| Course Updates |
Two courses originally scheduled for evenings will now be meeting during the day. "Palestinian and Israeli Filmmakers: Through a Lens of Hope" will meet on Tuesdays from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm and "Art of Harlem Renaissance: American History Through Art" will meet on Thursdays from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. There is a waiting list for "Five Personal Pieces" but all other courses are open.
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OLLI Annual Fund
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We have raised two-thirds of our financial goal of $36,000, but we still need your help! You can donate by going online to Give To Cal ( http://givetocal.berkeley.edu) or by sending a check to: OLLI @Berkeley, 1925 Walnut Street #1570, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1570. If you have questions regarding the OLLI Annual Fund, please contact Program Coordinator Aileen Kim at 510.642.5291. Donors will be reocgnized in the spring brochure and at the OLLI luncheon in May.
Thank you to our donors (as of January 5, 2008). Please contact us for any oversights to this list.
Dion and David Aroner
Ellen Barth
Mary Bergan
Cynthia Berrol
Judith L Bloom
Caroline and Todd Cahill
Francoise and Norman Cohen
Kathleen Delaney
Kathleen Demerdjian
Carol Feagles
Alan Fong
Julie Forsmith
Melody Fujimori
Edith Goldstein
Deborah and Howard Goodman
Joan Greer
Margaret Hartmann
Susan Hoffman and Brian Murphy
Michael Kahn
Suzan Kaufmann
Deanna and Elroy Kursh
EI Lentz, Jr.
Marcia Luperini
Christina Maslach and Philip Zimbardo
Mary McConnon
Suzanne and Frank McKnight
Marjorie and Mark Medress
Barbara Morgan
Carol and Joel Neil
Ann Peden
Stuart Pellman
Diane Plank
Lucille and Arthur Poskanzer
Karlyn and Robert Scott
Alison Steel
Claudine Torfs
Elizabeth and Norman Van Patten
Susan Wait
Ben Warwick
Sallie Weissinger
Margaret Weitkamp
Wendy and Mason Willrich
Linda Wood
In memory of Rubin Lichtman and Sarah Lichtman from Deborah Lichtman and Kenneth A Frankel
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Interest Circle Meetings
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Eight Interest Circles met between the fall and winter sessions. Some of the groups will still be meeting in January. No more meetings are scheduled for the National Health Insurance/Care, Evolutionary Psychology, and Lunching Adventures.
Tuesday, January 21
Writer's Workshop
10:00 am - noon
6:00 - 8:00 pm off campus
Contact Alan Fong (alan-fong@sbcglobal.net) for more information
Wednesday, January 21
Shakespeare: Out Loud and Ruminated
10:00 am - noon
Wednesdays, January 14, 21 Financial Crisis
10:00 am - noon
World Affairs
10:00 am - noon
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Winter 2009 Lecture Series
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From Boom to Bust:
Insights into the Current Economic Downturn
Co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning
- Tuesdays, February 10, 17, 24 and March 10
- Noon - 1:30 pm
- Location to be announced
- Free for OLLI members and current UC Berkeley, faculty, staff, students, and CAA members with ID
- $5 general admission
The lecture series will consist of four talks by UC Berkeley faculty and is directed to the campus community, CAA members, and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute @Berkeley members.
The goal is to engage an educated audience about the recession and the credit crisis and the needed responses---both policy and personal.
February 10
How did we get here---the crisis in credit and the recession?
Martha Olney, Economics
February 17
What is the global nature of the recession?
Brad DeLong, Economics
February 24
How can government and the private sector respond to the crisis?
Robert Reich, Goldman School of Public Policy
March 10
What constructive role can an individual play?
David Robinson, Haas School of Business
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| UC Wellness Newsletter Subscription DEAL! |
We are pleased to offer a greatly reduced discount on a yearly subscription to the WELLNESS NEWSLETTER, UC's very popular and informative newsletter. For OLLI members it will be $10 for a full year (10 issues). Standard price is $28. Call 1-800-829-9170 and give the OLLI @Berkeley promotional code: 84MWNL to receive the special rate. Founded in 1984, the WELLNESS LETTER has more than 350,000 subscribers. It has been rated No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report, the Baltimore Sun, Money Magazine, and the Washington Post, for its "brisk," "reasoned" coverage of health issues. The WELLNESS LETTER relies on the expertise of the School of Public Health and other researchers at UC Berkeley, as well as other top scientists from around the world. It translates this leading-edge research into practical advice for daily living-at home, at work, while exercising, and in the market or health-food store. The WELLNESS LETTER has no ads, no padding. It doesn't try to sell you supplements or products. Instead, in every fact-packed issue, you'll find at least a dozen articles, on a wide variety of subjects related to food and nutrition, exercise, self-care, preventive medicine, and emotional well-being-plus many, many Wellness Facts and Tips. |
| Faculty Profile: Tamim Ansary
Course instructor - "Hot Spots in Islam"
Thursdays, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
by Bonnie Mager |
Tamim Ansary: Afghan American, world traveler, keen observer, and writer. His name leapt off the shelf at the bookstore where his latest book, East of New York, West of Kabul, was featured. It recounts his journeys through Islamic countries and the passion and fundamentalism he encountered--a shock from which, he says, it took him 14 years to recover.
