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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.
Wesley Knight 0:00
This is a KU NV studios original program. The 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, this semester, Olli at UNLV is offering almost 100 classes on a wide variety of subjects, anywhere from art appreciation to game playing to health and wellness topics, even to music and theater and even technology and also personal development and and many, many more. You know many of those classes are offered at the Olli at UNLV, main location on Maryland Avenue on the UNLV campus. But did you know that Olli also offers classes in nine satellite locations across Las Vegas and Henderson? You might find that going to a class in one of our Olli satellite locations is more convenient than attending at the main building. Also know that Olli offers a growing number of hybrid classes where you have the option to attend in person or remotely over the internet. So today I'm really excited. We have two guests who are leading classes at satellite locations. He'll give you insights into the interesting classes they lead and where those classes are held. Our guests today are Mel Lazarus, who currently leads a class called fabulous 50s, and Fran Smith, who is leading a class on famous art thefts. I want to welcome to you both. Let's learn more about these interesting classes. Let's start with Mel. So, Mel, I know you have led quite a few Olli classes over the years covering a variety of topics like law and history. Even, I believe a class on the Bill of Rights, right? That's absolutely correct. So what got you interested in doing a class about the 1950s you know, I think many Olli students, including myself, think back on the 1950s with great nostalgia.
Mel Lazarus 2:49
Well, before I talk about the class, I'd like to thank you for having me here. And I was thinking this morning on the way down here, what's so special about having satellite classes, and it reminded me of the old saying that the businessman when he's looking for a new place to open Location, location, location. With the satellites, it's convenience, convenience, convenience. It happened where we have it, where I teach a class at the library in North Las Vegas, and it's five minutes from my house, and a good number of the people in the class live in that area.
Ed Ort 3:35
So somebody is interested in attending your class at the eliante library. It may be that they're they don't know exactly where that is. Can you give a description of where it is?
Mel Lazarus 3:44
Yes, the library is two lights off of the off of the 215 right near the alliante Casino. So after class, if you want to go over and support the casino, you can do that, but it's right off of the 215 in North Las Vegas, right? Very easy to find on deer spring avenue.
Ed Ort 4:09
One thing, I understand that you have many returnees to your class from other classes that you've I do.
Mel Lazarus 4:15
I currently have 24 people registered, and of that, 24 only four are new students to my classes. I suppose they the other 20 must like what they hear. But yes, I have a lot of returning students.
Ed Ort 4:35
So tell us about the fabulous 50s class.
Mel Lazarus 4:38
Well, the fabulous 50s evolved this way. I hadn't planned on this class, but at the end of the last class, I said, What do you guys want to do? The first two classes that I taught for Ollie were in Vietnam, so I had a lot of response. Months that, you know, we're a little older, we don't remember everything. So as a result, they said, Gee, how about doing Vietnam again? And I said, How about we do the 50s this spring, and then I can split Vietnam into two semesters back to back next year, fall and spring, and it was an overwhelming vote, yes. So that's why we're doing the fabulous 50s, because it really is a lead in to what happens in the 60s in Vietnam, right?
Ed Ort 5:36
So Fran, you, you're also doing a satellite class. I think it's at Carnegie heights. You might want to tell folks where that is. And I think what's a little different between you and Mel is that you also give that same class at our main location,
Fran Smith 5:52
I find there are a lot of art lovers all over town, but my satellite class is at Carnegie heights, which is in Henderson. It's really near Green Valley Ranch and off of Horizon Ridge Parkway. And I find it really convenient because, if I'm unlucky, and get two red lights on the way, it takes me five minutes if I get all green lights, it takes me one anyway. And one other thing I want to point out is I've been teaching in Henderson for quite a while, at different locations. Started at Carnegie heights when it opened. But what I'm finding is there's, it's it's a real community. We have sort of an ongoing community that takes Henderson art classes, and everybody's gotten to be friends. And it's, it's not like teaching. I'm just talking to my friends about art, and I think that's one of the benefits of the satellites. You don't get quite that intimacy and that sense of community when you're in a bigger class,
Ed Ort 7:10
although I will add one of the benefits of Olli, it's not just a matter of education and expanding your knowledge. It's a great place for socialization, certainly in the satellite locations, as Fran mentioned, there's a kind of an intimate sense of community. But I will also say in our main location, people make a lot of friends. I know over the years, I've made a lot of friends at Ollie and I'm I'm sure Mel and Fran have done that too, yeah.
