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Hello and welcome to Focus on OLLI. What is OLLI? OLLI is a program at UNLV dedicated to active retired or semi-retired individuals who understand the importance of keeping themselves engaged. OLLI is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. Every month this program will dig into favorite classes, interesting teachers and members as well as special events offered through OLLI.
Announcer 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The
Wesley Knight 0:04
content of this program does not reflect the views or opinions of 91.5 jazz and more the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, or the Board of Regents of the Nevada System of Higher Education.
Keith McMillen 0:16
Hello and welcome to focus on Olli. Olli is a program at UNLV, dedicated to retired or semi retired individuals who remain engaged and active in civic activities and lifelong learning. Olli is the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at UNLV. Olli is made possible by support from the Bernard Osher Foundation, established by philanthropists Bernard and Barbara Osher with a mission to support lifelong learning, higher education and the arts. This series is designed to give you an in depth look at the Olli program and encourage you to join in the fun.
Ed Ort 0:54
Well, hello, I'm Ed Ort. I'm a student as well as an instructor at Olli. I want to welcome you to today's Olli podcast. You know, Olli offers classes on a wide variety of topics, ranging from art appreciation to health and wellness to music and theater to technology subjects to current events to personal developments and even more. These classes are led by a wonderful group of instructors who devote their time, energy and experience to making these classes interesting and entertaining. But did you know that we also invite guest speakers to many of our classes. These speakers are some of the innovative people who make Las Vegas the vibrant community that it is today. We have three Olli instructors, Sonia Feldberg, Beth Davis and Linda Edgeworth, who invite some of these excellent guest speakers to their classes. Let's find out about their classes and their guests. Let's start with you. Sonia, tell us about your class.
Sonia Feldberg 1:56
Hi, Ed, my class is jazz appreciation and more, I basically invite the community to come in and take over the class for the afternoon and tell us about their journey and what they've done and how they've become who they are today. And I've had some very interesting guests that were just amazing. I've been doing this for quite a few years, and has really had some great classes. A bunch of people here know Jonathan courant. He is He was an instructor, and because he got his schedule got a little demanding, I took over the class for him. So he comes in at least once a semester. He gracious, graciously, comes over into the room and takes over and sings and gives everybody a lesson on some art, some history of the art, of jazz, and we all love it. Also. We have Chadwick Johnson, who comes in, who's very active in the music community here, and I would have to say one or two very special guests, Brett Barrett from the Broadway world also comes in, and Clint Holmes, who graced our class, who is always a pleasure to have in the room.
Ed Ort 3:21
What's really great about your class, in addition to learning more about jazz from from these great speakers, is the fact that you get sort of like a free show. I mean, I recall fairly recently, Clint Holmes coming to your Yes,
Beth Davis 3:36
amazing.
Ed Ort 3:36
He was just wonderful.
Sonia Feldberg 3:38
He was
Ed Ort 3:39
he told a lot about his personal story, his life history, but boy, he was such a wonderful singer. It's great
Sonia Feldberg 3:46
he was. And he also read a bunch of excerpts from his book that will be coming out. So this was before anybody got to even hear it, or even knew that he was writing a book. So it was actually quite nice. And this semester that just passed, his wife came in Kelly Clinton homes and talked about her journey, sang, and then Clint joined her for a song at the end. So he surprised us to all. It was really very nice. And there's a lot of others that may not be as well known to the community, so we bring them in and get them acquainted. Another one that is very popular here at UNLV is Rita Lim and she comes in always very gracious, loves to do the class. More and more I have the local art community here, and the same community wanting to come in and asking to do the class. So it actually works out very well.
Ed Ort 4:47
Now, Linda, your class is quite different than Sonia's. You know, you've got guests presenting on a wide variety of topics, right?
