OLLI_TopBarNewsletter
 Calendar and Announcements
UPCOMING SCHEDULE OF EVENTS 
February 22, 2015
In This Issue
Quick Links
We Remember 
Candle burningMary Gardiner  
  February 14, 2015 
TO D A Y 
Ron Manheimer
Book Talk & Signing
Sunday, February 22, 3 pm
Reuter Center
Free and open to the public.
Ron Manheimer
Dr. Ronald Manheimer, author of

 A Map to the End of Time, is celebrating the publication of his new book, Mirrors of the Mind:Reflecting on Philosophers' Autobiographies. Ron will hold a book talk and sign copies of his new work at the Reuter Center on SundayFebruary 22, 3 pm. Here's what author Harry R. Moody (The Five Stages of the Soul) says about Ron's book: "Imagine you could sit down and talk personally with the greatest philosophers of all time. Imagine having coffee with Augustine or Rousseau or Kierkegaard. Ever had a fantasy about chatting with Sartre and de Beauvoir in a Paris cafe? Well, read the chapters in Ronald Manheimer's book and you will have the 'feel' of being in the presence of these and other thinkers. "

Copies of the book can be ordered through the website, JorvikPress.com. 

Special Interest Group (SIG) 
The Forum Meeting
 
Friday, February 27, 1 pm

Mark your calendar to attend the next Forum meeting where the topic will be
"The Foundation 
of a Good Education"  
The Forum engages in a free-flowing dialogue designed to enrich and expand participants' thinking on topics ranging from the changing demographics of retirees to nuclear disarmament.

All OLLI members 
are invited to attend!

Contact: Lou Millin, 828.298.3863, [email protected]  
for more information. 
Storytelling Event
Monday, February 23, 7 pm
Blackbox Storytelling Theatre presents
"Local Vocals"
John Thomas Fowler,
Appalachian storyteller & two-time champ of the Fiddler's Grove Old MusicFestival, Chuck Fink, local storyteller, Jeff and Tiffany Santiago, husband & wife storytelling duo

Doors open at 6 p.m. at the New Mountain SOL Bar, 38 N. French Broad Aven, downtown Asheville

Tickets available at NewMountainAVL.com
$10 at the door or
$8 in advance online

 
Reuter Center Singers Perform!

Thursday, March 19, 7
7:30 pm
First Baptist Church,
5 Oak Street,
Asheville
Mozart March Madness Concert
An Asheville Amadeus Festival Event

UNC Asheville University Singers, Asheville Singers, Reuter Center Singers and an orchestra will present a concert representing glorious works of Mozart and emergent music of contemporary  composers.
 
The groups will be led by Dr. Melodie Galloway, Conductor & UNC Asheville Music Department Faculty

Free Admission
Special Thanks!
 
  OLLI would like to thank its Creative Retirement Exploration Weekend (CREW)Major Sponsor, Biltmore Farms Hotels for their longstanding support!
"Biltmore Farms Hotels:  Five Hotels.  One Choice"

CREW helps those considering relocation in retirement examine all their options carefully and make an informed decision about this major life transition.
Dear OLLI Members,
Thank you for your patience as we have navigated the recent bout of cold weather.  Susan Poole and Leanna Preston have collaborated with instructors to re-schedule missed classes.  Look for emails from instructors to let you know how and when missed material will be made up. 

We hope you will join us this afternoon for a reading and book signing by Dr. Ron Manheimer for his new work, Mirrors of the Mind: Reflecting on Philosophers' Autobiographies.   Ron is the founding director for the NC Center for Creative Retirement (now OLLI at UNC Asheville) and continues to teach courses for the College for Seniors and to organize events like the Evenings at the Cabaret Weimar, which will convene again in April.  Click here to read about upcoming events in the series.

I hope you have all received our email about changing our registration process for the Spring 2015 term only.  Because of a forecast of cold and snowy weather on the day when we had scheduled registration, we have decided to hold a randomized registration to avoid having people coming early to the Reuter Center to line up. You may submit registrations until 5 pm, Thursday, February 26, either by mailing in your registration forms or by bringing them to the information desk outside the OLLI office on the upper level of the Reuter Center. Click here for more information on Spring registration.

Every term since I arrived, people have suggested ways to implement randomized registration.  This term I am hearing from people who are disappointed that we will not have our in-person, first-come, first-served system.  I hear from people who are happy we will move to the convenience of online registration and from those who point out that an online system will create a disadvantage for some of our members.  We have done our best in every instance to balance multiple opinions about fairness with the resources we have to implement the process of getting hundreds of people enrolled in our courses. I am always impressed by the passionate interest and intelligence that all of our members bring to everything we do. While we have some weather-related challenges this term, I hope we will not lose sight of the stellar array of Spring 2015 courses put together by our hard-working curriculum committee and our consistently inspiring instructors.

Thank you for your ideas and interest as we work together to create a model community of teachers and learners, 
Catherine Frank
Executive Director

Around the Center


OLLI member and retired physician, David Mouw, led the recent Advance Care Planning Workshop, where folks got information and assistance completing a legally valid advance directive, including having the NC Short Form notarized.  The next Advance Care Planning Workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, June 17, 2015, 7-9 pm; the event will be held at the Reuter Center and will be free and open to the public.
  Meditation Special Interest Group  (SIG) Meeting
Monday, February 23, 4:15 pm 
The next meeting of the Meditation SIG will be next Monday, February 23, 4:15 pm.
There is a room change this week; the group will meet in Room 205, on the upper level of the Reuter Center at the top of the stairs. 
This week Richard Sunshine will be the moderator, and Jacquie Wollins will be leading the meditation.

