INSIDE THIS EDITION:
- LLC'S SPRING CONVOCATION
- A TRIBUTE TO MIKE AND KATHY WEBSTER by Sheila Brush
- HOW ABOUT DEVELOPING A SUMMER COURSE IN SCIENCE/NATURE/MEDICINE/TECHNOLOGY? by Ruth Guyer
- LLC IS MOVING ON
- THE MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN WAR YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF
- ROSE WEAVER'S MENOPAUSE MAMA! (Mar 31)
- FROM LLC'S GREAT DECISIONS CLASS
- UMASS DARTMOUTH'S CARNEY LIBRARY PRESENTS TV CRITIC MATTHEW GILBERT (Mar 30)
- DON'T QUIT by Edgar Guest
Click on the links to jump to the article.
Spring Convocation
On March 12, President Sheila Brush welcomed 93 members in-person and 18 via Zoom to the 2025 LLC Spring Convocation. In her opening remarks, Sheila spoke about LLC’s move to its new venue, the Shriners Center in Edgewood/Pawtuxet Village. Art Norwalk, co-chair of the Marketing and Communications Committee, shared information about the committees “Word of Mouth” initiative for recruiting new members. Sheila then paid tribute to LLC’s special couple, Kathy and Mike Webster.
Keynote Address
“We meet our clients where they are by providing integrated, wraparound programs and services, helping those seeking to overcome educational, cultural, economic, legal, and language barriers.”
The Keynote Speaker for the Convocation was Kathy Cloutier, Executive director of the Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that provides services that help immigrants, refugees, and all Rhode Islanders.
In 2013, Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island was born from the union of two great organizations: the International Institute of Rhode Island and the Dorcas Place Adult and Family Literacy Center. Dorcas Place helped low-income adults to realize their full potential through literacy, collaboration, advocacy, and community involvement starting back in 1981. Since then, it joined forces with the International Institute of Rhode Island (IIRI), which was founded in 1921, originally housed in two rooms on Weybosset Street and began as an affiliate of the YWCA. The two organizations came together to create Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island, an all-encompassing multi-service agency that provides education and job readiness opportunities as well as legal services for citizenship and immigration, refugee resettlement programs, and more. Since the 2013 merge, Dorcas International, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, has continued more than a century’s worth of work in the community, collectively serving the needs of immigrants, refugees and native born in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts since 1921.
The services provided by Dorcas International include
- Adult education
- Immigration and citizenship legal services
- Youth services
- Translation and interpretation
- Clothing and basic needs
The focus of Ms. Cloutier’s talk included what we know right now and changes since January 20, 2025.
- Global Displacement
- Impacts on Rhode Island
- Impact on Dorcas International
- How You Can Help
- Ways to Reach Out
Thank you to the number of attendees who brought underwear and socks for Dorcas.
To look for the needs of Dorcas International, go to www.diri.org.
LLC member Bob Kemp is Secretary of the Board at Dorcas. Many thanks to him for arranging this.
The Lark will feature more about the Spring Convocation and Kathy Cloutier’s talk in the next edition.
Tribute to Mike and Kathy Webster
by Sheila Brush
“This morning we want to thank two LLC members without whom LLC wouldn't be where it is today. So I'm going to ask Mike and Kathy Webster to please come up and join LLC Vice President Linda Shamoon and me.
A few weeks ago I realized that when we launch our next program year in June, Mike Webster will begin his tenth year as Chair of the Curriculum Committee. Throughout that time, Kathy has been working alongside Mike, and she is now Co-Chair of the Curriculum Committee.
Since Mike is an engineer and loves numbers, it seems only fitting to share some numbers with you.
- Mike and Kathy both joined BCLIR in the fall of 2010.
- Since they first co-coordinated Theater Conversations in the fall of 2013, combined they have coordinated or co-coordinated 77 classes.
- Under Mike and Kathy's leadership, LLC's hardworking Curriculum Committee has recruited and supported 219 different individual coordinators to create 627 classes attended by 11,136 participants.
I don't think any of us can really understand the time and energy that this dynamic duo has devoted to LLC and for this we are all truly grateful.
Mike and Kathy, we look forward to benefiting from more years of your leadership, but at this time we wanted to give you a small token to express how we all feel. As these mugs say, our LLC Curriculum Chairs have CLASS.”
How About Developing a Summer Course in Science/Nature/Medicine/Technology?
Dear Friends,
What do your summer plans look like? How’s the intellectual-stimulation component shaping up?
Might you have time to organize a mini-course for LLC that relates to science or nature or medicine or the environment or technology or literature that addresses one of them?
The summer semester will begin June 18 and will run for 8 weeks, but we know that people travel in the summer. And you might be one of those people. So, think about developing and coordinating a shorter course, say 3 weeks or 4 weeks or 5 weeks (you get what my intention is here, I’m sure). You can start any time and stop any time and skip a week to meet your personal tanning or travel schedule.
Of course, you can also plan a standard 8-week course. And you can do it in person, on zoom, or as a hybrid.
I’d love to hear from you if you would like to be a coordinator this summer. Below are a few ideas that have popped up in my mind. Let me know what’s popped up in yours.
- What’s the unique summer flora that we find in Rhode Island?
- What should we know about Rhode Island’s coastline and landforms?
