My Iona

Learning in Retirement at Iona University

Learning in Retirement at Iona University (LIRIC) serves the intellectual and social needs of a vibrant community of lifelong learners. Members have a thirst for learning and intellectual stimulation and we provide that through courses, lectures, trips and more.

Courses are taught by LIRIC members and by experts from the larger community. Each session’s offerings cover a broad range of academic and cultural topics as well as the occasional practical (legal, medical or financial) matter. There are no tests or grades. Trips to places of cultural interest are planned for each semester.

LIRIC is a not-for-profit organization sponsored by Iona University and affiliated with the Road Scholar Institute Network (RSIN).

Join LIRIC

Membership is open to all persons of retirement age. Membership entitles you to attend as many of LIRIC’s classes, films, and lectures as you like.

Fall and spring sessions are each eight weeks long, with classes meeting off-campus on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, and on the Iona campus on Fridays. LIRIC meets off-campus for four days each during January and July intersessions.

LIRIC members also have full privileges at the Iona University Library.

LIRIC accepts new members at any time, but does not prorate fees. You may join for the full year or for the second half only. One fee entitles members to attend all courses, with the exception of Tai Chi.

  • Full-Year Membership (October to August): $200 for individuals
    • Includes fall and spring semesters plus the January and July intersessions
  • Half-Year Membership (March to August): $115 for individuals
    • Includes spring semester plus the July intersession

Join By Credit Card

Request Catalog OR pay by check

Email LIRIC

LIRIC’s SPRING LOCATION

Learning in Retirement at Iona University

LIRIC will meet in The Commons on Iona’s Bronxville Campus on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays of our Spring Session, while our usual off-campus location is under construction.

LIRIC Program Information

LIRIC is run by a group of dedicated, creative volunteers. We govern ourselves through an executive board and formulate our own by-laws, policies and procedures. The LIRIC board is made up of the officers and the chairs of our standing committees. Our curriculum committee designs our programs and arranges for presenters from among our members, Iona faculty and the community at large. All members of LIRIC are encouraged to suggest courses, speakers and presenters and to assist in arranging for them. Our Hospitality committee provides us with daily coffee and cookies, and arranges several luncheons each year, some of which are free. Other volunteers edit or write articles for our newsletter, collect membership checks, arrange trips and special events, even stuff envelopes for mailings. LIRIC also has a paid director who is our liaison with Iona University and oversees daily operations.

Director

  • Suzanne Page, Ph.D.

Board Members

  • President: Shirley Radcliffe
  • Vice Presidents: Viviane Ponslet & Linda Levine
  • Secretary: Rosemary McDonough
  • Treasurer: Bob Kent
  • Comptroller: Lois Lovisolo

Committee Chairs

  • Publicity: Lew Koflowitz
  • Newsletter Editor: Monica Grey
  • Curriculum: Linda Whetzel
  • Hospitality: Gail Apfel
  • Membership: Lorraine Rosano
  • Trip Coordinator: Dianne Heim
  • Member Liaison: Teddi Cerino

Representatives at Large

  • Lori Blumenfeld
  • Greg Koster
  • Chris McCormick
  • Jeanne de Saint Ouen

Current COURSE CATALOG

Course Descriptions: Monday

Great Decisions

8 sessions
March 4, 11, 18;
April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29:
10:30-11:45 a.m.

Great Decisions is a course sponsored by the Foreign Policy Association that encourages people to learn about and discuss U.S. foreign policy. Each session includes a 30-minute DVD for background and then a discussion led by LIRIC members. Although it is not required, participants who wish to get the most from the course should purchase a copy of the Great Decisions Briefing Book ($35.00 + shipping) and do the readings for each class. Copies may be ordered directly from The Foreign Policy Association by calling 1-800-477-5836 between 10:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Mondays through Friday, or online at www.fpa.org/greatdecisions.

March 4:

  • Mideast Realignment
  • Presenter: Jim O'Neil

March 11:

  • Climate Technology
  • Presenter: Muhammad Saleem

March 18:

  • Science Across Borders
  • Presenter: Andrew Harrison

April 1:

  • U.S. China Trade Rivalry
  • Presenter: Fred Towers

April 8:

  • NATO's Future
  • Presenter: Bob Kent

April 15:

  • Understanding Indonesia
  • Presenter: Lois Lovisolo

April 22:

  • High Seas Treaty
  • Presenter: Jim O'Neil

April 29:

  • Pandemic Preparedness
  • Presenter: Adrienne Weiss-Harrison

Mah Jongg

8 sessions
March 4, 11, 18;
April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29:
10:30-11:45 a.m.

Mah jongg, a tile-based game thought to have originated in China several hundred years ago, spread throughout the world during the twentieth century. While it involves a degree of chance, it is a game of skill, strategy and calculation – all of which you will learn in this class which is open to beginners who want to learn the fundamentals but also to members who already know how to play. You will need a 2023 Mah Jongg card, which can be purchased from Amazon, the Mah Jongg League or at a local store, and a 2024 card which will be available in April

Please call Linda Levine at 914-235-9878 by February 23rd to register, to request that we purchase a card for you, or for more information about the class.

Spring Salmaguadi

6 sessions
March 4, 11, 18;
April 1, 8, 15:
12:30-1:45 p.m.

Join us this series of six very different- and thoroughly engaging -talks.

March 4:

  • Amazing Diversity in the World of Birds
  • Presenter: Dianne Heim

March 11:

  • The Genius of Birds
  • Presenter: Dianne Heim

March 18:

  • Being a Transgender Female Multi-Faceted Artist
  • Presenter: Fran Sisco

April 1:

  • A Tour of New York City’s Museum of Modern Art
  • Presenter: Julie Averbach

April 8:

  • Islam: Quo Vadis, Where Has it Been and Where is it Going?
  • Presenter: Mark D. Fichtel

April 15:

  • Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu – Nobel Laureates Who Changed South Africa
  • Presenter: Rick Leibert

Back to Business

2 sessions
April 22, 29;
12:30-1:45 p.m.