Linda Edgeworth 4:55
We are quite a bit different than than Sonia's class. It's called soap box. Yes, and as you can imagine, is where people can reflect their own perspectives. We pick select. We are very careful about selecting prominent speakers, community leaders, from from politics, certainly from lawmakers and government agencies, but also from business, from sports, from a wide variety of subjects, primarily taken from the headlines, the recent headlines, and on issues that are important to the to us as Nevadans and as Americans, and we were very lucky. But one of the things I always like to stress is that we try to have a variety each semester so it isn't only focused on politics or political issues or the headlines about the economy. We also have a lot of fun, because we also select speakers who come from a variety of fields. For instance, we had Sondra Douglas Morgan, and we were lucky to get her, because she was recently appointed President of the of the Raiders. And she's the first black, African American woman to ever be the president of an NFL team. She was wonderful, and you could tell why she was appointed. She was articulate and strong and looking forward and and very much involved in hoping to create the Raiders as part of the community. But we also have twice a semester, in addition to the prominent speakers, we've had the governor come. We've had the Attorney General come when the issue had to deal with election laws and and and certain things that are happening at the federal level that the state has taken a position on. But we also had Jeff McBride. I don't know if people know Jeff McBride. Jeff McBride is probably what a world class magician. He's won every award that's imaginable in the field of of magic, and he also started his magic school here in Las Vegas. It is world renowned as one of the best magic schools in the world. He performed magic for us. Told a wonderful story about how he got into it as a child, and his parents attitude toward about at the beginning. And he was wonderful. So we try to have a lot of variety, and twice a semester, we actually do a panel discussion of experts on a particular issue that has impact and influence on our lives. And for instance, we just recently had a panel discussion on health care costs for older adults, and we were lucky enough to get a speaker from Washington and from the the Institute on health insurance reform, and we also had, you know, Medicare representative who counsels people on how to make choices, and it gives, but we try to make sure we Have perspectives represented from different sides of the issue we recently.
Ed Ort 8:04
I'm glad you brought that up, because one of the things I wanted to ask you is the fact that clearly a lot of these speakers in soapbox create or bring up topics that are very thought provoking. Are there any topics that particularly stand out in your mind as being something that not necessarily controversial, but really thought provoking, making people think,
Linda Edgeworth 8:28
well, I can give you a couple of examples. We've talked about our right to privacy, and how in this day and age, in this this attack on our right to privacy. Does anybody in this listening audience or in this room feel that our private, that our data is private, and so that was very controversial, and we were very lucky to get a former head of policy for Homeland Security representing the interests of public safety and national security, and the State Director of the ACLU, standing up for citizens rights and potential abuses of citizens' rights, and mediating. This was Justice Michael cherry, who was the former chief justice of the Nevada Supreme Court, and that was a very thought provoking, valid arguments. And even though we have opposing sides. It is wonderful when you have articulate serious people that experience and why they support the the the perspective they present, and when you have those people talking fit one on one, with each other. And of course, we encourage people to ask questions in our audience. So soapbox is very popular. We had over 200 people enrolled in the class this this last semester.
Ed Ort 9:43
So, you know, you could get an idea just listening to Linda and Sonia, just two classes of the wide variety of interesting topics we cover at Ollie and the interesting people who come to these classes. Now, let's turn to Beth. Beth, you. Are a little different than the fact that you actually led two different classes this past semester. Can you talk about those? And I know you had guest speakers in each of them.
Beth Davis 10:09
I did. Both of them are speaker format. I have speak to the sport on Tuesday, which is run as a hybrid, which means it's going on in person and virtually at the same time, lost a lot of fun for me, we had, we've had some really, really good speakers, and I think the best thing that I take away from it is people are learning something new, but we're having a lot of fun, and a lot of events and different things come from it as well. So that's kind of kind of fun. We had Steve Stallworth in, who spoke all about the Equestrian Center at the south point. Used to work the Thomas and Mac here, right here at UNLV, and we are now going to get to go do an equestrian tour behind the scenes. And then I had coach Mullen, which was probably my favorite guest this last semester, I knew he seemed so nice, but when you first meet someone, you're just like, well, I don't know. I know he did ESPN. He had big time success with Florida. I was like, Well, we'll see. He was truly down to earth, amazing. Took pictures with people, talked answered every question. So that's been great. And then we had a world who knew, a world ranked curler, because we have a curler and a curling center right around the corner from UNLV. You mean
Ed Ort 11:33
the thing they have on the Winter Olympics,
Beth Davis 11:35
not a beauty salon, not going on. But so that was a lot of fun. So the sports class has kind of been my baby. My dad was a basketball coach, and so I grew up around sports. So that's that's my fun one.
