OLLI at UNC Asheville Observer
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In This Issue
 
Dream Yoga Meditation Series, Part 3 
with Linda Go
Moderated by Sally Ekaireb
Monday, May 11,
4:30-5:30 p.m. 
with Open Chat Room starting at 4:15 p.m.
 
This period of social distancing is a great opportunity to get quiet and meditate.  

(Note we have the same Zoom link as last week, so no change there)

Linda Go will be sharing a sampling from her  "Night School" Dream Yoga Meditation Practice with a few fun and possibly challenging lucid dreaming practices that may help you to:
  • improve memory and brain function
  • stimulate creativity
  • achieve power of intent and problem solving
  • dispel hidden fears and traumas
  • attain forgiveness
Linda Go is an initiated shaman in Nahuatl lineage and has been leading guided shamanic journeying for over two decades. Her Dream Yoga workshops help others to find the inner tools to heal from past pain and trauma, restore and strengthen memory and cognitive function, remove creative blocks, just to name a few benefits. 

Questions? Meditation SIG contact: Sally Ekaireb:  skekaireb@gmail.com
MemoryCare Education Series:
For Families and Caregivers


Thursdays, May 14,  21, and June 4,
2 - 3:30 p.m.

MemoryCare is holding an online forum designed for caregivers and family members who want to learn more about how to care for themselves and their loved one affected by dementia.  A series of speakers will present information on 

MemoryCare is a nationally recognized program for dementia care located at Givens Estates in Asheville.   The community-based, nonprofit, charitable organization is uniquely focused on serving the whole family. In 2018 MemoryCare  served more than 1,000 people living with dementia and 3,500 of their family caregivers .  

 
business_conference6.jpg
The Forum SIG - Virtual Edition!
Friday, May 15, 1 p.m.
Online
Topic: Environmental issues: Are we trashing the planet and what can we do about it? --Solutions to pollution

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. Contact  Beth Johnson, the Forum SIG coordinator, to get a link for the meeting: johnson1ea@earthlink.net

How We Are Coping: 
OLLI Members Report
Sharon Sandel
Sue Kibler
College for Seniors instructors Sue Kibler and Sharon Sandel write "What do art teachers do when they can't teach? They get together and paint! Note that we are keeping social distance- she is at one end of the six-foot table and I am at the other end!" 

We love the stories of our kind, creative, and resilient members. Let us know what you are doing to stay busy, engaged, and connected at this time. Send us an email at cfrank@unca.edu
Staying Together Apart

We realize that we would all like things to be "back to normal" as soon as possible, to be back in our "home away from home," especially at this beautiful time of year.  We also realize that the best way to stay safe is to stay home except for essential travel.  We here at OLLI are trying to make the most of this challenging time by finding ways to use technology like Zoom and social media platforms to stay connected and to understand "creative retirement" in new ways. We encourage you to try all of these new ways to capture a feeling for our OLLI community even while we have to stay apart.
We all look forward to being back together at the Reuter Center, but until then, we want you to feel connected and to continue to look to OLLI for great opportunities to learn "together apart."
WNC COVID Legal Hotline
Thursday, May 21, 8 a.m.-2 p.m.
Plus Volunteer Opportunities to Help our WNC Neighbors in Need

Western North Carolinians can call the WNC COVID Legal Hotline at 828-560-3700 and talk to a lawyer for free during this time.  The Buncombe County Bar, Pisgah Legal Services,  Legal Aid of NC, and the  North Carolina Bar Foundation have joined together to host this hotline.  Click here to visit the Pisgah Legal website to find out more.

Volunteer Attorneys Needed
Pisgah Legal Services needs attorneys to provide free legal information and advice to callers affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
Click here to find out more about this volunteer opportunity and to sign up as a volunteer attorney.

Volunteer Call Operators Needed
Pisgah Legal Services needs volunteers to answer calls and gather basic information (name & legal problem) in order to direct caller to the appropriate attorney. No legal background is necessary.  Click here to find out more about this opportunity and to sign up for a two-hour shift.
 

