OLLILife
A community of learners over 50
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January 2022 | Vol 2, No. 3 |
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A New Year, A Brand New Catalog
Happy New Year indeed! On we go into the new year with the annual hope of better things to come.
This new year, our OLLI is offering many good things to start us off. The Winter-Spring term, January through April, always is our biggest, and this term we can choose from 191 courses and lectures.
We are back to having many in-person courses - I counted 64 in-person choices, 97 regular online ones, two hybrids with online classes and in-person field trips, and 29 recorded Encore courses (see p. 21 of the catalog). There will be two Day Trips (see an article about our day trip leader, Don Clark, below), and the many Shared Interest Groups are ready with new activities (page 8 of the catalog).
All of these are described in the catalog, as well as the four Broadway at the Straz programs, the University of Tampa evening lecture series, and the OLLI map of class locations -16 venues all over Hillsborough County where our in-person classes will take place.
If you don’t have a catalog yet, call our registrar, Charise Dixie, at 813-974-5848, to have one sent to you. And don’t miss our online OLLI Open House to learn more about the new courses and programs and experience an interesting lecture (page 3 of the catalog).
Some of the courses will fill up quickly, especially if they are held in-person in small venues or are very popular. The OLLI Bird discount prices end Jan. 13 (page 11). Note that the January and February winter courses are on pages 10-21, and the March and April spring ones are on pages 22-30. I recommend checking out every page of the informative catalog!
Dropping (and Raising) Into The New Year
You may have noticed that the Internet is full of entertaining, informative and inspirational details about the change from the old year to the new. Keeping in mind our recent OLLI suggestion of “Stay Curious,” I opened one website and learned something new.
Did you know that at least 100 cities and towns in America drop something - or raise something - at the stroke of midnight when the new year starts? Besides New York’s ball, Atlanta drops a giant peach; Tempe, Arizona, a giant tortilla; Eastport, Maine, a sardine; Brasstown, North Carolina, a Plexiglas pyramid with a live possum in it (not this year because many PETA lawsuits stopped it, but you still can see a video of a past one), and Key West drops a huge ruby slipper with a live waving drag queen in it. Many sites show videos or photos of these events, and Wikipedia lists tons of them. Broaden your horizons!
I hope you find inspiration to start your new year. I’ll share two relevant quotes I like with you:
By Germany Kent, “Never underestimate the power you have to take your life in a new direction.” And a popular one by Thoreau that has inspired me since I was young, “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.”
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.
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Registration Reminder
All notifications about the classes you register for, including receipts, registration confirmations and emails from your instructors, are sent through the registration system using the email address OLLIRegistration@usf.edu.
To prevent important info from going to your junk/spam/promo folders, please add OLLIRegistration@usf.edu to your list of email contacts or safe senders list. (DO Google "safe senders list" and your email provider for specific instructions.)
If you have registered for classes and have not received confirmation details, check your spam/junk/promo folders.
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Mark Your Calendar....
Tuesday, Jan. 11 – Winter Open House
Thursday, Jan. 13 – OLLIBird promo ends
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Correction: Aston Gardens Tour
The tour of Aston Gardens in the Westchase area will be held Tuesday, Jan. 18. The catalog lists an incorrect date.
You can sign up for the trip by calling Don Clark, at 813-985-4859. Check the OLLI Catalog for more information about this and another upcoming day trip that Don is organizing. |
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Winter Open House
Our Winter Open House will be held online Tuesday, Jan. 11, at 10 a.m., and will feature Dr. Golfo Alexapoulos, director of USF’s Institute on Russia.
She will discuss “Why Americans Should Care About Russia.”
Golfo has been a popular instructor and lecturer for us; it should be a great program!
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Your OLLI Board Needs You!
The OLLI Board of Advisors is an all-volunteer group of OLLI members who are committed to keeping OLLI-USF as a thriving organization. We need your help as a board member now more than ever!
The board nomination process is now open. Board members have the responsibility and opportunity to influence important issues such as:
- How and where we market OLLI
- Attracting new members
- Developing programs and attracting instructors
- Raising funds
- Getting more volunteers
- Managing our finances
These and other functions that support our director and staff are critical to OLLI's success in these fluid times. If you or someone you know would like to serve on the board, please click here for an application and more information.
-------Arlene Zimney
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A Big Thank You From The Editors of OLLILife
The editors of OLLILife would like to thank all those members who have contributed articles and pictures about the great events and pertinent information relating to OLLI-USF and other OLLIs across the United States.
Your contributions are what make OLLILife interesting. Please keep us and other members informed with more of your articles, and don’t forget the pictures as they tell a story of their own. Email us at ollinewsusf@gmail.com.
From the bottom of our hearts, we hope this year helps you grow in knowledge, friendship, and understanding.
---Your dedicated editors, Sandy Buckley, Pat Dodge, Mary Ettinger, Kathy Palmer, and Ara Rogers
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Opa!
