So, there's about two weeks left in the year and less than a week left before Christmas. If you've already been to some of the courses in the Eckerd Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, you already know about this. If not, listen up. If you had been a member, your membership would be about the expire. Time to renew. If you've never been a member of Eckerd OLLI (why not?), it's time you signed up. You're not getting any younger, you know. Seriously, an Eckerd OLLI membership might make you younger (well, make you feel younger). Why? Because people who are out doing things and learning things do feel younger (insert study reference instead of just making things up). Every year, OLLI offers more than 300 intellectually stimulating programs in music, theater, art, travel, culture, cooking, movies and TV, health and fitness, history, literature and writing, religion, philosophy, ethics, science, technology, Florida studies, and creating a business. Download a catalog and see what we're talking about. Do it. Now. You'll be glad you did. Merry Christmas.
If you've got a rhyming couplet or an epic in iambic pentameter in you yearning to be free, we've got the opportunity for you. We've been browsing the catalog for the Eckerd OLLI program and this struck us: On page 11 of the program catalog there is an announcement about the 1st Annual OLLI at Eckerd College Poetry Contest. It's open to any OLLI member and it'll be judged by OLLI Poetry Circle members. So join OLLI, send in your entry. The deadline is October 1.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Eckerd College is such an extraordinary asset to our community. It's an educational program designed for people 50 and older and is open to all adult learners. Each year OLLI provides an astonishing array of intellectually stimulating classes, groups, local and international trips, and special events for our community. You owe it to yourself to participate. You can download a PDF of the Fall Catalog.
We'll discuss some of the other offerings later but here's a stunning program you won't want to miss, and we're excited to tell you about it. On Friday, September 30, as part of the OLLI at the Theatre series, an outstanding recording of the UK's National Theatre production of Arthur Miller's A View from the Bridge will be presented in the Miller Auditorium.
Arthur Miller's powerful play is set in Brooklyn in the 1950s and deals with the family of longshoreman Eddie Carbone, who harbors his illegal immigrant Sicilian cousins in his home. It's a story as topical today as in the decade in which it was set. Conflict arises when one of the cousins falls for Eddie's beautiful niece. The NT production stars Mark Strong, who was so memorable in The Imitation Game and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. It won a best director award for Ivo van Hove.
At the top of this page, we've included a trailer for the NT Live production (the same one we'll see at the OLLI presentation. Also on this page is a BBC interview with Strong that we thought would provide more insight into the production.
Oh, we almost forgot to mention that on the preceding Wednesday, September 26, as part of the Theatre Talk Series, Julie Empric will give a talk, Justice and the Immigrant in America: An Enduring Challenge at 10:30 a.m. in the Eckerd College CED Spoonbill Room. Julie teaches literature at Eckerd College. The cost is $10 for members and $25 for non-members, another illustration of why becoming a member is helpful.
Director Monica Kile and her staff have put together a dizzying array of offerings for the Fall -- from art to zydeco, as they say in the catalog. The Autumn schedule runs from September through December, so we're coming upon it rapidly. That's why we wanted to get this out there so you can plan to attend these amazing programs.
Most programs are during the week and during the day, making them accessible for retirees or those with flexible schedules. However, some offerings are in the evenings or on weekends. As we mentioned above, some programs are open to the public but OLLI members receive significant discounts so it's advantageous to become a member. Visit the OLLI website to learn more.
The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Eckerd College is a community treasure, and we were delighted to see a feature in The Weekly Challenger about Dr. Gregory Padgett, who recently was teaching a class on the civil rights movement at the institute. Dr. Padgett is a community treasure, too. He has been teaching history at Eckerd for 26 years.
The OLLI class is called What's Past is Prologue: The Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Dr. Padgett may be the perfect person to teach it. He lived the history he was teaching. As a young man in the 1950s and 1960s, Dr. Padgett experienced the changes and challenges in society as a result of civil rights legislation.
