return with two
workshops; both are fast-paced, with plenty of creative exercises.
In "Become a Creative Genius (Again), Parts 1 and 2"
Carl will share new insights into the research. He will break
down the proven principles and practices that nurture creative
capacities and help participants apply them. Carl has designed
the workshops so that you will be well served even if you can
In
"Story and Storytelling" Carl will share his experiences having
studied story from many perspectives. He's an award-
winning novelist. He used story as a leadership tool when he
was an entrepreneur. He is committed to telling his family's
stories, those from long ago and those created today. His
creativity work explores story as a generative technology.
He understands how the stories we tell about ourselves, to
ourselves, shape what happens to us next. In this workshop we
These workshops are free and open to everyone, but you must be registered to attend.
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The Odyssey Project:
The Journey Home
"Beyond the Seduction of
Violence as Virtue"
Gareth Higgins, Thomas Griggs, and Avery Sosebee
Thursday, March 19, 7 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Sherrill Center
Ingle's Mountain View Room
"The Odyssey Project" is a series of interactive community dialogues using Homer's
Odyssey as the context for exploring some of the most fundamental
societal challenges we face. The series is sponsored by the
NC Humanities Council, National Endowment for the Humanities, UNC Asheville, The Mankind Project, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNC Asheville, and Odyssey Community School.
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New Member Welcome
Friday, March 20, 10 a.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
Are you new to OLLI at UNC Asheville and the Reuter Center? Are
you returning after being gone awhile? Come to the New Member
Welcome to learn about all that OLLI has to offer and about ways to
get involved. Meet other members and learn what it means to "grow
through life."
This event is free and open to everyone
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Stories on Asheville's Front Porch
Presents "A Patchwork of Stories"
The Folk Art Center, Blue Ridge Parkway Milepost 382
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Dear OLLI Members,
We will send out schedules for Spring 2020 classes on Wednesday, March 4, 4:30 p.m. On Wednesday we will als send out an email with instructions on the Add/Drop process that opens on Thursday, March 5, 10 a.m. Remember that this is first-come / first-served registration. You may add courses at no cost if you have already registered or you may sign up for the first time if you were not part of the initial registration. In this email we will include a list of classes that will be open when registration opens at 10 a.m.; we do not publish a list after that because online enrollments change so rapidly. You can, however, easily see which classes are full by seeing the red text beside the title. Thanks so much to all of our curriculum committees and instructors for such a lively set of offerings. We had 1159 people request courses, about 50 people ahead of last spring's enrollment.
Remember that if you have questions or concerns about anything here at OLLI that you may always respond to this email, email me directly at cfrank@unca.edu, or phone me at 828.251.6188. We try to communicate as completely as possible, but we can always learn from your questions.
Many of us are concerned about coronavirus. UNC Asheville's Health and Counseling and Emergency Management offices are carefully monitoring conditions and remind us that there are no cases reported in North Carolina. They suggest that the
best source of information is the Centers for Disease Control website. The site reminds us of the following practices we should observe during cold and flu season.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.
- Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
- If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.
We are truly thankful for the wonderful community we create together, for the riches that we enjoy because everyone contributes so much.
Catherine Frank
Executive Director
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Test of
UNC Asheville's BulldogAlert Emergency Notification System
Monday, March 9,
beginning at 9 a.m.
This test will include announcements and warning tones from the outdoor speakers on campus, as well as multiple text, voice, and email messages for anyone enrolled in the system. You will receive the messages whether you are on-campus or off-campus at the time of the test.
The BulldogAlert website is the hub of emergency communication during the test and for any emergency situation. OLLI members may enroll, review, and update contact information at
bulldogalert.unca.edu
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 Important Dates for OLLI's Spring 2020
College for Seniors Registration
and Information about Spring Term
- Through Thursday, March 5, 10 a.m. College for Seniors Registration closed
- Wednesday, March 4, 4:30 p.m.: Spring 2020 Schedules sent
- Thursday, March 5, 10 a.m.: Add/Drop for Spring 2020 begins
- Monday, March 23-Friday, May 15: College for Seniors Spring 2020 courses
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 Schedule Changes for Spring 2020 College for Seniors Courses
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Sign up now to reserve your spot!
Thoughtful Planning for Life's End
Go beyond "5 Wishes" in this comprehensive five-week workshop.
The Gift of Time program will encourage you to think about how to plan and communicate your end of life wishes to spouses, partners, children and parents. Take control of what you want for yourself, and help others address the myriad issues that face all of us in times of crisis. The workshop will be an extended conversation with trained facilitators as well as outside speakers who will converse holistically on key legal, medical, and spiritual issues. The objective is to provide participants with compelling reasons to prepare an end of life plan and prepare them to deal with both the rational and emotional elements of such a plan.
For more information, contact Hannah Furgiuele at hfurgiue@unca.edu
or
828-250-3871
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Class Reps for
Spring 2020
If you would like to volunteer to be a Class Rep and have not added your name and contact information to the Class Reps database,
please do so this week with the brief survey at this link.