Members of OLLI and the Bryan Glazer Family JCC participated in a classic Greek-style dance at the JCC led by Krisula Gause of Tarpon Springs. Attendees were treated to Greek delicacies while learning about the history and culture of Tarpon Springs during the event, which was the third in a series of Multicultural Cafes developed by OLLI, the JCC, and the Tampa Bay History Center.
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Holiday Tea
Conviviality and Celebrations recently savored a British Tea Luncheon at Tasty Venues Café in Brandon to celebrate December birthdays and the holidays and enjoyed browsing in their Gourmet Food and Gift Store afterwards. The group of OLLI members and guests meets for lunch once a month to celebrate birthdays and special occasions. The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 6, at 1 p.m. at Michael’s Grill in Tampa. All are welcome to join in the camaraderie and culinary delights. Contact Kat Hanscom for more information.
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Tour of Henry B. Plant Museum
OLLI's tour director, Don Clark, led a tour of the Henry B. Plant Museum during the holidays for a group of 10 OLLI members and guests. The group strolled through the beautiful former Tampa Bay Hotel, now the University of Tampa’s Plant Museum, and experienced a Victorian Christmas in the grandeur and opulence of the exquisitely decorated rooms.
Don is featured in People News in this publication below.
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Touring The Port
Under balmy blue skies, OLLI members sailed around the Port of Tampa on an excursion provided by the Florida Aquarium. The tour was among the many day trips organized by OLLI Tour Director Don Clark. Check the OLLI catalog for new day trips coming up next semester. |
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Food and Outdoors: A Glorious Combination
It was a beautiful morning, as the Food! Glorious Food! and OLLI Outdoors SIGs joined together for a picnic at Trout Creek Conservation Park on Dec. 6. What started out as a foggy morning led to atmospheric photo ops as the group strolled the boardwalk along Trout Creek.
But the fog quickly burned off and the weather was perfect. Even more perfect was the opportunity for everyone to socialize and visit before our presentation at one of the picnic shelters.
Anne Marie Boehm, a master gardener and OLLI Outdoors member, addressed our group of 30 members on how to grow sprouts and microgreens for healthy eating. She not only packed many sprouts into her containers, she also packed a lot of tips based on her extensive knowledge.
At the end of the discussion, everyone received a starter package. Anne Marie was ably assisted by Barbara Glotzback. As one person was heard to say, we need to do more of these types of events!
After having a pack-your-own lunch, some people took the opportunity to socialize or take a guided nature walk out to one of the lakes.
What's more, many of the attendees brought donations to the Feed a Bulls food pantry for USF students. Those donations were transported to the pantry by Jane Applegate. The volunteers there were in awe of our generosity.
You can see more photos from the event by clicking here.
------Diane White
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UTAH'S MIGHTY NATIONAL PARKS |
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OLLI's Travel Opportunity Committee, with Premier World Discovery, is offering a tour of Utah’s Mighty National Parks.
The tour departs Oct, 7, 2022, and returns Oct. 13, 2022. It includes six nights (one night in Grand Junction and five nights in Moab, Utah) and 10 meals (six breakfasts, one lunch and three dinners). It also includes motorcoach transportation, baggage handling, a professional tour guide, admission per itinerary, airport transfers and roundtrip air from Tampa to Grand Junction, Colorado.
If you have ever pondered the difference between plateaus, mesas and buttes, Utah’s Mighty National Parks near Moab, are a vivid display of all these land formations.
Highlights:
Travel along the historic Rim Rock Drive, see the Colorado National Monument and Scenic Highway 128, driving through canyons carved by the Colorado River and a view of Fisher Tower. Enjoy a Colorado River Cruise in a covered boat down the calm-water section of the river, taking in a spectacular view of 2,000-plus-foot canyon walls towering above.
You will visit Canyonlands National Park, Dead Horse Point State Park, and the Navajo Nation’s Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park.
Enjoy an included lunch at Goulding’s Lodge and free time to visit Goulding’s Museum & Trading Post to see a collection of Indian artifacts and a movie set from a John Wayne film.
The tour allows you to choose how to spend your time on day five. An optional tour can be arranged at an extra cost, or spend the day relaxing at the hotel or exploring the town of Moab.
On the final day of the tour, you’ll discover Arches National Park, a landscape of contrasting colors, land forms, and textures unlike any other in the world. This red-rock wonderland will amaze you with its formations, refresh you with its trails, and inspire you with its sunsets.
You can read more and how to register for this trip here.
----Karen Wright
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Meet Jane Applegate:
She’s The Teacher of Teachers
Whenever you take a particularly interesting OLLI class, you may want to say a little prayer of thanks for Jane Applegate.
Jane is the teacher behind the teachers, the force that has helped numerous OLLI instructors develop and enhance their teaching abilities and techniques.
As a retired dean of education for the University of South Florida, Jane is eminently qualified for the job. And as one of OLLI’s biggest fans, she’s just happy to do it.
“I have seen OLLI do so much good,” she says.
Her focus on OLLI’s faculty began as a new member seven years ago. She signed up for two classes: one was wonderful. But the other…..
