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NEWS
LLAIC'S Annual Meeting: Tuesday, 6/2
SPECIAL EVENTS
Pronouns! Pronouns! (Special Program) - Wednesday, 6/10
Dinner Theater: Eureka Day - Sunday, 6/14 (WAITLIST ONLY)
LLAIC Annual Picnic - Tuesday, 6/23
Judy Collins at Tanglewood - Sunday, 8/30 (LAST CALL)
AFFINITY GROUPS
Spanish Conversation Group (La Tertulia): Monday, 6/1
French Conversation Group: Monday, 6/8
Current Events: Wednesday, 6/10
LLAIC Lit-Lovers: Friday, 6/12
Movie Mavens: Friday, 6/19
Not a member yet? Click here to join LLAIC.
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ANNOUNCING LLAIC'S ANNUAL MEETING
TUESDAY, JUNE 2 @ 11:00
TEMPLE SHALOM, NEWTON
In accordance with our by-laws, each year LLAIC schedules an annual meeting to which the entire community is invited. This year’s meeting will be on Tuesday June 2 at 11:00am at Temple Shalom. We will report on the state of LLAIC and celebrate the successful completion of our twelfth year. A portion of the meeting will be set aside for members to offer feedback on what you like, what you don’t, and what you would like to see added to the program.
A key agenda item is usually the election of new members to the LLAIC Board of Directors. Since LLAIC is an all-volunteer collaborative organization, it is essential that all Board members be prepared to assist with any situation or responsibility as it arises.
This year, however, the Board has appointed Pat Cole to fill the unexpired term of our late dear friend and Board member Eric Sawitz. Pat will serve on the Board through the 2026-2027 year to complete what would have been Eric’s term, after which she will be voted on by the membership at our next annual meeting for a three-year term. Pat’s bio is attached.
We invite you all to bring lunch (or order pizza from Jen) and join us after the meeting for socializing and schmoozing - and a wonderful LUNCH@LLAIC program on Andy Warhol. Click here for a description of the program.
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SPECIAL EVENTS
Free to LLAIC Members
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SPECIAL PROGRAM!
PRONOUNS! PRONOUNS!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10 @ 1:00 ON ZOOM
Has someone you love – a grandchild, perhaps – asked you to use a different pronoun from the one you are accustomed to using? Perhaps they ask you to call them “they” or “ze” when you’ve known them as “he” or “she.” Why is the younger generation, in particular, experimenting with a more fluid sense of gender? How are we to honor what seems so important to them? What if we mess up? What is our own experience of gender?
Opus Newton residents Polly Attwood and Wendy Sanford have been helping their new neighbors consider these questions. They invite you to meet with them for 90 minutes via Zoom for a presentation and discussion based on “Pronouns! Pronouns!”, their popular Opus workshop.
Dr. Polly Attwood is a former Brookline High history teacher and teacher of teachers at Northeastern University. Wendy Sanford is a former campus minister and an original co-author of Our Bodies, Ourselves, a classic resource on women’s health and sexuality. Polly and Wendy are members of Friends Meeting in Cambridge (Quaker), under whose care they were married 27 years ago.
Click here to request a Zoom invitation before noon on Tuesday, June 9. You'll receive it that day.
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DINNER THEATER EVENT: EUREKA DAY
SUNDAY, JUNE 14 @ 1:00 P.M.
HUNTINGTON THEATER, BOSTON
(WAITLIST ONLY)
We are excited to be holding a limited number of excellent seats for Eureka Day at the Huntington on Sunday, June 14. Eureka Day won a 2025 Tony Award for best revival and the reviews have been fabulous. Deadline says, “A shiny, insightful, and damn funny little gem.” From The Guardian: “An impeccably polished satire” and from New York Magazine “Gaspingly funny!” Sounds like just what we all need these days!
Please send an email to Ileen or Shelly to check on the status of the waitlist.
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GARDEN TOUR HOSTED BY SUZANNE ART
(SUZANNE'S HOME IS IN LINCOLN. EXACT ADDRESS WILL BE SHARED WITH THOSE WHO REGISTER.)
TUESDAY, JUNE 16 @ 2:30
LUNCH AT THE TACK ROOM IN LINCOLN @ 12:30
TOUR LIMITED TO 15 PEOPLE. STREET PARKING AVAILABLE.
COME FOR GARDENING TIPS, BEAUTIFUL VIEWS, AND COMMUNITY
FROM SUZANNE:
We bought our house for the backyard, which was a large lawn surrounded by honeysuckle, with some woods at the back. It was a great playground for our kids.
When I retired from teaching, I began digging out the honeysuckle (basically a weed) and replacing it with specimen conifers and garden beds. Over the years, the trees have grown and the gardens have expanded. We had a little waterfall built by our terrace for its soothing effects. I do all the work myself – this is no show garden! – because it brings me great pleasure and peace of mind. Since the weather has been unseasonably warm, it’s hard to predict what will be flowering on June 16. Most likely the iris will be in bloom, as will the peonies, violas, and dianthus, with the lilies still in bud and annuals adding spice throughout the gardens. I can promise lots of color, texture, and tonality!
Please sign up with the enclosed registration form.
SAVE THE DATE: Tucked away on Beacon Hill Road in Newport, the Blue Garden is one of New England’s most enchanting hidden treasures. Commissioned in 1908 for the Gilded Age estate of copper and railroad magnate Arthur Curtiss James and his wife Harriet, the garden debuted in 1913 with a grand party called “The Masque of the Blue Garden” — celebrated as the Newport social event of the season. We plan to visit it on Thursday, June 25. Details will follow in the next Quill.
