october 2015 - stony brook university...events calendar on our website for more events in coming...

From the President

Jeff Hollander

IN THIS ISSUE

1 President’s Message2 Director’s Message3 Curriculum Committee Report4 Thank You Fund Raising Sponsors5 Music in the Hospital6 The Rapidly Increasing Appeal of S-L-O-W-N-E-S-S 7 Thank You Member Donors8 We Want You!9 The Bagpiper10 Last Page/Sunshine Corner

What a successful start to the Fall 2015 semester at OLLI! Blessed so far with nearly perfect weather on our beautiful Stony Brook University campus, it’s wonderful to

see so many being inspired by classes—and forming new friendships in the process.

Due to the untiring efforts of our OLLI office staff and the guidance of the School of Profes-sional Development Assistant Dean Carolyn Jankowski, the hundred-plus workshops have absorbed most of the members requesting admission. Wayne, Laura, Stephen, and Richard have secured larger space for our more popular sessions, and it has been gratifying for them to notify wait-listers when seats became available.

We appreciate everyone’s cooperation during this period—workshop leaders being flexible as well as members readjusting their schedules and considering new subjects of interest. Attendance is also being taken in order to assure priority seating and to help evaluate our needs for next semester.

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October 2015 Vol 25 Issue 2

Believe it or not, it's nearly time to apply to lead a Spring 2016 semester workshop. Although most of your favorites will return, we look forward to some new and exciting topics as well. All are encouraged to take a turn at sharing your knowledge and experience with us.

We're also about to reach out regarding annual pledges to our OLLI fund. The generous donations of some benefit us all and we hope you'll consider participating this fall. The fund enables us to keep lowering wait-lists and improving space and equipment.

Our Fall General Meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 21 at 2:30 pm in the Wang Center. Refreshments will precede the meeting and a guest speaker will follow the business session. Watch your email for additional details. We hope to see you there.

As always, the Executive Board and I welcome your participation in all OLLI events and on our committees. Your comments and suggestions help enable us to make our exceptional organization even better.

Jeff Hollander President

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The Chronicles

From the Director

Wayne Holo

NEXTPREVIOUS IN THIS ISSUE

The last Chronicles article I wrote was in May as we were preparing to finish another Spring Semester at OLLI. As predicted, the office was very busy that

month. Even as we were putting the finishing touches on plans for our Spring Sunset Dinner at Lombardi’s on the Sound, an event that was described by some as the most beautiful and enjoyable they had ever attended as OLLI members, the office staff was already digging in and preparing to go to work on developing the workshop schedule for this fall. The preparation of our fall schedule, coupled with locating classrooms for 108 workshops and over 1000 members, and combined with dramatic occupancy cutbacks by the Fire Marshall in all of our SBS classrooms created what was certainly the most challenging OLLI project I’ve had the pleasure of managing with just 18 months in the director’s chair. But thanks to our experienced and willing team members, our dedicated and unselfish workshop leaders, the commitment of our curriculum planning committee, a long list of ready-to-serve volunteers, the leadership of our host School of Professional Development, and the generosity of the university registrar’s office, we all somehow made it come together with results that everyone involved should be proud of.

Our #1 registration season goal each semester in the OLLI office is to figure out a way to put as many OLLI members as we can into workshop seats. That is, we want to increase successful registration requests and make wait lists smaller when we execute our registration lottery. What at first looked like a rather dismal 69% average of successful registration requests per registered OLLI member when we first looked at the lottery results in July turned into an incredible 80% success rate 6 weeks later after all the dedicated work and communication between the aforementioned groups was completed. Everyone involved wrapped their arms around the problem, joined in, worked long days, made sacrifices, and helped to turn those numbers around. That’s an average of 4 out of 5 workshop successful registration requests per registered member. Congratulations and thank you to all who helped!

We hope everyone is happy to be back at OLLI for Fall 2015 and that you are enjoying the program. Take a moment when you have time to thank a volunteer, a committee member, or a staff member. All are dedicated to providing you with the best lifelong learning experience possible.

