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• Fall 2023 OLLI Semester

  • Start
    Monday, September 18, 2023
  • End
    Friday, November 17, 2023
  • Location
    Online and In-Person

  Register

  

  OLLI at Berkshire Community College
  Fall 2023 Semester

  September 18 - November 9

  Watch the Open House for Online Classes!

  Expand your mind with OLLI at BCC's fascinating courses offered online via Zoom and/or in-person in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. No tests, no grades, just learning for the love of learning.

  Our Fall Semester runs September 18 - November 9, 2023, and includes a mix of in-person, online, and hybrid (online and in-person) courses. All classes take place in Eastern Time.

  Fall 2023 course descriptions can be found here.

  Call the OLLI at BCC Office at 413.236.2190 (Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Eastern) to register by phone with a credit card, or with any questions you may have.

  To sign up for courses, you need to be an OLLI at BCC member. (Not a member yet? Join here.) Not sure which classes you want to take? Sign up for one or more Flexpasses, which allow you to attend six individual class sessions of your choice within a semester, as long as the class is not full. Click here to learn more about Flexpasses.

  Course fees are $50 for one course, $95 for two or three, and $125 for four or more courses within a semester. Each Flexpass counts as one course.

  Note that our online courses are recorded, unless otherwise noted. If you cannot attend live, or if you miss a session or two, you can request a link to the recording and watch it at your convenience.

  Questions? Contact us at olli@berkshirecc.edu or 413.236.2190. We look forward to hearing from you!

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• Contemporary Gender Roles SIG

  • Start
    Wednesday, September 20, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Wednesday, December 20, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  Register

  
  

  This OLLI Contemporary Gender Roles Shared Interest Group was started by Deborah Caine to study and explore cultural changes in the roles of men and women in the family and in the workplace and the multiple changes in gender presentation and identity exemplified in the growth of the LGBTQ+ communities; changes not always easily understood by many.
  The group has grown over the last several years from three members to two dozen women and is actively seeking more male members who would enjoy the lively monthly discussions on topics of urgent and current interest.
  Members volunteer to lead a discussion on a topic of their choice and/or invite an outside speaker and circulate articles from major newspapers, magazines and journals that are relevant to group interests.  
  The Contemporary Gender Roles group sponsored an OLLI course on the Equal Rights Amendment in 2018 which was well attended.
  We meet on Zoom at 2 pm on the third Wednesday of the month. 
  Check out the Contemporary Gender Roles SIG Padlet, for articles, videos, and pictures here!
  For more information about this SIG, please contact Ellen Croibier.
  

  
  

  Topics for 2023 Contemporary Gender Roles SIG

  1.    Gender roles in pre-Contact Algonkian & Haudenosaunee cultures as well as family/clan structure presented by Michael Wilcox on January 18.
  2.   "Women, Power, and Rape Culture" by Bonnie Stabile on February 15.
  3.    Presentation TBD on March 22.
  4.    Kelly Moffat will present “Breaking the Gender Binary in Fashion” on April 19.
  5.    John Kidd "Lost in Translation" speaking about gender references in the Bible for May 17.
  6.    Incarceration of women who "failed to protect" their children from abusers in their household. A general discussion of the incarceration of women -- which is increasing -- would also be appropriate for the SIG. (Mal Wasserman) June 21.
  7.    Soumya Boutin will talk to us about the life of girls growing up in a small village in Morrocco and the foundation she started to help them on July 19. 
  8.    Discussion of book by Lucy Ferriss, “Misconceivers” about a post-Roe America in the late 2020s on August 16.
  9.  Mary Rogers to present on bell hooks or Audre Lourde on September 20.
  10.  Presentation by Dr. Diane Whitehead on gender dysphoria on October 18.
  11.  Topic TBA for Fall 2023 to be presented by Katharine Burnett. (November 15?)
  12.  Celebration and planning session for 2024. (December)

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• Genealogy Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Thursday, September 21, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, December 21, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online

  
  

  OLLI at BCC members are invited to join OLLI's

  Genealogy Shared Interest Group

  On the third Thursday of each month

  from 10:00 to 11:30 am Eastern 

  Free and open exclusively to OLLI at BCC members

  Interested in Genealogy?  Want to learn more about how to research your family's history?  This group meets monthly to exchange ideas on how to do this.  This collaborative group meets to discuss best practices in genealogical research and help each other find new approaches.

