LifeLong Learning at PebbleCreek

Classes Offer Insights into Past

Patricia Ingalls

Two of LifeLong Learning’s (LLL) upcoming classes concentrate on people and relics—from the past.

Intro to Genealogy, Thursday, Nov. 13, will reveal where and how to research information about one’s ancestors, including the best tools to assist in the search. Instructor Denise Beeson, a professor at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, Calif., teaches numerous courses on genealogy, with an emphasis on American and European migration, on DNA, and on research roadblocks. She has a bachelor’s degree from Whittier College and a master’s degree from San Francisco State. She established the Genealogy Program at Santa Rosa, and is active in Santa Rosa Genealogical Society and the PebbleCreek Genealogy Club.

Antique Buying and Selling, Wednesday, Dec. 3, will explain how the antiques marketplace operates, including appraisal and auction processes. Instructor Neil Redmond, senior appraiser at EJ’s Auction & Appraisal, also will cover authenticating memorabilia, and the best way to sell antiques, based on his 30 years of experience in the industry.

Both classes take place from 1 to 3 p.m. in the LLL Center. For full details and to register, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.

Barleen’s Embraces Holiday Spirit

Patricia Ingalls

A popular holiday tradition returns when LifeLong Learning offers a trip to Barleens “Home for the Holidays” matinee lunch show in Apache Junction on Wednesday, Dec. 3.

Barleens “Home for the Holidays” presents a talented lineup of versatile musicians, comedians, and variety entertainers who provide a joyful mixture of traditional and popular seasonal classics. Before the show begins, attendees will enjoy a hearty, home-cooked meal.

The Barleens’ family-run business began generations ago in Kansas, moved to the Missouri Ozarks, and in 1978, to Estes Park, Colo., where the Original Barleen Family Country Music Dinner Show began. In 1987, the Barleen family opened its Apache Junction location. Today, 22 family members run all aspects of the business, from the entertainment to the kitchen.

Full details, including the complete lunch menu, as well as registration procedures, are posted at lifelonglearningatpc.org.

Federal Prosecutor to Explain Human Trafficking

Patricia Ingalls

Joseph Koehler, Assistant U.S. Attorney, is a career prosecutor with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona and a nationally recognized authority on human smuggling. He will give a presentation Monday, Nov. 17, at 10 a.m. in Renaissance Theater, explaining how cartels and other criminal organizations prey on desperate migrants, enticed by promises of an economic promised land in the U.S., who are forced into slave-like conditions, on the pretext that they must pay off a debt that will never be repaid, and threatened with violence to the migrant and their family back home, if they do not do the bidding of their “sponsors.”

Koehler, who has spent decades prosecuting and specializing in international human-trafficking cases, will describe how couriers are solicited over social media to serve as shuttle drivers to get the human cargo into the U.S. and delivered to “sponsors,” who are often sex traffickers, or to “contractors” providing low-cost labor, who work and live in inhumane conditions. The Southern border is the primary thoroughfare for a major portion of the smuggling of humans into the U.S. As part of a federal team dedicated to the arrest and prosecution of human traffickers, Kohler has been involved in the rescue of hundreds of their enslaved victims.

Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. in the lobby of the theater and are $5 at the door. No registration is required.

Great Decisions Starts in January

Patricia Ingalls

Registration opened Oct. 1 in PebbleCreek for a nationwide, apolitical discussion program called Great Decisions 2026, developed by the Foreign Policy Association (FPA).

As in previous years, from January through March, four PebbleCreek small groups plan to meet in eight, weekly, two-hour sessions, held in LLL’s Learning Center, to discuss current issues related to foreign policy. They come together, not to convince each other or reach consensus, but to learn from one another, in thoughtful discussion, under the guidance of a facilitator.

Each week introduces a new topic, following backgrounders and discussion points presented in FPA’s Great Decisions guidebook and in an FPA video summary of the issue.

Preliminary discussion topics for 2026 are: America and the World—Trump 2.0 Foreign Policy; Trump Tariffs and the Future of the World Economy; U.S.-China Relations; Ruptured Alliances and the Risk of Nuclear Proliferation; Ukraine and the Future of European Security; Multilateral Institutions in a Changing World Order; U.S. Engagement of Africa; and the Future of Human Rights and International Law.

For further information and to register, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.

Speaker Addresses AI Challenges November 7

Patricia Ingalls

Here’s a reminder: On Friday, Nov. 7, at 7 p.m., in PebbleCreek’s Renaissance Theater, Gary Marchant will explain the rapid growth of artificial intelligence and provide examples of its beneficial uses in health care and other fields. He’ll also review AI’s challenges, such as concerns for safety, bias, privacy, national security and employment, and how individuals and organizations can respond.

Marchant, Ph.D., J.D., M.P.P., is a professor and faculty director for the Center for Law, Science & Innovation at ASU. His research interests include the governance of multiple emerging technologies. A prolific published author, he has served on seven National Academies of Science consensus committees (chairing two), and is a lifetime member of the American Law Institute, among other honors.

The theater is equipped with a hearing-loop system, which is a special type of sound system for people who use hearing aids. For full details, and to register for this $15 evening Premier presentation, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.