This SIG meets two times per month on the 2nd and 4th Monday.  Please consider us as one of your
special interests at OLLI.
World Affairs Council
Tuesday, February 24, 7:30 pm
The Manheimer Room at the Reuter Center

"Russia and the Near Abroad"
 by Steven Solnick, of Warren Wilson College

Steven Solnick
As calls for closer ties with the European Union failed to be met, Ukrainians took to the streets in in November 2013. As the movement, later known as the Euromaidan, or "Euro Square," pulled western Ukraine closer to its European neighbors, another powerful force threatened to tear away the country's eastern half: Russia. Putin's pushback against European expansionism has the West wondering: If Putin's Russia isn't afraid to take an aggressive stance against Europeanization in Ukraine, what does that mean for the rest of Russia's neighbors?  What the impact of Putin's relationship with Russia's oligarchs as world-wide oil prices plummet and the ruble diminishes.


Dr. Steven L. Solnick serves as the seventh president of Warren Wilson College, in Asheville, NC. Warren Wilson is the only national liberal arts college that fully integrates work and service into its educational model. Solnick assumed the presidency in 2012 after a decade abroad as Ford Foundation Representative in Moscow and then in New Delhi. Before joining the Ford Foundation, Solnick was associate professor of political science at Columbia University, where he also was coordinator for Russian Studies at the Harriman Institute. He is the author of Stealing the State: Control and Collapse in Soviet Institutions, and numerous articles on comparative and post-Soviet politics and political economy. He holds bachelor's degrees from MIT and Oxford University (where he was a Marshall Scholar) and a PhD from Harvard University.

The World Affairs Council holds its lectures in cooperation with UNC Asheville's department of political science and OLLI.   Members are encouraged to attend.  UNC Asheville students are admitted free.  Single admission: $10.  Memberships for 2015 are still available.
Autumn Players Readers Theatre

"ANY WEDNESDAY "
by Muriel Resnick, directed by Walter Goodrich
Sunday, March 1, 2:30 pm
Reuter Center's Manheimer Room
Tickets - $6.00 at the door, (includes North Carolina state tax).

"A happy comedy with the giddy bubble of champagne", in the words of one reviewer, this play presents a quartet of contentious characters: a wealthy businessman who cheats on his wife, his loyal wife who's kept in the dark, the husband's young mistress who longs to finally get married, a client who first assumes that the mistress must be a general offering for all those who do business with the firm. All characters get their just rewards as the plot rolls merrily to the end.

OLLI at UNC Asheville's Alice Green: 

 On the art of fundraising

 

By Dick Murray


 

Alice Green, and her late husband, Art, are an important part of the history of the Reuter Center. Together they co-chaired the fundraising campaign for our building and collected $4.3 million by the time of the building's opening in September of 2003. As we look to the future and contemplate the need for expansion in 2015 and beyond, it seemed logical to ask Alice about the best way to go about this daunting task.


 

The first thing Alice will tell you is that she had never raised money for anything. She was concerned because she couldn't bring herself to ask people to contribute. However, her husband Art spent his career in sales and was perfectly suited for the task. In essence, Art was Alice's 'Art' of fundraising. With assistance from Alex Comfort of the University's Development Department, Art and Alice learned how to cultivate prospective donors and how to make the "ask." This process was also taught to the other volunteers who helped with the campaign.

 Click here to read the rest of the story.


 

 
Sierra Club will present

"Asheville Beyond Coal: Update on Efforts to Phase Out Asheville's Coal Powered Electric Plant"  
Wednesday, March 4, 7 pm 
at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 
1 Edwin Place ( Charlotte Street & Edwin Place.)

Join Emma Greenbaum of Asheville Beyond Coal for an update on the campaign to retire the Asheville coal plant, the largest single source of carbon emissions in Western North Carolina and the largest source of toxic air pollution from the industrial sector. Emma will discuss recent events and successes, as well as ways to get involved in the movement against climate disruption.  Join us to hear how you can be a critical piece in the movement for a clean energy future for Asheville.  Contact: [email protected], 828-683-2176 
 


"I get to share the joy I receive from painting with others."
- Sharon Sandel

 

Elders Fierce for Justice Meeting

Friday, March 6, 3 pm

Reuter Center Manheimer Room

 

Elders Fierce for Justice (EFFJ) invites you to an Open Forum to give shape to a new idea: officially "retired" persons coming together to reclaim the traditional role of "elder" in the service of a more just, healthy, and compassionate community.

  

At the Forum, founding members of EFFJ will present our purposes and  aspirations.  Then we will invite you to join with us in dialogue, helping  to shape our future efforts. EFFJ is in its early stages of evolution. We need your ideas, passion, wisdom, creativity and participation.

 

For more information, contact Steve Kaagan, stevekaagan@gmail.com  

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute | 828-251-6140 | [email protected] | http://www.olliasheville.com
Reuter Center, CPO #5000
UNC Asheville
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804