  Please contact Lisa Swigart for additional information and the Zoom link.

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• Paper Crafting Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Thursday, September 21, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, December 21, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  
  

  Paper Crafting SIG
  

  Are you interested in learning how to use different papers to create gift boxes as well as stamps and ink to make a variety of cards?

  Members of this group have a fun time creating simple but lovely card or gift box projects and sharing ideas or requests for future activities.

  This group meets on the Third Thursday of the month every month at  4:00 p.m. Eastern Time. There will be two or three projects to work on at each meeting so they will last 45 minutes to an hour.

  Please contact Linda Goff for further information about the Paper Crafting SIG.

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• Gotta Reads: New York Times Best Seller Book Club

  • Start
    Thursday, September 21, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, December 21, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  Gotta Reads - NYT Best Sellers Book Club

  Shared Interest Group (SIG)
  

  
  

  The Gotta Reads - NYT Best Sellers Book Club reads books from the NYT Best Seller List of the last couple of years.  We look for books that are "discussion-worthy" and thought provoking.  

  This group meets on the third Thursday of each month at 4:00 p.m. Eastern

  AUGUST 17th - MAD HONEY BY JODI PICOULT

  SEPTEMBER 21st- THE WIDOW OF MALABAR HILL BY SUJATA MASSEY

  OCTOBER 19th - LADY TAN'S CIRCLE OF WOMEN BY LISA SEE

  NOVEMBER 16th- THE HENNA ARTIST BY ALKA JOSHI

  Please click here to contact group leader Sheila McKenna for additional information & to join the email list.

  This group is for OLLI at BCC members only. To see member information, please click here.

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• OLLI New Members Get-Together

  • When
    Friday, September 22, 2023
  •  
    3:30 PM
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  
  

  New OLLI at BCC members are invited to
  our FREE
  

  New Members Get-Together

  Friday, September 22, 2023
  Online at 3:30 p.m. Eastern
  

  Register here to RSVP and receive the Zoom link.
  

  The OLLI Member Services Committee welcomes our newest members to a New Members Get-Together!

  -Meet other new OLLI at BCC members

  -Learn about everything OLLI offers
  

  -Ask questions
  

  -Explore volunteer opportunities
  

  Please register to receive the Zoom link.
  

  We look forward to seeing you!

  Gordon Josephson	Ellen Croibier	Colleen Rossi
  President, OLLI at BCC Board of Directors	Member Services Committee Co-Chair	Member Services Committee Co-Chair

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• Walking Tour: Indian Town, Stockbridge MA

  • When
    Saturday, September 23, 2023
  •  
    10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
  • Location
    Stockbridge, MA
  • Spaces left
    0

  Join waitlist

  Walking Tour:

  Indian Town,
  Stockbridge, MA

  
  

  
  

  Four Sessions to Choose From!

  All tours are in person and onsite.

  September 9, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. led by Michael Forbes Wilcox 
  September 10, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. led by Katherine Kidd 
  September 17, 1:30 - 3:00 p.m. led by Katherine Kidd - CANCELLED
  September 23, 10:00 - 11:30 a.m. One walk led by Michael Forbes Wilcox and another by Katherine Kidd 

  Stockbridge was founded in 1737 as a mission and unique partnership with the Mohican.  English leaders taught the Mohicans English, and about Christianity and English agricultural practices while the Mohicans remained self-governing.