“The class was awful,” she says. “By the end of the class, only four students remained…..I know it’s the teacher in me, the professor who studied teaching for years. I thought that class could be so much better.”
Jane went to OLLI Director, Ara Rogers, who suggested she do something about it.
The result was A Course is Born: From Concept to Classroom, a class taught by Jane and Ara every spring. Jane is also on the Program Planning and Faculty Support teams, which provide seminars and workshops for OLLI faculty.
Cooking and Eating Too
But Jane’s interests don’t lie solely in education. There’s also her interest in food – both the cooking and eating of it. Out of that interest arose the Food, Glorious Food! Shared Interest Group, which she co-chairs with Becky Heimstead.
Jane is also a founding member of the OLLI Hiking SIG, now known as OLLI Outdoors. Additionally, she has taught several classes over the years relating to literature and, of course, cooking. And she’s now serving on a search committee to find a replacement for Ara, who is retiring at the end of this year.
Because of her many important contributions to our organization, Jane was presented with OLLI’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Volunteer Recognition Event last spring.
It came as a total surprise, Jane says.
“I was astonished,” she says. “There are so many good people in OLLI who have done so much more than I have. I was humbled and flattered.”
----Sandy Buckley
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OLLI Asks....
What's new for you in '22?
It's a brand new year with new things coming up. What new things are you looking forward to? A new class? A visit to somewhere special? A home project you'll finally get to? A new hairdo?
Whatever they are, OLLILife would like to hear from you about them. In a few sentences, please share them with us by emailing ollinewsusf@gmail.com no later than January 25. They will be published in our February 2022 edition.
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And You Answered....
Your favorite holiday traditions
Last month we asked you to describe the traditions you observe to celebrate the holidays of this season. Here's one response we received:
Our favorite thing to do after the big Christmas meal is to go to the movies. The movie theater is always crowded, and it always feels very festive. And of course, New Year's Day couldn't go by without us eating blackeyed peas for luck.----Sandy Buckley
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SIGnificant Events for January 2022 |
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For more information on OLLI Shared Interest Groups, see the full list here. Most SIGs are meeting on Zoom; some are starting to organize small group outings. To visit a SIG, email the contact(s) by clicking the links listed with the SIGs below.
Do you share an interest in a topic or activity with other OLLI members? Did you recently take or offer a class that might lead to a Shared Interest Group? If you have an idea that you might want to float to other OLLI members, contact SIG Liaison, Anne Haywood, and we may include it in a future issue of OLLILife.
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Community of Readers and Writers
Food, Glorious Food!
Mon., Jan. 24, at 10 a.m. Janet Keeler, former food critic for the Tampa Bay Times, will talk about food media. For more information and the Zoom link, contact Jane Applegate.
Ici on parle français!
Mon., Jan. 3 and 17, at 1 p.m. For an invitation, contact Theresa Sokol.
Games
Thurs., Jan. 13, at 3:30 p.m. To play Scattergories, email Kathy Palmer for the link.
German Conversation
Write Time for Poets
Thurs, Jan. 13 and 27, at 2 p.m. Email Cath Mason for more information.
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Shutterbugs
Thurs., Jan. 27, at 10 a.m. Photo outing at Tarpon Springs Sponge Docks with lunch following; Group discussion via Zoom in early January. If interested, please contact Jeanne Nixon.
OLLI Outdoors
Thurs.,Jan. 6, at 9:45 a.m. Lake Francis Nature Preserve
Thurs., Jan. 13, at 9:45 a.m. New Tampa Nature Park & Flatwoods Park
Fri., Jan. 28 at 3 p.m., on Zoom. Damselflies and Dragonflies, with Virginia Overstreet
Operatunity
P-SIG
Wed, Jan. 12, at 1 p.m. Email Doug Dallio for more information
Talking Movies
Fri, Jan. 21, at 1 p.m. Socializing and technical support. Discussion starts at 1:30 p.m. For more information, contact
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Digging for SIGS - OLLI Special Interest Group Possibility:
Collector's SIG
Are you an ardent Antiques Roadshow fan? Do you have a passion for antiques or collectibles? We’re looking for OLLI members keen to share their collections, "best find" stories, insider knowledge on local flea markets, estate sale sources and specialized knowledge for assessing whether an item is real, fake or a reproduction.
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People News:
Congratulations to Don Clark: a Hero of Service
Longtime OLLI member Don Clark was recently honored at the Annual Seniors in Service Award Luncheon as this year’s Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) Hillsborough Hero of Service.
Don has been serving at Trinity Café for over three years. Trinity Café, a program of Feeding Tampa Bay, is a free, full-service restaurant for those in need of a healthy meal. Don has been serving warm, chef-prepared meals to children, seniors, and families five to six days a week, accommodating the guests and enjoying conversations with them as they dine.
Don was lauded for treating each guest with respect and dignity, and for being faithful, dedicated and going above and beyond all the time.
In addition to his certificate for Hero of Service, Don was awarded a Certificate of Recognition for 20 years of service.
Congratulations to Don for these well-deserved recognitions!
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