Members of Iona's LaPenta School of Business join us to discuss:

April 22:

  • Re-Branding a 100-Year-Old Company
  • Presenter: Professor Mike Volza

April 29:

  • What is Research and What We Need to Know About It
  • Presenter: Dr. Jeffrey Haber

Class Representative: Chris McCormick

Play-Reading

8 sessions
March 4, 11, 18;
April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29
2 – 3:15 p.m.

We are going to keep our spring 2024 semester play selections light and whimsical at our temporary home at Iona Bronxville. We will return to our mix of serious and comic plays in the fall of 2024 when we return to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.

March 4, 11, 18:

  • The Good Doctor (1973) is Neil Simon’s adaptation of ten short, mostly comic stories by the great Russian playwright, Anton Chekhov. By way of a preface, we also will read Chekhov’s one-act farce, “The Marriage Proposal.”

April 1 & 8:

  • You Never Can Tell (1897) is George Bernard Shaw’s joyous comedy of errors about a down-and-out dentist, a middle-aged couple at odds with each other, their two outlandish younger children, and their all-too-formal older daughter who has no intention of marrying anyone, especially not an amorous dentist.

April 15, 22, 29:

  • The Matchmaker (1954) by Thornton Wilder was the source material for Hello Dolly and is a splendid and endearing comedy in its own right. In addition, here is a delightful Act IV and some wonderful supporting characters which were cut from the musical version.

Presenter:

  • An Iona graduate and an M.F.A. in Drama recipient from Carnegie-Mellon University, Len Poggiali directed over forty full-length plays and dozens of shorter works in high school, college, and community productions in Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Westchester.

Art Workshop

8 sessions
March 4, 11, 18;
April 1, 8, 15, 22, 29:
10:30-11:45 a.m.

LIRIC’s Art Workshop has evolved from a Watercolor Workshop into a multi-media Art experience. All skill levels are welcome. If you enjoy painting, drawing, coloring, even doodling, the Art Workshop is the creative place to be. Unleash your “inner artist” and express yourself in a friendly, well lighted, atmosphere. A list of suggested materials can be provided, or bring what you already have from home, and be prepared to enjoy yourself. For more information contact Gail Apfel at gdapplehead@optonline.net.

Instructor:

  • Gail Apfel is a graduate of the High School of Music and Art and has participated in classes at the Westchester Art Workshop as well as art classes through Road Scholar and the Hudson River Museum. She chairs LIRIC’s Fine & Performing Arts Committee.

Course Descriptions Tuesdays

 

Tai Chi

7 sessions
March 5, 12;
April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30;
9 a.m.-10 a.m.

Pre-registration and an additional fee of $56.00 are required for this class. The registration form is at the end of this catalog (Note that there is no class March 19th.)

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. In Chinese philosophy and medicine, “chi” is a vital force that animates the body; thus one purpose of Tai Chi is to enhance the health and vitality of the practitioner. Tai Chi also fosters a calm and tranquil mind by focusing on the precise execution of the exercises. Learning to do them correctly provides a practical method for improving balance, breathing. Tai Chi has been recommended as an adjunct therapy for chronic pain, arthritis, insomnia, asthma, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and fibromyalgia.

Instructor:

  • Domingo Colon is the owner of the Tai Chi School of Westchester in Bronxville. He has been practicing Tai Chi since he was fifteen, and is the teacher of other Tai Chi masters as well as a frequent judge at Tai Chi competitions.

A Memoir-Writing Workshop

8 sessions
March 5, 12, 19;
April 2, 9, 16, 23, 30;
9 a.m.- 10:15 a.m.

Right now, you can begin to re-experience, and reflect on, the work of your life –the exciting, wonderful, and even the unhappy events. Your grandmother’s cookies. The house that nurtured you for years and years. A special and meaningful person. A dear friend. A diving catch at a Little League baseball game. A crocheted afghan made with Mom, Grandma or Aunt Bea.

In this class, we sit and recall events that to others might mean little, but to ourselves are filled with richness. Through recollection, reflection, creation, you can return to a special day, a week, a year — experiences that you are invited to remember and put on paper via memoir writing.

Contract the instructor at billwerth@aol.com to register for this limited enrollment class.

Instructor:

  • Bill Wertheim has taught both memoir writing and poetry workshops throughout Westchester for over ten years. His BA degree in English Literature is from Columbia University; he holds an MA degree from SUNY at Stony Brook, an MSW degree in Social Work from Hunter College, and is currently at work producing a volume of his poetry and writing his own memoirs.

Bioethics: Issues in Contemporary Society

4 sessions
March 5, 12, 19;
April 2;
10:30-11:45 a.m.

This four-part series will examine ethical issues presented by recent events:

  • Is Ozempic the answer to the obesity epidemic?
  • Intersex athletes in competitive sports
  • End of life choices
  • Sterilization of the disabled

Presenter:

  • Joyce Kent is the retired chairperson of Science at New Rochelle High School where she introduced a course on Bioethics. Her class at LIRIC on bioethical issues has become a spring tradition. Joyce chairs the Science and Technology arm of the Curriculum Committee

Neuroscience: The Brain and Behavior

4 session
April 9, 16, 23, 30
10:30-11:45 a.m.

In this four-part series, we will discuss a range of neuroscience-related topics, including:

How brain health is supported by exercise and sleep, and how stress disrupts brain health and negatively impacts mood,

How the brain responds to rewards, and how dysregulation of the brain’s reward system leads to compulsive drug, alcohol, or food consumption as well as other addictive behaviors (gambling, compulsive shopping, hoarding, etc.),

How we learn, and how adopting a growth mindset facilitates the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, and

Neuroethics and the societal implications of neuroscience for human self-understanding and policy creation.

Coordinator:

  • This program was coordinated by Dr. Mary Jane Skelly, Assistant Chair of Iona’s Psychology Department, who has been actively involved in creating Iona’s new neuroscience major.

Class Representative: Joyce Kent

Writing and its Role in Shaping Culture

4 sessions
March 5, 12, 19;
April 2;
12:30-1:45 p.m.

The series explores and invites discussion on how the invention of writing some 4,500 years ago made it possible for humans to domesticate language and cope with settled city states supporting increasing populations by developing civilizations that thrived on trade and on shared cultures and foreshadowed the advent of technology.