  The Stockbridge-Munsee community worked with Housatonic Heritage and other local partners to create a tour of the most important Mohican sites along Stockbridge’s main street. OLLI members, trained by one of the creators of the walking tour, will lead participants along Main Street to learn about the Mohicans who lived in Stockbridge for 50 years and aspects of their culture which are still present today. Stops include the Carriage Barn at the Mission House, the burial ground and the site of the 2021 archeological dig for the Mohican meeting house.

  Please register in advance.

  This walk is approximately a mile round trip and the sidewalks are accessible. Participants should be prepared to be walking and standing for about 90 minutes.

  This walking tour has been developed by the Stockbridge-Munsee Community highlighting the years in which they lived in Stockbridge. Presented in partnership with Housatonic Heritage. The walking tours are free and open to the public. 

  For more information about the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, click here: https://www.nativeamericantrail.org/stockbridge-walking-tour/

  Register safely and securely online or call 413.236.2190 (M-F 9:00 am - 4:00 pm) to register by phone.

  
  

  
  

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• Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: A Book Group

  • Start
    Tuesday, September 26, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Monday, December 25, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  
  

  OLLI at BCC members are invited to join OLLI's Shared Interest Group

  Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: A Book Group

  for an online discussion 

  The Fourth Monday of Every Month

  from 1:30 to 3:00 pm Eastern

  No session in August. Happy summer vacation!

  Free and open to all OLLI at BCC members 

  OLLI's Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: A Book Group meets once a month, typically on the 4^th Monday at 1:30 pm. Everyone is welcome. We typically meet for no more than 1.5 hours. Historically, the meetings were at someone’s house. In this past year, however, the gatherings have been Zoom-based.
  

  Books are selected one year in advance… and are not your typically hot present-day offerings. At the meetings, we discuss the chosen book, of course, but often we talk about other books we are reading, movies we have seen, serials we’ve watched/are watching on TV, etc.

  Please contact Bruce Cohen for additional information and to receive the Zoom link. 

  Books we are reading in 2023:
  

  January - A Better Man by Louise Penny

  February - Big Sky by Kate Atkinson

  March - Conviction by Denise Mina

  April - Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke

  May - Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman

  June - The Guardians by John Grisham

  July - The Night Fire by Michael Connelly

  September - The Other End of the Line by Andrea Camilleri

  October - The Quaker by Liam McIlvanney

  November - The Sentence is Death by Anthony Horowitz

  December - The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware

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• Art and Globalism in Eighteenth-Century Europe

  • When
    Saturday, September 30, 2023
  •  
    3:00 PM - 4:30 PM
  • Location
    Berkshire Museum, 39 South St, Pittsfield, MA 01201
  • Spaces left
    181

  Register

  The OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents:

  Sarah R. Cohen

  Art and Globalism in Eighteenth Century Europe

  Saturday, September 30
  at 3:00pm EDT

  In-person Only at the Berkshire Museum
  39 South Street, Pittsfield, MA
  
  This event will not be recorded.

  This lecture will explore art produced in Europe during the eighteenth century, a time traditionally known as the “Enlightenment,” but now studied for many other issues of social significance, including unprecedented global travel and commercial exchange. We will consider the visual and material aspects of various artistic media in a range of European countries, as well as art obtained from other parts of the world, and we will query how this art both represented and actively contributed to Europeans’ understandings of their own societies, as well as their perceptions and misperceptions of Asian, Turkish, Native American and African cultures.  Special attention will focus upon the ways art helped to shape Europeans’ gender politics and definitions of race both within Europe and in the slave-holding colonies of the Caribbean islands.