Born in Afghanistan to an American mother and Afghani father, he grew up in Kabul. His father taught science and literature at Kabul University and his mother taught English at the first girls school in Afghanistan. Later the family moved to Lashkargah, a small town in southwestern Afghanistan, in the midst of a vast American-funded project to make the desert bloom.
In 1964, Tamim got a scholarship to an exclusive private school in Colorado. He discovered to his dismay that he was one of three scholarship students among a student body of children of the very rich. It was culture shock in many ways, and at first he had difficulty having conversations with anyone. But he persisted and went on to graduate and go to Reed College in Portland.
After college, he tried various lifestyles of the counterculture and soon quit his job to travel. When he returned to the States, he was a textbook editor for Harcourt Brace and then started writing children's books. After 9/11, he returned to Afghanistan to see the refugee camps and to visit Kabul.
His great love is writing. He runs the San Francisco Writers Workshop and is a regular columnist for Microsoft's learning site, Encarta.com. He has published a literary memoir, several novels, and a series of educational comic books called Adventures Plus. His next book is Destiny Disrupted, History of the World Through Islamic Eyes. He has a terrific website on which he publishes his views of the world's situation and his philosophy of life (www.mirtamimansary.com ).
In response to questions about the future of Afghanistan, Tamim is frank and not optimistic. He recounts the dismal history of American involvement in that country. Money poured in to rebuild the infrastructure after the Russians left, and that was spent unwisely. There was no real investment in the country, and while a few earned high salaries as translators, most local workers were paid $10 per day. The cost of rent and food skyrocketed and the general quality of life deteriorated.
He feels that there is an injurious perspective of the west toward the status of women in Afghanistan. He says it cannot be viewed separately from the culture, from the tribal and family structures that have existed for centuries. While there was a period in the 1960's of social change, rising educational levels, and more freedom for women, this has shifted backward. And now, as long as there is a foreign presence, even if that power is promoting progressive movement, there will be opposition.
His class for OLLI, which he has taught previously for the SF State OLLI, will focus on various areas of unrest in the Islamic world: Pakistan, Iran, Iraq the Arab World, and Palestine and Israel. He will look at what is going on in each area that has given rise to extremists, and to what extent these violent groups have succeeded.
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| Faculty Profile: Tony Platt
Course Instructor - "Doing Justice to History"
Tuesdays, 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm
by Bonnie Mager
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The Berkeley brown shingle had a welcoming air, and when Tony Platt opened the door, I was met with walls of books, art from around the world, and lovely old silver pieces. We sat in his warm and airy kitchen with tea and scones to talk about his career and plans for OLLI. Tony was born in Manchester and his English roots still echo in his speech. His parents were progressive activists and fostered his interest in the justice system. After graduating from Oxford with a degree in law and jurisprudence, he came to Berkeley in 1966 to complete a Ph.D. in criminology. He got a teaching job in that department; he characterizes his years at Berkeley as turbulent and exciting. After leaving Berkeley in the early 70's, he started teaching at California State University, Sacramento in 1977 and continued teaching in the areas of criminology and social justice in the department of social work for 30 years. He has published widely and has received awards for meritorious performance for teaching and research at Cal State Sacramento. His publications include The Child Savers: the Invention of Delinquency, The Politics of Riot Commissions, 1917-1970, and Bloodlines: Recovering Hitler's Nuremberg Laws, From Patton's Trophy to Public Memorial. He retired in December of 2007 but is still doing research and working on another book. His focus is relating memory and history, particularly among the Yurok Tribe of the Humboldt County coast. He is concerned with the damage done to grave sites and ancient remains by settlers of that area. His concern also extends to the fate of the indigenous people throughout this country and its history. His class at OLLI, "Doing Justice to History," will cover some of this material, as well as the tragedies that befell different ethnicities in California, Germany, and Ireland. But his goal is not merely to recount and condemn those injustices He wants to emphasize issues of reconciliation and memorialization wherever one group has in the past subjugated or threatened the existence of another. He wants to see civilization moving forward from a violent past, learning forgiveness and positive co-existence. Contemplating the realities of the future, he admits to "optimism of the heart, but pessimism of the mind." His is most optimistic about the involvement of the current generation of young people in the current political trends. More information about Tony can be found on his blog at http://goodtogo.typepad.com. |
The Lunch Bunch
by Lucille Poskanzer
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Oasis Mediterranean Grill
2114 Center Street (between Shattuck and Oxford), Berkeley
510.666.8951
Take a walk down "student restaurant row" on Center Street, not far from OLLI, and walk into this new simple storefront featuring tasty low priced Mediterranean fare. There are a few tables both inside and out, although it's also very popular for take-out. You order at the counter, and service is fairly quick. In my opinion, the best thing on the menu is the Falafel Wrap, priced at $5.99 and big enough to share, but there are other choices, so feel free to try whatever strikes your fancy.
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