March 5:

  • The invention of writing in the Ancient Near East – How a Sumerian innovation spread across Mesopotamia

March 12:

  • How the Mediterranean and Near Eastern world gravitated toward a phonetic approach to writing

March 19:

  • Rediscovering Ancient Egypt through what was thought to be a long-forgotten language and the mysterious signs used to write it

April 2:

  • The recovery of Mesopotamian civilizations through the decipherment of cuneiform signs buried under the sands of time

Presenter: Robert Henrey, scholar and traveler, who recently gave a talk on Vietnam for LIRIC.

Well-Being

3 sessions
April 16, 23, 30;
12:30-1:45p.m.

April 16:

  • What’s in Your Medicine Cabinet?
  • What oral care products are you using? Guidelines and considerations to help you buy the best ones for you.
  • Presenter: Lois Dreyer, Dental Hygienist

April 23:

  • What Did You Say?
  • The social, emotional, and mental effects of hearing loss, and new developments in hearing technology
  • Presenter: Dr. Marisa Boyle, Doctor of Audiology

April 30:

  • Inventors of the Roaring Twenties
  • Presenter: Kobie Thakar
  • Moved from Friday Lecture Series

Spanish (La clase de español)

4 sessions
March 5, 12, 19;
April 2;
2-3:15 p.m.

This class is intended for beginners and for those who wish to renew their skills– enhanced with songs on all levels from Spain and Latin America.

All that Jazz - "Soundies" & Big Bands

3 sessions
April 16, 23, 30;
2-3:15 p.m.

This series of All That Jazz will focus on Big Bands. We will start with a selection of “Soundies” three-minute films from the 1940s that played on jukebox-like Panorams and featured music, dancing, and stars like Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, and Gene Krupa. Then the 1965 profile of Duke Ellington Love You Madly with performances at Basin St. West, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the first Concert of Sacred Music. Finally, we’ll go out swinging with Count Basie at Carnegie Hall in 1981.

Presenter:

  • Gregory Koster has been a Jazz fan since the early ‘60s, was a Jazz DJ in college, contributed Jazz reviews and surveys to The Sensible Sound magazine for over 15 years, and is Past President of the PJS Jazz Society in Mount Vernon

Course Descriptions: Wednesdays

Wednesdays are special at LIRIC. Classes are suspended that day to allow for additional intellectual and artistic pursuits off site. The familiar is intertwined with the new in often off-beat adventures. The goal is to expose our members to things and places that enrich and feed the mind as well as the soul.

Space is limited, so LIRIC members receive first priority. Information about our trips will be included with this catalog, in your packet when you join, or as a separate mailing

Trip planner Dianne Heim likes to travel far and near. With so many things to see in the world, Dianne would like to share with you some of those in our own backyard.


Course Descriptions: Thursdays

Dutch Masters: The Age of Rembrandt

4 sessions
March 7, 14, 21;
April 4;
10:30-11:45 a.m.

This class continues with the series of 36 video lectures on the art of 17th century Holland presented by the Great Courses professor William Kloss, who last year gave us The World’s Greatest Paintings. Showing two 25-minute videos each week, retired librarian and long-time LIRIC member and presenter Jo-Anne Weinberg will moderate the class, lead discussions and provide additional information.

Prologue to the Canterbury Tales as History

4 sessions
April 11, 18, 25;
May 2;
10:30-11:45 a.m.

The medieval period was a time of enormous upheaval and change in England. Among those changes is the emergence of the first truly great writer in the English language, Geoffrey Chaucer. A civil servant and a courtier in the court of three kings (Edward III, Richard II, and Henry IV), Chaucer was a keen observer of human behavior. Through our introduction to those pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, we will also look at some of the major historical events of the time.

(Copies of The Canterbury Tales in modern English are available in local libraries.)

Presenter:

  • Shirley Radcliffe, in addition to being LIRIC’s president, is one of our most popular presenters. After teaching in the New York City public schools for more than 38 years, and ending her pre-retirement at Manhattanville College, she brought her considerable talents to LIRIC where she’s offered courses in literature, language, dining, clothes, Pre-Columbian history, art, and most recently, being WEIRD.

More Countries

4 sessions
March 7, 14, 21;
April 4;
12:30-1:45 p.m.

These talks will cover interesting countries with complex problems and examine the historical, political, and social dynamics of each nation..

March 7:

  • Why have over seven million people left Venezuela?

March 14:

  • Why is there such a disparity in the lives of North and South Koreans?

March 21:

  • Sudan and the world’s newest country, South Sudan, are on the United Nations list of countries that desperately need help, especially food aid.

April 4:

  • The Philippines has diverse issues and is now engaged in maritime problems with an aggressive China.

Presenter:

  • Lois Lovisolo is a member of the Curriculum Committee as well as LIRIC’s Comptroller, and regularly presents informative classes on the history and geography of countries of the world.

The World Around Us

3 sessions
April 11, 18, 25;
12:30-1:45 p.m.

April 11:

  • Around the World in 86 Days
  • Presenter: Dr. Jack Breslin, Media & Strategic Communication Department, Iona University

April 18:

  • Wildlife Management: Supporting Local Wildlife from Bobcats to Butterflies
  • Presenter: Steve Ricker, Conservation Director, Westmoreland Sanctuary

April 24:

  • Geology in Your Backyard&
  • Presenter: Jeffrey Rappaport, Geo-Science Educator

Literary Discussion

7 sessions
March 7, 14, 21;
April 4, 11, 18, 25;
2-3:15 p.m.

The author Yunte Huang has described America in the 1920s as “a sprawling party that would seem to go on forever." In the Literary Discussion class, we’ll explore this vibrant era by reading and sharing our reactions to the works listed below. We begin with an engrossing chronicle of the Roaring Twenties, One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson.

The Westchester Library System owns many copies of the full-length books including some eBook and audio book versions. Paper copies of the readings we’ll discuss on March 14th, April 11th, and April 18th will be distributed the prior week. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to read the works in advance; all are welcome.