Dear OLLI Members,
We thank all of those who participated in our first online Celebration of Community. It was nice to see and hear from you, and we are grateful that so many of you stayed with us throughout the program. We plan to begin regular online meetings, so just respond to this email to let us know what topics you would like to cover. Please see links in this newsletter for the slide show if you missed the program or just want to review. You can also follow the links to affirm our slate of officers and to express your interest in serving on one of our committees.

Many thanks to Jacqueline Lowe for her work on the celebration (we are particularly grateful for the polling questions that allowed for some interaction). Jacqueline will be running more Zoom Cafes for you to try out and learn more about this online platform as we approach our summer term offerings. See more in this newsletter.

Thanks to Herb Gunn for his efforts to put together an inspiring selection of courses and a catalog for summer, and thanks to the instructors who have worked diligently with us to figure out schedules and various ways to manage instruction online.  You can find the link to the catalog below.  Remember that registration for summer starts Monday, May 11, 10 a.m. and runs through Friday, May 15, noon.  You can click here for the registration home page, which opens on Monday at 10 a.m. Thanks to Frankie Keller for working on the logistics for registration. Please be patient with us as we manage this process in a remote environment. Email questions to olli@unca.edu, and we will answer as soon as we can. We will still be using our priority allocation system, so you don't have to be online right at 10 a.m. to have a change for a class. And as Frankie reminded us in the Friday video, patience means understanding that we don't always achieve our goals (in this case a seamless registration experience) on the first try. Hope means realizing that we can always ask for help.  Just email us: olli@unca.edu.

We hope you are enjoying our weekly feature, "Wishing They Were Here" where we provide links to information about the wide range of spakers who have appeared at OLLI or UNC Asheville recently (or who were scheduled to).  Having Silas House as part of our theme term on Appalachia was a highlight of our OLLI year, and we thought you might enjoy seeing and hearing him and reading some of his responses to our current "stay at home" lives.

We are truly thankful for the wonderful community we create together, even when we are apart. We miss you and are eager to learn how to connect while we are apart and also eager to gather together again. 
Catherine Frank
Executive Director

OLLI Celebration of Community
A Success!
 

We are so grateful to the 121 people who signed up and the 88 people who participated in our first ever online celebration of community. Many thanks to OLLI Facilities and Communication Coordinator Jacqueline Lowe for managing the logistics (ncluding setting up our polls) and to our speakers, OLLI Steering Council (OSC) Chair Erik Vedeler, OSC Incoming Chair Julie Snyder, Civic Engagement Committee Chair Kathleen Mainardi who talked about our staff, OLLI Business Coordinator Frankie Keller and Finance Committee Chair Stefan Stackhouse.  Click here to view the slides we used during the presentation. We did not record the presentations because of concerns about privacy. 

Part of our annual meeting is the introduction of our slate of officers. If you would like to affirm the slate of officers,  click here for a Google form, which also gives you the opportunity to find out more about serving on committees. We will keep the form open until Friday, May 15. 

We miss being able to gather at the Reuter Center, but we are excited about the possibility to gather virtually and explore new possibilities to be together apart. And watch future newsletters to learn about future meetings to address specific issues.

Thanks for working with us to find new ways to be together apart.
What's Next for College for Seniors

Registration begins Monday, May 11, 10 a.m. for our online summer course offerings. The cost to take a summer online course is $25. We are using our online priority allocation lottery, so there is no need to be the first one online tomorrow morning.  We will close registration Friday, May 15, promptly at noon. Please see the catalog for complete instructions. It will be harder for us to offer assistance, but email us at olli@unca.edu, and we will be in touch as quickly as we can.

Click on the image below to hear OLLI College for Seniors Summer 2020 instructors tell you in their own words about the courses they will offer this summer. 

OLLI at UNC Asheville's College For Seniors Summer 2020 Introduction
OLLI at UNC Asheville's College For Seniors Summer 2020 Introduction

We are working closely with university planners and College for Seniors instructors and curriculum committee members to plan a range of scenarios for offering courses in the fall. We are at this time planning for a fall term that will include online courses, whether or not we determine it will be prudent to offer some in-person courses observing appropriate social distance. We are considering how we will have to pay for and charge for new services and who is best equipped to help us navigate a "new normal." We appreciate your patience and understanding!

