OLLI Outlook
The Monthly Newsletter of OLLI @Berkeley
March 2013
Contents
Annual Fund Drive
NEW PROGRAM: Study-Discussion Group
Special Event: Author Reading and Talk
Faculty Profile: Ulf Olsson
Volunteer Profiles: Joan Greer and Ron Tauber
In Memoriam: George Hersh
BAM/PFA Construction Update
Faculty News
OLLI Members Organize
Meet other members by volunteering
The Lunch Bunch
Member Benefits and Partner News
2012-13 Academic Calendar
Join Our Mailing List!
Links
Donate to OLLI

Find OLLI on Facebook


Staff
Director
Susan Hoffman

Program Coordinator
Nicole Magnuson

Communications Coordinator
Satya Levine

Classroom and Events Coordinator
Gerard Alcantara

Research Assistant
Sandra von Doetinchem

Student Staff
Vickie Tran My Duong, Stephen Frianeza, Alex Lee, BriAnne Lynn, Alexis Nya, Tina Savong, Julie Xiao, Wei Zhuo

OLLI @Berkeley
University of California
1925 Walnut St #1570
Berkeley, CA 94720-1570
tel. 510.642.9934
fax. 510.642.2202
[email protected]
http://olli.berkeley.edu

Registration for the Spring 2013 term is in full swing, with some courses already waitlisted. Check out our website for full offerings and register early to ensure your place. (Please note that since the brochure was printed, some courses have been moved to larger rooms, and one course moved to a new day. The website is kept up-to-date.)

 

Annual Fund Drive
This week, most classrooms are being visited by representatives from the OLLI Annual Fund committee. The Annual Fund provides an essential part of OLLI's budget which, in addition to supporting core programming, demonstrates to the University and the Bernard Osher Foundation how important OLLI is to our membership.

To those who have already contributed, thank you! We have raised $31,565 towards this year's goal of $70,000. If you have not yet made a contribution, please consider donating via our secure server.

If you have any questions, please call the office at 510.642.9934.

 

NEW PROGRAM: Study-Discussion Group 
We are pleased to announce the formation of a new OLLI initiative, based on UCLA's PLATO Society, in which members present and discuss new material on a subject of their choosing.

Spearheaded by OLLI member and retired physicist Marian Whitehead, a pilot group began meeting in the fall to explore the theme of "Change." The model was well received and we are now opening it up to the wider OLLI community.

In this Study-Discussion Group, each participant is responsible for preparing one two-hour session, including sending out serious but accessible readings on the topic in advance, delivering a 20-minute presentation on the material, and then conducting a discussion with the aid of Marian Whitehead, the group's facilitator. In the pilot Study-Discussion Group, topics included the changing roles of political parties, global warming, and the changing roles of women.

The Study-Discussion Group will meet on Friday afternoons from April 5 to June 28 (no meeting May 24). The group is limited to 15 people and all participants must have a current OLLI membership for the Spring 2013 term. The registration fee of $150 covers all twelve meetings. To register, call the OLLI office at 510.642.9934. Registration is by phone only.

Information Meeting
Friday, March 8, 2013, 1-2:30 p.m.
University Hall Room 41B
2199 Addison St, Berkeley
RSVP 

Special Event: Author Anne Sw�rd
Reading and Talk with Swedish Author Anne Sw�rd and Linda Rugg
Wednesday, March 6, 12:15-1:30 p.m.
Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse
2020 Addison St, Berkeley
Free to OLLI members
$10 general admission
More info | RSVP

Anne Sw�rd will read from her work, and Professor Linda Haverty Rugg of UC Berkeley's Scandinavian Department will join her in conversation afterwards.

 

Faculty Profile: Ulf Olsson
By Deanne Stone, OLLI member-volunteer

Ulf Olsson is a Swedish professor of literature whose interests in the arts cross many frontiers. A Strindberg scholar, he is equally at home discussing French avant-garde art, Thomas Pynchon, or the chamber music influences in Ravi Coltrane's latest album. And just this past month, he gave a paper at the Popular Culture Conference in Albuquerque on The Grateful Dead, now the subject of growing academic curiosity.