March 7:

  • One Summer: America, 1927 by Bill Bryson
  • Presenter: Jeanne de Saint Ouen

March 14:

  • Short works by Sherwood Anderson, Sinclair Lewis, and others
  • Presenter: Rick Leibert

March 21:

  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Presenter: Barbara Hickey

April 4:

  • The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway
  • Presenter: Paulette Gabbriellini

April 11:

  • Short works by Dorothy Parker and Katherine Anne Porter
  • Presenter: Linda Whetzel

April 18:

  • Short works by writers of the Harlem Renaissance
  • Presenters: June Hesler and Linda Whetzel

April 25:

  • Jazz by Toni Morrison
  • Presenter: Beth Hofstetter

Class Representative: Kobie Thakar


Course Descriptions: Fridays

Lecture Series: A Century Ago: The 1920s

6 sessions
March 8;
April 5, 12, 19, 26;
May 3;
1-2:15 p.m.

So – where were we one hundred years ago? Well, the ‘20s began with women’s right to vote – and, coincidentally, Prohibition – and ended with the Great Depression and the repeal of Prohibition. In between we had bootleggers and speakeasies, Lindbergh and the first solo transatlantic flight, the Jazz Age, the Harlem Renaissance, the Art Deco style of architecture, the Scopes Trial, the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, the advent of “talking” movies, the popularity of radio, the development of both the telephone and television. We could go on ad infinitum, but in this series we’ll deal with just a few movements and events

March 8:

  • An Overview of The 1920s
  • Presenter: Dr. James T. Carroll, History Department

April 5:

  • How Buster Keaton (Almost) Broke the Movies
  • Presenter: Dr. Dean Defino, Director of Film Studies, English Dept.

April 12:

  • The “Oxydolization” of the Airwaves: Radio and the Age of the Sponsor
  • Presenter: Dr. Tony Kelso, Media & Strategic Communication Dept.

April 19:

  • Crime and Punishment in the 1920s
  • Presenter: Dr. Paul O’Connell, Criminal Justice & Sociology Dept.

April 26:

  • Modern Art in the 1920s
  • Presenter: Professor Kristy Caratzola, Fine & Performing Arts Dept.

May 3:

  • Westchester in the 1920s
  • Presenter: Barbara Davis, Co-Director, Westchester County Historical Society

Note: Kobie Thakar’s talk on Inventors of the Roaring Twenties was originally scheduled for March 22nd as part of this series. However, there is no room available on campus that day. The talk will be given instead on Tuesday, April 30th from 12:30 – 1:45 on the Bronxville Campus.

Film Course: The Twenties – Flashy Flicks

6 sessions
March 8;
April 5, 12, 19, 26;
May 3:
2:30-4:45 p.m.

"The Roaring Twenties” was shaped by the Women’s Right to Vote, post-World War I prosperity, new inventions, a growing consumer economy, and Prohibition. Vast cultural and social changes ensued, birthing new styles of music, the arts, dancing, and fashion. Women bobbed their hair, hemlines went up, and morals went down. Illegal alcohol greased the engine as cars, radios, phones, bootleggers, gangsters, flappers, and “all that jazz” formed the mise en scène of a new era.

March 8:

  • The Great Gatsby
  • 1974, 146 minutes
  • The Robert Redford, Mia Farrow version. “The careless rich smash up things. Other people clean up their messes.”

April 5:

  • Midnight in Paris
  • 2011, 94 minutes
  • In Woody Allen’s film a novelist time travels to Paris in the ‘20s where he meets the artists and literati of the period. Hello, Hemingway, Fitzgerald et al.

April 12:

  • Chaplin
  • 1992, 145 minutes
  • Charlie Chaplin, played by Robert Downey, Jr., reminisces about his life with the editor of his autobiography.

April 19:

  • The Man Who Laughs
  • 1928, 110 minutes
  • In this silent film, based on a script by Victor Hugo, when a noble refuses to kiss the hand of the king, his son’s face is carved into a permanent grin.

April 26:

  • The Artist
  • 2011, 100 minutes
  • In this silent black and white film, the lives of a French silent movie star and a young ingenue intertwine as he loses his career to the talkies and her star rises.

May 3

  • The Untouchables
  • 1987, 119 minutes
  • Kevin Costner plays federal agent Eliot Ness who is trying to bring Al Capone to trial during Prohibition, assisted by Sean Connery as his second in command. The movie features period music by Duke Ellington.

Instructor:

  • Cheryl Passavanti is a learning facilitator and lecturer on current topics about and through film. A frequenter of film festivals and film clubs, she has brought her expertise to the New Rochelle Resource Center, the Adult Education program in New Rochelle, and, in the last few years, to LIRIC.

Class Representative: Lorraine Rosano

RECENT COURSE CATALOGS

Special Event: Book Swap!

January 23, All Day

Bring in a maximum of three books (in good condition, please!) and take home others.

Four Tuesdays January 9, 16, 23, 30

All classes meet at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church Intersection of Mill Rd. & North Ave. New Rochelle, NY

Bygone Days
11a.m.-12:15 p.m.

Lunch
12:15-1 p.m.

January Jamboree
1-2:15 p.m.


BYGONE DAYS 11a.m.–12:15 p.m.

January 9

Mary Gedney: A Woman of Distinction

Presenter: David Osborn, St. Paul’s Church

January 16

The Etruscans

Presenter: Lois Lovisolo

January 23

The Life and Afterlives of Thomas Paine

Presenter: Dr. Michael Crowder Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, Iona University

January 30

Diversity in the Time of The American Revolution

Presenter: Rich Forliano, Eastchester Town Historia


JANUARY JAMBOREE 1-2:15 p.m.

Join us for an eclectic mix of lectures covering art, music, and nature – and ending with a contest that will test your knowledge of trivia.

January 9

Biblical Women in Western Art

Paintings from the 12th through 20th centuries tell the stories of women of the Old and New Testaments.

Presenter: Mark D. Fichtel

January 16

The Most Famous Non-Famous Musical Film Star

The Secret Singer What do West Side Story, The King and I, and My Fair Lady have in common?

