OLLILife
A community of learners over 50
November 2021 | Vol 2, No. 1
Change is in the Air!

You can feel it starting this week – cooler air, sweat-free outdoor walks, and leaves turning color. We also have decisions to make about Medicare plans and imminent important elections. Not to mention the big change this week – Daylight Savings Time ending November 7!

If you’ve driven or walked almost anywhere in Tampa Bay lately, you’ve seen massively changing skylines. Construction is going on all over, and many places are opening to people eager to be back to some kind of normalcy. 

City Scenes

I recently participated in the free monthly downtown Tampa walking tour provided by the Tampa Downtown Partnership (www.wherelovegrows.org/do-the-local-motion/). They took us through the new urban canyons, skyscrapers, greenspaces-to-be, parking garages and more that are part of the towering Water Street project in downtown Tampa's southeast section. We all were amazed! And all of this is just Phase 1 – Phase 2 will start soon and be huge, too.

St. Petersburg, Clearwater and Midtown Tampa also have begun sizeable redevelopment projects that will bring big changes. You can check these out at www.waterstreettampa.com, www.stpeterising.com, www.downtownclearwater.com, and www.midtowntampa.com.

Big Changes At OLLI

Big changes are happening in our OLLI, too. The return to in-person classes got off to a good start in the fall term with many interesting courses finally happening face-to-face.

Our first all-USF OLLI hybrid course is underway now - Bruce Gobioff’s “The History of Jews in America.” Several OLLI techies have worked to support Bruce while he teaches simultaneously to a live audience and to people on Zoom screens. 

One of the most hopeful changes, new availability of the COVID vaccine to children, could be truly effective in pushing back the devastating pandemic. May these and other new changes give you something to be excited about as we start to emerge from our long hibernation.

Let’s keep on being cautiously safe but also hopeful that a return to our customary lives is something we can begin to believe in.

As always, if you find something you think would be interesting to your fellow OLLI members, please share it with Mary Ettinger by sending an email to ollinewsusf@gmail.com.
Walk our Winter Wonderland!
 
Our next catalog — actually, our Winter-Spring edition — is in the works. Here is a brisk walk through some things you might expect:

  • More classes overall in our biggest catalog of the year;
  • More face-to-face classes (COVID-permitting), several of them hybrid, so you have a choice of face to face or online;
  • Broadway at the Straz is back! Along with the pre-show lecture that make them uniquely OLLI;
  • OLLIBird discounts return, too, and fly away Jan. 13.
 
We will reveal all on Friday, December 3. You will be able to view classes and download the catalog online. You might even have the catalog in your mailbox by then.
 
Registration opens Monday, December 13.

Our Winter Open House will be held online Tuesday, January 11, and will feature USF’s Russia expert on “why Americans should care about Russia.”
 
Watch for links to register for the open house and more in the December OLLILife and always on our website, at usfseniors.org.
 
TWO FANTASTIC SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES
Virtual Wine Tasting – Wines for the Holidays

Wednesday, Nov. 10
Zoom Social time 6:15 p.m.; Tasting begins 6:30 p.m. 

Bring the tasting room into your living room. Swirl. Sip. Taste. Enjoy.

Love for the holiday season and great wine come together as we share family times, good friends, and great wines.

Bill Stobbs, of ABC Fine Wine and Spirits, will present four wines to taste. Taste one or all four! Bill will also offer suggestions for wine gift-giving. The wines include:

M de Ligny Brut Blanc de Blanc (sparkling wine, France)
Octopoda Russian River Pinot Noir (Russian River, Sonoma, CA)
Paso 46 Cabernet Sauvignon (Paso Robles, CA) 
Buller Victoria Tawny Port (Victoria, Australia)

Order early to ensure you can find the wines. ABC Wine and Spirits offers online order with curbside pickup at its seven locations in Hillsborough County. ABC Wine and Spirits also offers a FedEx option. Drizly.com and Saucey.com are online liquor stores that will deliver from ABC Wine and Spirits. DoorDash.com also delivers.

Contact your hostesses (Robyn Cheung or Judy Hanna) if you have questions.
Sign-Up Genius and Zoom invitations will be sent prior to the event.

Guilty Pleasures - Binge Worthy TV Happy Hour

Tuesday, Dec. 7
Social time begins at 3:45 p.m.
"Confessions" 4-6 p.m.

"Just one more," I whispered to myself as I picked "Next Episode."

Join us for a fun and guilt-free discussion about what we binged on TV or streaming. We'll find OLLI friends with the same interests and find some new shows to enjoy.

Contact your hostesses (Judy Hanna or Robyn Cheung) if you want to be included in the Sign-UP Genius invitation. Sign-UP Genius and Zoom invitations will be sent prior to the event.
Meet The Editors

OLLILife is happy to introduce our editorial team.

Pictured, from top left: Pat Dodge, OLLI Executive Director Ara Rogers, Kathy Palmer, Mary Ettinger, and Sandy Buckley.

You can reach any of us by emailing ollinewsusf@gmail.com
Send Us Your Pictures and Articles

The OLLILife team invites your participation in our monthly newsletter.

Let OLLI members know what exciting things are happening within our organization by sending pictures and articles about activities and events you're involved in so we can run them in OLLILife. Please include as much information as you can with each picture.

OLLILife is published the first of each month. The deadline for submitting your items is the 25th of the month before publication.

Please send all pictures and news articles to our newsroom at ollinewsusf@gmail.com.

Flying Tigers in China – 80th Anniversary
Remembering the Shared American and Chinese Legacy of World War II

Free, virtual event: Tuesday, Dec. 7, 11 a.m.-noon

In December 1941, the American Volunteer Group, better known as the Flying Tigers, fought its first air battle with the Japanese over China. Over the next three and a half years, American and Chinese service members, civilians, soldiers, airmen, and volunteers stood shoulder to shoulder and flew wing to wing to bring World War II to a victorious conclusion in Asia.