Ed Ort 11:50
So, you know, in response to your you had mentioned you had a guest who kind of surprised you in a really positive way. I'd last like to ask our guests in general, are there guests that you have had in your classes that surprised you in one way or another. Linda, do you want to go for that?
Linda Edgeworth 12:09
I was very, very impressed when we did a panel discussion on immigration. And you know, that's a very divisive issue, and with specific significance to Nevada, where we have so many immigrant workers in our service industries supporting tourism. I'm not going to say names, but we had a I had been warned about a panelist who was on the very conservative side. I was told that he was very difficult and that he'd be very, very tough. I found him to be absolutely gracious, articulate, well, motivated, held his own, and the panel extremely well. And perhaps for some people with an unpopular position, I would have him back in an instant.
Ed Ort 13:00
You know, actually, that that really brings up another interesting point, and that is, I mean, I think we'll all agree that there's so much noise and contradiction in the media today. I mean, being able to come to a class like soapbox, and there are some other classes at Ollie that where we have guests that kind of discuss interesting, thought provoking topics, you really get a true insight into the character of these people, rather than what you're hearing in the media. Sonia, what about you? Are there any guests who in your classes that surprised you in one way or another?
Sonia Feldberg 13:39
I pretty much know who comes into my classroom, but I was very excited that Clint Holmes made it to our facility. And also, another thing that I'd love to bring up is that Jonathan Courant, who has always been very involved in the community and this radio station, and also with Ollie. He taught for Ollie. He also did so much for the jazz community with high school kids, with jazz outreach. He was just awarded recently at the fine arts gala the limelight award to honor him for all of his hard work in promoting jazz, and we are lucky enough to get him to come to our classroom.
Ed Ort 14:27
Fantastic. Another question I'd like to ask all three of you is, I mean, I have been an instructor at Olli too, and I find every class that I lead, I learn a lot for my students, are there things that stand out in your mind as things you've you've learned from your students? For instance, Sonia, is there something about jazz you learned from one of your students?
Sonia Feldberg 14:54
I've been listening to jazz since I was a very young child. Hey. So what have I learned? Not so much from my students, but more from my guests, who have really put a twist on what jazz is and how we perceive jazz, because people always thought jazz was the heavy bass and all the instruments and the sacks. And it turns out that jazz actually is part of the American Songbook. So to me, that was a very interesting thing that I learned that, and it's changed my perspective. But I've always loved it, but it's opened new doors to what is out there, and I like to share that with the students, because it's so important for them to know, because a lot of them hate jazz, because they're used to listening to the old school jazz, and now we've got this whole new genre and area in jazz that everyone loves.
Ed Ort 15:52
Fantastic. Linda, what about you? You know, I would imagine there's an awful lot of dialog between you, maybe the guests, as well as the students in your class, have you learned something from, particularly from your students,
Linda Edgeworth 16:07
particularly for my students, I have learned an appreciation of American history. I'm amazed at the wealth of knowledge and how much, how many years I wasted in school. I took history classes because I had to. It was always after lunch and and frankly, I didn't pay much attention. I love American history. I can also tell you that something very important, I think, for all of us to remember is we're all paying attention in different ways. And I have found, and our speakers and our panelists have found that our audience is particularly astute. They are staying on top of the news even though we don't talk about it, maybe we don't share what media we're watching or listening to. It is amazing the depth of knowledge our students have about the issues and their desire to want to learn more, and it's been a real privilege to me to introduce our audience to our speakers. I know I can count on the brilliance of the people and the sincere caring on the community and on the world situation, but also the work they've done to know many of the facts on a much deeper level than we're given credit for.