Presenter: Louise Edeiken

January 23

Nature as Nurturer

How does being outdoors benefit you? What will you see? Where can you go?

Presenter: Rita Calandresa

January 30

Trivia

Pick a table and a team when you get here (or before if you prefer!) and compete to see which team knows the most answers to the questions posed by Joyce Kent.

Course Descriptions: Monday

7 sessions  
October 2, 16, 23, 30;
November 6, 13, 27
10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

Newsworthy Topics

Each session will delve into recent news stories within a specific field such as geopolitical concerns or scientific advances. We encourage your active participation in this current events course and will leave plenty of time for civil discourse and a lively informative discussion.

  • October 2
    • Medicine: Electronic Doctor Records
    • Joyce Kent
  • October 16
    • Politics
    • Jim O’Neill
  • October 23
    • Foreign Policy
    • Jim O’Neill
  • October 30
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Kobie Thakar
  • November 6
    • Finance
    • John McGovern
  • November 13
    • Influential People in the News
    • Pelle Coruzzolo
  • November 27
    • Asia
    • Fred Towers

Mah Jongg

7 sessions  
October 2, 16, 23, 30;
November 6, 13, 27
10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

Mah Jongg, a tile-based game thought to have originated in China several hundred years ago, spread throughout the world during the twentieth century.  While it involves a degree of chance, it is a game of skill, strategy and calculation – all of which you will learn in this class which is open to beginners who want to learn the fundamentals but also to members who already know how to play. You will need a 2023 Mah Jongg card which can be purchased from Amazon, the Mah Jongg League or at a local store.

Instructor: Linda Levine

Please call Linda Levine at (914) 235-9878 by September 26 to register, to request that we purchase a card for you, or for more information about the class.

Getting To Know You

1 session
October 2
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

In one of our first classes of the year, led by retired teacher Linda Creary, we offer you a fun-filled – and enlightening – opportunity to get to know other LIRIC members.

Money, Money, Money

2 sessions
October 16, 23.
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

Financial services expert John McGovern, who gave us a talk on crypto-currency last spring, returns to talk about The History of U.S. Money and the Future of Cash (October 16) and The Basics of Stock Market Investing, Money and Banking (October 23).

Spirituality, Ecology, and Justice

4 sessions
October 30;
November 6, 13, 27
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

This course is taught by faculty from Iona’s Kathleen Deignan, CND Institute for Earth and Spirit. It will explore the insights and the vital connections between ecology and spirituality, sustainability and social justice in Catholicism, Buddhism, and indigenous traditions. Participants will be invited to reflect on the works discussed as well as apply the insights to their daily lives.

Presenters: Sister Kathleen Deignan, CND, Ph.D. and Dr. Jim Robinson, Iona University Department of Religious Studies

Play-Reading

7 sessions  
October 2, 16, 23, 30;
November 6, 13, 27
2 – 3:15 p.m.

Play-Reading is an entertaining activity open to all members of LIRIC who take pleasure in reading aloud or in listening to plays being read. This semester we will be journeying from farce to tragedy to comedy and back to farce again. Scripts will be provided.

  • October 2 & 16
    • Bedroom Farce (1975) by Alan Ayckbourn takes place in three bedrooms and portrays the comic misadventures of four married British couples over the course of one night and the following morning.
  • October 23 & 30
    • A View from the Bridge (1956) by Arthur Miller is a tension-filled drama set in an Italian-American community in Brooklyn dealing with illegal immigration, a longshoreman’s obsession with his wife’s adult niece, and the tragic consequences of breaking a code of honor.
  • November 6 & 13
    • The Women (1936) by  Clare Booth Luce is a comedy of manners about wealthy Manhattan socialites, working class seductresses, and unfaithful husbands who manage to stay out of sight for the entire play.
  • November 27
    • “The Proposal” (1889) by Anton Chekov is a one-act farce in which a marriage proposal goes hopelessly and hilariously awry thanks to the greed and stubbornness of the principal characters.
  • Presenter:
    • Iona University graduate and Carnegie-Mellon M.F.A. recipient in Drama, Len Poggiali spent his 33-year career teaching mostly high school English and theater arts and directing college, community, and school productions in Pittsburgh, Syracuse, and Westchester.

Art Workshop

7 sessions
October 2, 16, 23, 30;
November 6, 13, 27
2 – 3:15 p.m.

The Art Workshop has been expanding and now will include multi media forms of art. These will include watercolor, acrylic, oil paint, pencil or charcoal drawing, colored pencils and adult coloring books. Bring your own materials and work in a relaxed, brightly lit and airy space. All skill levels, from “I like art but can’t draw a straight line,” to "I have an exhibit coming up," are welcome. Join us and have fun creating something beautiful.

Questions? Call the instructor at 914-961-5661.

  • Instructor:
    • Gail Apfel is a graduate of the High School of Music and Art and has participated in classes at the Westchester Art Workshop as well as art classes through Road Scholar and the Hudson River Museum. She chairs LIRIC’s Fine & Performing Arts Committee.

Course Descriptions: Tuesday

Tai Chi

7 sessions
October 3, 10, 24, 31;
November 7, 14, 28
9 – 10 a.m.

Pre-registration and an additional fee of $56.00 are required for this class. The registration form is at the end of this catalog

Tai Chi, as it is practiced in the west today, can perhaps best be thought of as a moving form of yoga and meditation combined. In Chinese philosophy and medicine, “chi” is a vital force that animates the body; thus one purpose of Tai Chi is to enhance the health and vitality of the practitioner.  Tai Chi also fosters a calm and tranquil mind by focusing on the precise execution of the exercises. Learning to do them correctly provides a practical method for improving balance, posture, alignment, fine-scale motor control, rhythm of movement, and breathing. Tai Chi has been recommended as an adjunct therapy for chronic pain, arthritis, insomnia, asthma, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s, Multiple Sclerosis and fibromyalgia.

  • Instructor:
    • Domingo Colon is the owner of the Tai Chi School of Westchester in Bronxville. He has been practicing Tai Chi since he was fifteen, and is the teacher of other Tai Chi masters as well as a frequent judge at Tai Chi competitions.

