LLL Contact Information • Website: www.lifelonglearningatpc.org • Email: [email protected]
Registration Open for January Trips
This Douglas C-117 is one of more than 300 historical aircraft on display at Pima Air & Space Museum, which is the destination of LLL’s Jan. 26 trip. (Photo provided by Arizona Aerospace Foundation, which operates the Pima Air & Space Museum in Tucson.)
Patricia Ingalls
Trip registrations have been filling at a rapid clip this fall. At press time, two January trips remained open. They are:
Jan. 10: St. Anthony’s Greek Orthodox Monastery
St. Anthony’s Monastery, founded in 1995, began with a few monks housed in two trailers. The church and monastery have grown both in size and population to its present status as the largest Orthodox monastery in the Western Hemisphere.
Visitors will see the impressively landscaped grounds and vineyard, chapels full of beautiful religious artwork brought from Greece, and monks going about their daily duties.
After the tour, lunch at Mt. Athos Greek Restaurant in Florence will provide a taste of authentic Greek food.
Jan. 26: Pima Air & Space Museum
The third-largest aviation museum in the world, located in Tucson, has more than 300 historical aircraft. Sitting on 80 acres, the museum has five indoor exhibit hangars, including two dedicated to World War II. Exhibits inside the museum’s galleries are organized according to type of craft: Navy or Air Force fighters, tankers, helicopters, presidential aircraft, and more.
The lunch venue will be announced soon.
More information on all trips and registration is published on www.lifelonglearningatpc.org.
Mutts’ Missions Accomplished
PebbleCreek resident Kathleen Molony teaches a free LLL class to explain how Mutts on a Mission’s volunteer programs work, including training new members’ canines for therapy-dog service.
Patricia Ingalls
Mutts on a Mission, an all-volunteer, registered, therapy-dog group, concentrates its efforts in the West Valley. PebbleCreek resident Kathleen Molony will explain in a LifeLong Learning (LLL) class how the program works, where the trained members visit with their service dogs, and how to get involved.
One of its main focuses is called Reading Education Assistance Dogs (READ). Dogs are paired with children who are having difficulty with reading. The READ program will train dogs considered appropriate for this program. New members are welcome.
Register for the free class, scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 5, at 1 p.m., in the LLL Center, at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org.
Optimism Beats Cynicism
Bill Nee
Sometimes it’s hard to feel optimistic. Cynicism, the idea that people are inherently selfish, greedy, and dishonest, is making humanity lonelier and more divided, says psychologist Jamil Zaki.
The United States just finished a turbulent election, and some may have become cynical, feeling they are living in a more divided world. Dr. Zaki states that maintaining that viewpoint amounts to mental malware, like psychological quicksand, and requires switching to empathy and looking for optimism.
Presenting fascinating research on cooperation, empathy and trust, Zaki makes a scientific case for optimism and shows how to break out of the cynicism trap.
To view this optimistic 13-minute TED Talk, go to TED.com, click “watch” in the header, then “TED Talks,” then in “Search talks” input “How to escape the cynicism trap,” scroll a little lower, and click on the talk you selected.
‘Great Decisions’ Returns in January
Patricia Ingalls
Once again, LifeLong Learning (LLL) is proud to offer America’s largest discussion program on world affairs: Great Decisions, an eight-week curriculum created by the Foreign Policy Association. The association’s mission today, as it has been for more than 100 years, is to serve as a catalyst for developing awareness, understanding and informed opinion on U.S. foreign policy and global issues.
The program involves reading at home a weekly section in a Great Decisions briefing book, then during each session, watching a DVD about the topic and discussing the issue in a small group with other PebbleCreek residents. The program provides background information and policy options, while avoiding partisan politics. As always, the topics are timely and generate lively discussion.
The topics for 2023 are:
Energy Geopolitics—How will changes in the energy industries impact relations between countries?
War Crimes—What is a war crime? How does that definition apply to recent events in Ukraine?
China’s Foreign Policy—How will the U.S. respond to China’s growing global presence?
Economic Warfare—What comprises economic warfare? How have those measures been used recently against Russia?
Elections in Latin America—What does the emergence of various left-wing governments mean for countries in Latin America?
Global Famine—What causes famine? How can it be prevented in the future?
Iran and the Gulf States—What is the future for relations between Iran and the U.S.?
Climate Migration—How is climate change impacting human migration?
Five classes are offered, and participants select the one that best meets their schedules. Each class meets once a week for eight weeks. Costs, which are $20 per registration and $40 for a printed version of the briefing book, are paid at time of LLL registration.