The Board met at Tallwood on January 27. Ray Beery announced that Terri Feldmayer will chair the nominating committee for this year’s Board elections. He and Jennifer Disano will be attending the National Osher Conference in Dallas on April 3-5. They will conduct a workshop on best practices for programming, and Jennifer will be a member of a panel at a workshop focused on celebrating milestone anniversaries.
As the membership survey showed a preference for incremental dues increases, Ray asked that planning begin for small dues increases beginning in 2018. This year’s budget was tightly constructed to match our membership levels. The finance committee, with considerable help from Jennifer, made cuts to the original 2017 proposal. The Board approved the 2017 budget.
Mason is having the contractor for the Tallwood parking lot improvement project return to correct some minor problems in the work that was done. It will not cause any major disruptions.
Mike Emery has been hired as an A/V tech to replace Nick Rodriguez. He also has IT skills which will be of great help to us.
A resolution dealing with Board vacancies was referred to the governance committee. The Board approved four resolutions:
A donation of $1000 from FOLLI funds to the Mason library. Members of the library staff have taught courses for us and provide considerable support to our teachers who are researching information for their courses.
A donation of $1000 from FOLLI funds for a scholarship to a NOVA student transferring to Mason. This is in recognition of the 40 classes that NOVA has provided for us at the Loudoun campus.
The transfer of $20,000 from the working capital fund back to the reserve fund. The money was borrowed in 2016 to meet a shortfall in income.
The Board handbook was amended to include language that the order of finish of Board candidates is never to be revealed beyond the nominating committee.
You may be surprised to hear that we have a wonderful resource next door to OLLI that all members can access. You’ll want to become acquainted with all the privileges that George Mason University Library offers. If you’re an OLLI teacher, you’ll appreciate the AV center in Johnson Center. If you’re doing research, you’ll love wandering into the library’s stacks or exploring other available resources.
To take advantage of all that the library offers, you’ll first need to get a “G” number and a photo ID card. Get an application form from the OLLI office, fill it out completely and return it to the office. OLLI staff will send the request to Mason and mail you your “G” number and Mason email address when they receive it. Now you’re ready to obtain a Mason photo ID card. This requires a visit to the photo ID office at either the Fairfax campus or the Loudoun location. Our OLLI office can provide an easy-to-follow instruction sheet with addresses and directions.
Once you have your photo ID, you’re all set to visit the library to take advantage of these borrowing privileges and services:
Borrow up to ten books at one time for a three-week period with one renewal
Request books from other University campuses (except the Arlington Law Library)
Borrow AV materials from Gateway Library (in Johnson Center) for one week
Get help with research questions and locating resources and materials
Next, watch for further information in E-News that will explain how to activate your Patriot Pass account. This gives access to many online resources offered by the Mason library. From your home computer, you’ll be able to explore online data bases, find tutorials to improve research skills, get access to free newspapers and journals, and much, much more. Get prepared for a whole new world of enrichment!
OLLI Science, Technology, and Health Program Planning Group to Meet February 16
By John Acton, ST&H Planning Group Chair
The OLLI program planning group for Science, Technology, and Health will meet on Thursday, February 16, from 10:00 to noon, at the Tallwood campus in TA-1. We’ll review the currently planned courses for the upcoming terms, and discuss potential course offerings that the group wants to pursue. Please come join us to share your thoughts on course offerings in the science, technology, and health fields that would be of interest to the OLLI membership.
The Tallwood Book Club will meet at 1:30 on Wednesday, February 8, in the Tallwood Annex. The book for discussion is My Name is Lucy Barton by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Elizabeth Strout. Lucy is a writer, wife, and mother living in New York City who spends many weeks hospitalized for complications after an appendectomy. During that time her mother, whom she has not seen for many years, comes for a five-day visit. This is the background for the story of their complicated mother-daughter relationship.
All OLLI members are welcome.
The selection for March 8 is My Life as a Dog by Swedish author Reidar Jonsson, one of the presenters at the 2016 Fall for the Book festival.
Candlemas Day, the second of February, was the day
(aside from the blessing of candles at mass)
to begin spring house-cleaning
with a new broom
and a determined gleam in the eye.
Halfway between the first calendar day of winter
and the beginning of the spring solstice
it signaled a time of renewal, of stirring up dust.
Now we passively look to the woodchuck, er, groundhog,
to show us a promise of six weeks next of soft breezes, or,
if his shadow is bright and crisp with the day clear,
a promise of six weeks more of snow and bluster
do our minimal housewipingup and pronounce it enough.
German grandmothers are pleased at clean sweepings
of corners and walkways and cupboards
even figuratively speaking.