Fran Smith 7:41
The thing is, you're taking classes on a subject that interests you, and everybody else in the class has the same interest. So you meet people you have a lot in common with, and that makes for good friendships.
Ed Ort 7:55
So Mel, it almost sounds like a lot of your fabulous 50s classes kind of directed to sort of political events, social events. Are there other things you're covering in your class too, like maybe sports. I always think of sporting events in the 1950s
Mel Lazarus 8:11
I don't think that you can talk about the 1950s without talking about some of the sporting events. Certainly, you've got to talk about Don Larson's perfect game in the 1956 World Series, right? It's never, never happened before. Hasn't happened since. You have to talk about Rocky Marciano, the only heavyweight champion in boxing who retired undefeated. And it's kind of interesting about Marciano. We lived in the city of Brockton in Massachusetts, where Marciano is from, in 23 years. And we were very friendly with the family, really, yes. Very interesting, yes. And so I've got kind of a connection with that. But there are other sporting goods. For instance, the first African American woman to win at Wimbledon was 1957 Althea Gibson, yeah, so there are some big inroads in sports that hasn't happened before, but yes, I still do a lot of the political and a lot of the historical events that happened during the 1950s that really molded where we where we are now, right?
Ed Ort 9:26
So, Fran, what sort of art thefts are you going to be covering in your class?
Fran Smith 9:31
You know, it's really fun. But before I get to that, I want to cite an example of how great Ollie is. My father was born and bred in Brockton, really.
Ed Ort 9:40
I No, I knew about my father may have been neighbors,
Fran Smith 9:46
yeah, well, compare notes, right? The art thefts, the art thefts are going to be really fun. I really had fun putting this class together because I like. Mysteries as much as I like art and some of the some of the elements of these different thefts are just remarkable, like one about the theft of Edvard monk's The Scream it's been stolen more times than any other painting and and, of course, nothing, nothing equals the collection. If you want to be nice about it that the Nazis built up and it, it's so big, I have to take two weeks to talk about it. And there, there a couple others that are a little more esoteric and others that are really well known? I will point out, I'm not talking about the louver because not enough is known about it.
Ed Ort 10:52
Okay, yeah, I think that that's the one I was going to ask you, because I think it's fresh in everyone's mind.
Fran Smith 10:58
Well, yeah, in fact, I submitted my class proposal the day of the theft, and I thought, oh, everybody's going to think I'm doing this because of that. What I can tell you is they've arrested the people. I think there's a possibility there's still another person out there. But the real issue with our thefts, and the top priority, is recovering the works that are stolen, right? And that has a lot worse record than capturing the culprits.
Ed Ort 11:33
Where do some of these famous thefts of art wind up?
Fran Smith 11:38
Well, some of them are just plain lost, the Isabella Stewart Gardner theft, which took place in 1990 Yes, 13 works were stolen, and they are yet to be found.
Ed Ort 11:53
Yeah, you know I should say I am also teaching a class at a satellite location on Leonardo da Vinci and it turns out that now, of course, Dave Vinci died over 500 years ago, and over the centuries, a number of his paintings have been lost. Now, some of them have been stolen. Who knows, but some some famous paintings. One of them is called Leda, and the Swan just disappeared a number of centuries ago and it was never found again. So that that's kind of interesting. So I want to ask both of you a general question. You know, clearly, one of the benefits of a satellite location is it could be very convenient. Could be very close to your home. You don't have to drive much or drive at all. Another is the intimate socialization you get, especially, you know, returning people to the class you've made friends. Are there any other benefits of taking a class at Olli at a satellite location?
Fran Smith 12:50
Well, one of the benefits to Olli is especially when we when a satellite location is a senior residence, which Carnegie heights is it exposes more people to ollie, and that opens up the opportunity to benefit. Take advantage of all the benefits Ollie has to offer.
Ed Ort 13:12
Right now your class is in a library. Yes, what unique benefits does that present? Or maybe not benefits? I don't know it.
Mel Lazarus 13:22
It presents a couple of very interesting benefits, one of which is there's parking available. And we all know from Ollie down here that parking isn't quite available all the time. The other thing is that it's a secure location, part of the library system of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas Library System, Dave been very accommodating. It does not have the technology that the classrooms that Ollie has, and that's, to me, the only drawback, but I'd like to touch on something that both of you had mentioned before, and that's a socialization before we moved to Las Vegas, I didn't know what a 55 and over community was. They don't have them in Massachusetts, there's no no land to build them. So when we moved here, I kind of got the feeling that a lot of these people don't leave their houses, but if we can get them into a program like Ollie, it gets them out, it gets them to meet other people, it gets them to socialize in an area that they never had before, and who knows, Maybe they even learned something,
Ed Ort 14:40
right, right, right. Very important. One other kind of general question, being in a satellite location, over the years, you've taught quite a number of classes in satellite locations. Can you think about kind of an interesting happenstance, something that took place in one of your satellite locations that was sort of unique? Like, anything like that.
