September / October
2020
The MSCN Newsletter

 Welcome to Your September / October 2020 Issue!


Reinventing Everything - Bouncing Computer Desks

"Reinventing Everything." 
I recently attended the Maine Wisdom Summit virtual conference run by Jess Maurer and the Maine Council on Aging. A recurring topic of the conference is that we are all "reinventing everything" as we adapt to life under the current pandemic. We particularly need to reinvent how we reach out and communicate with older Mainers.The Health and Medical Dimensions of Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults
cannot be understated.  

The incredible volunteers and staff of Maine's senior colleges are reinventing everything. They are also endeavoring to reach out to their members around the state and coaching them to use Zoom. The network can now share that fifteen senior colleges are offering online classes via Zoom. Volunteers have been working hard to master hosting meetings and sharing their screens. Curriculum committees, instructors, and tech supports have adapted their classes to the new technology. One of the silver linings of COVID-19 is that geography is no longer a barrier to taking senior college classes.  Just pick a college and signup to become a member! Another is that members of one college can now take a class offered at the other end of the state! However, it is important to know the network's membership numbers are down. Many remain nervous about trying a Zoom class or an online social gathering and are waiting for face to face meetings to return.

If you have a friend who enjoys learning for fun but is afraid of the technology, encourage them to try out a senior college Zoom class with you. We are reinventing everything; they can too!

ThankYou

This Newsletter is Dedicated to the Leaders
of Maine's Senior Colleges

Reinventing everything!

At the time of writing this newsletter, we have fifteen senior colleges offering online classes via Zoom this fall! This is thanks to the incredible work of senior college boards, instructors, and the many intrepid individuals who have stepped up to be Zoom tech supports, meeting hosts, and co-hosts. Thank you!



Fall2020Courses
LatestNews
Join the Maine Senior College Network website and get the latest news!

Reinventing Everything - Grand Piano Hover Racing

Maine's senior colleges invite the members of their sister colleges to join their Zoom classes, lunch-time lectures and social gatherings!


Stay informed! Log In to the MSCN website! 


 

2. Look for the Log In button at the top of the webpage.. 


3. Click on Log In and a Sign-Up box will appear. 


 
4. Use your Facebook or Google account name and password to sign up. Or, you can use your email address and password.



5. You will then see a message titled "Verify it's you." Follow the simple directions.


6. Once verified, you will be admitted to the website! You will no longer see the Log In button. Instead, you will see your initials (or your account icon) at the top of the web page!
 
7. You will now receives notifications of lectures, social get-togethers, news items plus invitations to a concert or two!


8. Alternatively, simply visit the MSCN "What's Happening?" web page when you want to find something new to do this fall!

ThanksUSMandUMS

Thank you to the University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine System!

Reinventing Everything - UMS Zoom accounts make virtual classes possible for Maine's Senior Colleges!

 
GoldLEAF
The Gold LEAF Institute

News from GoldLeaf
"May you live in interesting times."


As the fall colors pop all around us, Gold Leaf Institute's wonderful office manager, Heidi Wilde, is in the process of retiring from her long-held position, handing it over to a very capable Sarah Martin. Please welcome Sarah, as she comes in at a very... interesting time. That brings to mind an old Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." The board of GL stands ready to lend her all the support she needs. However, regular office hours have been suspended until in-person classes can again resume.

Board meetings have continued unabated, although of course, by the now ubiquitous Zoom. As for classes and interest groups, new classes for the fall have all been transitioned to Zoom. Information about the Fall/Winter term is all available on our website.

Submitted by Jan Benschop, The Gold LEAF Institute

 
Coming Soon To Your Living Room
via ZOOM!

MidcoastSCMidcoast Senior College presents

Write YOUR Legacy Letter
A four-week Zoom course 
Starting on October 6. from 9:30-11:00 a.m. 

Midcoast Senior College presents "Writing a Legacy Letter."  To register, click here (scroll down to find the form).

This course is designed to introduce the concept of "legacy letters" and encourage you to craft your own legacy document. A legacy letter (also called an "ethical will") is a written document that allows people to share their life lessons, express their values, and transmit their blessings to future generations. Writing a legacy letter is a rewarding experience that creates an enduring gift for children, grandchildren, and other loved ones. The course includes discussion, brief writing exercises, and a model structure to help you complete a legacy document that can be shared with your family and friends.

Jay Sherwin
Jay Sherwin created the Life Reflections Project to educate people about legacy letters, ethical wills, and other legacy documents. He has practiced law, given away money for five different charitable foundations, been a philanthropy consultant, and served as a hospital chaplain. 


OLLISAGE
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

OLLI Sage Lecture Series
Every Tuesday 
(Last lecture in series: November 10)


Note: The schedule includes the OLLI Guide to lecture registration.


LASCfoodForThought
Lewiston-Auburn Senior College Food for Thought presents

Distinguished Maine Lawyer Remembers Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Legacy
Zoom
Friday, October 9, 2020, at 2:00 p.m.