A Memoir Writing Workshop

7 sessions  
October 3, 10, 17, 24, 31;
November 7, 14.
9:00 – 10:15 a.m.

Right now, you can begin to re-experience, and reflect on, the work of your life – the exciting, wonderful, and even the unhappy events. Your grandmother’s cookies. The house that nurtured you for years and years. A special and meaningful person. A dear friend. A diving catch at a Little League baseball game. A crocheted afghan made with Mom, Grandma or Aunt Bea.

In this class, we sit and recall events that to others might mean little, but to ourselves are filled with richness. Through recollection, reflection, creation, you can return to a special day, a week, a year — experiences that you are invited to remember and put on paper via memoir writing

Contact the instructor at billwerth@aol.com to register for this limited class.

  • Instructor:
    • Bill Wertheim has taught both memoir writing and poetry workshops throughout Westchester for over ten years. His BA degree in English Literature is from Columbia University; he holds an MA degree from SUNY at Stony Brook, an MSW degree in Social Work from Hunter College, and is currently at work producing a volume of his poetry and writing his own memoirs.

Academically Speaking

3 sessions 
October 3, 10, 17.
10:30  – 11:45 a.m.

Join Iona faculty members as they speak about the projects they’re working on and the topics that interest them – all New York City related.

  • October 3
    • New York 1860: City on a Precipice
    • Presenter: Dr. Josh Leon, Political Science Department
  • October 10
    • Immigrant Migrations Within New York City 1900 – 1960

    • Presenter: Dr. Jim Carroll, History Department

  • October 17

    • New York City Policing: Broken Windows Redux, 1994-2024

    • Presenter: Dr. Paul O’Connell, Criminal Justice and Sociology Department

Fall Cornucopia

5 sessions  
October 24, 31;
November 7, 14, 28.
10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

Join us for one or all of these single presentations on a variety of topics.

  • October 24
    • Vietnam: Hallowed Traditions and the Hard-won Independence of a Heroic People in the Throes of Globalization
    • Presenter: Robert Henrey, World Traveler
  • October 31
    • (Almost) Everything You Wanted to Know About Aviation: Aircraft Performance, Federal Aviation Regulations, Air Traffic Control
    • Presenter: Fred Towers
  • November 7
    • The Rockefellers and Pacific Island Art (Think high seas tragedy and art!)
    • Presenter: Dr. Jack Rosenbluth
  • November 14
    • How to Lie with Statistics
    • Presenter: Dr. Suzanne Page, LIRIC Director
  • November 28
    • Demagogue: Joseph R. McCarthy and the Chaos of the Early 1950s
    • Presenter: Rick Leibert

Kent’s Comments

3 sessions 
October 3, 10, 17.
12:30  – 1:45 p.m.

These three lectures will focus primarily on significant Supreme Court cases decided during the term that ended in June of this year. After a review of the facts of each case and the decision of the court, audience members will be encouraged to express their comments and views as to whether the case were correctly decided. While this is an off-year for elections, time will be devoted to an audience discussion of the presidential and congressional races of 2024, including lower court cases involving presidential candidates.

Presenter: Bob Kent is an attorney specializing in health care and human resources. With a JD from Harvard Law School and an MBA from NYU, he has, over the years, worked with NBC Universal, Lifetime Entertainment Services and TWA among others. In the last few years he has spoken to LIRIC primarily about Supreme Court cases and the presidency.

Hate: A History of Antisemitism

1 session
October 24.
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

Presenter Steve Goldberg returns, by popular demand, to talk about antisemitism. He is the retired chair of the Social Studies Department at New Rochelle High School, where he was recently interim principal. He is presently Co-Director of Education at the Holocaust and Human Rights Education Center in White Plains.

Our Earth

4 sessions  
October 31;
November 7, 14, 28.
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

“We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” – Apollo 8 astronaut William Anders 

When astronauts look at Earth from space they see no boundaries, only the magnificent land forms we’ll learn about in this class. We’ll examine: oceans, which cover 70% of our planet and contain rare minerals under the surface; deserts, whose flora and fauna must adapt to the less than 10 inches of rain received each year; forests, with their estimated three trillion trees essential to our ecosystem; and mountains, providing not just minerals, but beauty and recreation to the world.

  • October 31    
    • Oceans – Lois Lovisolo
  • November 7
    • Deserts – Lois Lovisolo
  • November 14   
    • Mountains – Kobie Thakar
  • November 28
    • Forests – Lois Lovisolo

Presenter: Lois Lovisolo, one of our most popular speakers, developed this class and will present most of the sessions. Lois is a member of the Curriculum Committee as well as LIRIC’s Comptroller. In past semesters she has presented informative classes on the history and geography of many  countries of the world.  

Spanish for Everyone

4 sessions
October 3, 10, 17, 24.
2 – 3:15 p.m.

This is a multi-level Spanish language course seasoned with tunes – both simple and sublime – including songs from Cuba and Puerto Rico.

Instructor: Rosalie Hollingsworth taught Spanish in the New York  City schools for some 35 years, and brings her expertise in both language and music to LIRIC with this class.

All That Jazz – Cubano Be, Cubano Bop!

4 sessions
October 31;
November 7, 14, 28.
2 – 3:15 p.m.

This series of All That Jazz will focus on Afro-Cuban Jazz, as pioneered by Dizzy Gillespie and featuring many native Cuban Jazz artists.  We will start with Cuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval Live at the Brewhouse Theatre (1992).  Then A Night in Havana with Dizzy Gillespie in Cuba (1988).  Then Ry Cooder’s documentary Buena Vista Social Club (1999).  And finally Cuban saxophonist Paquito D’Rivera and Spanish pianist Chano Domínguez, the creator of the ‘New Flamenco Sound,’ Live at the Quartier Latín (2006).

Presenter: Gregory Koster has been a Jazz fan since the early 60s, was a Jazz  DJ in college, contributed Jazz reviews and surveys to The Sensible Sound magazine for over 15 years, and is Past President of the PJS Jazz Society in Mount Vernon.


