Study Groups

New Yorker Magazine

Facilitator: Don Pilcher

Dates and Times: Tuesdays, November 10 & 17, December 1, 8, & 15, 2009 and January 5, 12, & 19, 2010; 10:30am - 12 noon

Description: The New Yorker provides a unique mix of articles and reviews on current topics, literature, and the arts. This study group is designed for readers of the New Yorker who want to get together to discuss articles from the magazine. An additional emphasis will be placed on professional backgrounds and life experiences that each member brings to the group. These factors will shape how we select articles and themes, develop intellectual depth and breadth, and gather supplementary materials from Internet sources. While not required, members will be encouraged to lead one weekly session in an effort to assure a broad range of topics.

Recommended reading: New Yorker Magazine Participants are required to have some reliable means of obtaining the articles to be discussed. Options are to subscribe to the magazine, to be able to download articles from the New Yorker website, or to download articles from the databases on the UIUC Library's website. Articles chosen for discussion may go back several weeks.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 12 (this group will be in the OLLI Board meeting room)

New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe

Facilitator: Deb Townsend

Dates and Times: Tuesdays, November 10 & 17, December 1, 8, & 15, 2009, and January 5, 12, & 19, 2010; 10:30am - 12noon

Description: Help us celebrate the bicentennial of Edgar Allan Poe's birth. Using the Shared Inquiry method, we will discuss stories written in honor of Poe, the father of the mystery story. The editor of the anthology we will use is Stuart Kaminsky, a well-known author himself of mystery and detective stories. His call for stories had just one condition: Poe himself or his work had to be central to the story. What he got was a dazzling collection of contemporary terror, mystery and literary game.

The anthology contains 20 stories by as many authors so we will have to determine which ones we want to study. As facilitator, I will select one story for the first session so that we can review and discuss the Shared Inquiry method and practice it on one story (or two if time permits). We could plan to discuss two stories chosen by the group at each of the remaining sessions.

Recommended reading: On a Raven's Wing, New Tales in Honor of Edgar Allan Poe, Ed., Stuart M. Kaminsky, organized by the Mystery Writers of America, published by HarperCollins, New York, 2009.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 15

Poetry

Facilitator: Carol Leseure and Claire Stoia

Dates and Times: Tuesdays, November 10 & 17, December 1, 8, & 15, 2009, and January 5, 12, & 19, 2010; 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Description: This study group is similar to the spring and fall '08 and spring '09 Poetry Discussion Groups. We will discuss many poetry forms, including sonnets, haiku, free verse, etc. Group members will bring a favorite poem to each class to read and discuss. Participants are encouraged to write their own poems to share, but are not required to do so. Every OLLI member is invited to participate and need not have taken the OLLI poetry class or previous discussion group to join in.

Recommended reading: Participants will use their own poetry books as well as library books and poetry found in magazines or other sources.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 15

Best American Short Stories of the Century

Facilitator: Paula Watson

Dates and Times: Tuesdays, November 10 & 17, December 1, 8 & 15, 2009 and January 5, 12 & 19, 2010; 3:30 pm - 5:00 pm

Description: The study group discussions will be based on The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike. This anthology is a selection by Updike of the best stories for each decade that were published in the annual Best American Short Stories. Describing his criteria in the introduction to the volume he says: "I tried not to select stories because they illustrated a theme or portion of the national experience but because they struck me as lively, beautiful, believable, and, in the human news they brought, important." Each week we will read and discuss two stories from this "best of the best" collection chosen by one of America's greatest storytellers.

Recommended reading: Participants will be required to purchase the paperback version of The Best American Short Stories of the Century, edited by John Updike and Katrina Kenison. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company 2000.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 18

New Yorker Magazine

Facilitator: Norman Miller

Dates and Times: Wednesdays, November 11 & 18, December 2, 9, & 16, 2009, and January 6, 13, & 20, 2010; 10:30 am - 12 noon

Description: The New Yorker provides a unique mix of articles and reviews on current topics, literature, and the arts. This study group is designed for readers of the New Yorker who want to get together to discuss articles from the magazine. The facilitator will lead the first two discussions, but will ask for volunteers to lead subsequent sessions. Participants should come prepared for a lively exchange of views.