- What can we see in the night sky during the summer months?
- Is the technological imperative dangerous?
- Who are/were some of the important “players” in medicine, science, and technology?
- How has forensic science helped during restoration and rebuilding after fires, floods, and other acts of nature?
- What new science/medicine/nature book would be great to read with a group of curious readers?
- How does medical ethics figure into medical decision-making?
- How do fiction writers incorporate serious science into their stories?
- What new (or old) essays about science and nature tell stories in engaging ways?
If you have an idea for a summer course that’s not in one of the fields that I’ve mentioned but might be in the arts or the social sciences or the performing arts or literature or history or current events or something that crosses genres, I can direct you to the right person to work with on the Curriculum Committee.
Thanks,
Ruth
Moving On
In September LLC will be moving to a new home, the Shriners Center in Edgewood/Pawtuxet Village. Starting in April, The Lark will feature articles each month through the summer to address that move. Those articles will provide such items as directions and maps, list restaurants and points of interest, and answer your questions about the move.
If you have questions, please email LifelongLearningMove@gmail.com.
The Most Important War You've Never Heard Of
For the 2025 LLC Wintersession, Dr. David Weed, Sowams Heritage Area Project Coordinator and LLC member and Dr. Penny Dennehy developed a course on King Philip’s War in New England. Each session consisted of a slide talk followed by a class discussion of the material covered. Mr. Weed has put them together on a single webpage so that anyone can view the presentations: https://sowamsearlyhistory.org/king-philips-war-covered-in-a-lifelong-learning-collaborative-course/.
Course description: In 1675, Algonquian Indians all over southern New England rose up against the Puritan colonists with whom they had lived peacefully for several decades. The result was the bloodiest war in American history, a terrifying conflict in which the Puritans found themselves fighting with a cruelty they had thought only the Natives capable of. [Jill Lepore, The Name of War]
Led by Sowams Heritage Area Project Coordinator Dr. David Weed, the course explored the important and fascinating history of an event that began 350 years ago next June in Swansea, MA and ended 14 months later in Bristol, RI.
SESSIONS:
1) What led up to the War; 2) How and where the War broke out; 3) The course of the War; and 4) The aftermath of the War and how it shaped American history to this day.
“Doing the course was a great opportunity to create a video series that presented the War from start to finish that isn't available anywhere else on the web.” Dave Weed
SCENES FROM KING PHILIP’S WAR
Photos provided by David Weed
Battle of Bloody Brook
Native Americans approaching a farm
King Philip’s War Sudbury
Rose Weaver's Menopause Mama!
Monday, March 31, 2025 @ 4-5 PM
A live dramatic reading of Menopause Mama written, acted, and sung by the incredible Rose Weaver
Click to register for this free Zoom Webinar.
Special Presentation by Rose Weaver, Television, film, music, and solo performer and writer — Free and open to the public
Menopause Mama is a compelling, cutting edge and often hilarious solo performance about menopause and aging. Through a variety of characters, Rose Weaver depicts the struggles, triumphs, tears and lighter side of menopause. Her take no-prisoners honesty is delivered with a touch of humor, ensuring the audience is entertained while also gaining valuable insights.
Try not to miss this extraordinary live performance.
Rose Weaver, a 2000 Pell Award winner and a New England Emmy nominee, has entertained audiences for more than 40 years in television, film, music, and as a solo performer and writer. She has appeared in many theatres across the country, including many performances for Trinity Theatre, including August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean where she played Aunt Ester; Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grille; Dussie Mae in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Bernice in The Piano Lesson, and the Witch in Into the Woods. A few of her television performances include In the Heat of the Night, Poetic Justice, LA Law, Tales From the Crypt, The Accused, Not In My Family, Lady in White and Go Tell It On the Mountain.
From the Great Decisions class
The members of the Great Decisions class have been in communication with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s office. They received an invitation to attend an online meeting for Rhode Islanders on February 19. A number of them attended and recommend that other LLC members might be interested in watching the meeting.
It can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/live/If2VZ5YvhH0.
Senator Whitehouse will appear in an LLC webinar on Wednesday, April 2, 2025 @ 4-5 PM.
Click to register for this free Zoom Webinar: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XQmMSmdIQ92qdPi0xWdpCA
UMass Dartmouth's The Claire T. Carney Library Associates presents
Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe TV Critic
Sunday, March 30 @ 3 PM
Library Grand Reading Room, Claire T. Carney Library, UMass Dartmouth
Since 1987, Boston Globe readers have enjoyed Gilbert's features on books, television, movies, and pop culture. When his weekly column focused on television in 1997, he reviewed such popular shows as "Deadwood," "NYPD: Blue," "The Sopranos," "Six Feet Under," and countless others. As television shifted to cable and streaming services, Gilbert explored outstanding shows that were now able to create deeper, more complex characters, calling "Breaking Bad" the second-best TV series ever. His column curated a viewing list for readers and thoughtfully analyzed the plot lines, characters, and cliffhangers that became discussion topics for many fans.
REGISTER HERE
A $10 donation is suggested.
Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash
Don’t Quit
by Edgar Guest
Success is failure turned inside out - the silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
and when you never can tell how close you are,
it may be near when it seems afar;
so stick to the fight when you're hardest hit - it's when things seem worst, you must not quit.