OLLI Outlook
The Monthly Newsletter of OLLI @Berkeley
September 2013
Contents
Upcoming Events
OLLI Back-to-School Happy Hour
Welcome to OLLI's Graduate Student Research Assistants
Faculty Profile: Kerrin Meis
Fall 2013 Speaker Series
New Yorker Magazine Discussion Group
Volunteering at OLLI
Hearing Awareness and Accommodations
Faculty News
Participate In Cognitive Research Studies at UCSF
Transportation and Parking
The Lunch Bunch
Updated Restaurant Guide
Member Benefits
OLLI's Idea Box
OLLI Academic Calendar
Join Our Mailing List!
Links
Donate to OLLI

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Staff
Director
Susan Hoffman

Program Coordinator
Nicole Magnuson

Communications Coordinator
Satya Levine

Classroom and Events Coordinator
Gerard Alcantara

Research Assistants
Julie Barrett
Chelsea Crown

Student Staff
Nika Allahverdi
Hansen Ling
BriAnne Lynn
Kelsey Rich

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

Upcoming Events

Classes don't start until September 30, but there are plenty of ways to reconnect with OLLI before then. Come to one or all of the events below - we hope to see you there! 

 

OLLI at the Solano Stroll ~ Sept 8 

Visit the OLLI booth at the Solano Stroll on Sunday, September 8, 2013, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Our booth will be at 1840 Solano Ave, across from Peet's Coffee. Bring a friend, pick up our latest brochure, and ask our volunteers any questions you might have about the Fall 2013 lineup. Current OLLI members, please drop by and say "Hello!"

 

Fall 2013 Open House ~ Sept 10

Tuesday, September 10, from 10 a.m.-noon  

Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse

2020 Addison St, Berkeley

Doors open at 9:30 a.m., program starts at 10 a.m.   

Free | RSVP 

 

Lafayette Info Session ~ Sept 12

Hear from film critic Michael Fox and musicologist John Prescott who will teach in Lafayette this fall, as well as journalist Reese Erlich and UC Berkeley historian Alex Saragoza who will teach in Lafayette in the winter. 

 

Thursday, September 12, 3-4:30 p.m.

Lafayette Library and Learning Center

3491 Mount Diablo Boulevard

Free | RSVP

* * *
Please tell your friends about OLLI and encourage them to attend the Open House or the Lafayette Info Session.

 

 

OLLI Back-to-School Happy Hour ~ Oct 16

Join OLLI @Berkeley for a no-host back-to-school Happy Hour at Bobby G's in downtown Berkeley on Wednesday, October 16, at 4 p.m. RSVP online.

 

Bobby G's Pizzeria

2072 University Ave., at Shattuck Ave.

Berkeley, CA 94704

  

Welcome to OLLI's Graduate Student Research Assistants

Julie Barrett is an LL.M. student at Boalt Hall and has a background in public interest work with nonprofits. She joined OLLI's research team this fall. 

Chelsea Crown is joining OLLI this fall from the concurrent Master of Public Health and Master of Social Welfare program at UC Berkeley. Her focus is on health and social behavior and on direct practice in health settings, with a specialty in aging. She has previously worked with Ashby Village, Born to Age Senior Care Directories, the Over 60 Program at UCSF, and several other nonprofits focused on older adults in the Bay Area.  

 

Faculty Profile: Kerrin Meis

by Deanne Stone, member-writer

 

Only one museum in the United States owns a painting by Michelangelo, and it is not in New York or D.C. Would you have guessed Fort Worth, TX? In 2009, the Kimbell Art Museum acquired The Torment of Saint Anthony, the first Michelangelo to enter an American collection and one of only four known easel paintings believed to come from his hand.