You can learn more about these dramatic events during a virtual program that honors these heroes and provides memorable historic moments.

The two keynote speakers include:

Major General Arthur Clark, USAF (retired), served in China during 1944-45 and is the author of Eyes of the Tiger: China 1944-1945 ((2015)

Daniel Jackson, a military historian and active officer of the U.S. Air Force,
is the author of Fallen Tigers - The Fate of America's Missing Airmen in China during WWII (May 2021)

This free, special event is brought to you by OLLI-USF and its China SIG, as well as USF World, the Chinese American Association of Tampa Bay and the Suncoast Association of Chinese Americans.

To register, please scan the QR Code at the top of this article.
Ask Us Anything...About Volunteering

Volunteering with OLLI lets you follow your passion! Do you love to write? Are you good with budgets or strategic planning? Enjoy being creative? Love social media?

How do you get started? Ask us anything about volunteering with OLLI by emailing the Ask Team. The next free volunteer information and orientation session is Friday, Nov. 5, at 3 p.m.

To learn more about volunteering and to register for the next session, click here to email the Ask Team.
Goings-on Around OLLI 
As part of the first wave of OLLI's return to face-to-face classes, students took Carl Schott's interesting course, Rum, Rhyme and Rhythm, in person this fall. Here in Unisen villas' comfortable clubhouse, Professor Schott discussed the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean.
Instructor Sylvia (Jerry) Noland’s George Saunders Short Stories class at HCC at the Regent in Brandon is another of the many in-person, face-to-face OLLI classes we had for the fall term at various locations in the area.  
 
He Fills A Special Niche

Don Clark, one of our long-time OLLI members has been filling a special niche in our OLLI for 20 years.

Over all that time, he has searched out things to do in the Tampa Bay area and has shared his finds with others. Don is the go-to person to ask if you want to find something new and interesting to do.
 
Don came to OLLI after giving adult classes in the old Bay Winds Classes building on Gandy Boulevard. In 2001 he began teaching his OLLI course, “Discover Tampa Bay,” focusing on the many places he had discovered and enjoyed. Each student received a large bag full of brochures and information about places to visit.
  
In recent years, instead of teaching classes, Don has been organizing and leading day trips for our members, usually from three to six tours each term.

Some of his many tours include the Circus Museum, the Port of Tampa boat tour, the Plant Museum decorated for Christmas, and a two-hour tour of Tampa International Airport. 

Don had to stop most of these when COVID hit, but happily he is easing back into leading OLLI day trips again. Recent tours included the Bucs’ Raymond James Stadium inside and out and a trip through the J.C. Newman Cigar Factory just north of Ybor City.


The picture above shows Don and his group at their recent visit to Raymond James Stadium.

Coming up, he has two tours scheduled for the winter term, one outdoors at the special USF Botanical Gardens and another at the Aston Gardens Senior Living Facility followed by lunch there.

If you want to contact this dynamic and fun leader, his email address is d1g2clark@aol.com. 
Help Wanted To Publicize Friday Lectures

The Marketing Committee is seeking volunteers from
the six neighborhoods listed below to post the Friday Lectures in their local editions of Patch.com.

Bloomingdale-Riverview
Brandon
Carrollwood-Northdale
New Tampa
Seminole Heights
Westchase

If you are interested in helping or have questions, please contact Elissa Henderson or Linda Tournade. We will provide easy-to-use instructions for posting events on Patch.
SIGnificant Events for November 2021

For more info on OLLI SIGs, see the full list here. Most SIGs are meeting on Zoom; a couple are starting to organize small group outings. To visit a SIG, email the contact(s) below.
Community of Readers and Writers
Fri., Nov. 19, at 7 p.m. A discussion of Maiden Voyages by Sian Evans. A nonfiction account of how many of our European settlers worked, traveled, and first came to America on ocean liners as domestic workers. Join in a Zoom conversation about the similarities of fiction and nonfiction great storytelling. Email


Food, Glorious Food!
Mon, Nov. 22, at 10 a.m. Meghan Khatri and friends discuss "Our Muslim Table." For further information contact

Ici on parle français!
Mon, Nov. 1 and 15, at 1 p.m. For an invitation, contact Theresa Sokol.

Games
Thur, Nov. 11, at 3:30 p.m. To play Scattergories, contact Kathy Palmer.

German Conversation
Tues, Nov. 9 and 23, at 1p.m. For more information, contact Christine Basch.

Write Time for Poets
Thurs, Nov. 11, at 2 p.m. Email Cath Mason for more information.
OLLI Outdoors
Thurs, Nov. 11, at 9:30 a.m. - Urban Walk - Reams Wilson Trail, Clearwater
Fri, Nov. 19, at 3 p.m. Virtual social and program: The Future of Environmental Lands and Parks, Chris Kiddy, Conservation & Environmental Lands Management and Greg Brown from the Parks and Rec team
Mon, Dec. 6, at 10 a.m. OLLI Outdoors and Food, Glorious Food joint SIG picnic at Trout Creek Conservation Park.
For more information, contact OLLIOutdoors@gmail.com.

Operatunity
For information about the SIG, contact Derrie Perez.

P-SIG
Wed, Nov. 10, at 1p.m. Email Doug Dallio for more information

Shutterbugs
For more information about Shutterbugs activities contact Jeanne Nixon.

Talking Movies
Fri, Nov. 19 at 1:30 p.m. Watch the movie "Shine" on your own and then get together to talk about it. For more information, contact
People News
Carolyn Clark is our Goodwill Ambassador, sending notes of support, congratulations and comfort on our behalf. If you or another OLLI member have a significant personal event, please let Carolyn know.