Photograph of recently completed renovation of Sandwich boardwalk

ALL contact information

The ALL office at Cape Cod Community College is open from

9 a.m.–3 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Feel free to contact us:

Email: lifelonglearning@capecod.edu

Telephone: 774-330-4400 (please leave a message)

Here we are, nearly half way through the semester! In the Midwest where I was born, my mother would say, “March comes in like a lion but goes out like a lamb.” Here it seems the lion sticks around til May, but at least it’s warming up. Much as I’ve enjoyed our snow-covered, sky-blue days, I’m happy the ground is thawing. I just ordered vegetable seeds and am planning to build a hot box. It will be spring soon enough.

I’m a numbers guy, and numbers this semester are up: 430 members taking classes, with 94 of you for the first time. I hope you are enjoying the experience and spreading the word. I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I am surprised at how much fun “The Art We Love” class is turning out to be. Each week, we bring a piece of artwork and explain why we like it – and then the discussion takes off.

Conversation with strangers who soon become friends is so uplifting. May you all find a similar experience each time you come to campus, or connect on Zoom. Life is for the living, and living is about learning, sharing and laughing.

However, ALL is more than classes. We hope you will join us for a presentation on “How to Avoid Scams” by Brian Haendiges on March 31st, or view one of the foreign films being shown in the Science building. And I am told the Zammer luncheons, held adjacent to the cafeteria, are not to be missed. These are prepared and served by 4Cs students, and a bargain at $15. See a flyer in our office or give Cynthia a call (744-330-4400) for details. For a big night out, attend our annual “Dinner and a Play” at the Barnstable Comedy Club on March 22nd. All dates and times and additional information are in this newsletter.

ALL would not exist without our coordinators. Whether you are a veteran or just thinking about leading a group, know that the Curriculum Committee will open fall class submission sometime in mid-March. The early bird gets the time slot they most desire! And this is a great time for pros and novices alike to consider a new class, as there is considerable time to gather thoughts before the fall term begins September 8th.

Are any of you able to teach Italian? I received a phone call the other day from a group who lost their teacher and are looking to continue their education. I’d love to continue mine as well! If you have some extra time, we are looking for new board members and people to join our standing committees. Contact our Vice President, Roger Shoemaker (rogershoemaker@gmail.com) for information.

That’s it! Remember to “Spring Ahead” Sunday, March 9th. One of these years I expect this practice, which originated in the US in 1918 to save energy, will be ended. I expect it made sense then but I’ll miss it about as much as I’ll miss counting pennies! Happy reading.

Paul Coteus

ALL President

Daylight Savings time begins Sunday March 9th.

Don't forget to set your clocks forward an hour!

Some Spring Classes Are Still Open

There is still time to sign up for a number of

second-session classes!

ALL members registered for spring 2025 classes are welcome to sign up for the following classes with openings. These classes run during our second 6-week session, from March 17th through April 28th.

Click the following button for the Open Class list.

If interested, please contact our Registration Team:  allccregister@gmail.com

Jean DeVincentis

Chair, Registration Committee

The Ides of March have arrived!

THE FALL 2025 COURSE PORTAL WILL BE OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS MARCH 15TH!

Our committee is seeking exciting new courses for the future!

We invite you to submit your course proposal for the fall.

The Curriculum committee is looking forward to your course proposals for Fall 2025.

Veteran Coordinators:

Veteran coordinators are invited to submit courses in the ALL portal starting March 15th.

First Time Coordinators:

If you are interested in offering an ALL course, the first step is to discuss your course ideas with a member of the Curriculum Committee. 

Please contact lifelonglearning@capecod.edu. (774-330-4400).

The earlier you submit your course, the better chance you will have of receiving the time slot you prefer for your class.

The deadline for course submission for fall semester is April15, 2025

Henry Tamzarian

Chair, Curriculum Committee

Now is the time to reserve your tickets for ALL's annual "Dinner and a Show" event - Saturday March 22, 2025

Dinner at 5:00 p.m. at

The Dolphin Restaurant

3250 Main Street

Barnstable Village

7:30 p.m. Presentation of “Dial M For Murder" at

Barnstable Comedy Club - a short walk from Dolphin Restaurant.

Tickets including dinner and the play are $64.00 per person and can be purchased through the ALL office.