A special push to attack cluttery ways and spaces
may glean a subtle smile from an old photograph.
Performances, Feb 3 through Feb 13 By Shelly Gersten, OLLI E-News Staff WriterFor tickets for either Center for the Arts (CFA) or Hylton, call 1-888-945-2468, buy tickets online through the event calendar (see links below), or visit the venue's box office. For more information, see the CFAticket pageor the Hyltonticket purchase page.
At the Fairfax Campus Venues
Virginia Opera: Der Freischütz
Sat, Feb 4, 8:00
Sun, Feb 5, 2:00
Pre-performance discussion: Glenn Winters.
Concert Hall
Admission: $110, $90, $54.Fairfax Symphony Orchestra: Beethoven's Triple
Sat, Feb 11, 8:00
Pre-performance discussion at 7: David Ginder of WETA 90.9-FM with conductor Christopher Zimmerman and special guests.
Concert Hall
Admission: $65, $53, $39.Walnut Street Theatre: Last of the Red Hot Lovers
Sun, Feb 12, 7:00
Pre-performance discussion: Member of the company. Concert Hall
Admission: $44, $37, $26.
Mason Symphony Orchestra & United States Air Force Strings
Fri, Feb 3, 7:30
Harris Theatre
Admission: Free.The Mason Cabaret
Sat, Feb 4, 8:00
TheaterSpace
Admission: $30.Faculty Artist Series: Dr. Anna Balakerskaia & Friends
Sun, Feb 12, 3:00
Harris Theatre
Admission: Free.
Gallery Exhibit: The 6th Annual Prince William County Public Schools Student Exhibition
Continues through Mar 4.
The Gallery is open to the public Tue-Sat, 10:00 - 6:00, Thu, 10:00 - 8:00, and two hours before performances.
Gallery Reception: Sat, Feb 25 from 1:00 to 3:00. RSVP to spavia @gmu.edu.
Buchanan Partners Art Gallery
Admission: Free.
The following list covering the next two weeks is extracted for your convenience from the master online calendar maintained by the office, with direct web links added when available. The list is accurate as of mid-week but to check any time for the latest information, please view the latest forecast of upcoming events on our website (News/OLLI Calendar). Note: All OLLI members are welcome at, and encouraged to attend, meetings of the Board of Directors, committees and resource groups, kickoff coffees, etc. (bolded below).
Sat Feb 4
10:30am
Tai Chi Club–TA-3
Wed Feb 8
1:30pm
1:45pm
1:45pm
Tallwood Book Club–Annex
Bridge Club–TA-3
Spanish Club–TA-2
Fri Feb 10
9:15am
9:30am
9:30am
11:00am
11:00am
Recorder Consort–TA-3
Photography Club–TA-1
Craft and Conversation–Annex
Classic Literature Club–TA-2
Homer, etc.–Annex
Sat Feb 11
10:30am
Tai Chi Club–TA-3
Tue Feb 14
9:30am
10:00am
Annex Art–Annex
Spanish Club–TA-2
Wed Feb 15
10:00am
10:00am
10:30am
1:00pm
Bridge Club–TA-3
Mah Jongg Club–TA-2
Tom Crooker Investment Forum–TA-1
AV Committee–TA-3
Thu Feb 16
10:00am
Science, Technology and Health Program Planning Committee–TA-1
Fri Feb 17
9:15am
9:30am
10:00am
11:00am
1:00pm
Recorder Consort–TA-3
Craft and Conversation–Annex Board of Directors–TA-1
Homer, etc.–Annex
Dr. Who Club–TA-3
OLLI E-News was created by Rod Zumbro, who served as its editor from 2005 to 2013.
Editorial Staff
Chief Editor: Paul Van Hemel
Technical Editor: Irene Osterman
Associate Editor: Sheri Siesseger
Weekly Editorial Team: Jean Boltz, John Nash, Sheri Siesseger, Leslie Vandivere,
Paul Van Hemel Proofreaders: Rebecca Jann, Lorna Moran, Susan Van Hemel, Polly Johnsen
Backup Chief Editor: Alice Slayton Clark
Submissions. Members are encouraged to submit letters to the editor, letters to Ms. Ollie Ettakit (on etiquette matters), OLLI-related news items, articles and photos. Submit material to: ollienewseditor@gmail.com. Deadline – 6:00 Tuesday for that week's issue (6:00 Monday for letters to the editor); early submissions are greatly appreciated. Please limit articles to about 250 words. Note: You can view past issues of OLLI E-News on the DocStore. To search the content of issues, use Search Our Site or put your search term in Google followed by "site:ollidev2.earthcare.com/" without the quotes.
