 Message from the President
Dear <<First Name>>,
Our spring semester is off to a good start with more classes than in prior years and the selections offer something for everyone. Whether on Zoom or on campus, LLI members are enjoying a broad variety of courses. Special thanks to our new presenters and the tech experts who help make it all possible. Your commitment to LLI is truly appreciated.
Our annual meeting is Friday morning, May 12th, at Olin Hall. We expect to serve members a light brunch in the Olin Atrium, and there is a rumor we will have a very special musical program as well. More details will be forthcoming shortly.
Please join us to say farewell to retiring Council members and meet our newly elected officers and members at large whose terms will begin on July 1.
As for business matters, you will be asked to vote to approve last year’s annual meeting minutes, available here, and also the amended bylaws, available here, and the tentative budget for our fiscal year beginning on July 1. The change to the bylaws is in Article VII - Committees; the number of standing committees was reduced to five from six, with tasks previously done under the former Admin/Infrastructure Committee being allocated to the remaining committees. Council has approved the minutes and the change to the Bylaws. Our treasurer is busy at work on the budget for next year and Council will have completed its review of that document in April. I am proud to report that LLI has increased its annual contributions to Bard, which benefit students directly in a wide variety of ways. We will also highlight what our respective committees and teams have accomplished this school year and our goals for 2023-24.
LLI is a membership organization and operates at a high level of professionalism. Some say we are running a small private school. I will add that there are many moving parts as well as constantly looming deadlines. The people behind the scenes, our volunteers, deserve all the credit for making this possible for us all. Please consider joining one of our committees or teams, to help keep it going for years to come.
Best,
Robert Beaury
president@lli.bard.edu
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The Rewards of SummerFest
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by Deborah Lanser
This year’s SummerFest offerings are exceptional for the diversity of the class topics and the pleasures of the off-campus activities. Many classes will be held on campus on consecutive Fridays starting June 2, while a few Zoom classes will be held on either Wednesday or Thursdays. And there are several enticing off-campus classes, which will be held on various dates and locations. Enrollment is free to all 2022-2023 members. Nonmembers can register for a fee of $25 per class by registering on ProClass after May 26. The catalog will be released on Friday, May 19, and enrollment starts on Friday, May 26. So mark your calendars and look forward to sharing learning and laughter with your classmates.
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by Robert Inglish
The Social Gatherings Team has arranged several events for LLI members. First, the Hessel Museum will host LLI members for two exhibitions this spring and summer, Rising and Sinking Again on April 27 and Indian Theater/Erika Verzutti on July 13. Both tours will begin at noon and conclude at 2 pm with a reception.
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Bard LLI’s Zoom Classes Now
Support Closed Captioning
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by Carmela Gersbeck
We are pleased to announce that the Closed Caption feature is now available in Zoom for Bard LLI participants. If you are in a Zoom meeting or hybrid class, you can turn it on at your device (PC, laptop, iPad, smartphone, etc.). To do so:
- For PCs and Macs: In the meeting controls toolbar the CC icon may be found on the bottom of your screen. When activated, Closed Captions will appear at the bottom of your screen. (Optional – you can click-and-drag the captions to move their position in the meeting window.)
- For Android and iOS devices: In the meeting controls toolbar, swipe and tap the Closed Captions icon. Captions will appear above the meeting controls.
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by Kathy OConnor
LLI learning, fun, and enrichment needn't stop when a course or presentation ends. During WinterFest 2023, LLI members and producers Barbara Danish and Laura Brown interviewed the founder and producing director Jean-Remy Monnay about his Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY and its objectives. Many of the class participants were so moved by the experience they decided to travel to Albany to learn more about the Troupe and see a performance. Several LLI members and members of their families made the trip on March 5. The picture above shows some of the members who participated.
The Troupe performed Topdog/Underdog for which playwright Suzan-Lori Parks won a Pulitzer prize when it debuted in 2001. We found it both absorbing and gripping. The two actors were superb; the direction by Jean-Remy Monnay was inspiring.
The Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY is dedicated to uplifting people of color in the Capital District. Remy revealed in our WinterFest presentation his sensitivity to the hurt he's experienced because he's Black. His mission is to help others transcend unfortunate circumstances that might result because of their color. He's achieving great success at his objective.
It's only an hour's ride up to Albany. If you're interested in some excellent theater and want to find out more about the Troupe and its work, check out their website.