For dinner selections and additional information please contact:

774-330-4400

lifelonglearning@capecod.edu

Advance purchase of tickets is needed.



ALL Special Event

Monday, March 31 at 12:00pm in the Lorusso Atrium

Scams and Frauds:

how to protect yourself in a continually evolving space

A Presentation by ALL Coordinator Brian Haendiges

Brian will review some of the more common traditional scams and frauds, as well as emerging attempts to take away our money or our information. He’ll walk through a series of red flags to identify when you or a loved one might be at risk, and review some practical protections that we can put in place. This presentation encourages audience participation to derive the benefit of our collective experience, so please come prepared with any examples that you’ve encountered.  

Members, reserve your space now at lifelonglearning@capecod.edu

Brian Haendiges has an extensive background in financial services and insurance and was the CEO of a company. He has taught business courses for various MBA programs, as well as chess classes at a Lifetime Learning Institute in Virginia. Brian has recently retired to Mashpee and is coordinating "Topics Of Interest In Retirement" the second six weeks of ALL's Spring 2025 session.

Reflections 2025

Launch Party

April 24, 2025 3:00 p.m.

Lorusso Technology Building (#9) Atrium

Each fall the Academy for Lifelong Learning sends out to its membership a request for poems, essays, stories, photographs and artwork to be published in the annual edition of Reflections. 

This beloved anthology, now in its 25th year, showcases the diverse talents of our community.

This year’s Reflections 2025 is an 80+-page anthology where you can read and view over 90 submissions from 35 members. This year’s hodge-podge of thoughts is a compilation from members who share a love of observing the human condition and conspirators who know there is much life still to be experienced.

Ordering will be open to the membership in late March. Watch for details. Also, mark your calendars; the annual Reflections Launch Party is scheduled for April 24, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. in the Lorusso Technology Building (#9) Atrium. Registration opens early April.

To everyone who submitted pieces for this year’s anthology, thank you. For everyone in ALL we hope to see you on the 24th.

Until then, enjoy,

The Reflections Team

This month the ALL Computer Interest Group will continue discussion of "all things computer"!

Please join us on Tuesday, March 18th from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom. 

The ALL Computer group met in February and discussed the many practical uses of Google Maps, Google Calendar and Google Photos. We also began a discussion on smartphones including security, texting, video calls, apps for our supermarkets, libraries and other handy ways to make life easier.

We will meet again on March 18th at 7:00 p.m. The topic is yet to be determined. The facilitators of the group would appreciate suggestions from our membership for what technology areas we should cover and what would bring you to the monthly meeting.  

We are open to all ALL members. If you would like to join our group, please contact  lifelonglearning@capecod.edu. Please mark your calendar and join us on Tuesday, March 18th from 7-8 p.m. on Zoom. 

Reserve your spot by emailing

 liflonglearning@capecod.edu. 

Members will receive the Zoom link the day before the meeting.

Jane Ward holds MD and MPH degrees and has completed 26 years in the US Air Force as an ophthalmologist, flight surgeon and educator. She returned to Centerville, Cape Cod, in 2017.

She is a passionate citizen scientist who works to improve the health of Cape Cod waters and protect the river herring. Jane works closely with the Green Center and MASSTC on Cape Cod to promote urine diversion and other forms of eco-sanitation. She currently teaches “Challenges to Clean Water on Cape Cod.”

Jane’s family home on Lake Wequaquet and her experiences at the Cape Cod Sea Camps in the 1960s led her back to Centerville after retiring from the USAF. Renovating a year-round home on Long Pond, Centerville, in 2018, she and her husband focus on sustainable living, preventing algae blooms, tracking herring runs, and exploring permaculture. They installed an EPA-sponsored innovative-alternative septic system that reduces both nitrogen and phosphorus in the effluent. They have volunteered with many organizations such as Resilient Roots, Town of Barnstable committees, Cape Cod Tech Council, environmental groups, pond associations, and the Unitarian Church of Barnstable.

The biggest joys of their lives are three special daughters and their families, who live in Alaska, California and London. Fortunately, as Cape Cod is the central location for the family, everyone gathers here once or twice most years for a reunion!