Here is a short list of some important upcoming OLLI dates. Be sure to watch your email and the OLLI Events Calendar on our website for more events in coming weeks.

- Friday, October 16 – Art Wall Reception SBS S102

- Wednesday, October 21, 2:30 PM OLLI General Member Meeting

- Wednesday, October 28, 2:30 PM OLLI Executive Board meeting

- Wednesday, November 18, 2:30 PM New Workshop Presentations (Spring Semester) – OLLI Curriculum Committee

- Monday, November 23 through Friday, November 27 – Thanksgiving Break / No Workshops

Wayne Holo OLLI Director

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Report From the Curriculum Committee

Jerry EbensteinTerri McCoy

Year after year current, returning and new leaders volunteer to lead OLLI workshops. Very soon Applications for the 2016 Spring Semester workshops will be available and you will have the

opportunity to become a leader. You may have a workshop you've been thinking about giving or you may have some expertise and would like to share, but don't know how.We have had requests from the membership for the following workshops. Can you lead or co-lead one of these? Have another topic you’d like to present? Interested in offering a mini-workshop (less than 12 weeks)? Contact Terri or Jerry for all questions.

• Anthropology

• Archeology

• Architecture

• Astronomy

• Chorus

• Ethics

• Greek / Roman LiteratureWe have also had request for more esoteric subjects like:

•Classical Music

•Michelangelo

•Brooklyn

•The Historical Context of Downton Abby

•The United States Constitution. Tell us you want to step forward and join the elite team of OLLI Workshop Leaders. Please start thinking NOW about the Spring 2016 workshop you will be leading.The applications will be available mid-October. There will be a two week period for you to complete the application. Watch your Inbox for the email telling you when the workshop applications are available.

Questions? Contact:Terri McCoy - [email protected] Ebenstein - [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]


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Remember all those music lessons your mother paid for when you were young? If you were among the few who actually practiced and can now sing or play an instrument, we could use your help.

Stony Brook has a program to bring an hour of music into the hospital each week. The performances are in the main lobby. The music travels from there to the ER below, entertaining patients, visitors and employees on both floors. It provides a moment of respite from the cares of the day.

Performers come from the university and the community. All types of music are welcome - guitar, opera, choral groups, chamber groups, etc.

The musical performances are every Wednesday from 12:15 to 1:00 pm.

Afterwards, the performers are taken to lunch in the hospital cafeteria, which I hear is quite good. There is also parking validation. It would be wonderful if you could help for just one Wednesday. If you can, or if you know someone else who can, please send an email to:

Carole [email protected]

Include your name, phone number, and email address. We will get back to you about arranging the date.

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I like to walk fast. It’s not only to burn off more calories, but to foster my mistaken belief that I will remain, in Dylan’s words, “forever young.” But when I’m in St. Maarten

every March, I’ve been getting increasing pleasure from the slowest possible stroll along the Divi Little Bay Beach. I people-watch, look at the patterns of the sea foam on the sand, marvel at the water’s colors, even count the windows in the jewelers’ mansions that rise above our resort.