  

  Sarah R. Cohen, Professor of Art History in the Department of Art and Art History, University at Albany, SUNY, received her Ph.D. in the History of Art from Yale University. Her research has focused extensively upon representations of the body in European art from the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries. Her first book, Art, Dance and the Body in French Culture of the Ancien  Régime, was published by Cambridge University Press in 2000, and she has published a number of articles on gesture and performance in early modern art. Her next two books addressed artistic representations of animals: Enlightened Animals in Eighteenth-century Art: Sensation, Matter and Knowledge (Bloomsbury, 2021) and Picturing Animals in Early Modern Art: Art and Soul (Brepols/Harvey Miller, 2022).  Sarah Cohen’s current work explores the global implications of art made for the French dining table in the eighteenth century.

  Admission is $10 for OLLI at BCC and Berkshire Museum members, and $15 for the general public.

  Admission is free for  students, staff and faculty from Berkshire Community College, MCLA, Simon's Rock, and Williams; youth 17 and under, and those holding WIC, EBT/SNAP, or ConnectorCare cards.

  In Partnership with the Berkshire Museum

  
  

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• Painting Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Monday, October 02, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Monday, December 04, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  Register

  
  

  OLLI at BCC members are invited to join OLLI's

  Painting Shared Interest Group

  Free and open exclusively to OLLI at BCC members

  Usually meeting on the first Monday of each month.

  This group is open to members who paint in any medium, including:
  

  ACRYLIC, OIL, WATERCOLOR, GOUACHE, TEMPERA, ENCAUSTIC, INK WASH, PASTELS…

  Are you interested in participating with a small, supportive group of painters to share YOUR painting (preferably in progress); get positive, thoughtful feedback from other artists; and provide the same for them? 
  

  
  

  Learn how to provide honest, HELPFUL feedback to other artists and to utilize feedback from other artists to inform your own efforts.  Share useful techniques, material...  that you have found to enhance your efforts. 

  
  

  Please Contact Claudia Shuster with any questions or for additional information.
  

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• Happy Needlers & Hookers: A Needlework Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Monday, October 02, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Monday, December 18, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    Lenox, MA

  Register

  
  

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• Listening to Chamber Music SIG

  • Start
    Monday, October 02, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Monday, December 04, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Online

  
  

  Attention Chamber Music Lovers! 

  The Listening to Chamber Music SIG is for people who are interested in chamber music and who would enjoy learning about and listening to chamber music repertoire with other chamber music aficionados.  The proposed format will be that the leader of each meeting will provide program notes about a piece, the group will listen together and then discuss what they think about the piece.  This is the proposed format, it is expected that the group will tweak it and decide together what works best and which chamber works will please our collective ear. 

  This group is meeting on Zoom with once-a-month meetings.

  Contact Harriet Wetstone if you if you would like any additional information about this Listening to Chamber Music SIG.

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• Creative Nonfiction Writing SIG

  • Start
    Tuesday, October 10, 2023
  •  
  • End
    Tuesday, December 12, 2023
  •  
  • Schedule
    3 sessions
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  Creative Nonfiction Writing

  

  Shared Interest Group
  

  Meets the second Tuesday of the month at 

  9:30 a.m. Eastern

  Free and open exclusively to OLLI at BCC members

  Do you love to write and want to have a writers’ group to share and critique your work? If you do, consider joining our Creative Nonfiction SIG which meets monthly via Zoom. The format of our meetings will be flexible but will focus on each member sharing their work and receiving mindful critique from other group members.  At each meeting we will pick a leader for the next meeting. That leader will assign a prompt for the next meeting’s writings or writers may choose their own subject.

  What is creative nonfiction? It can be essay, memoir, personal narrative, travel writing, food writing, chronicle, fact-based essays, or biography. The commonality is that the writer uses literary techniques to tell the facts allowing the reader to understand the situations described in a fuller, more emotional way. As one writer — Melanie McGrath, whose book Silvertown, an account of her grandmother's life, describes her writing — the known facts of her stories are "the canvas on to which I have embroidered. Some of the facts have slipped through the holes—we no longer know them nor have any means of verifying them—and in these cases I have reimagined scenes or reconstructed events in a way I believe reflects the essence of the scene or the event in the minds and hearts of the people who lived through it. ... To my mind this literary tinkering does not alter the more profound truth of the story.”