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I Never Thought About It Like That:
Looking at Your Teaching Style
Learn to Create a Community in Your Classroom
A day of networking and workshops for
prospective, new and experienced instructors.
Thursday, March 12
9 a.m.-2:30 p.m.
(Coffee at 8:30)
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
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 What I love about Olli is that it provides me the opportunity to connect intimately with people who love to learn, who look beneath the surface of issues, who don't accept the easy truisms of the majority and rather are independent thinkers, and who remain passionate about growing themselves.
-Esther Pittman
"What I Love Most About OLLI" Call for submissions:
Our OLLI experiences encompass so much more than classes and events. We will publish a series of your thoughts about what you love about OLLI in each Sunday's OLLI Observer. To share your joy, email your brief quote (40 words max), attaching a photo of yourself that you love to
ollifavorites@gmail.com. Cell phone photos are fine! If you teach or volunteer in any capacity, include that information, too.
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Stitch in Time
Special Interest Group Meeting
Monday, March 2,
2-4 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center,
Lower Level Atrium
Stitch in Time is a fellowship group for stitchers of all types (knitting, crochet, quilting, needlepoint, embroidery, cross stitch, sewing, etc) to help encourage, inspire, and support each other. All skill levels are welcome!'
The group meets the first Monday of the month, 2-4 p.m. SIG contact: Gay Lambirth, 281.433.1060,
gaylambirth@yahoo.com
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World Affairs Council
Great Decisions Series
"Climate Change and Global Order"
Roger Helm
Tuesday, March 3,
7:30 p.m. (doors open at 7)
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
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| John Plant |
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Climate change has become one of the defining issues of our time. As much of the world bands together to come up with a plan, the U.S. remains the notable holdout. What is the rest of the world doing to combat climate change? What impact will the effects of climate change have on global geopolitics?
Roger Helm is a 25-year career official with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
His service in the agency began following the 1989 Exxon Valdez
oil spill;
he led the Department of the Interior's damage assessment team following the massive Deep Water Horizon
oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
He has co-authored articles and book chapters and presently teaches courses on climate change.
He holds graduate degrees in biological ecology from University of California-Davis and the Moss Landing Marine Labs in Monterey, CA.
The Great Decisions Program is the oldest and largest grassroots world affairs educational program of its kind in the country. Begun in 1954, it is the flagship program of the Foreign Policy Association, a non-partisan, non-governmental organization. The Great Decisions Program's goal is to discuss, debate, and learn about International Affairs, National Security, and U.S. Foreign Policy.
All events are scheduled in the Manheimer Room, 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.
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Medication Management with UNC Eshelman Pharmacy Students
Friday, March 13, 1 p.m. UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Room 120
Come learn about medication management and organization strategies with UNC Eshelman Pharmacy students and Walgreens Pharmacy Resident Tina Hudgins. Anyone is welcome to attend!
Note: There will be an optional 30-minute time period (1:30-2 p.m.) where you can bring your medications and let a pharmacy student help you create an organized medication list for you! If you are interested in the optional post-class activity, please contact Katie Lambert at kaitlynl@email.unc.edu
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Greater Asheville Science-For-All Bookclub, (GASFAB)
Wednesday,
March 18, 6:30 p.m. UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Room 206
In March club members will explore the science of taxonomy through book selections
What Linnaeus Saw: A Scientist's Quest to Name Every Living Thing by Karen Magnuson and
The Art of Naming by Michael Ohl.
Both books are available at Malaprops Bookstore and Café. Identify yourself as a member of the bookclub and receive a 10% discount.
As always, refreshments will be served and new members are always welcome and refreshments will be served. If you have questions or comments contact Rachel Muir, Acting Coordinator of GASFAB, at dr.nature@gmail.com
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NC Stage Behind the Scenes
Friday, March 20, 1 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Well is a funny and touching comedy about mothers and daughters, mind over body, social activism, and theatre itself. Lisa, the onstage playwright, attempts a memory play about her force-of-nature mother, Ann, who, though constantly ill, manages to heal a community. The playwright asks the provocative question: "Do we create our own illness?" The answers she gets are much more complicated than she bargained for as the play spins dangerously out of control into riotously funny and unexpected territory.
Join NC Stage Artistic Director and Co-Founder Charlie Flynn-McIver for an insider's view of how theatre happens. We will look at this season's professional productions and explore themes of the plays, the rehearsal and desig process, hear from actors, directors, and designers, and experience a scene or two from the upcoming show performed live.
NC Stage Behind the Scenes is free and open to everyone.
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Symphony Talk
"Under the Influence:
Miranda, Mozart, Brahms"
Friday, March 20, 3 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center
Manheimer Room
T
he first concert in the Asheville Symphony Orchestra's Beethoven celebration features composers who inspired and were inspired by Beethoven. Brazilian composer Ronaldo Miranda's Temporal Variations reimagines Beethoven's motifs in a 21st century setting. Mozart's D-minor piano concerto foreshadows the stormy nature of his successor in the genre. Brahms' First Symphony answers the question of what the symphony could say after Beethoven - in fact, it was dubbed Beethoven's Tenth Symphony after its premiere. The conductor for the performance is Darko Butorac and the soloist is Sara Daneshpour, piano.