“There is more to life than increasing its speed.” -- Mohandas K. Gandhi


Lee Stein

The Rapidly Increasing Appeal of S-L-O-W-N-E-S-S By Lee Marc Stein

Sometimes I still like to drive fast – when I’m on the LIE at 5:30 in the morning and there are no other cars around. More often, though, I’ve learned to like SLOW. You can’t go slow on the LIE, Northern State and especially not on Sunrise Highway, but you can taking Sound Avenue all the way out east on the North Fork. I used to curse drivers on 25A who crawled along at the speed limit; I’d get jumpy and crabby if I missed the long lights (like the one at Sheep Pasture and Old Towne). Now I relax: most of the time I don’t have to be anywhere, and, if I do, everyone excuses an old geezer being late. I enjoy life more since I’ve stopped hyperventilating and banging on the steering wheel. “Everything that slows us down and forces patience, everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature, is a help.” -- May Sarton Reading? Until recently (within the last year) I was manic about how many great books I could read in a lifetime. While I never clocked how many pages of a novel I could read in an hour, I was always in a hurry to get to the next one. To really get everything out of great fiction, biography or history, you must read SLOWLY and be eager to revisit books within a year or two of your first reading. “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” -- Lily Tomlin I spent a good part of my career writing. Mostly I wrote direct mail packages and print ads, but also promotional copy for brochures and web sites. I was quite good at it, but looking back could have been a lot better had I slowed down. It was rare that I put my work through more than the initial draft. While my bosses and clients liked most of what I did, it would have been more effective if I had taken the time to look at it again. The same holds true with the marketing newsletter I did to promote my services. Writing is different for me now. These little pieces for Chronicles may be written in a sitting, but they percolate in my head for days before I get to my computer. My poetry, on the other hand, is conceived much more slowly. Sometimes I’ll write a few lines and then put the poem away for days or weeks. I may complete it relatively quickly, but never really consider it finished. I’ve been revising some of my better work for six or more years. I like kayaks better than speed boats, adagio movements better than allegro movements, slow talkers better than fast talkers, slowly-prepared, slow-cooked meals as opposed to microwaved dishes. “Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” – Eddie Cantor

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We need your input!

Is there something you’d like to say about your workshop moderator, The Chronicles, or OLLI?

Would you like to be involved in the publication of The Chronicles?

Do you know someone in OLLI who is doing great things outside OLLI?

We’d love to have your input. Please send it to [email protected]

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There was this bagpiper who had played many gigs in his lifetime. One day he was asked by the town

funeral director to play at a graveside service for a homeless man. He had no family or friends, so the service was to be at a pauper’s cemetery in the Nova Scotia back country a bit away from where he lived.

He was not familiar with this backwoods area, and as a result he got lost and, being a typical man, he didn’t stop for directions. When he finally arrived an hour late, he saw the funeral guy had evidently gone and the hearse was nowhere in sight. There were only the diggers and crew left and they were eating lunch. He felt badly and apologized to the men for being late. He went to the side of the grave and looked down and the vault lid was already in place. He didn’t know what else to do, so he started to play. The workers put down their lunches and began to gather around. He played out his heart and soul for this man with no family and friends. He played like he never played before for this homeless man. And as he played “Amazing Grace”, the workers began to weep. They wept, he wept, they all wept together. When he finished, he packed up his bagpipes and started for his car. His head was hung low, and his heart was full. But, when he opened the door to his car, he heard one of the workers say, “I never seen anything like that before, and I’ve been putting in septic tanks for twenty years.”

The Bagpiper


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The Chronicles is published by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, School of Professional Development, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y. 11794-4310 (631) 632-7063.

Editors: Bill Hammer, contact the editor at [email protected]

Editorial Board: Helen Emmerich, Carole Gambrell, John Gobler, Lee Levy, Terri McCoy, Lee Marc Stein, Jaci Trigony.

Website:http://www.stonybrook.edu/spd/olli/ Stony Brook University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity educator and employer.

The views expressed in The Chronicles do not represent the views of Stony Brook University, the School of Professional Development, or Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. Signed articles are the opinion of the writer. Unsigned articles are the opinion of the Editors. Nothing published in The Chronicles should be deemed to be an endorsement or recommendation of any product or service.

PREVIOUS IN THIS ISSUE

For those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgment on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service

we fulfilled our responsibilities to the state, our success or failure, in whatever office we hold, will be measured by the answers to four questions:

First, were we truly men of courage?

Second, were we truly men of judgment?

Third, were we truly men of integrity?

Finally, were we truly men of dedication?

--John F. Kennedy


http://www.stonybrook.edu/spd/olli/index.html

october 2015 - stony brook university...events calendar on our website for more events in coming...

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