April 2024
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APRIL 2024
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Spring
Updates
We are
celebrating LLI’s highest enrollment in several years! LLI enrolled 392
members this spring, 67 were new to LLI. Nearly half of new members heard
about us from friends. Keep spreading the word! And we offer new members a
warm welcome. Our
website is new this term, redesigned to comply with university standards.
We are particularly proud of the newly created material for instructors,
including videos from experienced instructors about why they enjoy teaching
for LLI, guides to course design and effective presentations for our
audience, tips on completing a course or event proposal, and more. Check out
the refreshed LLI website! The Program
Committee has been hard at work and already has 37 courses and a variety of
field trips and special events lined up for fall. For example, there will be
a new course focused on the Revolutionary War with Dan Thorp. The topic is
ripe since the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution is getting close.
Also on the schedule: The Long Civil Rights Struggle in Virginia, the
Presidential Election, Artificial Intelligence, new topics in Global Changes,
and new books to savor in literature courses. Thanks to the committee for
recruiting new instructors and organizing some amazing content for us to
enjoy. Several new courses are featured below. We have a day
trip to Barter Theater lined up on July 9. See below for details and
registration. Be sure to
fill out your feedback surveys on your classes and events. This is the best
way to thank your instructors if they did a good job and to let us know if we
are creating the kind of learning experiences you enjoy. |
Katie
Fallon and Her Birds Are a Huge Hit!
Katie Fallon
from the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia knocked it out of the park
on March 15 with her entertaining and informative presentation and her avian
companions. The packed audience of LLI members and Warm Hearth residents
loved it.
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LLI
Members and Friends Gather at Eastern Divide on May 2 Join Us!
All LLI
members, potential members, and friends are invited to come to Eastern Divide
on May 2 at 4:00 – 6:00. This is an informal gathering with no agenda - just
an opportunity to get to know each other better. Drinks and
food may be purchased at the bar. No registration is necessary, just come! Eastern
Divide Brewery is located at 3175 Commerce Street in Blacksburg. Their
menu is on the website. Look for a few of us with LLI name tags so you can
find where we are seated. LLI
Barter Theater Trip, July 9, Wizard of Oz
LLI is off to
see the Wizard of Oz on Tuesday, July 9. Never been to the Barter Theater in
Abingdon? This trip is for you. And for those of us who make the Barter a
favorite day trip every summer, this charter offers a peek at the backstage
goings-on at this historic theater. The show is guaranteed to be enchanting! We’ll depart
from Blacksburg Community Center at 8:00 a.m. by small bus and tour
the theater at 10:00. Lunch is on your own at several downtown
locations. The matinee begins at 2:00. We’ll return to the Community
Center at approximately 7:00. The cost is
$78/person including transportation, tour, and performance. (Lunch on
your own.) Tour is limited to 18, with a minimum of 15. Register here
no later than April 26; registrations will be taken in order so sign up
early. You are not guaranteed a seat unless and until you make you make
payment with Joy Herbert at Blacksburg Parks & Recreation; instructions
will be sent. |
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Looking
Forward to Fall
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Important
Fall Dates - Mark Your Calendar
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Save
the Date - LLI's 10th Anniversary Celebration, October 10
LLI will
celebrate our 10th year beginning this fall. We are planning a party on
Thursday, October 10, 4:00-6:00 at the Montgomery Museum of Art &
History. This location gives us a great chance to display the art and
creative work of some of our members and instructors during the reception.
Mark your calendars! More details to follow. New
Event - Collectors Gallery
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Molly just
knows that there are some avid collectors among our LLI members who would
love to talk about their favorite things… Comic books? First editions? Beanie
babies? Jade carvings? Fridge magnets? Foreign currency? Antique cameras?
Items from foreign travel? She invites LLI collectors to share items their
collections in a mini-exhibition at Warm Hearth. What fun to walk around the
room and talk to each collector about what sparked their interest in
collecting those items, what is their most valuable item, and what they love
about them. If
you'd like to display your collection, or a portion of it, contact curator mollymcclintock235@gmail.com.
Share the joy of collecting with others! |
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New
Class - The Great American Writer You (Perhaps) Never Knew
On January
25, 2024, the lead article in the New York Times Books section was the death
of Fred Chappell, the South’s “premier contemporary person of letters.”
