Thanks to our volunteers
Ruth Shaffer
LifeLong Learning (LLL) volunteers devoted many hours during the summer to preparing for the 2019-20 season. While the lecture, trip, and classes teams finalized locales and subjects, the special programs team finalized the LLL guitar group programs, TED Talks, the Sunday Series, and PC Reads. Writing, editing, proofing, and publishing the LLL website and SCHEDULE involve many people. LLL thanked these volunteers who work behind the scenes at a lunch at the LLL Center on Sept. 28.
Luke Lottery—a one in 226 chance!
Sue Roth
The Luke Lottery was held on Sept. 26 at the Renaissance Theater, and 28 names were drawn by Bill Barnard, general manager of PebbleCreek. He also drew 15 more names for a wait list from the 226 people who submitted their names for a chance to attend the only Luke Air Force Base trip this season. The lottery was deemed the fairest way to fill this popular trip.
If you missed winning the lottery, there is still another way to get on the base. Luke Days 2020 will take place on March 21 and 22, 2020. The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds demonstration team will headline Luke Air Force Base’s biennial air show. For more information, visit the Luke Days website at www.luke.af.mil/Luke-Days-2020.
Discover Monday Morning Lectures
Lorna Bray
From the opium wars in the 1800s to the trade war of the current decade, China’s relationship with the United States has been like a roller coaster. Professor Emeritus Stephen MacKinnon will be in PebbleCreek at 10 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 4, to discuss the relationship in more recent decades, beginning with normalization of ties in the 1970s. He will review the evolving state of links between the U.S. and the People’s Republic of China, as the two nations established closer cultural, political, and economic links in the 1980s and 90s.
Everyone is affected by the U.S. relationship with China, so plan to attend the Nov. 4 lecture to hear Professor Stephen MacKinnon discuss this relationship during recent decades.
Jim Turner, one of PebbleCreek’s most popular speakers, returns Nov. 11 to present “150 Years of Arizona Photography.” He will make Arizona’s land and its people come alive with the work of celebrated photographers. Turner, a noted historian, has previously lectured on the Oatman Girls, Pancho Villa, movies filmed in Arizona, and other topics.
Monday Morning Lectures are in the Renaissance Theater at 10 a.m. Tickets to all lectures are $5 at the door.
Premier Lecture season debuts
Lorna Bray
LifeLong Learning’s (LLL) Premier Lecture series opens at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 8, as Steve Chealander, a PebbleCreek resident, makes a return appearance after a packed Monday Morning lecture two years ago.
Chealander will share stories about his service as a military aide to President Reagan. In this role, he carried “the Football,” worked as the presidential emergency actions officer, and served as ceremonial aide and personal aide to the president when required.
Chealander’s career included 22 years of military service in the United States Air Force, where he achieved the rank of colonel and has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. Following his retirement from the military, he served as an American Airlines pilot, board member on the National Transportation Safety Board, and vice president of Training and Flight Operations Support for Airbus Americans.
Chealander commits significant time to the Reagan Presidential Library, regularly participating in various events and keynote speaking engagements.
Tickets for this lecture are $15 and can be purchased at the door, online at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or at the LLL center.
Have you been to the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM)?
Sue Roth
One visit to the Musical Instrument Museum is just never enough. Enjoy a coach bus ride to the museum on Jan. 15, 2020, and experience a guided and self-guided tour and lunch. You can set your own pace for the day. MIM uses audio and video technologies that allow you to see the instruments, hear their sounds, and observe them being played in their original contexts. You will have a wireless headset to wear throughout the museum.
There’s interactive, hands-on fun in the Experience Gallery, while in the Artist Gallery, you can see instruments from music icons such as Elvis Presley and Pablo Casals and watch videos of them performing. In the Mechanical Music Gallery, you’ll experience instruments that play themselves.
After a tour guide leads you through the first hour of your visit, you may redeem a voucher for lunch on site at Café Allegro. The casual, self-serve café prepares foods from scratch using fresh, local ingredients. After lunch, continue to enjoy the museum and the Museum Store at your own pace.
Register now for our Jan. 15, 2020 trip at www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or go to the LifeLong Learning Center. While on the website, explore all the other trips, classes, and lectures being offered.
Important LifeLong Learning (LLL) news and dates
Ruth Shaffer
Events with * are free but require registration, which opens 30 days prior to the event.
The LLL center office hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, from 9 a.m. to noon. The
center will be closed Nov. 26 through 29 and will reopen on Dec. 3.
*PC Reads Nov. 7 Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult at 5 p.m. (FULL)
*PC Reads Dec. 5 The Book of Joy by Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu at 5 p.m.
*TED Talks Nov. 14, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
*TED Talks Dec. 12, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
*Sunday Series Jan. 26, 2002, at 2 p.m. Dan Reed and his Hot Shots play Dixieland jazz
*Guitar Group Nov. 6 – Songs of the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s and ’80s – (FULL)
*Guitar Group Dec. 18 – Songs of Christmas at 3:30 p.m.
Guitar Group drop in meetings – Nov. 13 and 27 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
For more information, visit www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or call the LLL center at 623-535-8875.
LifeLong Learning classes fill quickly
Carole Korzilius
Lifelong Learning (LLL) classes begin Nov. 12, when Kathy Oakey, an Arizona Master Gardener, will tell us about “Growing Vegetables in Arizona.” This will be followed by Sandra Hickman on Nov. 13, who will describe the “Medical Uses of CBD Oil,” a marijuana derivative without the negative effects of the host plant. Then on the 14th, Thompson Flowers design specialists will return to guide Creekers through the process of creating their own centerpieces with Arizona succulents.
Also, check out the pasta and baguettes classes taught by our own PebbleCreek experts. These groups meet in residents’ homes, and so they are always small and usually fully subscribed.
Other practical classes include “Car Buying 101” with popular returning speaker Michael Will from AAA on Nov. 21, “Interior Design for Seniors” on Nov. 20, and “Get Organized: Downsizing for Seniors” on Jan. 9, 2020.
Arizona history buffs will want to check out the Jan. 22 “Harvey Girls” class with Dr. Diane Cheney. The Harvey girls not only served patrons of Fred Harvey’s railroad, but they often married and contributed to the settling of the West. Mary Colter, for instance, was a Harvey girl who went on to design trails and lodges at the Grand Canyon exactly one hundred years ago!
The ever-popular Great Decisions series runs for eight weeks and will meet in five groups this season.
Other 2020 topics include Climate Change and the Global Order, India and Pakistan, Red Sea Security, Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, U.S. Relations with the Northern Triangle, China’s Road into Latin America, The Philippines and the U.S, and Artificial Intelligence and Data. Please check the website for the few remaining spaces.
Check the LLL website www.lifelonglearningatpc.org or the 2019-20 SCHEDULE for the full list of classes offered through March 30. Registration is required and can be done online or at the LLL Center, which is open Tuesdays through Fridays, 9 a.m. to noon.