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News from CALL March 2021
Sketch by Andrea Dosne, member of the Sketch Club Interest Group
CALL Events in March
Check the CALL website for details of the following events. Registration is required for all these online events. You must be a member to register.
March 2, 7:30 – 9:00pm Science and Environment
Coal Mining on the Eastern Slopes
Panel Discussion
The UCP government announced the return of the 1976 Coal Development Policy in the face of broad and vocal opposition from all segments of Alberta's population. Does this mean our concerns over the environmental and aesthetic damage surface coal mines inflict on our beloved foothills can be laid to rest? Likely not! Many people are still concerned over the government's intentions and the status of existing leases. We have assembled three distinguished experts to help clarify these concerns in a panel discussion.
Photo: CBC News
Panelists:
Professor Jim Byrne, Geography Dept., University of Lethbridge
Professor Nigel Bankes,(Ret) Law Faculty, University of Calgary
Kevin Van Tighem, environmentalist
For more information and to register go to the Science and Environment page.
March 4 – April 15, 7:30 – 9:00pm (7 Thursdays) CALL Geocaching 101
Geocaching is a family orientated, outdoor, global ‘treasure’ hunt using a portable GPS enabled device (i.e., smart phone). This open-learning ‘course’ provides basic education and training enabling a person to find geocaches near their home and anywhere in the world.
For more information and to register go to the CALL Geocaching 101 page.
March 5, 1:00 – 3:00pm The Perils of Dogmatic Certainty in Uncertain Times
a talk by Judy Johnson
An experienced psychotherapist and the author of two books and various publications on dogmatism, Judy says that as far as she can tell, dogmatism isn't going away anytime soon.
For more information and to register go to the The Perils of Dogmatic Certainty in Uncertain Times page.
March 10, 1:00 – 3:00pm Health and Wellness
Is There a Future for Long-term Care?
Presenter: Pat Armstrong, Distinguished Research Professor in Sociology at York University and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
The crisis that has unfolded in long-term care has led to call for its elimination. While alternatives are important to promote, many will still need and want such care so we need to think through how we can make long-term care as good as it can be- a positve place to live, work and visit.
For more information and to register go to the Health and Wellness page.
March 17, 7:30pm Treks and Travels
Oaxaca Mexico: The Day of the Dead
Presenters: Owen Tobert and Paul Fesko
"To live in the hearts we leave behind is not to die." The Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos in Spanish) is celebrated throughout Mexico. It is a multi-day holiday where family remember friends and family members who have died.
For more information and to register go to the Treks and Travels page.
March 20, 9:30 – 11:00am. Ukefest 2021
We are going ONLINE this year! Our Festival Workshops will be once a month from January to June, 2021. (For this event only, membership is not required.)
March 20 workshop: Barry Luft: Ukulele Players as Emerging Musicians
This workshop is for song accompanists. It will cover a host of subjects and musical concepts pointing the way for the uke player to develop a high standard of musicianship. What will not be covered are advanced chords, strums, or lead playing.
Pre-requisite: An introductory course and ability to play in the Key of C.
For more information and to register go to the Ukefest 2021 page.
Interest Groups Looking for New Members
If you are looking for a group to join, check out the Interest Group page and note which groups are accepting new members. For example, the very popular World Events 3 is now open for new members. For details and to contact the facilitator check out the Interest Group page.
CALL Board Corner
Conjure an image to match the phrase ‘Board of Directors’. What comes to mind? Elegant Board rooms; office towers; stacks of reports; people in business suits giving Power Point presentations about the global economic situation; heated discussions about markets and money? Those images may be true of some Boards in some places, but it doesn’t exactly match the reality of the CALL Board of Directors. Our Board is made up of dedicated fellow CALL volunteers who currently meet monthly on Zoom from home offices, living rooms and kitchens to share ideas and make decisions to keep CALL dynamic, relevant and running smoothly. Yes, the discussions sometimes involve markets (learning opportunities for members) and money (membership fees; rent for facilities), but always with the goal of maintaining a thriving organization for all members.
Members are always welcome to attend Board meetings as guests. Just email executive@calgarylifelonglearners.ca with your request.
And if you are interested in finding out more about the nuts and bolts of the organization, there is a tab on the website Home Page, About CALL and another tab Resources. Click on that tab for Member Only Resources where you can see CALL Policies and Procedures; CALL Bylaws; and CALL Organization Roles. You must be logged in to view Member Only items.