Symphony Talks are an entertaining and educational way to hear about the music to be performed at upcoming Asheville Symphony Orchestra (ASO) Masterworks Concerts. ASO music director Darko Butorac and guest conductors 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 ASO or to find out how to purchase tickets for performances at the Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, visit
ashevillesymphony.org
Symphony Talks are free and open to everyone.
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Ay Mariposa Documentary Screening
Thursday, March 26,
6 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Ay Mariposa tells the true story of two women and a rare community of
butterflies standing on the front lines in a battle against the US-Mexico
border wall where the wall construction is having an impact on wildlife
and human communities. Heather Rayburn of MonarchLover.org will
host the event, with a community discussion following the screening.
This event is sponsored by UNC Asheville's Student Environmental
Center and the Western North Carolina Sierra Club and is free and open to everyone.
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AARP Smart Driver Course
Friday, March 27, 12:15 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Room 206
This one-time, four-hour course was designed specifically for the
over-50 driver, and the instructor offers numerous tips for coping
with inevitable changes in perception and reaction time, as well as
increased hazards on the roads with faster cars, busier traffic, and
distracted drivers. Participants can expect to review the rules of the
road and learn about the particulars of driving most likely to cause
problems for older drivers. The Smart Driver course does not involve
any behind-the-wheel time, and there are no tests. The cost of the
class is $15 for AARP members and $20 for non-members.
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The Autumn Players Readers Theater
Mary Chase's "Harvey"
Sunday, March 29, 2:30 p.m.
UNC Asheville's Reuter Center Manheimer Room
Genial, mild mannered Elwood P. Dowd has a special friend in Harvey, a large and gentle rabbit whom only he can see and hear. Utterly mortified, his social climbing sister tries to have him committed to a mental institution, but her plans go hilariously awry in this beloved American classic.
The Autumn Players (affiliated with Asheville Community Theatre) is a
troupe of seasoned actors dedicated to taking the theatre experience
into the community. Their words jump from the page with conviction
and emotion, and stories come to life. Tickets are $8 at the door.
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2020 Parsons Math Lecture
Moon Duchin:
Gerrymandering, Mathematics and Fairness
Math modeling and algorithmic decision making is explosively expanding its reach in governance, policy, and across the spectrum of human activity. The law isn't necessarily catching up very quickly! Moon Duchin will give a tour of one fascinating case - gerrymandering in North Carolina - where mathematicians are using random algorithms to track political fairness and the courts are trying to make sense of the story we are telling.
Moon Duchin is an associate professor of mathematics and Senior Fellow in the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. She serves as director of the interdisciplinary program in Science, Technology, and Society and as collaborating faculty in the Department of Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora Studies. Her mathematical subfields are geometry, topology, group theory, and dynamical systems. Her current research focus is in the study of electoral redistricting in the U.S., using Markov chain Monte Carlo and other randomized algorithms to understand relationships between community, partisanship, race, and representation.
The goal of the Parsons Lecture is to provide the greater Asheville community with the ability to attend locally a presentation by a nationally renowned mathematician speaking on a topic accessible to the general audience. Speakers for the lecture series are invited to present a lecture not just because of their renown as mathematicians, but also for their skills as educators and orators. Funds for the series are provided by an endowment, donated in 1998 by an anonymous alumnus, in honor of Joe Parsons, UNC Asheville's first professor and chair of mathematics, who also helped plan the physical layout of the university's campus, including the decision have Ramsey Library face Mt. Pisgah, providing a dramatic view from the library steps.
Bill McKibben:
2020's Brown Visionary Lecturer
Thursday, April 2, 2020,
7 p.m.
UNC Asheville's
Kimmel Arena
Bill McKibben is an internationally renowned expert on climate change and related issues, recipient of the Gandhi Peace Award and the Sierra Club's John Muir Award, as well as a number of other distinctions, including honorary degrees from a number of colleges and universities. His work has elevated the conversation on climate change and environmental degradation for the past few decades, in countless articles and public appearances and in nearly twenty books since the 1989 publication of his groundbreaking work
The End of Nature.
Many thanks go to the Browns and The Ecology Wildlife Foundation for providing support to continue to bring such prominent speakers to our community!
This event is free and open to everyone.
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Nearly 375 OLLI members have signed up for the OLLIChat community bulletin board. This volunteer-run group needs additional moderators to keep the flow of requests and responses (questions and answers) flowing smoothly. We provide training so you can work from home one hour a day for one week/month. Please email
ollichatavl@gmail.com
an
d one of our volunteers
will
respond.
Join OLLIChat, the replacement for OLLITalk.
It's free for all 2019-20 OLLI members and easy to use.
OLLIChat is an online community where OLLI at UNC 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.
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