Fran Smith 15:04
Well, maybe not. What comes to mind is Carnegie Heights had a fire drill once in the middle. Fortunately, some of the people in the class were residents, so they could lead the rest of us to where we
Ed Ort 15:20
were supposed to go. Well, I'll point to one too. It's kind of kind of a bittersweet thing, but I'll mention it to one of our satellite locations is Los ventanas in Summerlin, and it's an assisted living facility, but they also have a memory care unit. And the room that this class that I was in, I wasn't teaching it. I was taking a class. I came in early one day and a nice woman sat down next to me and started talking. And seemed obvious that there was something a little unique about the woman. And very shortly, some people came in and escorted her back into memory. So I think she was very happy being in the class for a while. But it's kind of interesting. It's not the sort of thing you would see at the alley Main Campus any event. All right, I'd like to take this time to say a little bit about my class. I'm teaching it at Ravel Summerlin. It's on Tropicana Avenue between Hualapai and Grand Canyon. It's on a little street in between called Conquistador. You know, most people are familiar with some aspects of Leonardo da Vinci I think most people realize he was a great artist. He painted the Last Supper. He painted the Mona Lisa great masterpieces. People also probably recognize the fact that he was a very prolific inventor. He invented, he had many invention ideas that were hundreds of years ahead of his time, but I think most people don't realize many of the other things that he was involved in. He was a producer of plays and pageants. He designed sets, he designed costumes, he created the special effects. He created machinery to transport props and people across the stage and even up in the air. He was an accomplished musician. He was an architect who influenced some of the great architects of the day. In fact, he influenced Donato Bramante, who was the original designer of St Peter's Basilica in Rome. He was a great conversationalist, of course, and very witty individual, kind of the person you'd love to have a beer with and invite him over for dinner. So in this class, I'm going to cover some of the aspects of Leonardo. You can't cover everything in a 10 week class, but I'm going to cover it there. So I'm really excited about the class. And if someone is in the Summerlin area, or conveniently get to Summerlin, you know, you might think about joining us. So with that said, I just want to mention some of the other locations that Ali is conducting satellite classes. Some of them may be very convenient to where you are. One of them is the cactus Valley retirement resort that's on Amigo Street in Henderson. We also are giving classes at Las Vegas meadows, that's a 55 plus community on South Valley View Boulevard in Las Vegas. Also, I had mentioned previous las ventanas in Summerlin. It's a senior living community on West Charleston Boulevard in Las Vegas. We also actually do pickleball classes, if you're interested in getting some exercise at the paradise Recreation Center. It's a fitness center on South McLeod drive in Las Vegas. And we are also giving classes at the Red Rock point retirement community on South Grand Canyon drive in Las Vegas. And just to give you an idea of the variety of classes being offered these satellite locations. Here's just a sampling. There's a class called living a healthier lifestyle, and that's being offered at Las Vegas Meadows. There's a class on creative writing, and that's offered at the Aliante library. Introduction to wine. What a wonderful class that could be. It's being also offered at Ravel, same place I'm offering my class and the comedic genius of Mr. James Brooks Kaminsky, otherwise known as Mel Brooks, that's being offered also at Les ventanas at Summerlin. For details about these and other Olli classes and their locations, please refer to the Olli at UNLV catalog, which you can find on the Olli at UNLV website. And that address is HTTPS, colon, slash, slash, Olli, o, l, l, i.unlv.edu so. So a question for both, both of you, if someone listening to this podcast is considering leading a class at Ali, either at a satellite location or a main location, what would you tell them?
Fran Smith 20:13
First of all, I'd tell them that it's a lot of fun, that you learn a lot preparing a class to teach, as well as attending a class, there is also a session for people thinking about teaching that will be at our main campus on Maryland Parkway. I don't know the exact date, but it is in February.
