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News From CALL October 2023
Long Lens Sunset
Photo by Henri Walhout, Faciltator, Digital Photography Interest Group. The group welcomes new members.
President’s Report – September/October 2023
-Linda Flanagan, President CALL Board of Directors
Signs of autumn are all around us, including at CALL. Our busy schedule of programs is ramping up. There are new Interest Groups and Study Programs being offered and many other groups are continuing and are welcoming new members. Our monthly Speaker Series – Science and Environment, CALL Café, Treks and Travels and Health and Wellness – have really interesting presenters booked. All speaker events are open to all CALL members. Some of these events are also available to the public at a cost of $5 and others invite members to bring guests. Some require pre-registration and others don’t. Explore our website for details.
Changes are also coming to the Board of Directors. At our upcoming Annual and Special General Meeting on October 16, we will elect our new Board – including a new President.
It has been a real honour to serve as your President this past year. I have loved meeting so many members, attending special celebrations and helping to make decisions that ensure CALL will continue to thrive and grow. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.
I encourage all members to attend the AGM, on Zoom, on Monday, October 16 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. For more details and to register go to the Governance page.
September Events
Not so Common Law
Bail Reform Part II
Monday, September 25th, 1:00–3:00pm on Zoom
Facilitator: Jim Conway, CALL member and retired lawyer.
Some politicians are calling for substantial changes to the bail system ostensibly to make our cities safer. "There have been a growing number of calls for changes to prevent accused persons, who are out on bail, from committing further criminal acts," reads a recent letter from 13 provincial premiers to the Prime Minister. "The justice system fundamentally needs to keep anyone who poses a threat to public safety off the streets.”
For more information and to register for this Interest Group if you are not already a member, go to the Not so Common Law page
October Events
New Speaker Series: Health and Wellness
Cancer Care, New Technologies and Calgary’s New Cancer Centre
Monday, October 2, 1:30 – 3:00pm
Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, 4612 Varsity Drive NW
Speaker: Dr. Don Morris, Clinical Department Head of Oncology and Facility Medical Director Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre
The Health and Wellness Speaker Series will open the fall season on Monday, Oct. 2nd with an in-person talk by Dr. Don Morris of the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre, Calgary’s new cancer center. Dr. Morris is University of Calgary’s Department head of Oncology and the cancer centre’s Facility Medical Director. His talk at the Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church will focus on the new technologies involved in comprehensive cancer care.
The public is welcome to attend for a fee of $5.
Future Speakers: Other speakers coming up this year will be on arthritis in November and sleep in January.
Science and Environment
Alzheimer’s Disease – We’re Getting There
Tuesday, October 3, 7:30–9:30pm Online via Zoom
Speaker Jay Ingram
In 2022 Jay Ingram gave a presentation to CALL entitled, Alzheimer’s Disease – We’re Getting There. The talk was very well received. This year he returned to CALL as a speaker in our Science and Environment Lecture Series with a presentation entitled, De-Extinction at the end of which he offered to return to give us on update on his 2022 talk. This offer was enthusiastically endorsed by a number of Zoom participants on-line. His update will be the first talk in our fall lecture series.
Jay Ingram has hosted two national science programs in Canada, Quirks and Quarks on CBC radio and Daily Planet on Discovery Channel Canada. He is a prolific author whose books have been translated into 15 languages, has six honorary degrees and is a member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society. His twentieth book, The Future of Us, will be coming out on October 3 – the day of his talk as it happens. He will be appearing as co-host in a podcast, Defy Dementia, the first four episodes of which will be available this fall.
Registration is required. Go to the Science and Environment page.
CALL Café
Building a Welcoming Community: Empowering Immigrant Women in Calgary
Monday, October 16, 1:00–3:00pm
Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, 4612 Varsity Drive NW
Speaker: Paula Calderon, CEO of the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association
Join us for the next CALL Café: “Building a Welcoming Community: Empowering Immigrant Women in Calgary”. Paula Calderon, CEO of the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association, will discuss the challenges, barriers and accomplishments of women who arrive in Canada from all around the world. During the presentation, we will also hear an inspiring immigration story from one of CIWA’s clients, highlighting the tangible impact of CIWA's mission. Together, they will showcase how CIWA empowers immigrant women and fosters inclusivity within the community, ultimately making a significant difference in the lives of newcomers. Gain insights into the future of immigrant integration in Canada with us.
Presentation and refreshments: October 16, 1–3pm at Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, Scott Hall. Open to members and their guests. Registration is required. For more information and to register go to the CALL Café page.
Speaker Event
Demystifying Our Changing World: A Conversation around Gender and Sexuality
Wednesday, October 18, 9:30–11:30am.
Room 310, cSPACE Marda Loop
Changes in our culture's understanding of gender and sexuality have prompted changes in many areas of society (language, education, sports and the arts). Are you curious or confused by these changes?