Board Policy re: Recording and Posting of CALL Events
Zoom technology has enabled CALL to continue to provide Interest Group meetings, Speaker Events and Conferences despite the restrictions on in-person meeting. As always, this new technology has opened new opportunities but also has made us aware of some possible issues and potential risks to the organization. Zoom technology makes it possible to record meetings and events. However, there are potential legal and financial ramifications. Board members discussed these issues and met with our insurance provider who informed us that CALL’s insurance would not cover copyright infringement. Copyright law is evolving and complicated and infringements can lead to very expensive resolutions. The Board determined that the most prudent solution is to prohibit recording of CALL events. The new policy can be found in Policies and Procedures, posted on the website (Members only access) and reads as follows:
Recording of CALL Programs and Events
There are to be no recordings of any CALL sponsored events except for the purposes of taking minutes and there is to be no posting of any kind.
If you have questions about this policy – or any other – please contact executive@calgarylifelonglearners.ca.
Science and Environment Speaker Series
By Barbara Decker Pierce
One of the bright lights during this winter of COVID shutdown has been CALL’s Science and Environment Series. On January 5 CBC’s popular radio host Jay Ingram offered an overview of how science is helping better understand Alzheimer’s disease. A timely and important topic since it seems this illness touches so many of us these days.
On February 2, Madison Sovilow introduced us to the developing field of carbon capture use and storage (CCUS). Rather than releasing carbon dioxide into the environment there is growing interest in discovering ways to use CO2 as an input to alternative products. Her company is incorporating the harmful gas into concrete and creating other commercial products for industrial users and consumers. Not only was Madison’s talk interesting, but it was encouraging to learn about actual efforts to reduce greenhouse gases from an enthusiastic and committed young Calgary company.
We would like to thank CALL volunteers Joe Boivin and Tom Jack for the work they do in arranging these speakers and to Wayne Marshall and Richard Farrand from the ZOOM help team for their help in streaming them into our living rooms. For their next series event on March 2 they have arranged an expert panel to explore the issue of Coal Mining on the Eastern Slopes of the Rockies, a controversial but important issue for the future of our Province. Check out What’s Happening in March on the CALL website to register.
‘Fake News’ and the Future of Democracy
A Community Conference via Zoom
Friday evening, May 7; Saturday morning, May 8; Saturday morning, May 15.
Advances in technology have enabled citizens to become better informed than ever before; however, they have also made it increasingly difficult to distinguish fact from fiction: ‘Fake news’ is becoming a growth industry. This conference will explore the ‘fake news’ phenomenon with a view to assessing its possible impacts on democratic institutions, and to providing participants with tools to combat the tsunami of distortions coming our way.
The Program will feature:
A keynote address: Fact or Faux? On the Crisis of News and Democracy in a Tweet-As-You-Go Era by Dr. Maria Bakardjieva, Professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film, University of Calgary, a specialist in media and democracy
An expert panel
- Dr. Brooks DeCillia, national reporter for CBC, and a postdoctoral fellow in the Dept. of Political Science, U. of C.
- Kim Groome, Information Specialist, Taylor Family Digital Library, U. of C.
- James Murphy, Student Learning and Engagement Librarian, U. of C.
- Dr. Gillian Steward, Calgary-based journalist, regular columnist for the Toronto Star, and journalism instructor, MRU
- Dr. David Swann, Calgary physician, former Alberta MLA, and former Leader of the Alberta Liberal Party.
Q & A
Facilitator-led discussion groups
ALL are welcome. Come join the conversation!
Cost: $20
More information is available on the ‘Fake News’ and the Future of Democracy page
This community conference is open to all, CALL members and non-members. Space is limited so register soon.
CALLing all Writers and Visual Artists
Do you have a story to tell? Are you a poet, an essayist, a short story author, a visual artist? Bishop’s University Lifelong Learning Academy (BULLA) is compiling a collection of works that explore the themes of hope and resilience in the time of COVID.
Hope and Resilience Under Covid-19 will be published as both a paperback and an e-book in summer, 2021. All genres welcome: fiction, memoir, haiku, flash fiction, photography, drawings, paintings. Deadline for submissions March 20, 2021. For more information, download the project announcement and the submission details.
Your CALL Newsletter
The CALL Newsletter is our way to communicate what is going on in our community. Usually we communicate to members about upcoming events, however, since all CALL gatherings are postponed for an undetermined period of time, we decided to use the newsletters as a way to ‘peek behind the curtain of CALL’, to give some general information about CALL groups and members.
You are invited to send your ideas and suggestions for future issues to newsletter@calgarylifelonglearners.ca. Let us know what your Interest Groups are doing and your strategies for coping with this situation in which the whole world finds itself. We reserve the right to edit for length and clarity; not every submission will necessarily be published.
Meanwhile, be well, stay well in every sense of the word.