Ed Ort 17:25
So Beth, you know, in addition to being an instructor at Olli, you have a you wear a different hat too. You are the associate director of enrichment and community programs at Olli, and I'm sure in that capacity, you're involved in kind of planning out some of the future things that will happen at Olli, at UNLV, anything you'd like to talk about that we might be seeing in the coming months.
Beth Davis 17:52
Sure I can do that. I also wanted to put in a quick note about professor's choice, which is the second class that I do. And I think Linda hit that, right? I am so impressed with the speakers, what they bring in, the research that this university is doing and the opportunities. Dr Henry Sun came and spoke from Desert Research Institute, and it looks like we're now going to be involved with some original research. Ollie part of our one university. We're going to be doing some original research with them. And I think what I take away is the students and the questions that they ask, and all my speakers either class, tell me all the time, and I'm sure you guys hear this, they want to come back. They want to be in the rotation. They'll come back anytime. So that's kind of exciting. And then the only things I really have for coming up is our summer semester. We have some great classes, not quite as many in summer, but we start on May 26 and then we'll have our big open house for our fall semester, where we'll, I'm sure, have over 100 classes, and that will be August 23 and we continue to do events,
Ed Ort 19:02
you know, in listening to Sonia Linda and Beth, I mean, clearly, Ollie offers some really entertainment opportunities, some educational opportunities, but Ollie's also a place for social engagement. There's a great social aspect to Olli. You know, it's a place to meet and make new friends. You know, what better way to make new friends than coming to Olli and enjoying a terrific jazz performance by top notch entertainer like Clint Holmes, or to listen to someone who has real insights into local politics, or hear from a representative of one of our professional sports teams talk about their plans. So if you are looking to make new friends, Ollie is a place to make those new connections. Anybody want to add to that, you know, to the social aspect of Olli, I'm sure you see that in in your. Involvement than in your classes too
Linda Edgeworth 20:03
Well, part of, part of is very fortunate, is I'm finding that Olli has a very good reputation. People are interested in Olli from outside, and we often find that our speakers are interested enough after being in our class that they will make opportunities for us. For example, we 75 students from the soap box class signed up when they offered us a free tour of the Liberace mansion. We got to go to the archives of the state museum to see the behind the scenes, the collection process, the storage the cataloging process, we got to see some wonderful historic documents. And so it's the social opportunities to do things beyond just class. But also we have we have special interest groups. We have an online book club that people join so that they can share reading experiences and share views on books. We have movies once a month with popcorn, with popcorn, but we also have interests, like we have a Mahjong group who meets regularly to play mahjong. Actually,
Ed Ort 21:17
I think there are two separate Mahjong
Linda Edgeworth 21:19
groups
Ed Ort 21:21
and one Asian mahjong.
Linda Edgeworth 21:22
And even for the summer, on Mondays, from nine to noon, there is a group that just comes to play board games, just for the socialization activity. I tend to do that. I like Scrabble, and one up Scrabble. My are my favorites, but it's just relaxing, and we're all there just to enjoy each other and the games, and for a couple of hours, we're not thinking about anything else,
Ed Ort 21:48
by the way. Speaking of relaxing, did we mention there's no homework and no grades at all? So one other thing I'd like you to talk about some of your classes are hybrid. I know Linda, you've got a hybrid class and Beth on one of your classes. Or maybe both are hybrid. Speak
Beth Davis 22:10
to the sport.
Ed Ort 22:11
Could you talk a little bit about that, both from your experience and maybe from the students experience?
