News From CALL Mid‑November 2021

A poppy field in France; photo by Gail Kingwell

News From CALL

Land Acknowledgement Statement

The Board of CALL has set up a small committee to develop a land acknowledgement statement which can be used at CALL events. The group will be looking at both the wording of a statement and criteria for its use. This is part of a larger initiative to increase Indigenous programming and to contribute to efforts at reconciliation. The group hopes to have a statement endorsed by the Board early in the winter term. If you have any suggestions on the statement or criteria, please pass them along to program@calgarylifelonglearners.ca.

Coming Events

Check the CALL website for details of the following events. Registration is required for all these events. You must be a member to register. Join or renew your membership now and watch for email announcements for programs and events.

All In Person, Indoor CALL programs suspended until further notice. Most Programs will continue on Zoom.

For Zoom events, please register at least a couple of hours before an event to ensure the registration confirmation email with the event link arrives in your inbox in time.

November Events

Medieval History – Weather or Not

The current sessions of Medieval History – Weather or Not are now full. Interested members can sign up to be on the Wait List if repeat sessions are offered.

Treks and Travels
Southeast Asia: Vietnam, Cambodia & Singapore

Wednesday, November 17, 7:30 – 9:00pm. Online via Zoom
Presenters: Rosemary Kennedy and Selim Sayegh

Discover the history and culture of Southeast Asia through photos and commentary. This travel presentation includes visits to major cities, World Heritage sites, natural areas and historic locales. Catch a glimpse of local people on the streets and in the markets.

Rosemary and Selim spent three weeks travelling in a small group and independently. They are eager to share their experiences of ancient temples, ultra-modern cities and natural wonders.

For more information and to register, go to the Treks and Travels page.

NOTE: Treks and Travels has a full contingent of presentations coming your way for 2022 except for the months of October and November. Please contact travel@calgarylifelonglearners.ca if you are interested.

Not So Common Law

Monday, November 22, 1:00 – 3:00pm on Zoom

Topic: The “Notwithstanding clause” in Canada’s constitution allows governments to enact controversial legislation which would otherwise be contrary to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms – a third party election spending law aimed at unions (Ontario) – public servants prohibited from wearing religious symbols (Quebec) – preventing same-sex marriages (Alberta). What is this law and how does it affect your constitutional rights?

If you are new to Not So Common Law, please register with the Facilitator, in order to get the Zoom link. If you have already registered for an earlier session you do not need to re-register for this or future sessions. The Zoom link will be sent out via email before the session.

There will not be a NSCL session in December – too close to Christmas. We will be resuming in January, 2022.

For more information and to register go to the Not So Common Law page.

December Events

Lessons from a Pandemic: Building Resiliency through Lifelong Learning

Tuesday, December 7. 1:00 – 2:30pm on Zoom
Presenter: Sarah Meilleur

Curious about how other organizations have met the challenges of lifelong learning during a pandemic? Wondering what CALL might learn from their experience? Join Sarah Meilleur, new CEO of the Calgary Public Library, as she reflects on the steps the library has taken and the lessons it has learned about lifelong learning during a pandemic.

For more information and to register for Lessons from a Pandemic: Building Resiliency through Lifelong Learning, go to the Speaker Events page.

Interest Groups With Room for New Members

Writing Fiction

Do you have a draft or two of a story in a desk drawer or on your computer? Have you plotted out a mystery or a cliff-hanger novel? What about eavesdropping in a coffee shop and creating stories around the characters? Every writer needs a reader! Would you like to work on your stories in a supportive group? CALL has a Fiction Writing group that is welcoming new members. They meet once a month on Zoom to share ideas, provide tips for self-editing, develop methods of building characters, and converting experiences of observations into engaging story plots.

For more information and to contact facilitator Fern Phillips, go to the Writing Fiction page.

CALL's Process for Creating New Programs

By Adrienne Kertzer, Special Programming & Barbara Decker Pierce, Programs

Have you ever wished that CALL would offer an interest group on a certain topic or invite a specific speaker to address that topic? Here's the process to make your dreams come true.

First, you will be asked: "Are you willing to facilitate or find someone else who agrees to facilitate?" If the answer is yes and you want to establish an interest group, the relevant Coordinator from the Program Committee will guide you through the process. If the answer is yes and you want to organize a speaker event, the Chair of Special Programming will assist you. Such assistance includes helping you put together the webpage information, submitting it to the web team, and in the case of speaker events, connecting you to the appropriate Zoom Help.

If the answer is no, your proposal is brought to the Program Committee to see if one of the coordinators is willing to find a facilitator. If no one steps forward, but the committee believes the idea is promising, then a story is placed in the Newsletter to see if there is a member who is willing to facilitate.

You don't need a fairy godmother to make your dreams come true. And you definitely don't need Zoom expertise. All you need is a willingness to volunteer. If you have an idea for an interest group, contact Barbara Decker Pierce. If you want to invite a speaker, contact Adrienne Kertzer.