Ed Ort 20:38
Oh, good, February. It's February 13. It's a zoom sessions. Oh, sorry, you don't have to show up at the main location. It's a zoom session for potential instructors. That Fran mentioned, it's on February 13, at one o'clock. It'll go from one to three. And if you want to get more information about it, we recommend you contact Beth Davis, who's our Associate Director of enrichment and community programs, and you could reach her at 702-895-3394 Let me repeat that. 702-895-3394 or send her a note at Ali, at UNLV. That's all one word, O, L, L, I, A, T, U, n, l, v@unlv.edu, and Fran, what are they going to cover in that zoom session? Do you know?
Fran Smith 21:31
I'm afraid I've never attended one of those classes, so I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but I believe they give guidance on what's involved, what is expected of an instructor, but also how you can sort of ease yourself into teaching. We have a couple of classes that we call team efforts, where several people get together, and each week, a different member of the team covers the topic. The other is to partner with an existing instructor. And if you co teach, you can get your feet wet on teaching, and it sort of it helps you pave the way.
Ed Ort 22:23
Yeah, I will echo what Fran said, it is tremendously rewarding to be an instructor at Olli. There's work, of course. You know you want to do research, you want to put together a class, and it does require some work, but the benefits certainly outweigh I have never left a session that I have led not feeling great. And you learn so much. You learn so much from the research you do, but you definitely learn a lot from the people who come to the class. Ollie's students are really interesting. They represent a wide variety of backgrounds and interests, and they bring that with them to class, and you learn so much from them. Mel, I'm sure you you felt that way too.
Mel Lazarus 23:09
Oh, I felt that way for a long time, because that's what I used to do before I retired. And I actually enjoy some of these classes more than some of the classes that I was getting paid for. It, it gives, I think, the instructor, a lot more freedom to do what they want to do. I'm not restricted by a curriculum that the state says I have to cover. I'm not having a school principal looking over my shoulder. I can do what I want to do. And I think that if you, if you take education seriously, that's what you want, you want to leave it in the hands of the instructor.
Ed Ort 23:59
Not only that, if you are not familiar with Ollie, listen to this. There are no grades. You don't have to worry about your grade point. Now, you tell me there there's no homework, although I have to say, in my class, I do send out a list of optional reading. It's definitely optional, but there is definitely no homework. Going to ollie is not like going to high school. You don't have to worry about your grades or anything else. It's just there for enrichment, for fun, for socialization,
Mel Lazarus 24:34
absolutely right? And believe me, when you start talking about grading 100 students, it's really nice that you don't have to grade any
Ed Ort 24:42
Yeah, right. It's good for the instructor, too, but it's definitely good for the for the teacher, for the student. Yeah? Any, any students that you kind of remember and during your during your time?
Fran Smith 24:56
Well, I've gotten to be really good friends with a lot of my. Students, especially the ones from the satellites, and I'll go out to dinner with them. And one of my students doesn't read anything but art history books, so he'll come to class and tell me about a book he's read, and then the next week, he comes and lends it to me. So it's a real it's a real common, shared experience.
Ed Ort 25:27
You meet so many fascinating people at Ollie. I was telling someone, a gentleman, earlier today about an interaction I had with one of our former students and instructors. His name is George Cohan, I believe he's passed. He lived to the age of, I think 96 or 97 and one day I sat down in a class as a student, and he was sitting next to me. And at that time, he must have been 9495 years old. Now you have to understand not George was an amazing individual. He would lead classes without any notes, without any supportive videos or slides. Just from memory, I guess he did have slides, but he during his lifetime, went everywhere. I don't think there was a country he didn't visit. He knew everyone. He would show a picture of him with some potentate in Saudi Arabia. And I sat next to him, and I said, George, you know you are really amazing. You know, here you are. You're in your mid 90s. You do these amazing classes. You You speak from memory. You've been everywhere. You know everything. And he said, you know, Ed, if I realized I'd live this long, I take better care of myself. You really do run into some fascinating individuals at Olli. All right. One last thing I'd like to cover is the fact that on February 13, the very same day as the the Zoom chat. Ollie members will be enjoying a Las Vegas desert dogs lacrosse game. This includes a pre game tour, food and parking. There will also be entertainment, the kiss tribute band. Mini kiss will perform at the game. So if you aren't already an ollie member and you want to be part of the fun, consider joining Olli today, and that does it for our session today. I want to thank our guests, Mel Lazarus and Fran Smith, and I want to thank you for listening.
Keith McMillen 27:35
Thanks for listening. To focus on Olli. There are several ways to get more information. Our web address is Ali o l, l i.unlv.edu You may also email us at Ali at U N L V, 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.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai