The Atlantic is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was a monthly magazine for 144 years until 2001, when it published 11 issues; it has published 10 issues yearly since 2003. It dropped “Monthly” from the cover beginning with the January/February 2004 issue, and officially changed the name in 2007.

Each week the group will select up to 3 articles for discussion the next week. The articles can come from the magazine or the short daily articles available electronically via The Atlantic app.

New members are welcome as everyone brings expertise and a viewpoint to the table that enriches the discussion.

Reading Material(s): All participants are expected to have access to The Atlantic in print or digitally. The Atlantic is available through many libraries (including the University Library with OLLI Scholar iCard access) and is also available by subscription.

Our summer mystery short story selection is (I Just) Died in Your Arms: Crime Fiction Inspired by One-Hit Wonders, edited by J. Alan Hartman, 2024.

About the book, the editor wrote: "12 of today's best short story authors have taken their favorite one-hit wonders and reimagined them as the influence for some pretty heinous crimes."

No prerequisites or special knowledge is needed except the ability to research an author (it's easy) and start a discussion of the work. Group members will be expected read and be ready to discuss two stories each week, averaging a total of about 30 pages per week. Group members will also be asked to volunteer to lead discussions of a story, including researching the author of their story and developing study questions.

All members are all invited to go out to lunch after the session to further our discussions, with the story leaders selecting the restaurant. 

This study group will read and discuss Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything. The book, published in 2003, is a witty, humorous, non-technical and remarkably clear account of the history of the major scientific discoveries. Bryson attempts to explain the very small, the very large, the near and the far in a way that is easy to understand even for non-scientists. He also makes it a point to explain which major questions science is still unable to answer.

Here are a few quotes from the book to give you an idea of his approach and writing style:

• “I didn’t know what a proton was, or a protein, didn’t know a quark from a quasar, didn’t understand how geologists could look at a layer of rock on a canyon wall and tell you how old it was, didn’t know anything really.”
• “How does anybody know how much the Earth weighs or how old its rocks are or what really is way down there in the center? How can they know how and when the universe started and what it was like when it did? And how, come to that – or perhaps above all – can scientists so often seem to know nearly everything but then still can’t predict an earthquake or even tell us whether we should take an umbrella with us to the races next Wednesday.”
• “Consider the fact that for 3.8 billion years, a period of time older than the Earth’s mountains and rivers and oceans, every one of your forebears on both sides has been attractive enough to find a mate, healthy enough to reproduce, and sufficiently blessed by fate and circumstance to live long enough to do so. Not one of your pertinent ancestors was squashed, devoured, drowned, starved, stranded, stuck fast, untimely wounded, or otherwise deflected from its life’s quest of delivering a tiny charge of genetic material to the right partner at the right moment in order to perpetuate the only possible sequence of hereditary combinations that could result – eventually, astoundingly, and all too briefly – in you.”
• “This is a book about how it happened – in particular how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also some of what happened in between and since.”

In the course of explaining what science has uncovered, Bryson also provides many interesting facts about the men and women who were instrumental in making those discoveries.

Reading material: Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything, Any edition is fine.

What's true and what's propaganda? What's coming next? We'll try to sort that out week by week in this study group.

What's true and what's propaganda? What's coming next? We'll try to sort that out week by week in this study group.

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 current articles from the magazine. The weekly selection of the 3 articles is made by a consensus of the group. Members are encouraged to choose and lead the discussion of one or more articles during the sessions. When not leading the discussion, members are encouraged to participate in the discussions. New members are welcome as everyone brings expertise and a viewpoint to the table that enriches the discussion.

Reading materials: The New Yorker magazine. Participants are expected to have access to The New Yorker in print or digitally. The New Yorker is available through many libraries and is also available by subscription.

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This group will read and discuss unpublished stories by American playwright Tennessee Williams which feature central female characters. Of particular interest will be how this male author portrayed women in his stories and plays.

The British Economist Magazine supplies an outside viewpoint on the United States and a deep historical understanding of the rest of the world. It tackles economic and financial issues in detail but most often writes about the weekly issues in the news in impressive depth. All areas of the world are covered as are updates in AI, science, justice, international relationships, climate change, race, cybersecurity, family, and culture. This group welcomes new members wholeheartedly as everyone brings expertise and a viewpoint to the table that enriches the discussion.

Reading Material(s): All participants are expected to have access to The Economist in print or digitally. The Economist is available through many libraries, including the Champaign Public Library, The Urbana Free Library, and the University Library with OLLI Scholar iCard access  (available to OLLI members with $60 annual membership who live within 50 miles of OLLI). It is also available by subscription.

The British Economist Magazine supplies an outside viewpoint on the United States and a deep historical understanding of the rest of the world. It tackles economic and financial issues in detail but most often writes about the weekly issues in the news in impressive depth. All areas of the world are covered as are updates in AI, science, justice, international relationships, climate change, race, cybersecurity, family, and culture. This group welcomes new members wholeheartedly as everyone brings expertise and a viewpoint to the table that enriches the discussion.

Reading Material(s): All participants are expected to have access to The Economist in print or digitally. The Economist is available through many libraries, including the Champaign Public Library, The Urbana Free Library, and the University Library with OLLI Scholar iCard access  (available to OLLI members with $60 annual membership who live within 50 miles of OLLI). It is also available by subscription.

Schedule of films and presenters for Summer 2026:

• 7/8/2026: Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) - Presenter: Deidre Breeding
• 7/15/2026: A Little Prayer (2023) - Presenter: Susan Garnsey
• 7/22/2026: Jules (2023) - Presenter: Margaret Maurer
• 7/29/2026: The WInd and the Lion (1975) - Presenter: Bev Herzog
• 8/5/2026: Bob Trevino Likes It (2024) - Presenter: Casey Sutherland
• 8/12/2026: The American President (1995) - Presenter: Mary Knight

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant or abstract technology - it is becoming part of everyday life: helping people write, plan, learn, explore ideas, and engage with the world around them. This discussion-based course invites participants to explore AI not as a replacement for human thinking, but as a thinking partner - a tool that can support curiosity, creativity, and lifelong learning. Together, we will experiment with real-world examples drawn from the Midwest - including Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and our own University of Illinois community - to see how AI can assist with:

• Planning travel and cultural experiences
• Supporting health and lifelong learning
• Exploring science and research topics
• Writing memoir and personal reflections
• Understanding public issues and civic life
• Organizing personal projects and information

No technical background is required. The emphasis is on practical use, thoughtful discussion, and shared discovery. This group also opens up the opportunity for interested members to connect outside of the study group with each other to try out different techniques, platforms, and uses of AI.

Planned Topics for each session (subject to change):

• Session 1 - What AI Really Is (and Isn’t): We begin by demystifying artificial intelligence. What is a “large language model”? Why does AI sometimes get things wrong? Where is it useful— and where should we be cautious?
• Session 2 - AI in Everyday Midwestern Life: We explore practical, relatable examples: planning a Chicago visit, comparing Midwestern museums, exploring Route 66, organizing photos, and drafting everyday communications.
• Session 3 - AI for Learning and Intellectual Inquiry: How might AI support lifelong learning? We’ll experiment with summarizing articles, exploring scientific ideas, and preparing for lectures or study group discussions—especially in connection with the University of Illinois.
• Session 4 - Creativity, Memoir, and Expression AI as a creative companion: writing personal stories, refining ideas, exploring poetry, and improving clarity in communication. Participants will have the option to create a short memoir vignette.
• Session 5 - The dangers of AI and its benefits: What are the biggest drawbacks to AI and the way it may impact society. How will it change employment, warfare, government, education, healthcare etc?
• Session 6 - The Future: AI and Human Judgment: We conclude with a broader conversation: How might AI shape work, education, creativity, and democracy? What remains uniquely human?

