LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek

LLL Center office hours

Come to the LLL Center in Room 107 at the Eagle’s Nest Activities Center and get help with all your LifeLong Learning needs. Stop in to register for trips, classes and special events and purchase tickets for Premier Lectures. Get help creating an LLL account and linking your Fry’s VIP card to LLL, a non-profit eligible to receive funds from the Fry’s Community Rewards program. Volunteers will be there to answer questions and assist you however they can.

The LLL Center office hours are 9:00 a.m. to noon, Tuesday to Friday. The office will be closed on Tuesday, January 1.

Help for the hearing challenged

If your hearing isn’t quite what it used to be, there’s no need to let that stop you from enjoying LifeLong Learning programs.

LifeLong Learning strives to make its programs accessible to everyone and it has several ways to help those with hearing challenges.

For lectures in the Renaissance Theater, there are three ways to enhance your understanding of what the speaker is saying. If you have hearing aids with a T-Coil setting, all sound will be sent directly to your hearing aids via the state-of-the-art hearing loop. LifeLong Learning also provides hearing device headphones that are directly linked to the microphone system. The devices are available in the theater lobby before Monday Morning and Premier Lectures. Finally, closed captioning is now being used for most lectures in the theater. Whatever is being said in the theater will show up on a screen in real time. LLL wants all PebbleCreek residents to fully enjoy the programs offered.

In addition, LifeLong Learning has installed a hearing loop in the LLL Center, where most LLL classes and PC Reads meetings are held. You’ll be able to use your hearing aids in the center in the same way you use them in the theater.

January happenings at LLL

Now that the holidays are behind us, LifeLong Learning has a full calendar of events, with something that’s bound to appeal to everyone!

There are no advance sales for Monday Morning Lectures, but tickets for the January 14 Premier Lecture can be purchased online or at the LLL Center. There is no charge for TED Talks, PC Reads and the Sunday Series, but registration is required as space is limited.

Thursday, January 3 5:00 p.m., PC Reads: The Alice Network: A Novel by Kate Quinn

Monday, January 7 10:00 a.m., MML: “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”

Tuesday, January 8 10:00 a.m., Class: Your Social Security Benefits

Tuesday, January 8 10:00 a.m., Class: Artisan Bread

Wednesday, January 9 1:00 p.m., Class: Drumming and Meditation

Thursday, January 10 Trip: Luke Air Force Base

Thursday, January 10 2:00 p.m., TED Talks

Saturday, January 12 7:00 p.m., Premier Lecture: Inside Stories of LIFE and People

Monday, January 14 10:00 a.m., MML: What’s New at Luke?

Tuesday, January 15 Trip: ASU: Exploring the Boundaries of Science

Tuesday, January 15 10:00 a.m., Class: Artisan Bread

Thursday, January 17 Trip: Arizona Culinary Institute

Monday, January 21 9:30 a.m., MML: The Beatles: Liverpool to Abbey Road (NOTE TIME)

Tuesday, January 22 Trip: Commemorative Air Force Museum and Falcon Field

Wednesday, January 23 9:30 a.m., Class: Instant Pot Cooking

Wednesday, January 23 9:30 a.m., Class: The Colorado River Delta

Saturday, January 26 Trip: Matinee at Barleen’s Dinner Show

Sunday, January 27 2:00 p.m., Sunday Series: Gospel Music with Candice Chavez

Monday, January 28 10:00 a.m., MML: Medical Marijuana and You

Thursday, January 31 1:00 p.m., Class: Flower Arranging

Space still available

January 9 is a Drumming and Meditation class that will teach you drumming techniques and review the physical benefits of drumming and meditation.

January 22 is a trip to the Commemorative Air Force Museum and Falcon Field. Falcon Field is Mesa’s municipal airport which opened in 1941 to do flight training for WWII and training continues there today. At the nearby CAF Museum you’ll learn how aircraft evolved from WWI to the present. Climbing aboard bombers, cargo planes and historical war birds is not only allowed but encouraged.

Inside stories from “Life” and “People”

When you read stories about celebrities, do you ever wonder how the writer got them to “tell all?” At 7:00 p.m. Saturday, January 12, Hal Wingo will share the stories behind the stories of some of the world’s best-known personalities, ranging from Charles Lindbergh to Lyndon Johnson and a wide variety of television and film actors. For more than 30 years, he wrote and edited stories about the famous people who appeared in the pages of LIFE and People magazines. His recollections of those people, from the silly to the inspirational, are a journey through the lives of those who shaped our world.

An entertaining storyteller, Wingo’s career started in 1963, when he began working for the weekly LIFE magazine in New York City. A year later, LIFE sent him to its Beverly Hills bureau, the heart of America’s film industry.

In 1967, his career took a more serious focus as LIFE sent him to Hong Kong, where he directed the magazine’s coverage of the Vietnam War until 1970, when he returned to New York.

When LIFE suspended weekly publication in 1972, Wingo joined the development team at Time Inc, leading to the 1974 launch of the weekly People. As the first news editor, he supervised 70 correspondents from around the world, reporting and writing for People. Wingo’s storytelling will keep us glued to his every word.

Free programs – learn about gospel music January 27

LifeLong Learning offers several free programs each year to thank the community for its support. See which of these special programs are right for you. Registration for each opens 30 days before its date at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or by going to the LLL Center daily from 9:00 a.m.-noon, Tuesday to Friday.

This season the free Sunday Series will celebrate three diverse cultures through their music, thanks to a generous grant from Robson. The first program is from 2:00-3:30 p.m. January 27. Candice Chavez, a talented gospel singer, has been singing for more than 15 years and is excited to share her knowledge of gospel music with our community from 2:00–3:30 p.m. Sunday, January 27, in the Chianti Room. In addition to a concert, she will discuss the evolution and sounds of gospel music through a video and photographs of other singers and venues where she has performed.

She currently sings for local events including games of the Phoenix Suns, Mercury and Diamondbacks and has been praised for her charismatic and talented interpretations of the national anthem. Candice attends “Fountain of Life International” and co-leads prayer under the leadership of Pastors Jon and Gwen Jennings.

While the program is free, LifeLong Learning asks that a non-perishable food item be brought for donation to the St. Mary’s Food Bank. Registration for the January 27 Sunday Series program began on December 27.

PC Reads is a free book discussion group that meets the first Thursday of every month from 5:00-6:30 p.m. The book for January 3 is The Alice Network by Kate Quinn. An American Marriage: A Novel by Tayari Jones will be discussed on February 7

The next free TED Talks meetings are January 10 and February 14 from 2:00-4:00 p.m. in the Palm Room at Eagle’s Nest. The TED Talks team has selected outstanding videos for you to watch and then discuss.

Remember, registration for each of these events can be completed 30 days before its date at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or by going to the LLL Center daily from 9:00 a.m.-noon, Tuesday to Friday.