Course Descriptions: Wednesday

Wednesdays are special at LIRIC. Classes are suspended that day to allow for additional intellectual and artistic pursuits off site. The familiar is intertwined with the new in often off-beat adventures. The goal is to expose our members to things and places that enrich and feed the mind as well as the soul. Space is limited, so LIRIC members receive first priority. Information about our trips will be included with this catalog, in your welcome packet when you join, or as a separate mailing.

Trip planner Dianne Heim likes to travel far and near. With so many things to see in the world, Dianne would like to share with you some of those in our own backyard.


Course Descriptions: Thursday

Dutch Masters: The Age of Rembrandt

4 sessions  
October 5, 12, 19, 26.
10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

This class introduces a series of 36 video lectures on the art of 17th century Holland presented by the Great Courses professor William Kloss, who last year gave us The World’s Greatest Paintings. Showing two 25-minute videos each week, retired librari-an and long-time LIRIC member and presenter Jo-Anne Weinberg will moderate the class, lead discussions and provide additional information.

Are You WEIRD?

Western, Educated, Industrial, Rich, Democratic = WEIRD

4 sessions  
November 2, 9, 16, 30.
10:30 – 11:45 a.m.

The modern western world owes its prosperity to strange ways of thinking. In the text by Professor Joseph Heinrich anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, and history come together to explain how the western world came to dominate the plan-et. Join our speaker as she looks at the evidence presented by Dr.  Heinrich, and puts you to the test.

Presenter: Shirley Radcliffe, in addition to being LIRIC’s president, is one of our most popular presenters. After teaching in the New York City public schools for more than 38 years, and ending her pre-retirement at Manhattanville College, she brought her considerable talents to LIRIC where she’s offered courses in literature, language, dining, clothes, Pre -Columbian history, and most recently art.

Lifelong Well-Being

5 sessions  
October 5, 12, 19, 26;
November 2.
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

Iona University has recently opened the NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences on their new Bronxville campus. Faculty and students from the School will present. For the first session, Dr. Kavita Dhanwada, the Dean of the School, will give an overview of the programs that are being offered, the facilities on campus, and what’s new on the horizon.  

For the other sessions, she and her colleagues will address a variety of topics that will help us to have a healthy lifestyle as we age. To start, what is the history of the allied health sciences in the U.S.? This will be followed by a discussion of well-ness and balance -- how to maintain good physical health and keep mentally sharp. They’ll move on to examine how nutritional needs change as we age, ne-cessitating changes in our eating habits.

For the last session, students from health science programs will carry out a case study using interprofessional education (IPE), which is being used frequently in the health sciences to teach collaboration and teamwork. IPE brings professionals from various disciplines together to contribute to the diagnosis and treatment of a patient and provide the best outcome from all perspectives. 

Class Representative: Joyce Kent

Autism Spectrum Disorder

2 sessions 
November 9, 16.
12:30 – 1:45 p.m.

This two-part course will discuss contemporary thinking on the topic of autism spectrum disorder, which has become increasingly prevalent in the U.S. in recent years. Topics will include diagnosis, family challenges, and therapeutic techniques.

Presenter: Eileen Sullivan Hoffman is a licensed, certified speech language pathologist who, over her 44-year career, has worked extensively with people exhibiting autism spectrum disorder.

Literary Discussion

7 sessions  
October 5, 12, 19, 26;
November 2, 9, 16.
2 – 3:15 p.m.

Cuba and Puerto Rico were colonies of the vast Spanish empire for nearly four centuries. They were called “two wings of the same bird” by the poet Lola Ro-driguez when both were struggling for independence long after other Latin American colonies were free of Spanish rule. In the Literary Discussion class, we’ll share thoughts and feelings about the works listed below. We begin with a tale of life on a sugar plantation in 19th century Puerto Rico, the riveting histori-cal novel Conquistadora.

The Westchester Library System owns many copies of the full-length books in-cluding some eBook and audio book versions. Paper copies of the readings we’ll discuss on October 12 and 26 will be distributed the prior week. Attendees are encouraged, but not required, to read the works in advance; all are wel-come.

  • October 5
    • Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
    • Presenter: Beth Hofstetter
  • October 12
    • Selected short works by Puerto Rican authors
    • Presenter: Kobie Thakar
  • October 19
    • My Beloved World by Sonia Sotomayor
    • Presenter: Paulette Gabbriellini
  • October 26
    • Selected short works by Cuban authors
    • Presenter: Barbara Hickey
  • November 2
    • Dreaming in Cuban by Cristina Garcia
    • Presenter: June Hesler
  • November 9
    • The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
    • Presenter: Rick Leibert 
  • November 16
    • Of Women and Salt by Gabriela Garcia
    • Presenter: Linda Whetzel 

Class Representative: Kobie Thakar


Course Descriptions: Friday

Lecture Series: Cuba and Puerto Rico

7 sessions  
October 6, 13, 20, 27;
November 3, 17;
December 1.
1 – 2:15 p.m.

Class meets in
Romita Auditorium
in Ryan Library

Toward the end of the Gilded Age – which we studied last spring – Cuba and Puerto Rico were the only two colonies left in what had once been a vast Spanish empire in the New World. Learn about their history and culture through this series of talks coordinated by Dr. Jimena Perry and Dr. Nereida Segura-Rico of Iona University and presented almost entirely by Iona faculty and students.

  • October 6
    • ¡Óyelo!: The Puerto Rican Roots of Miguel Zenón's Esta Plena and Lin Manuel Miranda's In the Heights
    • Presenter: Dr. Adam Rosado, Arts & Languages Department
  • October 13
    • An Historical Overview of Puerto Rico and Cuba
    • Presenter: Lois Lovisolo
  • October 20
    • Galician Slavery in 19th Century Cuba from a
      Literary Perspective
    • Presenter: Dr. Pilar Caballero-Alias,  
      Arts & Languages Department AND
    • Socio-Political Cuban Perspectives in the 20th Century
    • Presenter: Paulo Hernández (’25)
  • October 27
    • Puerto Rican Theater on the Island and in the USA
      in the 20th Century
    • Presenter: Gabrielle Rodríguez (’23) 
  • November 3
    • The Music of the Cuban Revolution: The Nueva Trova
    • Presenter:  Dr. Jimena Perry, History Department
  • November 17
    • Race and Cultural Identity in Cuba and Puerto Rico
    • Presenter: Dr. Nereida Segura-Rico, Arts & Languages Department
  • December 1
    • Cubop: From Harlem to Havana and Back Again
    • Presenter: Dr. Adam Rosado, Arts & Languages Department

Film Course: Cuba and Puerto Rico

7 sessions  
October 6, 13, 20, 27;
November 3, 17;
December 1.
2:30 – 4:45 p.m.