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Spring Walk Down Cruger Island Road
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by Gretchen Lytle
After a milder-than-usual winter, one wonders whether spring will have started up sooner than in the past. We shall see. Over the COVID years, many of us took to walking more, and we could enjoy the changes of season often and directly. Right now, warmer weather and longer days draw us outdoors even more. In Bard’s early spring, garden bulbs send up fresh, green leaves and colorful flowers, a welcome contrast to the darker, grayed tones of winter. Less obvious signs of spring on campus peek out now, too, among woodland wildflowers along Cruger Island Road. Take a look. Park your car in the southernmost parking lot on Robbins Road near the old gatehouse. If you’re lucky, clusters of purply-blue dwarf iris will welcome you as they did last year during the first week of April. (If you want a shorter walk, drive down Cruger Island Road past the last dorm cluster, and on your right, there is a pull-out that will hold several parked cars.)
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Crash Course in the Bard Studio Arts Program
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by Susan Phillips
Many of us in Bard LLI know little about the variety of programs at Bard College, some of which our LLI dues help to support with small annual contributions. One is the Bard Studio Arts Program, which receives financial help from us through Bard’s Fund for Visual Learning. The fund supplies art kits (basic materials needed to make art) and helps cover senior project costs. LLI members who want to know more about what Bard Studio Art students are creating can click here to find out about attending one or more upcoming Senior Project exhibitions happening in April or May.
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by Carmela Gersbeck
The Bard LLI Walking Group meets every Thursday at 10:30 am, weather permitting. The meeting locations are also posted on the website at lli.bard.edu. The walks are open to all LLI members. We will meet in the parking lots at the following locations:
April 6: Ferncliff Forest, 68 Mt. Rutsen Rd., Rhinebeck, NY 12572.
April 13: Montgomery Place, 26 Gardener Way, River Rd., Red Hook 12571.
April 20: Mills Mansion, 75 Mills Mansion Drive, Staatsburg, NY 12580.
April 27: Bard to Tivoli Bays (meet in the second parking lot next to the Fisher Center on Manor Road).
May 4: Poets Walk, 776 River Rd., Red Hook, NY 12571.
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Bard Reading Initiative: The Way We Read Now
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by Deborah Lanser
Bard LLI members are cordially invited to attend the inaugural Bard Reading Initiative conference on April 21, 2023. This conference, “The Way We Read Now,” considers how we read, teach, and imagine new worlds through books and stories in the digital age.
Guest speakers will be Naomi Baron, professor emerita of linguistics in the Department of World Languages and Cultures at American University, and Maryanne Wolf, director at the Center for Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice at UCLA. They will explore core questions about what it means to be a reader in a world saturated with networks and notifications, what forms of attention we employ in personal social acts of reading, and what role colleges can play in cultivating deep engagement with evolving technologies of reading.
An afternoon panel discussion on Writers as Readers will feature Bard faculty members Daniel Mendelsohn, Charles Ranlett Flint Professor of Humanities at Bard; Dinaw Mengestu, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities; and Francine Prose, Distinguished Writer in Residence.
The conference will be held between 9 am and 5 pm in the Resnick Studio at the Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. It is free, but registration is required. If you are interested, please register here.
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by Cathy Reinis
With great sadness, we learned of the death of Warren Boroson and we send sympathy to his widow Rebecca. As you will see from his obituary, he was a remarkable person. He taught classes about music for LLI for several years and his classes were very popular. You can read more about him here.
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by Deborah Lanser
At the March 20, 2023 meeting, Council agreed that:
- The tech team needs additional members to handle SummerFest.
- The revised bylaws can be sent to the membership for review on March 29.
- A link to the minutes from last year’s annual meeting will be included in the invitation to this year’s meeting.
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Highlights of the Bard Calendar
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by Felice Gelman
April is full of events at Bard—lectures, senior projects, music, and film. The offerings of the Center for Moving Image Arts are an oft-overlooked treasure for the Bard community. Every Wednesday, while Bard is in session, you can see a film doubleheader on the big screen. These carefully curated series examine the works and influences of noted directors. True, there is no popcorn concession, but the Center offers a great opportunity to see films—often not available elsewhere—in the context of a body of work. This month’s treat is the work of Orson Welles.
Monday, April 10, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm in Olin Hall, The Center for Human Rights and the Arts presents a talk by Alya Karame, The Qur’an from Ink on Paper to Dust and Ashes. The impetus for her talk stems from ISIS burning the Mosul university library in 2014, destroying hundreds of thousands of manuscripts and books. Dr. Karame examines the relation of sacred text to its material form.
Wednesday, April 12, from 7:30 to 11:55 pm at the Center for Moving Image Arts, as part of its series on Orson Welles, the Center will screen Andrzej Wajda’s 1958 film Ashes and Diamonds and Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1975 film The Passenger.