Our staff has been dedicated to creating a community of people who have had the luxury of gathering in person to learn and connect.  We may have taken for granted the advantages of having a space designed and built for our use by staff and members who were able to dream big and achieve their goals. Now we realize that we can still dream big and be part of a community of learners, but that may look different in the future. We will always strive to preserve the best of who we are. Thanks so much for your patience and creativity as we enter a new phase of lifelong learning.

Stay tuned. Stay positive.  Stay together apart.
Carl Nordgren
Convivial Creativity
A Free Webinar Series to Help You Live Happily and Successfully in this New World Of Ours
Final session, Monday,
May 11, 10-11:30 a.m.
From your home computer!

The Convivial Creativity free webinar series wraps up this week. Mark and Carl are designing each webinar to be complete in itself, so consider joining them even if you have not attended the first three. The subject of the final session is "Bringing our best creative selves into the new world."

Exactly 100 folks signed on to the most recent webinar and 98 were still on at the 90 minute mark, further evidence that OLLI members are finding this content is meaningful.

If you have questions, please contact Carl Nordgren directly at carl@creativepopulist.com. Many thanks to Carl and to Mark Tully for making this opportunity available to OLLI members.

Join the Zoom Cafe and 
Get Familiar with Zoom!
Thursday, May 14, 
10 - 11 a.m.

Are you taking a class this summer and want to practice on Zoom before the term begins? Has your book club moved online or has your family created a virtual happy hour? Do you want to see what all the fuss is about?

Join us at the Zoom Cafe! This drop-in Zoom meeting is an opportunity for you to casually try out Zoom. Whether you are a first-time participant or a seasoned user, this no-pressure session is your opportunity to get comfortable with the virtual meeting platform. We will show you how to mute yourself, how to chat online with the group, how to ask questions, and how to feel comfortable AND connected in this new environment.


Click here for a guide on how to join the Zoom Cafe!

We plan to offer additional "Zoom Cafe" sessions as we approach our summer term.
Sharing the Talents of OLLI Members

Kathleen Chitty, shown here in 2014, who inspired Paul Simon's "Kathy's Song," which in turn inspired Jim Carillon's poem "During This Storm." Click here to read the story of the woman behind "Kathy's Song."

Click here to read the work of OLLI Poets Ann Tobias Karson, Jim Carillon, Dave Castel, and Lottie Erickson. ( Click here to listen to Simon and Garfunkel's song "Kathy's Song," which inspired OLLI poet Jim Carillon.) Many thanks to OLLI members Jay Jacoby and Nelson Sartoris who compile this weekly showcase of the work of our talented OLLI poets. We have asked each of the poets to give us a short biography and to tell us why they have chosen to share their specific poems.



Jacob Cohen is an exemplary OLLI leader and volunteer.  He has served as a member of the research committee and on the steering council as our secretary and has taught at College for Seniors.  He took on and completed the monumental task of creating a spreadsheet
Jacob Cohen
with every course and offering since we began as the NC Center for Creative Retirement in 1988, a tool that I have used time and again as I honor our instructors and speakers.  For a long time Jacob came to the Reuter Center ever Friday to help in the office. More than anything Jacob is an insightful friend, and he has been generous with his time as I have talked through a wide range of challenges and took advantage of every opportunity to learn from him. I suspect we are all missing the OLLI people who define our OLLI experience, just as I miss Jacob and all of you. 

Jacob has suggested the following resource if you find you want to exercise your creativity during this challenging time: 

Create a Website on your Mac with EverWeb
No coding required. Just drag and drop text and graphics into many free templates or into your own design.  Video tutorials and download a free trial here:   https://www.everwebapp.com

Jacob writes, "EverWeb is the website software I've used to create and maintain our Asheville Scrabble Club website for the last 10 years http://www.ashevillescrabble.com 

EverWeb is an easy-to-use, intuitive, website builder backed by an excellent hosting service and responsive support whenever needed." Email cfrank@unca.edu if you would like to contact Jacob. If you create your own website that you would like us to share.

Also, watch the Wednesday newsletter for some of Jacob's hints on cryptic crosswords, a subject he has taught at OLLI.

