Volunteers Keep LLL Vibrant
Tim Pisarski
As we end LifeLong Learning’s (LLL) 2023-24 season, we know that volunteers are what make LLL special. We appreciate our volunteers’ contributions and value their past participation. We have almost 70 volunteers who have worked hard to plan, organize, and produce the award-winning classes, trips, and speaker-series events for our community.
As we move into planning for next season, we are updating our volunteer rosters and making certain that all our teams are fully staffed. We need help with the following teams: Audio Visual/Sound Technical Support, Classes, Communication and Marketing, Community Outreach, Finance, Speaker Series, Lobby, and Trips. All our teams depend on volunteers to function effectively and provide our award-winning programs to our PebbleCreek community.
Thank you to our Volunteer Team Co-Chairs Pam O’Shea and Jill Burnham for all their good work this season. If you are interested in learning more about volunteering for LLL, please email Pam O’Shea at [email protected] or Jill Burnham at [email protected].
Again, thank you to our volunteers! We look forward to working with you and making new friends this coming season.
Search for Objective Truth
Bill Nee
Earlier this year, Lifelong Learning hosted a Premier speaker on artificial intelligence. He shared that AI has the ability now to create deep fakes that are difficult to discern from reality. In the years ahead, everyone needs to challenge the validity of sources of information.
This month’s TED Talk by Michael Lynch, who writes and teaches on concerns of truth, democracy, public discourse, and the ethics of technology, shares ways to validate sources of information.
What is truth and why does it matter? Does information technology help or hinder its pursuit? How do we encourage more productive public discourse?
The more we read and watch online, the harder it becomes to tell the difference between what is real and what is fake. It is as if we know more, but understand less, Lynch says.
In his talk, titled, “How to see past your own perspective and find truth,” Lynch dares us to take active steps to burst our filter bubbles and live in the common reality. To do this, we need to want to believe in truth, have humility and expand our world view. He points out that democracies cannot survive, if their citizens do not strive to believe in truth.
To view this 14-minute talk, go to TED.com, click “watch” in the header, then “TED Talks,” then in “Search talks” input “How to see past your own perspective and find truth,” scroll a little lower, and click on the talk you selected.
Class Coming on Monarch Butterflies
Pat Ingalls
Angela Bergelt, a nature enthusiast and amateur bird photographer, will teach a class on all aspects of monarch butterflies and efforts in the Southwest to track and support their migration to Mexico and coastal California.
Bergelt’s class will be held Tuesday, May 7, at 1 p.m. She is actively involved in tagging monarch butterflies as part of the Southwest Monarch Study. She’ll tell participants about:
* Migration patterns
* Challenges facing monarchs
* Tagging practices
* How to become a citizen scientist
* Ways to encourage monarchs into their yards by creating monarch-friendly habitat
* Best practices for maintaining a monarch butterfly garden (monarch waystation)
For full details and to register, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.