Friday, April 14, from 7:30 to 9:00 pm in the Chapel of the Holy Innocents, the Bard Baroque Ensemble will perform works from Bach and Vivaldi. The concert will also be performed on Sunday, April 16 at 3:30 pm in the Old Dutch Church, Kingston.
Saturday, April 15, from 7:00 to 9:00 pm in Weis Cinema, Bard College and the Open Society University Network will present Visual Storytelling for Civic Engagement, a festival of short student-made films on local and international issues. There will be Q&A with the filmmakers, an awards ceremony, and refreshments.
Tuesday, April 18, from 6:00 to 7:00 pm in Weis Cinema, the American and Indigenous Studies Department presents Dr. Renzo Aroni for a guru de la guitarra performance and lecture Indigenous Peasant Struggle in Peru’s Shining Path Insurgency, 1980-1992.
Wednesday, April 19, from 7:30 to 11:55 pm at the Center for Moving Image Arts, as part of its series on Orson Welles, the Center will screen Orson Welles 1966 film Chimes at Midnight and Kenneth Branagh’s 1989 film Henry V.
Friday, April 21, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, at Resnick Studio, Fisher Center for Performing Arts, the Bard Reading Initiative presents a conference on The Way We Read Now. The conference will explore what it means to be a reader in a world saturated with networks and notifications. You can register for the conference and see the full schedule here.
Friday, April 21, from 6:00 to 9:00 pm and Saturday, April 22, from 11:00 am to 8:00 pm, at the Bitó Conservatory, the Bard Conservatory presents its Chamber Music Marathon, chamber music performances by Conservatory students and faculty.
Wednesday, April 26, from 7:30 to 11:55 pm at the Center for Moving Image Arts, as part of its series on Orson Welles, the Center will screen Welles’ F for Fake and The Other Side of the Wind.
Wednesday, May 3, from 7:30 to 11:55 pm at the Center for Moving Image Arts, as part of its series on Orson Welles, the Center will screen Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull and Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.
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Important Dates for LLI Members
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March 29–April 29: Members will vote on amended bylaws.
Friday, April 7: The Dean Stuart Stritzler-Levine Seniors-to-Seniors Scholarship Recognition Tea will take place in the Reem-Kayden Center Room 103, the Lazlo Z. Bito ‘60 Auditorium, from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm.
Tuesday, April 11: Curriculum Committee meeting at 10:00 am on Zoom. Anyone interested in joining a meeting can email Anne Brueckner at abrueckner@lli.bard.edu.
Wednesday, April 12: Membership Development Committee meeting at 9:00 am on Zoom. Any member interested in observing a Membership Development meeting should email Robert Inglish at ringlish@lli.bard.edu.
Monday, April 17: Council meeting at 9:30 am on Zoom. Any member interested in observing a Council meeting should email Mary McClellan at mmcclellan@lli.bard.edu.
Monday, April 17: The results of the election will be approved.
Tuesday, May 9: Curriculum Committee meeting at 10:00 am on Zoom. Anyone interested in joining a meeting can email Anne Brueckner at abrueckner@lli.bard.edu.
Wednesday, May 10: Membership Development Committee meeting at 9:00 am on Zoom. Any member interested in observing a Membership Development meeting should email Robert Inglish at ringlish@lli.bard.edu.
Friday, May 12: Bard LLI’s Annual Business Meeting will be held on campus in Olin Hall from 9:30 am to 11:30 am. The budget will be presented, and election and bylaws amendment results will be announced. A light brunch will be served beforehand in the Atrium.
Friday, May 19: SummerFest catalog will be available on ProClass.
May 15 - May 31: The annual survey will be sent to all members.
May 26 - June 10: SummerFest Registration takes place.
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This newsletter is a publication of Bard LLI Council. Communications Team Chair: Cathy Reinis. Writers and editors: Susan Christoffersen, Kathryn Clark, Felice Gelman, Carmela Gersbeck, Deborah Lanser, Jill Lundquist, Gretchen Lytle, Kathy OConnor, Susan Phillips, Margaret Shuhala. Photographers: Gary Miller, Chair, Carol DeBartolis, Carmela Gersbeck, Gretchen Lytle, Kathy OConnor
The opinions and views expressed in the LLI Newsletter are those of the author(s). They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of LLI or its members. In addition, any link to a website or content belonging to or originating from third parties are not investigated, monitored or checked for accuracy, adequacy, validity, reliability or completeness by LLI, nor does LLI accept any responsibility for such content.
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