For the past few years, Professor Olsson has divided the academic year between UC Berkeley, where he is a visiting professor in the Comparative Literature Department, and Stockholm University, where he has been a faculty member since 1989. Having taught in the Senior University, a lifelong-learning program in Stockholm, he will be offering his first class at OLLI this spring.

"The Unlikely Marriage of Pop Culture and the Avant-Garde" will bring together Olsson's wide-ranging interests in art, music, and literature. "I'm interested in everything that stretches boundaries in the arts," he says. "I love looking for connections and asking questions about what was happening in a given culture that produced this form of art at this particular time, and where it is today." Professor Olsson invites OLLI members to join him in discovering artistic influences and intersections not evident on the surface and in seeing what fun it is to pursue this line of inquiry.

Professor Olsson's love of reading and intellectual exploration started at an early age. When his mother was urging him to go outside and play sports with his friends, he was happier staying home and reading. Like most Swedish students, he worked for a few years after graduating from high school before entering university. With the exception of a short stint working as a postman, he has spent his life as an academic.

Besides teaching at Berkeley, Professor Olsson has taught at the University of Illinois, Champaign. Teaching American college students required a bit of adjustment. Whereas Swedish students follow the same curriculum in the same sequence, students in an American classroom have different levels of knowledge, come from different departments, and have more diverse perspectives. In Sweden, he knows exactly what books his students have read; American students are less predictable. "It's more difficult pedagogically teaching here, but it's more interesting," he says.

While Professor Olsson's research has centered on modern Swedish literature, he has also ventured into such intriguing topics as exile, power, and madness in literature. Among his publications in Swedish are I'm Going Crazy: Strindberg, Madness and Science, The Speech Machine, a study of contemporary Swedish playwright Lars Noren, and Construction of a Body, essays on jazz and improvisation. His new book, Silence and Subject in Modern Literature: Spoken Violence, will be published in English this fall. In it, Ollson examines the work of authors ranging from Jane Austen to avant-garde Austrian novelist and playwright Peter Handke.

Ulf Olsson will teach "The Unlikely Marriage of Pop Culture and the Avant-Garde" at OLLI @Berkeley this spring on Mondays, April 1-May 6, from 1-3 p.m.

Volunteer Profiles: Joan Greer and Ron Tauber
Joan Greer Joan Greer: I have been an OLLI Volunteer for six years, the first four years as a member on the Curriculum Committee and the last two on the Membership Committee. Previously, I was a social scientist in Washington, D.C., where I worked on developing national education policy and conducted research on education and learning. Since moving to Berkeley, OLLI has enriched my life with classes that always expand my thinking. Through my volunteer efforts at OLLI, I have met intelligent, fascinating people and many have become good friends. Besides my OLLI activities, I am participating in all the delights of the Bay Area, including world-class cultural activities, various cuisines, and gorgeous walks.

Ron Tauber: In 1969 I took a job with the Oakland schools and moved to Berkeley where I have remained. For over twenty years, I was the Executive Director of Crisis Support Services of Alameda County. When I retired, I wanted to play makeup with my inadequate education, so I took classes in music, astronomy, and mathematics, all areas I had neglected. I loved the chance to study without the pressure of grades or degrees. Studying at OLLI fits perfectly with my need to continue with education. Beyond OLLI, I like to cook and enjoy theater, literature, and walking with my new dog. I currently serve as Co-chair of the Membership Committee. Volunteering helps build relationships while supporting a marvelous educational effort. Activities at OLLI are team efforts, full of good feeling. If you want to participate, just speak up.

In Memoriam: George Hersh
George Hersh
George Hersh, a shining light of our OLLI community, died peacefully on February 21 surrounded by his family. George, along with his wife Diane, was among OLLI's most active supporters from the very earliest days. He served on both the membership and curriculum committees, as well as constantly providing energy and creative solutions in a multitude of areas. George was a man of superb intellect who was appreciated by many for his wit and irony. He could be relied upon in committee meetings for getting to the heart of the matter with humor and honesty. His wide-ranging interests were eclectic and often surprising, and he could give a scholarly lecture on a moment's notice, as he once did when an instructor could not come to class. In many of our OLLI literature classes, he could be counted on to read with just the right cadence and intelligence in his deep resonant voice so that the meaning of the text was beautifully enriched.