Please keep sharing stories of how you are staying in; just send them to me at cfrank@unca.edu. We want to know how you are staying safe and learning. Pictures and even videos are encouraged. We would love to hear from you.
This Day in Sports History
by College for Seniors Instructor Larry Griswold

Bobby Orr in his iconic goal for the Bruins
May 10, 1970:  40 seconds into overtime at Boston Garden, Bruins defenseman Bobby Orr deflected a pass as he was tripped
and scored the game and Stanley Cup winning goal.  The Bruins swept the St. Louis Blues with four straight wins for their first
Stanley Cup championship since 1941.

Julius Erving
 May 10, 1974: 
One season after finishing in seventh place in the 10-team American Basketball Association (ABA), the New York Nets  finished the regular season in first place and defeated the Utah Stars 111 - 100 to win the ABA playoffs championship.  Newcomers Larry Kenon and Julius Erving led the Nets with 43 points in the championship game, and Erving won the playoffs  Most Valuable Player Award.

Wishing They Were Here?

Silas House
Our theme term "Appalachia: Tradition and Change" included the appearance of novelist Silas House.  He gave a gracious and heartfelt talk that perfectly encapsulated the themes of the term.  While we can see Appalachia from an historical perspective, we come away with a much richer experience if we are able to hear all the voices of people who have always inhabited and influenced the region.  If you want a flavor for all the ways we examined Appalachia, you might want to read Annie Lowrey's NY Times piece "What's the Matter with Eastern Kentucky" that refers to Appalachia and the South as "the smudge of the country" and then read Silas House's moving response
"I Am That Smudge," published in the Lexington Courier Journal. His podcast "On the Porch with Silas House" includes interviews with people who are making a difference in Appalachia.

You might enjoy House's talk for Lexington's Creative Mornings program  about writing his most recent novel the process of writing his novel Southernmost, the "flow of building a book." And you may find comfort, as I did, in House's article for The Atlantic about the craving for community and the awareness of a dramatic change in the meaning of community in response to COVID-19.
Food and Shopping Options
We know that many of you may be concerned about safety when you venture out. You might be interested in this story from National Public Radio which includes tips on how to make a takeout dining experience as safe as possible. 

Special Shopping Hours and Delivery Options
The Buncombe County Department of Health and Human Services maintains a webpage with information about special shopping hours and delivery options for "vulnerable populations." 

Who Is Still Offering Takeout?
Click here for the list of takeout and delivery options provided by the Asheville Independent Restaurant Association. Policies and processes are changng daily so it makes sense to call ahead to make sure that your favorite is still offering takeout (and if you order ahead, many places will bring your food curbside.)  We know that the restaurant industry has been part of Asheville's identity as we have made all of the top ten lists for travel destinations. Local businesses really appreciate your support to keep people employed and businesses running in these challenging times.

Farmer's Markets
  Click here to learn about the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project (ASAP)   and their efforts to connect customers with local farmers and food producers. 





Click here to read more about the rules and safety precautions that the North Asheville Tailgate Market is taking  so that you can enjoy the produce of our local farmers and stay safe during the time we are all trying to stay as safe and healthy as possible. The market opened for its 

Join OLLIChat, the replacement for OLLITalk. 

It's free for all 2019-20 OLLI members and easy to use. It's also a great way to stay connected as we are all trying to find ways to manage unprecedented challenges.

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.

Introducing OLLIChat Companion
Several times a week, the volunteers at OLLIChat send entertaining content to our subscribers - humor, old movie clips and games. The service is free.  Please email  OLLIChatAVL@gmail.com  and a volunteer will reply and send you an invitation.
Grow Your Own Food
Free access to Wild Abundance online course

Permaculture + homesteading school Wild Abundance is sharing a free online course on how to grow food. The roughly 90-minute long course, "Top 10 Vegetables to Plant That Will Really Feed You," features a 24-page detailed course manual and is taught by two instructors who have decades of experience with gardening and offers general growing guidelines, ways to scale it up or down depending on your needs, and tips for preserving your harvest
 
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute | 828-251-6140 | olli@unca.edu | http://www.olliasheville.com
Reuter Center, CPO #5000
UNC Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804