As a physician and environmental advocate, Jane was appointed to Barnstable's Infrastructure and Energy Committee. She and her husband, both retired educators, have also coordinated courses at the Academy for Lifelong Learning (ALL), including “The Challenges to Clean Water on Cape Cod” and “Kettle Ponds of Cape Cod.” Finding the ALL community members to be very thoughtful, community-oriented, enthusiastic and friendly, Jane and Steve both coordinate and take courses.

Jane encourages Barnstable residents to attend a Barnstable Town Council workshop on March 20th on becoming a state recognized “Green Community.” Green Communities are eligible for state funding and technical support for energy efficiency, electrification, and improved indoor air quality upgrades in public buildings including schools. Barnstable is the only Cape Cod town not a Green Community, missing out on up to $250,000/year grants.

In addition to attending ALL courses, Jane recommends Cape residents get involved by joining pond groups, volunteering for the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, Barnstable Clean Water Coalition, exploring permaculture or native plant gardening and volunteering for Town committees. She’s excited about potential upcoming courses for fall 2025 and invites you to say hello if you see her on campus.

The following pictures are of Jane Ward's backyard. Contact information for the groups mentioned by Jane follow the pictures.

Contact for Barnstable Clean Water Coalition-The Barnstable Clean Water Ccommision deploys science as its foundation to monitor, educate, advocate and mitigate for clean water throughout the Cape Cod town of Barnstable.

https://bcleanwater.org/

Contact for APCC Kettle Pond Volunteer Opportunities- The Association to Preserve Cape Cod (APCC), the Great Sand Lakes Association, and the Brewster Ponds Coalition are organizations that work to preserve Cape Cod's kettle ponds. 

https://msaconnectsforgood.org/listing-item/association-to-preserve-cape-cod/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiAlPu9BhAjEiwA5NDSA03HDlMS0YDFE9gxqVL3hXoapGWysCtCWPSu2MlvQ4PuiJtfwxWOQRoCfLoQAvD_BwE

Contact for Massachusetts Green Communities Division-

The Green Communities Division (GCD) provides grants, technical assistance, and local support from Regional Coordinators to help municipalities reduce energy use and costs by implementing clean energy projects in municipal buildings, facilities and schools.

https://www.mass.gov/doc/green-communities-division-brochure/download



Contact for Cape Cod Commission Freshwater Ponds Strategy- released for public comment Feb 14 and comments due by March 17, 2025.               

www.capecodcommission.org/freshwater

Mariane Triplette

Chair, Communications Committee

This is one of a series of articles featuring ALL courses and ALL coordinators. Please let us know if there is a course or coordinator you would like to know more about.

Richard Slapsys grew up in New York City, completed a B.A. with a Music Education major at Long Island University’s Brooklyn Campus.

 He and his wife spent two years as educators in New York, followed by two years in Sydney Australia. They returned to the US in 1977 after one year traveling extensively through Asia, Japan, Russia and Europe. Richard continued his education with a master's degree in Fine Arts at the City College of New York City followed by a second

master's degree at Queens College in Library Science. This led to a long career as a Fine Arts Librarian for the University of Massachusetts in Lowell where he taught a course on culture and film and retired “Emeritus.” 

Richard Slapsys lived two blocks from a movie theatre and remembers when weekday admission was 75 cents during the week and $1.25 on weekends. That early interest continued through his academic career at UMass Lowell when he offered a course on American sports culture that included film excerpts as illustration. Over time, he expanded the topics offered, always with a focus on the elements of excellence for different film genres. 

The first course he offered at ALL reviewed the science fiction work of the 1800’s-1890’s with a focus on the films of HG. Wells. This was followed by courses exploring Film Noir up through the 1940’s-1950’s, then Horror Films of the 1930’s. His most recent course featured studies of Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson in the gangster movies of the 1930’s.

His popular classes feature film clips (rather than the full film) followed by analysis around what the coordinator and students feel makes a great film. Discussions explore what the director did (or didn’t) do and who the actors are (or are not). Students can opt to see the full films before or after the class depending on their interest. 

Richard views the ALL community as one of Cape Cod’s strongest resources. Frank Cuphone, a friend and longtime ALL coordinator, introduced him to ALL. He notes, “Frank was teaching native American history courses and told me about ALL. I started taking courses in 2016 with Lew Taylor on the Beatles and Rock and Roll, and took Steven Pastore’s course on film.” He continues, “The diverse background of the ALL community always ensured broad perspectives and lively discussions.” 

