January Sunday Series director Mary Gangl (right) and Gospel singer Candace Chavez.
LLL free March programs: registration is required
This season the free Sunday Series celebrates three diverse cultures through their music, thanks to a generous grant from Robson. The first event in January featured gospel music and the second event featured a mariachi band. On Sunday, March 31 from 2:00-3:30 p.m., come see Tony Duncan perform Native American songs, stories and dance. He is a five-time world Hoop Dance champion.
Tony, 34, is one of a dozen members of his family, spanning three generations that are the Yellow Bird Indian Dancers who participate in and share the family’s passion for hoop dancing. From Olympic stages to dirt circles, televised internationally and sometimes performing for an audience of just a handful, this urban Native American family keeps Apache traditions alive through hoop dancing. They have been spreading awareness of Native American culture and art for more than 25 years.
In PebbleCreek, you’ll be captivated by the calling wind of the Native American flute and the stories that have passed from generation to generation. You’ll learn how the dancer, using hoops, creates images and shapes that represent the beautiful creations on Mother Earth and teaches us that we must honor and respect all of life as we are all connected in this great circle of life.
A five-time World Champion Hoop dancer, Tony has won Native American Music Awards, recorded ten albums with Canyon Records and tours internationally. He performed at the Billboard Music Award Show, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian National Museum, Santa Fe and Heard Museum Indian Fairs and the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
PC Reads, a free book discussion group, meets year-round in the LLL Center the first Thursday of every month from 5:00-6:30 p.m. The book for March 7 is The Rent Collector by Camron Wright. The April 4 book is A Gentleman in Moscow: A Novel by Amor Towles.
Each of these events is free but registration is required, beginning 30 days before its date at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or by going to the LLL Center from 9:00 a.m.–noon, Tuesday to Friday. LLL asks that a non-perishable food item be brought for donation to the St. Mary’s Food Bank if you attend the Sunday Series.
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.
The LLL Center office hours are 9:00 a.m. to noon, Tuesday to Friday. You may also call during office hours or leave a message when it is closed at 623-535-8875.
LLL wants your ideas
If you know of a great speaker who might be of interest to our community, the LLL lecture team would love to hear from you! Some of the best Monday Morning and Premier Lecture speakers were recommended by residents. LLL is always open to your recommendations, particularly now, as we are currently preparing for the 2019-20 season.
If you have ideas about lectures, trips, classes and special programs, please send them to [email protected] or call the LLL Center at 623-535-8875. All ideas will be sent to the appropriate team.
Clothing drive for St. Vincent de Paul
Do you have clothing that no longer fits, you no longer like or is out of date? How about all those hotel toiletries that found their way into your suitcase? Looking at starting the spring cleaning of your closets?
LifeLong Learning has a way for you to help the poor and homeless that the Phoenix area St. Vincent de Paul Society serves. Plus, you don’t need to drive outside our PebbleCreek community to make your donation.
Items needed are any men’s or women’s articles of clothing including undergarments, socks and shoes. Men’s tennis shoes are especially in demand. Personal hygiene and toiletry items are also in need.
Starting the week of March 12 there will be collection boxes at the LifeLong Learning Center and you may drop off your donations during their business hours, 9:00 a.m.-noon Tuesday–Friday. The center is located at Eagle’s Nest Activities Center, Room 107.
All donations collected will be brought along on the LLL sponsored trip to St. Vincent de Paul on Friday, March 22.
If you have any questions, please contact Sue Roth, 612-940-4798 or Lisa Greenhoot, 541-554-5628.
March happenings
Premier Lectures are held in the Renaissance Theater at 7:00 p.m. and Monday Morning Lectures start at 10:00 a.m. PC Reads meets in the LLL Center. The Sunday Series meets in the Chianti Room. PC Reads and the Sunday Series are free but registration is required as space is limited.