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LLAIC ANNUAL PICNIC
TUESDAY, JUNE 23 @ 11:30
LYONS PARK, NEWTON
(RAIN DATE JULY 2)
LLAIC’s annual picnic will be held starting at 11:30 on June 23 at Lyons Park (GPS: 104 West Pine St., Newton). Bring something for yourself to eat and something to share.
Directions: From Rte 95, take the Rte 30 East exit, and follow Commonwealth Ave. about ¾ mile. Turn left on Melrose Street, go about ¼ mile, then left on West Pine St. Go to the end and park near sign, “Auburndale Playground. The Cove.” Walk through the opening in the fence and follow the pathway to the left about 250 feet to the Ryan Picnic Area. There are about 30 picnic tables, mostly shaded.
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JUDY COLLINS IS COMING TO TANGLEWOOD!
SUNDAY, AUGUST 30 @ 2:30 P.M.
LAST CALL
On Sunday, August 30, Judy Collins will appear at Tanglewood as part of the Popular Artist’s Series co-starring Mary Chapin Carpenter and Rosanne Cash with special guest Amanda Shire. Cost: $59 in the shed.
Final call for tickets to this incomparable concert. Please notify Leslie Tannenwald, LLAIC Theater Committee member, right away if interested. All payments must be received by June 15. Please indicate whether you are willing to drive and how many people you can accommodate in your vehicle.
Reservations will be accepted on a first-come first-serve basis.
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AFFINITY GROUP MEETINGS
Free to LLAIC Members
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SPANISH CONVERSATION GROUP
(LA TERTULIA)
MONDAY, JUNE 1 @ 1:00 P.M.
Our format consists of reading and discussing articles from various Spanish language media sources of general high interest. There is no homework although everyone is invited to submit articles they might find for our agendas.
The hosts for the group are Miriam Grodberg and Larry Krakauer. Contact Miriam to request an invitation or with any
questions.
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FRENCH CONVERSATION GROUP
MONDAY, JUNE 8 @ 1:30-3:00 P.M.
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On April 13, we started reading short stories from the book French Stories/Contes Francais: A Dual-Language Book, edited by Wallace Fowlie. We’ve started with the first story, Micromégas, by Voltaire.
You can see a link to the Kindle version of the book on Amazon here. Once there, you can click a box on the right to order it in paperback. CAUTION: There are other similar DUAL LANGUAGE books edited by Wallace Fowlie. Be sure to buy the edition with “Ten Short Stories by Voltaire, Balzac, Gide, Camus …” et. al., available from Amazon for Kindle or in paperback.
The complete list of stories is included in the description. You can see the actual table contents by clicking on the “Read sample” link just below the picture of the book’s cover. It seems to take you to the FORWARD; if so, you must click the < arrow on the left side to move back through the table. You can also scan to the right, and read almost all the first story, Micromégas.
We meet for an hour and a half by ZOOM every other Monday at 1:30 p.m. We are intermediate to advanced French readers who read the French text out loud and discuss the stories in French. Please email Betty Salzberg if you would like to join us.
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CURRENT EVENTS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10 @ 10:00 A.M.
Between Iran and the Reflecting Pool and the numerous attempts to redraw the electoral maps, a lot is bound to happen before our next meeting. Our eager and knowledgeable members will be ready to make sense of it all. Newcomers are always welcome.
Click here before noon on Tuesday, June 9, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
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LLAIC LIT-LOVERS:
TABLE FOR TWO
BY AMOR TOWLES
LED BY CAROLE LEVY
FRIDAY, JUNE 12 @ 10:30
Table for Two is a collection of six short stories and a novella by bestselling novelist Amor Towles, author of A Gentleman in Moscow and The Lincoln Highway among other books. It was published n April 2024. The book is divided into two parts, with the six short stories connected to New York City and the novella set in Los Angeles.
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Please join us any time after 10:15 for socializing on our last meeting before summer vacation. Click here before noon on Thursday, June 11, to request a Zoom invitation. You'll receive it that day.
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MOVIE MAVENS
A SERIOUS MAN (2009)
FRIDAY, JUNE 19 @ 2 P.M. ON ZOOM
The multitalented Coen Bros. burst on to the Hollywood scene in 1984 with the thriller/film noir, Blood Simple. They confirmed their mastery of film form, film genres and originality over the next seven years with their takes on a screwball comedy, Raising Arizona; a gangster film, Miller’s Crossing; and a surreal satire of Hollywood, Barton Fink. Their talent has been confirmed by numerous Oscar nominations over the years and awards for Fargo and No Country for Old Men. Many critics have labeled this movie “a perfect film.”
We will be watching A Serious Man, 2009, where the Coens mine their cultural background growing up in a predominantly Jewish suburban community outside Minneapolis, set in 1967 to portray a time of cultural change and its impact on the characters. The film has been characterized, ironically, as a comic rendition of the story of Job, found in both Jewish and Christian scripture, that raises the question of why a good and loving God would allow good, faithful people, through no apparent fault of their own, to suffer. It’s a great mixture of subtle comedy, satire, and existential dread. A SERIOUS MAN can be watched on Prime video, Apple TV, YouTube and Fandango at home.
Click here before noon on Thursday, June 18 for a zoom invitation. You will receive it that day. For questions contact Ileen or Alex Conn.
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Learn more about LLAIC at www.llaic.org
Call us: (508) 453-1205
Write us: info@llaic.org
Editor: Barbara Mende
Contributing Editor: Shelly Levine
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