Class meets in Romita Auditorium in Ryan Library

Cuba and Puerto Rico have given much to enrich America’s diverse Pop Culture scene. They’ve contributed music (Gloria Estefan, Celia Cruz, Arturo Sandoval, and composer Lin Manuel Miranda), dance (the mambo, rumba, cha cha, and salsa), and, of course, movies and TV. In fact, Cuban bandleader and producer Desi Arnaz developed the first TV sitcom which profoundly changed the television industry – I Love Lucy.  While Puerto Rico has served as a backdrop for movies like Lord of the Flies, Golden Eye, and recently Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, it is Cuba that has the thriving film industry. 

Castro understood that movies could be a political tool to shape the “collective consciousness of the people.” Pledging government support and financing, he appointed his friend and ally, filmmaker Alfredo Guevara Valdes, to head Cuba’s film department. In 1979 Alfredo started The Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana. This world-famous festival, dubbed “The Cannes of the Caribbean,” promotes works that enrich Latin American and Caribbean cultural identity. 

This semester’s film course will examine works about – and some from – Cuba and Puerto Rico.

  • October 6
    • Yo soy Boricua, pa'que tu lo sepas!
    • 2006, 1 hour 25 minutes
    • Written and co-directed by Rosie Perez and Liz Garbus, this documentary shows the complex relationship between Puerto Rico and the U.S.
  • October 13
    • The Mambo Kings
    • 1992, 1 hour 45 minutes
    • Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas in his first English-speaking role portray Cuban brothers, musicians seeking fame in NYC.
  • October 20
    • Havana 
    • 1990, 2 hours 24 minutes
    • Robert Redford, Lina Olin, and Alan Arkin star. Think Casablanca in Havana as the characters get involved with the Cuban Revolution.
  • October 27
    • Fidel: The Untold Story
    • 2001, 91 minutes
    • This documentary, directed by a Castro supporter, features interviews with Castro, Harry Belafonte, Ted Turner, Muhammad Ali, and others.
  • November 3
    • Before Night Falls 
    • 2000, 2 hours 13 minutes
    • Javier Bardem stars as the Cuban poet and novelist, Reynaldo Arenas, who was persecuted for his creative beliefs and his homosexuality.
  • November 17
    • For Love or Country: The Arturo Sandoval Story  2000, 2 hours
    • Andy Garcia stars in the story of Sandoval's life up to his defection from Cuba to the United States. Music by Sandoval himself.
  • December 1
    • Strawberry and Chocolate
    • 1995, 1 hour 48 minutes
    • An Oscar-nominated Cuban film pitting communism against individualism, gay freedom against Marxist strait-jacketing.

Instructor: Cheryl Passavanti is a learning facilitator and lecturer on current topics about and through film. A frequenter of film festivals, during the Cuban travel embargo she attended one of the famous film festivals in Havana and brings her experience to this course.

Class Representative: Lorraine Rosano

Four Thursdays: July 6, 13, 20, 27

BYGONE DAYS
or
PLAY-READING
11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

LUNCH
12:15-1 p.m.

LIRIC LIGHT!
1-2:15 p.m.


11 a.m.-12:15 p.m.

PLAY-READING

During this special four-week session, under the direction of instructor Len Poggiali participants will read aloud George Bernard Shaw’s comic, romantic, and philosophic masterpiece Man and Superman. Scripts will be provided and time will be allowed for discussion of this lengthy, very challenging, very funny battle of the sexes.

BYGONE DAYS

July 6: My Bronx, My Oz

A multimedia presentation about growing up in the Bronx during the ‘40s, ‘50s and early ‘60s.

Presenter: Robert Blaufarb (His book will be available for $15 cash or check – all proceeds to the New York State Fire Service.)

July 13: Parisian Art of the Belle Époque (1870-1914)

Tour key landmarks of the period and explore the birth of Impressionism and Art Nouveau.

Presenter: Julie Averbach, Yale University Cohen Public Service Fellow

July 20: Remembering Remarkable Women of Westchester

Presenter: Barbara Davis, Co-Director Westchester County Historical Society

July 27: Thomas Paine’s American Revolution

Learn about the fascinating man who inspired Washington’s troops during the American Revolution.

Presenter: Dr. Michael Crowder, Public Historian, Institute for Thomas Paine Studies, Iona University


1-2:15 p.m.

LIRIC LIGHT!

July 6: How the Other Half…

Professional actress Michèle LaRue performs two vibrant tales from America’s Gilded Age, which gleefully remind us that people haven’t changed in 100 years: Mary Wilkins Freeman’s “The Apple Tree” and O. Henry’s “Transients in Arcadia.”

July 13: A Rainbow of Birds

Learn how to identify over 40 species of birds found commonly throughout Westchester, plus interesting facts about them.

Presenter: Sandy Morrissey, President, Bronx River–Sound Shore Audubon Society

July 20: Conservation Challenges and Strategies in Westchester County

Learn about the threats to flora and fauna and the strategies being implemented to protect both wildlife and plants via trail camera footage and still photos.

Presenter: Steve Ricker, Conservation Director, Westmoreland Sanctuary

July 27: LIRIC’s own Antique Roadshow

Bring in jewelry, art, bronzes, silver, porcelain or any small items (no furniture!) for appraisal by Ronan Clarke, owner, auctioneer and appraiser, and other experts from Clarke Auction Gallery.

Contact Us

Learning in Retirement at Iona University


Stormy Weather: In the event of bad weather, LIRIC closings will be announced by email (from LIRICnews@gmail.com) and a message will be put on LIRIC’s answering machine (914) 633-2675.