This Week at OLLI – June 19

June 19, 2023

CLASS SPOTLIGHT: Why Silk Matters with Jane Barstow. Click to view the class preview.   Wednesday, June 21, 9:30AM-11:00AM

Since antiquity the silk trade has facilitated an extraordinary exchange of ideas and cultural practices, led to the development of important cities, and spurred technological innovation. More recently, silk production was used to develop economies in Europe and colonial America. Even today silk continues to have political significance and maintain its allure. Jan Barstow will share her interesting research on the history of silk from its discovery in imperial China to its contemporary role in celebrity events with an emphasis on its historical significance in a global economy. Click to register or call 401-874-4197.

TIME TO RENEW! All Special Interest Group registrations will expire at the end of this month and you MUST renew in order to continue receiving notifications of activities. Register online or call the office at 401-874-4197.

This Week at OLLI

Monday

  • 10:00AM Babcock Ranch
  • 10:00AM Earthcare Farm Tour
  • 11:30AM Creativity, play and Innovation
  • 1:30PM Buffy Sainte Marie
  • 5:00PM A Brief History of Great Britain

Tuesday

  • 9:30AM Golf
  • 10:00AM Chasing the Light
  • 11:30AM Tea, Earl Grey, Hot (Virtual Preview)
  • 1:00PM Wonderful Lyricists of Tin Pan Alley
  • 2:30PM Islam
  • 5:00PM The Truth About Statins

Wednesday

  • 9:30AM Homescapes in Watercolor
  • 9:30AM Why Silk Matters (Virtual Preview)
  • 12:30PM Bowling Group
  • 1:00PM Walking Group
  • 1:00Pm Events Committee
  • 1:00PM Treasures at the Bottom of the Ocean

Thursday

  • 10:00AM Herreschoff Museum
  • 1:00PM Mah jong (lobby)
  • 1:00PM Ribbon Weaving

Friday

  • 10:00AM Housekeeping: A Tale of Grief and Clutter
  • 1:00PM We Didn’t Start the Fire
  • 1:00PM Intro to Yoga

NEW BONUS LECTURE- Join us at OLLI on Monday, July 17 at 1:00PM. Kathy O’Neel Webster and Marc Archambault will join us for a special presentation: Dementia- Breaking the Stigma. Click here to learn more. Register online or call the office at 401-874-4197.

RHODY OUTPOST School’s out! OLLI is collecting snacks during June and July, and basic everyday items. Individually packaged snacks are most needed, but boxes are welcome:  

  • Granola bars
  • Crackers
  • Cookies
  • Nuts/seeds
  • Dried fruits.

Ongoing daily needs are for liquid hand soap, oil, and rice*. (*The pantry can divide up large bags of rice that cost less per pound.) For up-to-date information on collection items, please click here.

COMMUNITY DISCUSSION ON HEALTH SERVICES          Join OLLI members for a community discussion on health services. Presented by EchoWear, a URI spin-off company that came out of innovative research at the Wearable Biosensing Lab at URI Engineering. They aim to provide access to healthcare services through patient-friendly technologies such as smartphone apps and wearables. Click to view the flyer and join us on Tuesday, June 27, 10:00AM.

AGING IN PLACE The Jamestown Senior Center is so excited to have some wonderful resources present at their Aging in Place Fair on June 21, from 3:00PM- 6:00PM. Click here for more information.

CHECK OUT THE MOST RECENT EDITION OF THE RI Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention Registry newsletter, CONNECTIONS. It marks the launch of an exciting new project. The center is partnering with researchers at Lifespan and Brown University to determine if saliva can be a biomarker for preclinical Alzheimer’s disease. The newsletter explains this project – named the ExosomeAD Study – and invites you to take part in this promising research.

FREE VIRTUAL AUTHOR DISCUSSIONS AT GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY 

Coming of Age in Siberia with Artem Mozgovoy

Monday, July 24, 9:40AM-11:05AM 

In Artem Mozgovoy’s Spring in Siberia, a young man born in 1985 under Soviet confinement in Siberia, fights to make sense of his dark and tumultuous world, all while discovering his place within it as he falls in love with the son of KGB agents. Mozgovoy himself grew up in Central Siberia and left in 2011 when Russia began legalizing its persecution of gay people. Stephen Fry calls this autobiographical novel “touching and well written, genuinely compelling and convincing.” Register online for this free virtual event. 

Reinventing the War Story with Alica DeFonzo

Monday, July 24, 11:50AM-1:15PM

In The Time Left Between Us, Alicia DeFonzo combines memoir, history, travel, and adventure to create a groundbreaking hybrid writing technique that uniquely pieces together a nonfiction narrative of her beloved grandfather’s WWII experience. After learning of his survival of major campaigns, liberation of concentration camps, and his acquisition of a Nazi Waffen-SS diary, DeFonzo sifts through his memories and travels in his footsteps in order to “[capture] the powerful connection that can exist between grandparent and grandchild—sharing what has never been shared with others, forever intertwining two souls,” says author Miles Ryan Fisher. Register online for this free virtual event.