Linda Edgeworth 22:18
We used to be at the paradise campus, and then we got a chance to move into the new facilities to us. So we are right across from the Lee and bean Music Center on Maryland Parkway, and it is fully equipped. So this has been our first opportunity to have what we call a hybrid class. That means we are simultaneously teaching a number of people live in the classroom, but we also have maybe as many people, sometimes not as many, but signing up for a virtual participation in the class, and we send them a zoom link so that they can participate. We are equipped to it's kind of hard, but you have too many people, you know, so many people, but they are allowed. We certainly accommodate them to ask questions and feel like they're participating in the class, even though they're remote. The nice thing about a hybrid class too is that it allows people enrolled in those classes to attend in person. If they've signed up to attend in person, but say they have a cold or don't feel well one day, they can sign in by zoom instead, and vice versa. If we have a guest speaker that somebody really wants to meet in person and get an autograph or something, they can, they can come into the classroom as well. So it's a wonderful opportunity. And we also know that some people are at an age perhaps they can't drive anymore, and we're trying to build up the number of virtual classes and hybrid classes to accommodate those people as well. So it was a challenge, because was all new technology for some of us, but we're over the hump. I think, I think we're doing fine, and so it's very important to people have that option, the flexibility. It also means that we're not tied to speakers only from the local community. And so recently, I've been able to get people from the federal government, from Washington, DC, to participate from other municipalities like Georgetown University. So this opportunity really expands the experience for our own growth, and also for more people who can participate in different ways.
Ed Ort 24:26
Wonderful. Beth,
Beth Davis 24:27
yes, I second that. And we've definitely come a long way. We're getting better and better. We monitor everything make sure that we can have the best, the best that we can put out. And I will say that I got to have my cousin zoom in to my class from the Cleveland Browns locker room, because he is an equipment manager with the Cleveland Browns. So it definitely does expand those borders for sure.
Ed Ort 24:51
Maybe we can supply them with a quarterback.
Beth Davis 24:54
Maybe.
Ed Ort 24:57
So, um.
Ed Ort 25:01
You have not got in your jazz class, Sonia, it's not hybrid.
Sonia Feldberg 25:07
It is not
Ed Ort 25:08
but if it were hybrid, do you think you would be able to get guests to perform remotely, as some of the guests that Linda has had in her class?
Sonia Feldberg 25:18
You know, it's very odd. Most of them do love coming and performing live. So I would say probably there would be an interest, but they love live performance, and so did the students. So we try to keep it live.
Linda Edgeworth 25:37
There might also be some technical challenges that may not be accommodated for musical performance, especially involving more than one person of someone who's remote. Whereas we can control that, that visual, we can control a camera view of them with one or two or three people performing together, that might be hard to do from somebody who's on a remote location, although we did have the original Muppet people who started the first, the first Muppet theater, and they did it remotely, and they showed us how they use the puppets and everything we had some people.
Ed Ort 26:13
Was this a group that worked with Jim Henson,
Linda Edgeworth 26:16
yes. Well, not, well, yes, not Jim Henson, of course, wasn't there, but, but, but these are people who who were some of the very first Muppet tears, and they first live show performance, performance in their own theater. And, but we had a couple of the spokes. We had that with that was all remote and, but they were, they could, they could accommodate us by delivering their presentation in a studio, whereas that might not be possible,
Sonia Feldberg 26:48
right? And a lot of them are very particular with how they sound. So they bring their own equipment in, and you can't,
Linda Edgeworth 26:57
yeah,
Sonia Feldberg 26:58
very well, do that on the hybrid making them sound proper. So some of them are okay with not being perfect. Some of them don't mind. But then you get the handful of the ones that just go, No, I'm going to bring all of my own things in and make it sound the way it needs sound so
Ed Ort 27:17
well, just as someone who is come to your jazz a number of your jazz classes where you've had guest performers, they're they're all wonderful. I mean, they're wonderful from a variety of standpoints. Number one, their willingness to come to Olli, but to give a performance to the Olli students is just terrific. Well, I hope those of you listening in today, have gotten a really good feel for the great variety of guests and performers that we have at Olli as I mentioned, it is not only an educational opportunity, not only a social opportunity, but an entertainment opportunity. Well, that just about does it for our session today, I want to thank our guests, Sonia, Linda and Beth, and I want to thank you for listening.
Keith McMillen 28:10
Thanks for listening. To focus on Olli. There are several ways to get more information. Our web address is Olli. O, L, L, i.unlv.edu You may also email us at Olli at UNLV, that's Ollie, O, L, L, I, A, T, U, n, l, V, at sign unlv.edu, you can also just give us a call at 702-895-3394 Monday through Friday, between the hours of eight and five, except of course on university holidays.
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