If so, this workshop is for you. You do not need to be an expert. We are here to explore together. In a comfortable, respectful environment, we will talk about the meanings of gender, sex, and sexual orientation. We will discover simple and powerful ways to increase our understanding and make our spaces more inclusive and safer for people of all genders and sexualities.
Please join us for this informative workshop facilitated by the Centre for Sexuality
For more information about the workshop and to register, go to Speaker Events.
Treks & Travels
Journeying Across the Globe: A Dive into “Travelling Tuesdays”
Wednesday, October 18, 7:30–9:00pm
Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church, 4612 Varsity Drive NW
Speaker: Lucy Graham
Lucy Graham, a retired teacher and handbell ringer from Lethbridge, AB, is now a published author. She wrote a book called Travelling Tuesdays. In it, Lucy shares stories about many of the countries she has been able to visit all over the world.
Lucy will share personal highlights of her travel adventures while visiting with family and friends, taking school breaks from teaching, or joining others who enjoy the art of playing handbells.
Come join the Calgary Association of Lifelong Learners on October 18th to learn new and interesting things about each country and discover life in fascinating places in each of the continents Lucy has visited.
Members of the public are welcome to attend at a cost of $5
You’re Invited!
CALL’s all-female Readers Theatre is inviting you to a performance over Zoom. We’ll be presenting three plays focusing on women. If you have a family cottage, you should come just to find out what happens in Summer’s End. In the spirit of the 21st century, women play all the roles in Trifles a play written in 1918 but very relevant today.
The performance will take place on Friday October 27 at 10:30am and last approximately 45 minutes. Please look out for the Zoom invitation to this event.
November Events
Please Note:
Date change for November’s Treks and Travels:
Now Wednesday, November 22 at the usual time and place - 7:30 to 9:00 at Varsity Acres Presbyterian Church
This replaces the usual “third Wednesday of the month”
Science and Environment
The State of the Energy Transition: Realities and Challenges
Tuesday, November 7, 7:30–9:00pm on Zoom
Speaker: Aaron Foyer, Founder of ENERGYminute
“We have experienced many energy transitions in the past that can help us better understand the one we are living through. In our current transition, there are two polarizing narratives about the future, the reality is somewhere in the middle.”
Aaron is an energy transition researcher with the ARC Energy Research Institute, an arm of the private equity firm ARC Financial. He is also the founder and president of ENERGYminute, a modern newsletter and media company covering energy.
Registration is required. You must be a current CALL member to register.
To register go to the Science and Environment page.
New Interest Groups
Portrait Drawing with Conté
Artist and retired high school art instructor, Peter Greendale, will facilitate a new Interest Group where participants will use Conté sticks to produce portaits drawn from a reference photo. The group will meet one time only – Saturday, November 4 from 1:00–2:30pm in Room 310 at cSpace Marda Loop. For registration information go to the Portrait Drawing with Conté page.
Read It Again
What are avid readers to do but start a CALL group? But what should its theme be? How about a group which gave us a chance to re-read a classic? It would be an opportunity to consider the chosen novel from a fresh perspective. How to choose the novel? We decided we’d offer the potential members of the group a chance to vote on the following novels: Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre; Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary; John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath and Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. The successful novel will provide us with a lively and thought-provoking discussion.
Why don’t you join us? Go to the Read It Again page to register.
Sandra Ens and Sally Shah
Volunteers Needed
Volunteers are the life blood of CALL and the treasurer requires a new member to serve on CALL’s Finance Committee and to aid in next year’s financial review. The committee meets 4 times per year via Zoom and helps set financial policies for CALL including investment parameters, best financial practices and input on a 5 year plan. Although our next meeting isn’t until December, joining now would allow you a sneak peek at the process for the financial review currently being conducted by the two member “auditors” for the 2022-23 fiscal year. Accounting or bookkeeping experience would be helpful but is not crucial. The current treasurer, Cathy Martin, will even buy you a coffee to talk more about the opportunity and what it might entail. Don’t delay – email treasurer@calgarylifelonglearners.ca today and help talk dollars and sense with the treasurer!
Did You Know?
CALL Newsletters are Always a Click Away!
A CALL Newsletter is posted on the website every month with news about upcoming events, Interest Groups and general information for CALL members. On the day it is posted, an email goes out to all CALL members with a link to the newsletter. But you can access the newsletter any time by going to the CALL website, click on the Latest Edition link under Newsletters. Or click on Archived Editions to access newsletters from the last three years!
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
The newsletter group has decided to return to posting once a month. The posting dates for 2023-24 are:
- October 20
- November 17
- December 15
- January 19
- February 16
- March 22
- April 19
- May 24
- June 21
- August 23
Meanwhile, be well, stay well in every sense of the word.