He is now working on a new course on Westerns for the fall 2025 catalog. “I put out a feeler on western films. It is a genre that has a specialized content and deserves study.” He continues, “I would look to explore the greatest westerns ever made from 1939 into the 1960’s.  It won’t be a history of those films, rather a focus on what I consider to be some of the greatest of western films for us to take a look at.” 

The course title has not yet been selected. It may come from a film’s title, a film theme or a phrase often used by actors. For example, he suggests, “That’ll be the day.”  John Wayne, it seems, was always saying “that’ll be the day ( I'll hang up my guns). His preference, from experience, is for 6-week class meetings. “We all have busy schedules and family obligations and that seems to work best for me and my students,” he concludes.  

So if film, or westerns are your cup of tea, you can look forward to an exciting six weeks next fall with Richard Slapsys … and likely a bit of John Wayne as well.

Mariane Triplette

Chair, Communications Committee

This month we have a special treat! A link to Joan Freedman’s broadcast video with ALL coordinator Richard Slapsys follows below.

Once you hear and read Richard Slapsys's story, you will again be impressed with the experience, knowledge, background and commitment of our coordinators who are the backbone of our ALL programming. 

Thank you to Richard for sharing his time and story with us.

Joan Freedman

ALL Broadcast Team

Click the following link to access the Richard Slapsys video.

Those of you who attended ALL pre-pandemic may remember the international film series run by Cindy Pavlos and Lore DeBower of Cape Cod Community College.

Good news! The program has restarted. The films are shown each Wednesday from 2-4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Wilkens Science Center (just behind the Grossman Building where our class are held) on a large screen, with comfortable seating.

For those interested, there is a Zoom discussion about the film the following Tuesday at 4 p.m.

Admission to the film events is free.

Three films are scheduled during March:

March 5 - Tell It Like a Woman | U.S./Italy | 2022

March 19 - Under the Sky of Damascus | Syria | 2023

March 26 - A Man Called Ove | Sweden | 2015

Details on these movies can be found at https://www.capecod.edu/international-film-series/, or on a handout in the ALL lobby. 

Since it’s winter and a nice time to curl up in a chair or sofa with a good book and a soothing beverage, I decided to ask the ALL board of directors and office assistant what everyone is reading.

Looks like a varied and interesting list!

What Are You Reading?

Pat McKean: Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. The story of George Washington’s relentless pursuit of their runaway slave, Ona Judge. Very timely.

Maggie French: Seven Sisters by Lucinda Riley. First in a series of seven books.

Joan Freedman: Nexus, A Brief History of Information Systems from the Stone Age to AI by Noah Harari. The history of communication systems and how they affected society, religion, and politics as well as the possible impact of AI on the future. Brilliant and thought-provoking read.

Dianne Tattersall: The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency by David M. Rubenstein.

Henry Tamzarian: Find Me by Andre Aciman. A novel about family, travel, and lost relationships on a European tour.

Jean DeVincentis: The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters. A four-year-old Mi’maq girl goes missing in the blueberry fields of Maine. Circa 1962.

Denise Benjamin: The Women by Kristen Hannah. Story of the nurses in Vietnam.

Paul Coteus: Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World by John Vaillant.

Roger Shoemaker: The War Dogs Trilogy by Greg Bear. Space opera – escapist fiction.

Cynthia Jayne: A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win WWII.

Alice Mitchell: A Moving Meditation: Life on a Cape Cod Kettle Pond by Stephen G. Waller.

Marianne Triplette: The Thursday Murder Club series by Richard Osman. Four septuagenarians in a posh British senior community solve cold case murders. Soon to be a Netflix series.

So, dear readers, what are YOU reading?

Email your name, book title and author to lifelonglearning@acapecod.edu by Friday, March 14th and I’ll share what you’re reading.

Dianne Tattersall

Is there a friend who would like to know more about ALL?

We now have a 2-minute video that provides an overview of who we are and what we offer. A link to that video follows. It is also on our website. Feel free to share this newsletter and tell your friends to take a look.

A link to the video is at the end of this article.

The ALL Art Gallery exhibits the works of artists' connection to the Cape Cod Academy for Lifelong Learning. The works of Leslie Healy and Christine Radant are currently on display.

The ALL Art Gallery walls are outside classrooms 106 and 115 and change regularly.

Please contact the ALL office if you are interested in exhibiting your art.