Our condolences to Diane and the family. George Hersh will be deeply missed.

 

BAM/PFA Construction Update
In April, 2013, Construction of the new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive on Oxford Street, between Addison and Center Streets. We are monitoring the project to minimize any impact on OLLI programming and will be posting updates periodically.

For recent articles on the new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive building, see Early phases of construction begin for BAM/PFA and Work starts on new Berkeley Art Museum, to open in 2016.

BAM/PFA New Building website

Faculty News
Kathryn Roszak will premiere a new dance titled "Secrets on the Way," inspired by Nobel-Prize-winning poet Tomas Transtr�mer, on April 27 and 28, 2013 at the Osher Studio, 2055 Center Street, Berkeley. OLLI faculty member Linda Rugg will read poems in Swedish as part of the program. More information at www.dlkdance.com. Kathryn Roszak will teach "Moving Pictures: Dance and Film" in the Spring 2013 term and Linda Rugg will teach "Master of the Intimate: Films by Bergman."

 

OLLI Members Organize
Monthly Discussion Group: New Yorker Magazine

Monthly group for OLLI members is seeking a few additional members. We discuss articles from the New Yorker, generally two or three articles at each meeting. (We're much like a book group, only you don't have to read a whole book.) We meet throughout the year on the last Thursday of the month from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. We alternate between two members' homes, one in Rockridge and the other in the Oakland hills. If you're interested, please contact Susan S at [email protected].

 

Meet other members by volunteering
We are looking for energetic and engaged OLLI members who want  to meet other members and to promote our community of lifelong learners through outreach and goodwill. YOU can help by volunteering in the classroom, at Open House, with end-of-term parties, distributing brochures or flyers, ushering at events, or becoming an ambassador at outreach events such as Cal Homecoming or the Solano Stroll. Time commitments range from 20 minutes per class to 2-3 hours at events. Get involved and participate in OLLI's success. We need your time and talent.

Sign up here or call the OLLI office at 510.642.9934.

The Lunch Bunch
Sliver Pizzeria and Cocktails
2132 Center St., between Shattuck Ave. and Oxford St.
Berkeley, CA 94704
510.356.4044
www.sliverpizzeria.com

North Berkeley's favorite pizza has come to downtown Berkeley, brought to you by three Cheeseboard alums. They have taken over the space previously occupied by Sportivo and are open for both lunch and dinner. They offer a delicious pizza of the day, usually vegetarian, and a fresh salad of the day. The place is often teeming with Berkeley High or Cal students, so be patient or go at an off hour for something delicious, fresh, and inexpensive. In addition, a percentage of the restaurant's profits is given to various organizations working to end human trafficking. There are outside tables for warm weather dining and a great happy hour too!

Member Benefits and Partner News
Berkeley City Commons Friday Lunch Talks
City Commons Club of Berkeley meets every Friday from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Berkeley City Club (2315 Durant Ave, Berkeley) to promote the lively discussion of topics of interest to Bay Area residents. Come for lunch or just for the talk. See upcoming programs.

Berkeley Symphony offers $5 discount to OLLI members
OLLI members for the 2012-2013 year can receive a $5 discount on single advance purchase tickets at the Berkeley Symphony for advance tickets. Use the discount code olli2013. More info.

Berkeley Arts and Letters: 50% Discount
Berkeley Arts and Letters offers a 50% student discount to OLLI members on advance tickets purchased through their website. Visit http://berkeleyarts.org for more information. 

Jazz Cafe: 10% Discount
Ongoing through the Spring term, show your OLLI student card and get 10% off on food and non-alcoholic beverages. The Jazz Cafe is located at 2087 Addison Street, just across the street from Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse.

 

2012-13 Academic Calendar
SPRING 2013
Open House: March 12
Term: April 1-May 10

SUMMER 2013
Courses: June 4-27

FALL 2013
Open House: Sep 10
Term: Sep 30-Nov 8

WINTER 2014
Open House: Jan 7
Term: Jan 27-Mar 10

Term dates through the 2012-13 academic year are available at http://olli.berkeley.edu/calendar/academicCalendar.html.