Maine Attorney Sonia J. Buck will speak about the life and work of one of the greatest American heroes, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Sonia is an attorney at Brock & Scott, PLLC, in Falmouth, Maine. She focuses her practice in the areas of real estate and debtor/creditor law. She earned her J. D. from the University of Maine School of Law in 2005, magna cum laude, and her B. A., cum laude, from the University of Southern Maine in 2002. She is a member of the Maine State Bar Association, Banking Section and Women's Law Section. Sonia has written several articles for the Maine State Bar Association and the American Bar Association.

Born and raised in Maine, Sonia lives in Portland with her husband of 21 years. She is an avid reader, a constitutional law scholar, author, and movie buff. She has published several law books, focusing on substantive legal issues raised in popular films. One of her most recent books, Legal Lessons from the Movies: Constitutional Law, includes a chapter for On the Basis of Sex, a 2018 blockbuster film starring Felicity Jones as young RBG. Sonia will examine RBG's early life and work, highlighting scenes from On the Basis of Sex.

Attorney Buck will bring to the presentation her more than 15 years of legal study and practice to promote an understanding of the wonderful life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She will discuss RBG's leadership role in the fight for equality, the monumental impact of some of her dissenting opinions in landmark Supreme Court cases, her dedication to public service, and her brilliance, wit, and respect, both on the bench and off the bench.

Register to join Sonia in what will be an informative and inspiring discussion about the legendary late Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. You can sign up for a link by emailing senior college: laseniorcollege@gmail.com. We'll need to hear from you by noon on Oct. 8, please include your name and the name of the event you would like to see on Zoom



OLLIbookCORNERThe Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

The Book Corner
by Pat Davidson Reef

By Bryant Johnson
Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 2017
Pages 127 Price $14.99


The RBG Workout

Ruth Bader Ginsburg (1933-2020) was the second woman on the Supreme court. She died on September 18, 2020. Ginsburg was an unusual woman who fought for equal rights for women and minorities.

She fought for freedom of choice in women's lives. She fought for equal pay for women and civil rights for all people. She confronted cancer for 20 years and passed away at 87.
Ginsburg was born in Brooklyn, New York, went to Cornell University, Harvard University, and Columbia University, graduating as a lawyer in 1959. In 1959 she could not get a job in New York as a lawyer because law firms did not believe a woman was as intellectual as a man. She broke that glass ceiling and became Professor of Law at Rutgers University and later was placed on the Supreme Court in 1993 -1994. She fought for women's rights and respect for minorities, universal health insurance, including coverage for previous illnesses by insurance companies.

The RBG Workout: How She Stays Strong . . . and You Can Too! was written after Ginsberg recovered from colorectal cancer. The book was created in collaboration with her physical exercise trainer Bryant Johnson. The book provides exercises you can do at home, important, especially during the pandemic! RBG Workout is inspiring, helping us keep active indoors while reflecting Ginsburg's great fighting spirit.  You can select the easy exercises first and build on them slowly, they all lead to health! 

For a book addressing her specific intellectual achievements, read "In my Own Words," by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, published in 2018 and now in paperback at $12.99.


ZoomTipSheets
Need Help With Zoom?
Get your MSCN Zoom Tip Sheets now!

The updated Maine Senior College Network website now has a Zoom Tip Sheets page.  

This page is designed to help new senior college class participants, instructors, and meeting hosts to find their way around Zoom.

A tip for trainers
If you are training new users on how to use Zoom. Open up this web page then share your screen. The pdf tip sheets will open as a simplified PowerPoint. Now you can show people where those buttons are hiding!

Do you have a tip to share?
Found a good web site with clear, easy to follow directions? 
Send me the link! (I will post it to the Zoom Tip Sheets page.)


Image Credits

Images Courtesy of outsects.com
Note: Outsects are called Outsects because unlike insects when you catch them and put them in a jam jar, they will always get out.


Don't miss this!

Senior College at Belfast was recently featured in the Maine Seniors Magazine.
 

The MSCN newsletter is sent to each Senior College board. The boards then forward the newsletter to their membership. However, if you are not a member of a Senior College or perhaps you are, and you simply want the news "hot off the press" subscribe here! 
 
Newsletter Submissions 
Submit your articles and photographs to Anne Cardale at acardale@maine.edu.
Like MSCN on Facebook

Facebook logo Now you can "like" Maine Senior College Network on Facebook. We've created an MSCN page on Facebook, so please visit it to share experiences, ideas, photos, and information about upcoming Maine Senior College happenings. We'll also post links to articles about lifelong learning and other topics relevant to senior college members.

 






The Maine Senior College Network is a program of the  

Maine Senior College Network
Links

Acadia Senior College

Augusta Senior College
 
Coastal Senior College

Downeast Senior College

Gold LEAF Institute

South Coast Senior College

Midcoast Senior College

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

Penobscot Valley Senior College

SAGE at UMPI

Senior College at Belfast


St. John Valley Senior College

Sunrise Senior College 
 
Western Mountains Senior College

York County Senior College
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Featured Article
What action, if any, do you want your members to take? Add a "Find out more" link to additional information that you may have hosted on your website.
 
Maine Senior Guide is a comprehensive web resource about all things senior that provides "one stop shopping" for Maine's seniors at the link below: 

    
Contact Information
Maine Senior College Network 
P.O. Box 9300 
Portland, Maine 04104-9300 
(207) 780 - 4128

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