 

Students taking Kerrin Meis's fall course, Superb Art Collections in America, will be introduced to a dozen significant museums that most tourists overlook on their travels or have never heard of. Each museum is named after its collector, and Meis will highlight their fascinating stories--their personalities, idiosyncrasies, and approaches to collecting--as much as the collections. The most controversial is the eccentric Dr. Albert Barnes, who amassed an important collection of paintings by Cezanne, Renoir, and other major artists and then housed them in a building in an inconvenient location that was rarely open to the public. Another museum swirling in intrigue is the Isabella Steward Gardner Museum in Boston. In 1990, thieves broke into the museum and stole 13 paintings that have never been recovered.

 

Meis laces her lively, informative lectures with her signature sly humor. Perhaps her distinctive approach to relating art history with a mixture of facts and fun comes from her having entered the field in her late forties. After years of working in business and raising three daughters, she resumed her undergraduate education where she had left off when she married.

 

Meis was fortunate to encounter a Hungarian art history professor at Dominican College in Marin who sparked her enthusiasm to travel and seriously study European collections and historic sites. Meis completed her undergraduate work at Dominican and earned a Masters in Art History at Berkeley. Although her academic field of study was nineteenth-century French painting, she considers herself a generalist after having taught art history survey classes for ten years at San Francisco State University.

 

Since retiring, Meis has combined her interest in art and travel by leading tours in Southwest France. Next May, she's taking a group to Turkey, and this December, she will squeeze in a pleasure trip to Burma. Closer to home, Meis leads tours of major exhibits at the Legion of Honor and the de Young and, on occasion, takes groups to New York to visit special exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum.

 

Meis hopes that those who take her class will be inspired to go off the beaten museum path and visit the Morgan Library Museum and the Frick Collection the next time they're in New York, take a side trip to the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, MA, or venture to the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena. Most of all, she wants to make the study of art history enjoyable.

 

"Too many people approach art with a somber, overly serious attitude," she says. "I believe in doing good academic research, but I also believe that learning about art history can be fun."

 

Kerrin Meis will teach Superb Art Collections in America on Thursdays from 1-3 p.m., beginning October 3.

 

Fall 2013 Speaker Series

Wednesdays, 12:30-1:30 p.m.

Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse

2020 Addison St, Berkeley

Free to OLLI members, UCB faculty, staff, and students (with ID)

$10 general admission

RSVP online

 

October 9

Last Term at the Supreme Court

Marshall Krause, former chief attorney for the ACLU of Northern California

William Sokol, attorney and talk-show host

 

October 16

Telling Your Grandchildren Wonderful Stories

Jake Warner, children's author and storyteller

 

October 23

All Together Now: Stories of Activism

Joe Lambert, Director, Center for Digital Storytelling

 

October 30

Ending Slavery in the World's Greatest Empire

Adam Hochschild, journalist, lecturer, and author of Bury the Chains

 

November 6 

Anders Zorn: Sweden's Master Painter  

Johan Cederlund, Swedish art historian, author, and museum director

 

New Yorker Magazine Discussion Group
This is a group of OLLI members and friends who get together to talk about articles from the New Yorker. We meet the last Thursday of the month, from 10:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at a member's home in the Oakland hills. To find out about joining, contact Susan at [email protected].

 

Volunteering at OLLI
OLLI volunteers serve on committees, in advisory roles, at social events and outreach activities, and as class assistants. The 200+ members who volunteer each year are essential to OLLI's programming. Learn more about volunteer roles and activities on the volunteer page. Take the first step to become a volunteer by completing the volunteer interest form. Visit the volunteer table at the Open House and talk with Cheryl Brewster about volunteering. 

 

Upcoming volunteer opportunities include: Class Assistants, Fall Happy Hour, Winter outreach, and Winter Open House. 

 

Hearing Awareness and Accommodations
OLLI @Berkeley is aware that some of our members experience hearing loss; we have taken the following steps to facilitate participation: 
  • Room 41B in University Hall is equipped with a hearing loop 
  • Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse offers assistive listening devices at
    the coffee counter 
  • We educate our instructors about teaching practices for people
    with hearing loss 
  • We are doing ongoing research into hearing loss and accommodations
If you have questions or suggestions, please let us know!

