An OLLI Sampler

I have written about OLLI before, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute for senior learning, held in this city by the University of Cincinnati, and in other cities by other entities. The Winter 2016 session is coming to a close, but I cannot let it fade away (to be replaced by the Spring session, whose catalog has already arrived in the mail and online) without acknowledging my gratitude for the way it enriches my life. I did not sign up for any weekly courses this term; instead I selected a whole slew of one-session lectures on various topics. These lectures are held at three different locations in the city: Adeth Israel on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 12:10 to 1:30; Sycamore Senior Center on Wednesdays, from 9:30 to noon; and Llanfair Retirement Center on Friday mornings from 9:30 to noon. I have been busy one or more days for the last seven weeks (minus the two that I was out of town on vacation). This weekend I cleaned out my winter handbag in preparation for exchanging it for a spring bag, and in the process I pulled out scraps of notes from a number of my OLLI lectures. I'm one of those people who  learns and remembers best by taking notes, on paper or on the iPad, but I rarely go back to read the notes again. Glancing through these however, was a pleasant reminder of the diversity of topics to which I had been exposed this term.

The Freestore Foodbank is the granddaddy of food kitchens in Cincinnati, having begun 45 years ago. It employs 115 individuals and is supported by 9200 volunteers to serve customers in 20 counties in the tri-state area via 250 food pantries. 70% of its customers are working, but not earning enough to purchase proper food for their families. Federal guidelines say that "food salvage businesses" of this type should allow customers to acquire food sufficient for three days; the Freestore Foodbank aims for 7 days.

I heard about the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and how it distributes aid around the world in times of disaster while maintaining a policy of impartiality and neutrality. The local unit of the national society of the American Red Cross has been particularly effective in  tracking family members of refugees and Holocaust victims. Our speaker asserted that 91 cents of every donated dollar goes to direct client services, which is a higher figure than for many charities. We also learned of the four Geneva Conventions that haste defined rights during armed conflict.

This week I was uplifted by a three-hour program of live music:. We started off with the Queen City Klezmorim, who played a fabulous collection of in turn haunting and happy klezmer songs on the clarinet, violin, tuba and bass, piano, and drums. Then on to the Marzan Brass Quintet, who started out with "Down by the Riverside" and included a number of other tunes, some as old as the late middle ages. I was seated in the second row and was really intrigued to be able to watch the three fingers of the trumpet player synchronize perfectly to play true notes.  The Highlandaires concluded the program, and though I had to leave early, I enjoyed this nine-piece dance band and walked out to the strains of "When the Saints Go Marching In."

I also had notes from a full morning talk about the wonders of growing plants indoors without soil: hydroponics. I learned almost as much about the nutrients needed for good plant health as I know about nutrition for humans. We also saw a hydroponic installation at the LLanfair center, where the chefs use herbs in their kitchen. This was an import ant presentation, because although I was attracted to the idea of growing herbs indoors in an apparatus like the one we saw, I had to admit that I was not up to the rigors of managing the indoor farm on a daily basis--thus saving myself an outlay of $1000 or so and another opportunity to feel guilty about my imperfections.

I think I have pretty much moved away from the public speaking that I had to do during the height of my career, thank goodness, but I still enjoyed a presentation on "Be a Better Speaker in (Almost) One Easy Lesson." The moderator modeled her tips perfectly and held my attention so well that I had no need to take notes, but I did enjoy the excellent half-page handout she distributed at the end of her talk and will keep it in mind if I have the opportunity to speak in any of my volunteer groups.

I attended a short lecture on "Mature Driving" a couple weeks ago and learned that I-75 opened in 1959 through downtown Cincinnati, with a median strip of trees that lasted a half year before dying of gas fumes. There is an ALICE disaster preparation session this week, to which I am looking forward with trepidation, as well as  something called "England Inside Out" and a session on the "Value of Art," postponed from one of the snow days in the term.

I'm already scanning the catalog for the next term of OLLI courses and preparing for exposure to some things that I never ever imagined I would be able to learn about so easily.