Special Events

We are planning a party at the Montgomery Museum of Art & History to mark this milestone year. The Museum lobby gives us a great chance to display the art and creative work of some of our members and instructors. Enjoy wine and light hors d’oeuvres from Feast & Co., browse the art and congratulate your creative friends, join us as we remember how we have grown, and hear the exciting news about the public launch of the LLI Endowment Fund. Space is limited so register early! Parking in the rear.

The studio system of the late 1930s brought together extraordinary writers, directors, and actors to give us films starring Cary Grant, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Stewart. and many others. This talk will explain how the studio system worked by telling the story behind films such as “Stagecoach,” “Young Mr. Lincoln,” “The Women,” “The Wizard of Oz” and “Gone with the Wind.” There will be many clips of these and other films as we discuss Hollywood in its prime. 

Special Events: A Free Member Benefit

Register for as many as you plan to attend; these programs are offered as a member benefit.
(Warm Hearth residents who are not LLI members are invited to attend talks and events held at Warm Hearth; registration is not required.)

Library experts will teach you how to read eBooks and magazines, and listen to audiobooks, all for free with OverDrive’s Libby app and your library card.

The library offers one-on-one help before the class. Just go to the desk at the library with your device to get help downloading the Libby app. To install the Libby App, Apple devices need iOS 10 or higher, Android devices (and Kindle Fire) need Android 7.1 or higher.

YOU WILL NEED

• A Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library card in good standing. (Sign up online at mfrl.org or in any branch library)
• Your device: iPad or iPhone for Apple; Samsung, LG, Nexus, Kindle, etc. for Android.
• OverDrive’s Libby app downloaded in advance from the App store for your device. 

Library experts will teach you how to read eBooks and magazines, and listen to audiobooks, all for free with OverDrive’s Libby app and your library card.

The library offers one-on-one help before the class. Just go to the desk at the library with your device to get help downloading the Libby app. To install the Libby App, Apple devices need iOS 10 or higher, Android devices (and Kindle Fire) need Android 7.1 or higher.

YOU WILL NEED

• A Montgomery-Floyd Regional Library card in good standing. (Sign up online at mfrl.org or in any branch library)
• Your device: iPad or iPhone for Apple; Samsung, LG, Nexus, Kindle, etc. for Android.
• OverDrive’s Libby app downloaded in advance from the App store for your device. 

Pelvic floor muscles are an important part of the body’s control system for posture, core strength, respiration, and bowel and bladder as well as sexual function. The pelvic floor is surprisingly similar between men and women, and everyone can benefit from knowing how to optimize pelvic floor muscle function, even before symptoms develop. It’s not all about Kegels, and the influences upon this muscle group extend well beyond the pelvis. Amanda Haasken, PT, PRPC will help you understand how to unlock pelvic potential!

Swelling from lymphedema commonly affects the arms or legs, but it can occur in other parts of your body that have accumulated fluid usually drained through the lymphatic system. While there is no cure, health care providers can ease the symptoms, sometimes through a gentle form of manual lymphatic drainage, addressing small changes in your life like exercise and diet, and promoting careful skin care to avoid infections. Ryan Proffitt OTR/L, CLT, CORE will walk you through the treatments and services that will help you manage uncomfortable and possibly dangerous swelling.

A heart attack doesn’t just happen from 9:00 to 5:00. Cardiac care is available 24/7 at LewisGale Montgomery, which has invested in the latest technology to effectively diagnose and treat a wide range of conditions that affect the heart and vascular system. Working with the Cardiothoracic Team at LewisGale Salem, they offer evaluation and management of valvular disease. Bring your questions to this conversation with a heart expert. (Sorry, no personal diagnoses provided!)

INSTRUCTOR
Dr. John Patterson is a Cardiologist with LewisGale Physicians, serving the New River Valley. He has nearly 30 years of experience specializing in Cardiology, Cardiovascular Disease, and Interventional Cardiology. He gets his greatest satisfaction when a critically ill patient returns to their daily activities and a normal lifestyle. 

LLI is honored to host Renée Watson, a New York Times best-selling author whose books have sold over one million copies. Her young adult novel Piecing Me Together won the Coretta Scott King Award and a Newberry Honor. Watson, who is from the Pacific Northwest city of Portland, bases many of her books on her experiences growing up there. One of her passions is using the arts to help young people cope with trauma and become aware of social issues.

Watson will speak about writing, both its challenges and its rewards, and the many themes central to her own writing: home, identity, and body image as these relate to the experiences of young Black girls and Black women.

We’ll hear a few excerpts from her work, including pieces from her recent volume of adult poetry, Black Girl You Are Atlas. Following her talk, there will be a Q&A and a book signing. 

This presentation will explore the option of ranked choice voting (RCV), an electoral method gaining momentum in the US and in Virginia. With RCV, voters rank all candidates in an election rather than choosing one. The benefits of this method include better representation of voters’ viewpoints and more collegial campaigning. The need for costly runoff elections is bypassed because the candidate who garners more than 50% of the vote wins. If no one gets a majority of votes, the candidate with the fewest votes is disqualified. Voters whose candidate is eliminated then have their second choice counted.

INSTRUCTORS
Liz White, executive director of UpVote Virginia, a nonpartisan democracy reform collective.

Caitlin Jewitt, associate professor of political science at Virginia Tech and author of The Primary Rules: Parties, Voters, and Presidential Nominations.

Traditions arise from the survival of communities within an environment. Those methods of living, working, playing, and learning repeatable practices usher a culture through generations. How do traditions transform in the face of shifting environments? This is one of many questions Dr. Jennings explores as she builds gourd instruments from around the world and transforms them into modern sculpted works. Her music is rooted in the sounds of Black Appalachia. Join her as she shares some of those old songs and new songs, old instruments and new instruments, arising from a rich and vibrant tradition.

Dr. Jennings is among the artists performing in Cultural Crossroads in Traditional Music & Dance hosted by the Montgomery Museum of Art & History on November 6 at 7:00 p.m. at the Moss Arts Center. Tickets available through the Moss Center.

INSTRUCTOR
Dr. Dena Jennings, chair of the Virginia Commission for the Arts, is a physician and artist who plays Appalachian and other roots music on gourd instruments that she creates. 

We know that there are avid collectors among our LLI members who would love to talk about their favorite things: Quilts (painted or sewn)? Comic books? First editions? Beanie babies? Jade carvings? Fridge magnets? Foreign currency? Antique cameras? Items from foreign travel? Display special items from your collection and share the joy of collecting with others at a mini-exhibition at Warm Hearth. This is a great way to get to know LLI members and their personal passions. Walk around the room, 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. Stay for lunch to keep the conversation going.

Want to share your collection? Contact Molly McClintock, mollymcclintock235@gmail.com, 540-239-6432.

Sports journalist Roland Lazenby loves to write about competitive personalities, especially those in the NBA. He likes to write about their families and explore where they came from. He tries to connect the important cultural dots in the backgrounds of the iconic figures he writes about.

Lazenby will share stories of four extraordinary players – Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Jerry West, and Magic Johnson – whose lives he chronicled in intimate detail, based on hundreds of interviews and years of tracking their careers.