Faculty News

OLLI instructor and Dharma College co-founder Curt Caton invites you to attend an open house at Dharma College in downtown Berkeley on September 21, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. More info

 

OLLI instructor Marion Gerlind's Institute for Cultural Studies is hosting an oral history event with Bay Area author Annegret Ogden. Ms. Ogden will be presenting her latest book, Made In Germany, on Sunday, September 29, 2-4 p.m. See http://www.gerlindinstitute.org/oralhistory.html for more information.

 

Marion Gerlind was recently appointed to the UC Berkeley faculty as a lecturer in the Department of German.  

 

OLLI instructor Kathryn Roszak's Danse Lumiere invites you to two open rehearsals: 1) "Dance on Center," new works including "About the Rite," celebrating the 100th year of "Rite of Spring," Sunday, November 3 at 2 p.m. at the Osher Studio, 2055 Center St, Downtown Berkeley. 2) Open Rehearsal of a modern "Schubertiade," an updating of a salon originated in Schubert's time with dance, music and poetry, on Sunday, November 10 at 2 p.m. at the Goethe-Institut, 530 Bush Street, San Francisco. For info, call 510-233-5550, or check www.dlkdance.com for updates.

Participate In Cognitive Research Studies at UCSF
The lab of Adam Gazzaley, Associate Professor of Neurology, Physiology and Psychiatry at UCSF Mission Bay, is looking for healthy adults, 60-80 years old, to participate in research studies of attention, multitasking, and other cognitive abilities. Visit http://gazzaleylab.ucsf.edu/participate.html to learn more about the study and how to participate. 

 

Transportation and Parking in Downtown Berkeley
OLLI @Berkeley is aware that many members drive to class and have difficulty parking. We have prepared an extensive list of transportation and parking resources for the Berkeley area. If you have a hassle-free parking strategy, share your parking tips here

 

The Lunch Bunch

By Lucille Poskanzer

 

The Sandwich Spot

2106 Shattuck Ave., between Addison St. and Center St.

Berkeley CA 94704

510-647-3400

 

This is a new place, very bright and clean, and just around the corner from the classes at Freight and Salvage. It offers a terrific variety of large and delicious "signature" sandwiches, as well as salads, sides, and drinks. The staff is friendly and welcoming, and will customize your sandwich to your liking. This is the perfect place to pick up something before an OLLI lecture or a Lunch with Faculty event.
 
Updated Restaurant Guide
OLLI "Lunch Bunch" columnist Lucille Poskanzer has updated her classic restaurant guide "Let's Do Lunch." Her reviews of downtown Berkeley eateries groups restaurants by location and price and is a great resource for anyone looking for a lunch spot before, after, or between OLLI classes. Download the guide.

 

Member Benefits
NEW: Berkeley Symphony: 10% Discount
Berkeley Symphony is offering a 10% discount on single tickets to OLLI members for the 2013-14 Season at Zellerbach Hall. The season opens on October 3. Call the box office and identify yourself as an OLLI member when you order your tickets. 

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 Caffe: 10% Discount
Show your OLLI student card and get 10% off on food and non-alcoholic beverages purchased with food. The Jazz Caffe is located at 2087 Addison Street, just across the street from Freight and Salvage Coffeehouse. http://www.jazzcaffe.biz 

 

OLLI's Idea Box

Have a great idea for an OLLI course? Have you heard someone speak who would be an interesting instructor? Do you know an organization who would provide a discount to OLLI members? Please share your ideas using the link below and we will forward to the appropriate staff or committee for consideration. 

Submit your idea

 

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

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

SPRING 2014
Open House: March 11
Term: March 31-May 9

Term dates through the 2013-14 academic year are available at http://olli.berkeley.edu/calendar/academicCalendar.html.