Monday, March 4, 10:00 a.m., MML: Life in Russia Today
Wednesday, March 6, Trip: Liberty Wildlife Center
Wednesday, March 6, 1:00 p.m., Class: Car Buying 101
Thursday, March 7, 1:00 p.m., Class: Saving the Monarch Butterflies
Thursday, March 7, 5:00 p.m., PC Reads, The Rent Collector, Camron Wright
Monday, March 11, 10:00 a.m., MML: The FBI and Terrorism
Thursday, March 14, 1:00 p.m., Class: History of American Quilting
Friday, March 15, 7:00 p.m., Premier Lecture: Shedding New Light on Alzheimer’s
Monday, March 18, 10:00 a.m., MML: Exploring the Moon
Wednesday, March 20, 1:00 p.m., Class: Petroglyphs and Hohokam Culture
Friday, March 22, Trip: LLL Gives Back to St. Vincent de Paul
Monday, March 25, 10:00 a.m., MML: Donating Your Body to Science
Tuesday, March 26, Trip: Luke Air Force Base
Sunday, March 31, 2:00 p.m., Sunday Series: Tony Duncan, Hoop Dance Champion
Steven Sabat, Ph.D.
Shedding new light on Alzheimer’s
While little progress has been made to stop the progression of Alzheimer’s, there is growing evidence that the daily lives of patients, and their families, can be improved. Steven Sabat, Ph.D., a noted authority on Alzheimer’s disease, will be in PebbleCreek at 7:00 p.m. Friday, March 15 for the final Premier Lecture in LifeLong Learning’s 2018-19 season. A professor emeritus of psychology at Georgetown University, Sabat focuses his research on the remaining cognitive and social strengths of people with Alzheimer’s disease.
He believes stereotypes about Alzheimer’s are detrimental to the morale of the individuals involved and interfere with the development of an accurate understanding of the patient’s abilities. Social stimulation, music, dance and opportunities to express creativity can be helpful in improving mood, speech and displays of humor of people diagnosed with dementia.
Sabat will explore different aspects of memory and ways to retrieve information from memory. He will discuss the nature of memory problems that Alzheimer’s creates, as well as what memory capabilities remain intact throughout the various stages of the disease. Additionally, he will shed light on the faulty assumption that those with Alzheimer’s can neither remember recent events nor learn and retain new information. Most importantly and on a positive note, Sabat will share productive and meaningful ways to interact with loved ones diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Tickets are $15 per person and can be purchased at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org, at the LLL Center during office hours or in the lobby of the Renaissance Theater prior to the lecture.
Laurie Manchester, Russian Scholar
Marvelous LLL Monday Mornings
The four March Monday Morning Lectures will be educational and topical. Tickets to lectures are $5 and are sold at the door of the Renaissance Theater. All lectures begin at 10:00 a.m.
March 4: Russian historian, Laurie Manchester, Ph.D. will help us understand “Putin: Why Russians Support Him.” Scholars understand the phenomena and we will hear the factors that shape the Russians’ views.
March 11: The FBI and Terrorism: Following the events of 9/11, preventing terrorist attacks became the top priority of the FBI. A special agent from the Joint Terrorism Task Force of the Phoenix FBI office will explain how the FBI identifies possible terrorists both in the U.S. and abroad and the methods used to protect the U.S. from attack.
March 18: “One Giant Leap for Mankind” were the words spoken by Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the moon in 1969. NASA Ambassador Ted Blank will describe what it took to get Armstrong, Michael Collins and “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon. He will talk about the history, the successes, the failures and the back story of the Apollo project.
March 25: Donating Your Body for Science is one end-of-life option. Representatives of Science Care, the world’s largest accredited whole-body donation program, will discuss the pros and cons of all end-of-life options. Many people are organ donors to help others; this body donation program can also help others through research and medical school training.
Space still available in LLL events
These events are not sold out as of the writing of this article. Please see www.lifelonglearningatpc.org for more information and to register, or come to the LLL Center during office hours, Tuesday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to noon.
Wednesday, March 6: Observe firsthand how volunteers at Liberty Wildlife Center in Phoenix treat injured, wild animals. The center’s volunteers will display live raptors and various kinds of owls, peregrine falcons, hawks and bald eagles, while they educate you on the center’s method of returning rehabilitated creatures to their natural habitat.
Thursday, March 14: Learn how quilts have evolved from strictly utilitarian articles, born of the necessity to provide warmth both in bed and over doors and windows to special works of art.