LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek

Make plans to join LLL for Mondays in October

Come spend your Monday mornings with LifeLong Learning. Lectures begin at 10:00 a.m., so you have time to enjoy your coffee, check your emails, watch a little of the news and then join your friends at the Renaissance Theater. Lectures are $4 per person at the door and go on sale at 9:00 a.m.

October 16: The FBI and Internet Crimes Against Children: Every year, thousands of children become victims of crime through kidnappings, violent attacks, sexual abuse and online predators. LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek kicks off its Monday Morning Lecture series with a look at how the FBI and other law-enforcement agencies investigate these crimes. Jerry Barker, supervisor of the Arizona Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and a sergeant with the Phoenix Police Department, and an FBI agent will explain how crimes against children that involve the internet are investigated

October 23: Surviving an IED Attack in Iraq: In 2007, during his third tour of duty in Iraq, then-Sergeant Matt Slaydon was investigating a suspicious sign outside Kirkuk when a buried improvised explosive device detonated. The blast was devastating, causing a traumatic amputation of his arm above the elbow and severely damaging both eyes, rendering him totally blind. Slaydon readily admits he loves adventure and the adrenaline rush of the danger of disarming explosives, as dramatized in the award-winning film Hurt Locker.

October 30: The Incredible Journey to Saturn: What were you doing on October 15, 1997? That’s when NASA launched the Cassini orbiter and with that the mission to explore Saturn began. Since then, incredible images have been captured. Last season NASA Ambassador Ted Blank wowed everyone with incredibly beautiful photos and amazing information about Mars. This year Blank returns to bring us news from the planet Saturn as he recounts the Cassini-Huygens Mission to explore the second largest planet in our solar system, its spectacular rings and its many moons.

Upcoming events

October and November LLL Events

Please mark your calendars. Premier Lectures begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Renaissance Theater. Monday Morning Lectures are at 10:00 a.m. in the theater.

Sunday, October 1 – LLL registration opens at 8:00 a.m.

Saturday, October 14 – Premier Lecture: Air Force One Pilot on 9/11

Monday, October 16 – MML: FBI and Internet Crimes Against Children

Monday, October 23 – MML: Surviving an IED Explosion in Iraq

Monday, October 30 – MML: The Incredible Journey to Saturn

Thursday, November 2 – PC Reads

Saturday, November 4 – Premier Lecture: Impossible Dreamers

Thursday, November 9 – Prescott Trip: Bronzesmith Fine Art Foundry and Gallery. Sharlot Hall Museum

Thursday, November 9 – TED Talks

Monday, November 13 – MML: Africa Through an Artist’s Eyes

LLL Center office hours

The LLL Center is in room 107 at the Eagle’s Nest Activities Center. Office Hours are from 9:00 a.m. to noon. The LLL Center will be open when registration opens at 8:00 a.m. Sunday, October 1.

October office hours are as follows:

Monday, October 2 – Friday, October 6

Monday, October 9 – Friday, October 13

Tuesday, October 17 – Friday, October 20

Tuesday, October 24 – Friday, October 27

Tuesday, October 31 – Friday, November 3

Is it Prescott or Preskitt? Join the Thursday, November 9 trip

LLL’s first trip of the season heads north to this historic town where we’ve planned a trip that will have you discovering incredible art and learning some of the city’s unique history.

The first stop is the Bronzesmith Fine Art Gallery and Foundry where we’ll learn about the lost wax process of bronze casting and see a step-by-step demonstration of the way a sculpture is cast in bronze. Bronzesmith is a full service foundry dedicated to creating limited edition bronze sculptures.

The gallery displays a combination of both traditional and contemporary bronze sculptures from masters as well as emerging artists. Every piece on display was cast in the foundry.

After the tour, we will have lunch before heading to our next stop: The Sharlot Hall Museum.

The museum’s founder, Sharlot Mabridth Hall (1870 – 1943) was a poet, activist, politician and Arizona’s first territorial historian. In 1907, seeing the need to save Arizona’s early history, she made plans to begin a museum. In 1927, she moved her collection of artifacts and documents into the restored first Territorial Governor’s residence and office and opened it as a museum one year later. The museum consists of seven historic buildings and gardens.

Join us for this interesting day in Prescott. Registration for LLL programs opens at 8:00 a.m., Sunday, October 1, online at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or in person at the LLL Center during office hours.

The $95 trip fee includes round trip bus transportation, entry fees, tips  and lunch.

Colonel (retired) Mark W. Tillman

Colonel (retired) Mark W. Tillman

Two lectures you don’t want to miss

The first two Premier Lectures of the season will take you back to 9/11 and forward to the possibility of being a star athlete after 60.

At 7:00 p.m., Saturday, October 14, LifeLong Learning’s season opens with the commander and pilot of Air Force One on 9/11. Colonel (retired) Mark W. Tillman, will speak about his role as the twelfth presidential pilot of Air Force One. He will share his firsthand account of protecting the president on 9/11 by keeping him out of harm’s way and connecting the flying Oval Office to the nation’s first responders.

In another major event, Tillman, who served as Air Force One’s commander from 2001 to 2009, was the first pilot to fly a president into a war zone, when in complete secrecy he flew the commander in chief into Bagdad, Iraq for Thanksgiving dinner with the troops. He will explain what it takes to plan what he terms a “Zero Failure Mission.”

Tillman’s distinguished career spans 30 years in the United States Air Force. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 2004, today Tillman continues his career as a mentor to others in the aerospace industry and flying as a corporate pilot. He approaches each opportunity with the same personal mantra: “Zero failures don’t just happen—successful leaders make them happen.”

So come and satisfy your curiosity with details presented by someone who was directly involved in the activities of September 11, 2001.

The Premier Lecture series continues at 7:00 p.m. Saturday, November 4 when Eric Goldfarb, an Emmy winning TV and film editor, will show excerpts from his film Impossible Dreamers, an exciting and inspiring documentary about senior athletes.

The seniors that Goldfarb profiles have many years under their belts, but that hasn’t diminished their dreams. The film features legendary golfer, the Black Knight, Gary Player and other athletes ages 60 to 94. Besides explaining how the process of making this movie changed his attitude about aging, he will talk about the ups (gold medals, world records) and the downs (surgeries, even death) they encountered during the three years it took to create this film. His wife Jenny, the film’s producer, will join him to talk about healthy eating, living with meaning and longevity.

Whether you’re an active adult or couch potato, you will be inspired by this film and maybe even motivated to hit the gym or links more often.

Premier Lectures are $15 per person and tickets will be available online at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or in person at the LLL Center beginning October 1 at 8:00 a.m. Residents may purchase up to four tickets in advance. Tickets may also be purchased at any of the Monday Morning Lectures or at the door of the Renaissance Theater an hour prior to the lecture. We recommend purchasing your tickets early, as lectures such as these tend to sell out quickly.