E-News-April-16-2021

Streaking Fast RacerThe April 2021 Photo of the Month theme was Motion. We selected Edward Marion's photo "Streaking Fast Racer," which may also be viewed at this page. To view other photos by members of the Photography Club, visit the club's photo website.

  -- By John Olsen and Ed Marion, Photography Club Coordinators

Wistfulness I used to dream that I could fly just think myself into the air escape Earth’s gravity as easily as a bird, a bat, a butterfly. I’d be amazed to find myself away up there above the house, the town, the state near to the stratosphere tween light and dark so high the air was thin a place where quiet reigned and all was possible. Then I’d hear a harsh voice speak: You don’t belong in this exalted realm. Suddenly I’d crash to earth not float but plunge and wake.

                                        Carolyn F. Wyatt             

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Dear Editor, A recent OLLI Communicator led me to the frivolous suggestion that someone should do some research and perhaps write a story for the OLLI E-News. Every time I see the following classroom tips, I think there must have been some interesting incidents which prompted these repeated warnings: Zoom Classroom Tips Always Remember... Remain muted when not speaking. Dress appropriately; you may be on camera. Avoid distracting activities while attending class. I'd write the story myself, but I don't know what behavior prompts those reminders and I'd resort to my imagination to describe my classmates interacting lasciviously with their video turned on or shouting "Hogwash!" while unmuted during an authoritative philosophical lecture. Don't let my mind wander to the possibilities of what might have been an example of failure to dress appropriately. Besides, I'm too busy to investigate because I enrolled in too many classes. And "no homework" is a myth. Nothing truly disruptive has occurred in any of the classes I have been taking. That's why I am amused that someone apparently thinks the repeated reminders are needed, and then I try to imagine what could have happened to necessitate the original warnings. My imagination is overactive and a bit warped.      -- Ms. I. M. Bemused Dear Ms. Bemused: We may resemble your “overactive and warped” imagination—what’s wrong with that? Some of us have lived with that for years! We have seen the problem of people not muting themselves after asking a question or making a comment. And, of course, there is the perennial problem of off-topic comments, and those haven’t anything to do with Zoom. There seem to be remarkably few instances of bad behavior in Zoom sessions—just occasional instances of unmuted distracting noises, almost always quickly corrected. There have been unmuted ringing phones (sometimes belonging to the instructor!), conversations with people not in the class, barking dogs, etc. In these cases, the OLLI site assistant usually mutes everyone. Thankfully, we haven’t seen instances of inappropriate dress. We wonder if the continued reminders in the communicator might be just that—“continued reminders” and filler! Perhaps the authors of the Communicator can enlighten us if there have been problems. Thank you for your letter. The Editorial Team

By Shelly Gersten, OLLI E-News Staff Writer