Do You Miss CALL Café?

Prior to the pandemic, CALL cafés were held on the second Monday afternoon of each month. CALL is interested in reintroducing the cafés, but in order to do so, we need volunteers to join a CALL Café organizing committee. Although we are not certain when in-person events will return, you do not need Zoom expertise to volunteer for this committee.

We are seeking volunteers who:

• have ideas for speakers, and/or
• are willing to contact possible speakers, and /or
• can assist with the background work for organizing events and/or
• are comfortable serving occasionally as mc and/or moderator.

We hope that by getting several volunteers to form a committee, the work involved to get CALL Cafés going again will be manageable. To volunteer, and for more information, contact Adrienne Kertzer or Linda Flanagan.

The Bike Shed – Part of Calgary Men’s Shed Group

By Merv Graham, Co-facilitator of Men’s Sheds Interest Group.

Do you know that CALL has a Men’s Sheds Interest Group? This was the first Men’s Shed in Calgary – there are now three! Do you know what happens inside the shed? One of the group's facilitators, Merv Graham, writes about one project they took on.

Bent Nielsen and bikes at the landfill	Steve Donaldson working on bikes at YYCKidsRide in Forest Lawn	The Bike Shed and bikes

In 2019, my Syrian students had told me about the Bike Lady, Gina Eaton, who sourced bikes from recycling events at community centres all over Calgary and redistributed them to refugee families with young children. I contacted her and suggested that Calgary Men’s Shed group (part of CALL) could get involved, especially using the resources at the Confederation Park 55+ Centre where we met. Several group members were interested. The Coordinator/Fundraising Manager at Confederation Park, Angela McIntyre, pulled in her father and another friend who promised funds for parts, bike repair tools and a bike stand. We were given a key to a storage shed at Confederation Park and started gathering bikes from various sources. Bent Nielsen got permission from the City to find useable bikes at landfills; several Calgary Men’s Shed members donated bikes and we gave bikes to Gina for the refugee families. As interest grew, we gave away bikes to seniors, Senior Centres, the Legion, people who had had their bikes stolen and of course to kids. We also started doing bike rides from the Centre, encouraging people to ride with us. We made plans for a big summer of 2020, but COVID hit us and we had to be cautious. Nevertheless, the demand for bikes increased as it was one way to be outdoors and get some exercise during COVID.

We gave about 35 bikes to the YYCKidsRide in Forest Lawn Community Centre for their annual giveaway. Steve Donaldson and I worked on bikes with members of the community centre. In June 450 bikes were given away to families at an event organized by Youth Skills Coordinator and former Sudanese refugee GarGar, assisted by several Calgary Police Service volunteers.

We continued working until July 2021 when sadly, the Confederation Park Centre closed permanently. We gave out about 60 bikes – and I still have 10 in my garage waiting for a new Bike Shed to be established. It has been a great effort on the part of Angela McIntyre and Confederation Park Centre in supporting us as well as the great group of supporters including Gina Eaton, Peter McIntyre, Bent Nielsen, Peter Ziriada, Steve Donaldson, myself and many others who contributed money, bikes, bike parts, and tools, plus the search for suitable kids and adults to get these recycled bikes. Recently Angela ran for councillor in Ward 4. Gina Eaton has retired from her Bike Lady role after giving out more than 1200 bikes over seven years of effort.

Read more about Gina’s Story in the Toronto Star.

If you are interested in more information about the Calgary Men’s Shed, go to the Men's Sheds page to contact the facilitator.

Time For Action!

From the Hags and Crones Group 1

Our Hags and Crones group is perturbed about the extra burden being placed on health care and other front line workers by the resistance of some individuals to measures for reducing the incidence of COVID in the community. We feel the time is ripe for a return to actions to recognize and appreciate those workers. Please join us in the following actions:

• Reboot the action of pot-banging in appreciation for front-line workers. Ring a bell, bang a drum, whack a pot! We suggest weekends (Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday) 7pm from November 5-December 31. And who knows, this loving and peaceful act of appreciation may expand and continue far beyond that time.
• Hang hearts in your window—get creative, or make it a fun activity to do with your grandchildren.
• Send a thank-you note to your health care worker, doctor, teacher, first responder, and anyone else you know who is feeling the impact of caring for us in trying circumstances.

Pass along these suggestions to your friends near and far. Let’s get a nation-wide (heck, world-wide!) movement going to thank those who, for nearly two years, have been working to keep us safe, even in the face of resistance.

Your CALL Newsletter

The CALL Newsletter is our way to communicate what is going on in our community. It's a way to highlight events of interest, ‘peek behind the curtain of CALL’ and 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. We reserve the right to edit submissions and to determine when submissions will be published.

CALL Newsletter dates for posting:

• November 12; 26
• December 17; 30 (NOTE: Dec 30 is Thursday)

Meanwhile, be well, stay well in every sense of the word.