Reading materials: Materials from the Internet. 

Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant or abstract technology - it is becoming part of everyday life: helping people write, plan, learn, explore ideas, and engage with the world around them. This discussion-based course invites participants to explore AI not as a replacement for human thinking, but as a thinking partner - a tool that can support curiosity, creativity, and lifelong learning. Together, we will experiment with real-world examples drawn from the Midwest - including Chicago, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and our own University of Illinois community - to see how AI can assist with:

• Planning travel and cultural experiences
• Supporting health and lifelong learning
• Exploring science and research topics
• Writing memoir and personal reflections
• Understanding public issues and civic life
• Organizing personal projects and information

No technical background is required. The emphasis is on practical use, thoughtful discussion, and shared discovery. This group also opens up the opportunity for interested members to connect outside of the study group with each other to try out different techniques, platforms, and uses of AI.

Planned Topics for each session (subject to change):

• Session 1 - What AI Really Is (and Isn’t): We begin by demystifying artificial intelligence. What is a “large language model”? Why does AI sometimes get things wrong? Where is it useful— and where should we be cautious?
• Session 2 - AI in Everyday Midwestern Life: We explore practical, relatable examples: planning a Chicago visit, comparing Midwestern museums, exploring Route 66, organizing photos, and drafting everyday communications.
• Session 3 - AI for Learning and Intellectual Inquiry: How might AI support lifelong learning? We’ll experiment with summarizing articles, exploring scientific ideas, and preparing for lectures or study group discussions—especially in connection with the University of Illinois.
• Session 4 - Creativity, Memoir, and Expression AI as a creative companion: writing personal stories, refining ideas, exploring poetry, and improving clarity in communication. Participants will have the option to create a short memoir vignette.
• Session 5 - The dangers of AI and its benefits: What are the biggest drawbacks to AI and the way it may impact society. How will it change employment, warfare, government, education, healthcare etc?
• Session 6 - The Future: AI and Human Judgment: We conclude with a broader conversation: How might AI shape work, education, creativity, and democracy? What remains uniquely human?

Reading materials: Materials from the Internet.

Due to the exploratory and conversational nature of this study group, for fullest participation and appreciation, the in-person format is recommended, but Zoom participants are welcome.

Participants will write poems and share them with the group weekly. Special attention is paid to using model poems by published poets to learn about the tools in the poet’s tool kit and how to use them. No previous experience with reading or writing poetry is needed. For each session, we’ll start with an open mic-style reading of our poems, followed by discussion of the next model poem, then some light critiquing of our poems by study group participants.

Reading Materials: Facilitator will provide materials.

Participants will write poems and share them with the group weekly. Special attention is paid to using model poems by published poets to learn about the tools in the poet’s tool kit and how to use them. No previous experience with reading or writing poetry is needed. For each session, we’ll start with an open mic-style reading of our poems, followed by discussion of the next model poem, then some light critiquing of our poems by study group participants.

Reading Materials: Facilitator will provide materials.

Each week this group meets to exchange news about writing in the Champaign-Urbana area, share a craft tip or exercise, and then (the main activity) read passages members have written and have the group critique them and make suggestions for improvement. This group includes all genres and forms: children’s stories, young adult, science fiction, historical fiction, memoir, poetry, song, travel – you name it.

All levels of experience are welcome. We all start somewhere, and the best place is in the company of those who are working toward the same goals.

Each week this group meets to exchange news about writing in the Champaign-Urbana area, share a craft tip or exercise, and then (the main activity) read passages members have written and have the group critique them and make suggestions for improvement. This group includes all genres and forms: children’s stories, young adult, science fiction, historical fiction, memoir, poetry, song, travel – you name it.

All levels of experience are welcome. We all start somewhere, and the best place is in the company of those who are working toward the same goals.