  For more information, please contact Lana Bennett. 

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• OLLI Theater Brunch "English"

  • When
    Sunday, October 15, 2023
  •  
    11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    Berkshire Community College Main Campus, 1350 West Street, Pittsfield MA 01201 / Barrington Stage Company, 30 Union St, Pittsfield, MA 01201
  • Spaces left
    68

  Register

  

  OLLI's Annual Brunch and Theater Program!
  Sunday, October 15 at 11:00 a.m.
  Brunch Speaker extraordinaire Phyllis Jaffe

  11:00 a.m. - 1:15 p.m. - Buffet brunch & speaker Phyllis Jaffe
  at Berkshire Community College
  1350 West Street, Pittsfield MA

  2:00 p.m. - Matinee performance of English
  at Barrington Stage Company's Boyd-Quinson Stage
  30 Union Street, Pittsfield MA 01201

  Buffet brunch created by OLLI’s Gourmet Chefs:
  

  Arline Breskin, Barbara Barron, Joan Brotman, Adele Cukor, Bill Grabel, Carol Sabot, and Chet Vogel

  
  

  2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning play English, by Sanaz Toosi.
  This thought-provoking production delves into the lives of four students who, while hailing from the same native language background, come together in an Iranian classroom to prepare for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) proficiency exam. Amid the unique challenge of mastering a new language, their journey unfolds against the backdrop of a single, compelling rule: “English Only!” As they navigate the complexities of language acquisition, English explores the power of communication, connection, and the shared human experience, reflecting the universal struggles and the unique nuances of embracing a new linguistic identity.

  Tickets:
  Brunch, talk and matinee (all orchestra seats!):
  $78 for OLLI at BCC members
  $88 for non-members
  $28 Brunch and talk only

  Refunds are not available unless space is filled from a waiting list.

  Event Chairs: Barbara Greenbaum and Judy Keshner
  Special Events Chair: Arline Breskin
  

  Show details
• Sex, Lies, and Stereotypes: Gendered Politics and Women's Representation

  • When
    Thursday, October 19, 2023
  •  
    7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  Register

  The OLLI Distinguished Speakers Series presents

  Bonnie Stabile

  Sex, Lies, and Stereotypes: Gendered Politics and Women's Representation

  Thursday, October 19 at 7:00 p.m. ET
  

  Online via Zoom
  

  Women continue to be underrepresented in positions of power across sectors, including elective office and in private industry. Gendered narratives supporting stereotypes of women as unfit for leadership positions are evident in political rhetoric and in coverage in print and social media. This session will explore how biases in the treatment of candidates based on gender may be evident in or exacerbated by the promulgation of fake news, and further, how such rhetoric is apparent in everything from presidential speech to public policy. 

  Bonnie Stabile is Associate Dean for Student and Academic Affairs and Associate Professor in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, where she also founded and directs the Gender and Policy (GAP) Center. She is the author of Women, Power and Rape Culture: The Politics and Policy of Underrepresentation, published by Praeger in 2022 and published in academic journals including Public Integrity; the Journal of Public Affairs Education; Sexuality, Gender and Policy; Rhetoric Review; and Politics and the Life Sciences. She writes for Ms. Magazine and serves on the Ms. Committee of Scholars.

  Admission is $10 for OLLI at BCC and Berkshire Museum members, and $15 for the general public.
  

  Admission is free for  students, staff and faculty from Berkshire Community College, MCLA, Simon's Rock, and Williams; youth 17 and under, and those holding WIC, EBT/SNAP, or ConnectorCare cards.

  Pre-registration is required. Register safely and securely online or call 413.236.2190 (M-F 9am-4pm) to register by phone with a credit card.

  In Partnership with the Berkshire Museum

  
  

  Show details