Introduction
Once the holidays are over, LLI members can look forward to the diverse offerings of WinterFest 2023. On four consecutive Wednesdays starting January 4, LLI members will have the opportunity to attend two presentations. There is no need to worry about bad weather or parking since they will all be held on Zoom. Each week, we will receive a link for the day’s presentations, and we can share that link with a friend. Registration will not be required. Here is an overview of what we can anticipate.
Grandparenting
Child psychiatrist Alice Linder, MD, has spent her career exploring how a child’s early relationships with caregivers affect all domains of later life. In Early Child Development for Grandparents, she will discuss how grandparents can contribute to a child’s secure attachment to primary caregivers without overstepping boundaries.
Local History
Bill Jeffway will identify and interpret important local history, especially lesser-told stories, in Affordable Housing at the Time of the Civil War: Rhinebeck’s Oak Street. These stories illuminate the history of the abolition of slavery, the great influx of Irish Catholic immigrants, and the dispossession of land of Indigenous peoples.
In Documented Lives: Hudson Valley Oral History Project, LLI member Jeff Christensen will share his passion for video production as a member of the Hudson Valley Oral History Project. He believes oral histories convey memories and personal commentaries that our children and historians will treasure.
The Arts
Bard professor Joseph Luzzi was fascinated to learn that Botticelli undertook to illustrate the cantos of Dante’s Divine Comedy. In Botticelli’s Secret: Lost Drawings and the Rediscovery of the Renaissance, he tells the story of how the Renaissance came to life and how Botticelli’s art helped bring it about.
LLI member Judith Nelson will explore the basic elements of dance in her lecture demonstration Dance 101: Space, Time, and Energy. Members will gain a deeper appreciation of dance as an art form, whether as a viewer or as a dancer.
When does craft become art? Sharon Waddell will consider that issue as she shares the results of her 18 years of quilt research with her lecture on American Quilts—Both Art and Craft.
Conversations
Instead of offering the usual presentations, three LLI members will conduct interviews concerning different social justice issues. In Hate: What and Why: an Interview, Felice Gelman will talk with Ken Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, about questions such as: What is hate? Is it learned or embedded in human psychology? What is the relationship between structural racism and individual prejudice?
Then Laura Brown and Barbara Danish will interview Jean-Remy Monnay, founder and artistic director of the Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate NY, which presents plays about little-known historical events involving Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. He will describe the intersection of those events with his experience as a Black man in “This Is the Way I Protest:” A Confluence of American History, Black Experience, and Theater.
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