Chappell, a native of the North Carolina mountains, was a remarkably talented
and prolific writer—author of 12 novels, 18 books of poetry, and two books of
criticism---and “widely considered at the top of his game in all of them.” He
won prestigious awards for his poetry, and he was considered the shining
exemplar of literary traditions associated with William Faulkner and Flannery
O’Connor. A 1997 Los Angeles Times review of his work gushed, “Never since
James Agee and Robert Penn Warren has a Southern writer displayed such
masterful versatility.” Don’t
classify Fred Chappell as a “Southern writer” around Alice Kinder, however.
Alice, who is a former student of Chappell’s, an award-winning instructor in
Virginia Tech’s English department, and the teacher of LLI’s upcoming fall
course on his literary legacy, objects to the “regional author” label as
restrictive and diminishing. While acknowledging the importance of region and
roots in Chappell’s writing, she will make the case that he is also, more
generally, a great American writer. The course will focus on Chappell’s
compelling treatment of broader themes like the nature of storytelling, our
human relationship with the natural world, death, family, religions, music,
sport—a whole realm of interests that define our humanity. Don’t miss
this opportunity to explore Chappell’s literary legacy with Alice Kinder. |
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Knit
Your First Sweater with LLI
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Ready to
graduate from hats and scarves to fitted sweaters? We have been hearing from
several of you who would like to take on this challenge and join our
congenial group. This is a heads-up that the pattern options for the fall
knitting class were selected with you in mind on the basis of their
simplicity, adaptability, and broad appeal. Experienced
knitters—friends from past KALS—please join us too! “First sweaters” can also
be “fancy sweaters”! We can’t wait to see how you make these patterns your
own through inventive stitchery, artful colorwork, and creative
modifications. Nancy Metz,
Kaye Graham, Diana George – Questions? Contact us: (nancy.metz@vt.edu) |
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April
Happenings of Possible Interest to LLI Members
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This is
NOT a Scam! Wednesday, April 17, at 7:30 Theatre 101
(right across from Gillie's). No tickets, no cost. Run time = about an hour. “This is NOT
a SCAM!” … a new and fast-paced live ensemble performance, written and
directed by Susanna Rinehart and Brooke McCarthy of Virginia Tech’s School of
Performing Arts, and designed to put a human face and voice to the
multi-billion-dollar scourge of elder scams. The play approaches the subject
with an entertaining and energetic combination of humor and empathy, using
the power of theatre and real people’s stories to fight back against this
growing threat to our emotional and financial security. |
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What is
Green Burial? Wednesday,
April 24, 11 a.m., Village Center, Warm Hearth Coffee,
refreshments The Funeral
Consumer Alliance of the Virginia Blue Ridge and Warm Hearth Village are
hosting John Boyer from the Town of Blacksburg to speak about the town’s
green burial option for Westview Cemetery. A green burial is a way of caring
for those who have passed that minimizes environmental impact, conserves
natural resources, protects worker health and can aid in the restoration
and/or preservation of habitat. If you’re curious about green burial bring
your questions. John will have answers! The talk is open to the public. RSVP
required. Call Bix at 540-443-3800. |
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AROUND
THE NRV
April 15 -- "In
the Dirt" Movie Screening, Q&A with T.C. Johnstone, Radford
University Student Center April 16 -- Community Quilting Bee,
Christiansburg Library. For more information, contact mrmlough@gmail.com April 19 -- Friday Night Jamboree, Floyd
Country Store. Visit here
for more information. April 21 -- Velvet Spruce in Concert,
Palisades Restaurant. For more information, visit the website. April 26 -- Free Tech Help Session, Blacksburg
Community Center. Contact jessied@vt.edu
with any questions or for more information. April 30 -- Free Tai Chi Class, Pearisburg
United Methodist Church. Contact sdspencer@carilionclinic.org
for more information. May 2 -- Ceramics Open Studio, Floyd
Center for the Arts. To register, call 540-745-2784. |
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LLI members
are invited to submit articles, announcements, photos, or other items that
may be of interest to the LLI community. Submissions must be received by the
15th of the month for consideration in the next month's newsletter. For more
information or to submit an item, contact Lyndsay LaLonde, llalonde@vt.edu. Please limit to 300 words. PROUD
SPONSORS
Many thanks to our corporate sponsors for their
generous support of the Lifelong Learning Institute.
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Lifelong Learning Institute at
Virginia Tech |