Learning in Retirement
Programs offer special learning opportunities for retirees
Activities and Classes:
2013 Spring Planned Classes:
Once again the Curriculum Committee has organized a series of spring classes. These classes offers topics to interest both current LIR members and non-members as well! It’s a great time to introduce someone to LIR.
Members may attend most any of these events in this series at no charge; however, you will need to register in advance, and these classes fill very quickly!
2013 Spring Newsletter (4 page PDF) | 2013 Spring Registration Form (1 page PDF)
Disasters and the Impact
on the Planet and People
Explore disastrous events in the history of the planet and human
cultures, examining the extent of such events, their impact on
the evolution of life on a planetary scale, and the many ways in
which they have shaped-and will continue to shape-the
development of human societies. Class objectives: 1) To explore
how disasters have changed in dramatic ways-both the course of
life’s evolution on the planet and the development/direction/and
sometimes disappearance of the human societies which experience
them; 2) To examine how societies create symbolic frameworks for
understanding the catastrophes they experience, how they
memorialize such events through myth and history, and how they
plan to avoid exposure to repeats of similar calamities; 3) To
consider the magnitude and effects of both natural and human
caused disasters-and, where appropriate, consider crises caused
by the intersection of both. Natural disasters likely to be
discussed include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, pre-modern
climate change, and pandemic disease in people or crops. Human
caused disasters may include oil spills, urban fires, and the
effects of the introduction of alien species. Disasters
involving the interplay of natural and human culture could
include climate change, the Dust Bowl, the mid-90s Chicago Heat
Wave, the Fukushima tsunami and nuclear reactor meltdown, and
Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy.
Presenter: Susannah Lloyd, Professor, Dept.
of Sociology/ Archaeology, UW-La Crosse
Fridays, May 3-24; 10 a.m.-noon 332 Cartwright Center,
UW-La Crosse
Seven Great Ideas
Issues divide; ideas unite. The purpose of this three-week
course is to examine a few of the great ideas that are
foundational to western culture and examine seven great ideas
from western culture: knowledge, goodness, self-control, love,
experience, attention and nature. We will look briefly at the
history of these ideas in philosophical works and at their
relevance today. Optional reading list: Plato Apology,
Plato Republic, Epictetus, The Handbook, Augustine
Confessions, Ralph Waldo Emerson Experience,
Simone Weil Waiting for God, or Aldo Leopold A Sand
County Almanac.
Presenter: Richard Kyte, Director,
D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership/Professor of
Philosophy, Viterbo University
Tuesdays, May 14-28 | 10 a.m.-noon | 332 Cartwright
Center, UW-La Crosse
2013 Summer Planned Classes:
2013 Summer Newsletter (4 page PDF) | 2013 Summer Registration Form (1 page PDF)
4th Annual Vital Aging Conference:
UNLEASH THE POWER OF AGE
This is an optional public event (open to all LIR members and
non-members) hosted by La Crosse County Aging Unit and UW-L
Continuing Education and Extension.
MORE
$25 members/non-members (includes lunch)
June 6 | 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Valhalla, Cartwright
Center-Gunning Addition
Challenging Trends Facing Housing in La
Crosse
A look at the tax base of the city of La Crosse — comparing the
city’s tax base to other similar sized communities in the State
of Wisconsin. In addition, the study compares equalized values
of La Crosse County’s urbanized municipalities over time. Total
non-profit land area is also compared as a means of better
understanding the property tax base issue in the city of La
Crosse. This information is synthesized and represented on maps
showing the locations of housing values in the city and
discusses the impact this creates on the municipal services.
— Karl Green, Community Development Resource Educator, La Crosse
County UW-Extension
June 18 | 10:30 a.m.-noon | 339 Cartwright Center |
UW-La Crosse
New Wildlife and Fish Refuge Visitor’s
Center Tour
Join Bob Wingate and Richard Frost to visit the new Upper
Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge Visitor’s
Center in Onalaska, Wis. The onsite staff will present a program
for our members in the new visual media room. The wildlife
displays will be viewed, followed by a short guided walk to view
the prairie. We will meet at the Visitor Center, located near
the junction of County Roads Z and ZN on Brice Prairie (N5727
County Road Z). If a ride is needed, please let us know at time
of registration.
June 19 | 10 a.m. | Brice Prairie/Onalaska
Taliesin and Loving Frank
Many book groups have read Nancy Horans’s bestseller, Loving
Frank, a novel based on the tragic romance of famed
architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Chicago socialite Mamah
Borthwick. Now the Taliesin Organization has developed a
specialized tour about Taliesin during the years Wright and
Mamah spent there. The tour includes readings from the book by
our professional staff while visitors enjoy Wright’s living
room, with a stop at the Unity Chapel cemetery to see Mamah’s
final resting place. Lunch follows in the Riverview Terrace
Cafe, located within the Frank Lloyd Wright Visitor Center.
Lunch will be the chicken salad sandwich (pulled white chicken
salad with red grapes, walnuts and crumbled blue cheese) with
Mediterranean pasta salad, beverage and brownies — dietary
requests will be accommodated.
Register early — space limited to only 21 people!
$99, includes coach
transportation, tour admission and lunch
June 28 | 8:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m.| Spring Green, Wis.
Great River Shakespeare Festival Plus
King Henry V
As part of the Great River Shakespeare Festival, we will be
seeing King Henry V. We will begin the day in Winona with a
visit to the Minnesota Marine Art Museum. In addition to their
wonderful standing collections of Hudson River School,
Impressionist, and Post-Impressionist works, our guided tour
will include a temporary exhibit Valor in Marine Art. We’ll have
lunch at LIR favorite, Signatures Restaurant, before attending
our matinee performance of King Henry V at Winona State
University. We’ll be back in La Crosse by dinnertime. About a
week before our trip to Winona a representative of the GRSF will
introduce us to King Henry V at a session at UW-La Crosse.
Pre-trip presentation: July 18, 11
a.m.–12:30 p.m., Room 332, Cartwright Center, UW-La Crosse
$79, includes pre-trip presentation, coach
transportation, museum admittance, lunch and matinee
July 26 | 8:45 a.m.-6:30 p.m. | Winona, Minn.