Recommended reading: New Yorker Magazine Participants are required to have some reliable means of obtaining the articles to be discussed. Options are to subscribe to the magazine, to be able to download articles from the New Yorker website, or to download articles from the databases on the UIUC Library's website. Articles chosen for discussion may go back several weeks.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 18

Achieving Sustainability in Champaign County

Facilitator: Kathleen Robbins and David Sharpe

Dates and Times: Wednesdays, November 11 & 18, December 2, 9, & 16, 2009, and January 6, 13, & 20, 2010; 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm

Description: This study group extends "Your Carbon Footprint" held during the Spring 2009 intersession. During this previous study group, UIUC's sustainability document, and information about Sustainable Champaign County were discussed briefly. However, the emphasis was on aspects of energy efficiency that relate to carbon emissions and climate change. Sustainability transcends climate change, and focuses on a range of topics from ecology, health, the economy and social justice to sustainable societies. We will focus on initiatives to promote sustainability at UIUC and in Sustainable Champaign County and refer to sustainability efforts in other cities, e.g., St. Louis and Chicago.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 18

Looking Back at 1968: Year of Tumult and Change

Facilitator: Craig Cutbirth

Dates and Times: Thursdays, November 12 & 19, December 3, 10, & 17, 2009, and January 7, 14, & 21, 2010; 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Description: One commonality among OLLI members is their experience of the events of 1968. It was one of the most momentous years in American history. Books have been written on this year; it has twice been commemorated by special editions of Time magazine; and the year was the subject of a notable History Channel documentary. This study group will offer participants an opportunity to share memories and meanings of 1968 both at the time itself and in subsequent periods of their lives. During the first session, discussion will address the topic Who were you in 1968? Each subsequent session will focus on a two month period of 1968, proceeding chronologically from January to December.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 18

Download class schedule

Shakespeare's King Lear: Love and Learning at the End of Life

Facilitator: Joan Larsen Klein

Dates and Times: Fridays, November 13 & 20, December 4, 11, & 18, 2009, and January 8, 15, & 22, 2010; 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm

Description: : Shakespeare's King Lear describes the cataclysmic upheavals experienced by an old king and earl and engineered by the grown children they trusted. In this study group we will look at how Shakespeare portrays the perils of age, the complications of family relationships, the effects of filial betrayal and the rewards of love. At the same time, we will ask how our own perceptions of old age might temper our understanding of Shakespeare's play.

Recommended reading: King Lear, ed. R. A. Foakes, The Arden Shakespeare (1997) paperback, or King Lear with Audio CD (Sourcebooks Shakespeare) paperback, or any good recent annotated scholarly edition.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 18

The Secret Book of Grazia dei Rossi

Facilitator: Sharon Michalove

Dates and Times: Mondays, November 16 & 30, December 7 & 14, 2009, and January 4, 11, & 18, 2010; 9:00 am - 10:30 am

Description: This novel describes the life of a Jewish woman who lives through some of the most important events of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century Italian Renaissance. The group will read the novel and discuss it in the context of various historical documents that help to illuminate not only life for Jews in Italy during the Renaissance, including the creation of the Venetian ghetto, but also the rise of printing, the place of women, court culture and patronage, cultural exchange, global finance, and the effects of war and Reformation. The group will discuss the book with various members taking the lead while the facilitator will help with historical background, bringing in relevant materials that tie into the weekly readings.

Recommended reading: Dennis, Flora. At Home in Renaissance Italy. Ed. Flora Dennis. Victoria and Albert Museum, 2006. Birnbaum, Marianna D. The Long Journey of Gracia Mendes. Central European University Press, 2004.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 15

Trial by Movie

Facilitator: Ashton Waller

Dates and Times: Mondays, November 30, December 7 & 14, 2009, and January 4, 11, & 18, 2010; 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm (includes viewing movie and discussion)

Description: Movie makers have told us about crooks, cads, clients, lawyers, judges, liars and heroes. In courtrooms, they search for justice, money, vindication or a way out of jail. There have been some fun and some great movies which focus on these characters fighting it out in courtrooms. The movies available for viewing and discussion include: Adam's Rib; Anatomy of a Murder; 12 Angry Men; The Caine Mutiny; Inherit the Wind; Judgment at Nuremberg; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Passion of Joan of Arc; My Cousin Vinny; The Verdict and Witness for the Prosecution. At each session a movie will be introduced, viewed and discussed. The facilitator worked as a circuit judge for 20 years. He will try to contrast the story presented with the realities of legal procedures and rules which would probably apply to the facts of the drama. Participants are allowed to bring popcorn and other movie snacks.

Other Information: Maximum enrollment: 18

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