Discover CL&L — an independent nonprofit school for people 55+. For detailed course information, schedules, and how to enroll online, visit: The Center for Learning and Living. Upcoming lectures include:

Women at Midlife and Beyond: What Research Reveals, with Diane Okrent and Deborah Ferro Burke

Diane and Deborah have conducted research over the past quarter century with more than a thousand women from their 50s into their 80s. They looked at women’s lives over time: personal development, family life, careers, aspirations, losses, and the world around us. The studies create snapshots of life at different ages, as well as a long-term picture. The stories they’ll discuss in this session will inform both women and men about their own lives and can lead to further exploration of the choices we make as we age.

Poetry for Pleasure in the Winter, with Barry Wallenstein

These lectures with discussion will involve close readings of poems – classic, modern, and contemporary. Our aim is to listen to the sound poems make. What makes a successful language performance? We will discuss these works’ emotional truth, unity of expression, and attention-holding, pleasure-providing use of language. Barry Wallenstein is the author of 12 collections of poetry, most recently It’s About Time, as well as Time on the Move and Tony’s Blues (bilingual French and English).

What Do You Think? Discussion with Bill Goldman

This course is a group discussion of current events, focusing on significant economic, social, and political issues in the news. A few key articles from major newspapers and journals will be sent to students in advance to read so we can come to talk about our views on the subjects. We want to hear what you think! Bill Goldman has led current events discussion courses at SUNY New Paltz and Bard Lifelong Learning Institute and retired as a foreign service officer at the US Agency for International Development.

The Beatles’ Final Years 1968-1970, with Scott McLaren

We’ll discuss the Beatles’ search for greater meaning via Transcendental Meditation, followed by their formation of and motivation for Apple Corps, their business venture. We’ll explore the music of “The Beatles” (aka White) album, the “Get Back” sessions, and their swansong album, “Abbey Road.” Lastly, we’ll end with events leading to and finalizing their break-up. The Beatles changed pop music and, more broadly, the culture in their home country and the world. This is a follow-up to the fall semester class, where we discussed the Beatles’ rise to fame and the subsequent Beatlemania that spread across Britain, the USA, and beyond. This course continues their story, discussing the impact of touring, their changing relationship with the press and audience, the influence of drugs, Bob Dylan, and the Beatles’ wives/girlfriends.

Part #1: The music of Rubber Soul (1965) and Revolver (1966), and how the use of the studio and how their music was changing.

Part #2: The impact of their no longer touring, how each band member explored solo projects, the changing roles within the band, and their manager Brian Epstein’s death. We’ll also delve into the inspiration for and music of Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album (1967) and the Magical Mystery Tour film/EP.

Using Them Up: Making Leftovers Taste Like New, with Jacquie Ottman

With attention focused today on cutting down on food waste, it’s the perfect time to take a new look at the power to transform leftovers. Forget Jell-O molds and mystery meat! Jacquie presents new approaches inspired by international cuisines to save money and cut down on climate emissions by “shopping the fridge” and reinventing what’s left over from last night’s dinner into something different and delicious. She’ll describe seven dishes that have been used throughout time as perfect containers for the “bibs and bobs” that remain after a meal. She’ll also provide recipes created by celebrity chefs who love to repurpose their own leftovers. Do you have your own recipes and tips – ones from your family or that you’ve come up with by yourself that you’d like to share? Jacquie is a food waste advocate, culinary historian, past chair of the Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Board, founder of WeHateToWaste.com, and author of The New Rules of Green Marketing.