LLI@NCC – Announcements
Visit the LLI website to learn about us and see our current calendar.
Visit the NCC website for more about the college. For the latest college news, click the link to This Week at NCC. Follow the Resources links to the Library and the Wellness/Fitness Center.
For schedules of multi-date LLI and NCC events, see Pages in the right column.
11/5 A film classic at the Avon Theatre
NCC faculty member John Shields has called our attention to the free showing of an important film about race at the Avon Theatre in Stamford.
The Avon & The Links, Incorporated Present IMITATION OF LIFE (1934)
Post-film discussion with Donald Bogle, film historian & professor at New York University
Thursday November 5. Screening at 7:15 pm, discussion at 8:30.
This screening is the first offering in The Links’ new three-part film series “African Americans in Cinema” showcasing classic movies, documentaries, and new films by student filmmakers. The goal of “African Americans in Cinema” is to highlight the diversity of the black experience as represented by filmmakers, past and present.
The Links, Incorporated is a not-for-profit organization of more than 10,000 women of color, committed to enhancing the quality of life in our communities. The Fairfield County Chapter has a goal to raise awareness of African American culture throughout Fairfield County.
ABOUT THE FILM: The Nominated for three Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Imitation Of Life is based on the controversial 1933 bestseller by Fannie Hurst. It was inspired by a road trip that Hurst took with her friend, African American author Zora Neale Hurston.
The film explores problems of race, family, love, and success, and gives black actresses emotional weight for the first time in a major Hollywood motion picture. In 2007, Time magazine named the 1934 version of Imitation Of Life one of “The 25 Most Important Films on Race.” In 2005 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. It also appears on the list of Top 100 Black Film Classics. It has wowed audiences for 75 years. (In 1959, a remake by the same name starred Lana Turner and Academy Award nominee Juanita Moore.)
More at the Avon Theatre Film Center website
11/11 Veterans Day Event
Family and Children’s Agency will bring Westport Country Playhouse to the NCC campus for a Veteran’s Day production of “Letters Home” at 11 a.m. Wednesday, November 11, 2009 in the PepsiCo Theater.
“Letters Home” features 10 actors from the Chicago-based Griffin Theatre Company reading aloud actual letters written by American soldiers serving in the Middle East.The letters were written under the most difficult of circumstances–the disorientation of training, deployment, separation from family and loved ones and combat, and occupation duties in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Before the performance, there will be a procession of members of the NCC community who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces. To participate, call Chris DeCew at 857-7006. Afterward, the actors will hold an open discussion session with the audience. A reception with light refreshments will follow in the East Campus Atrium.
To reserve free tickets (2) call the NCC Events Line at 857- 7002. Pickup in the Admissions office.
10/18 Heart Walk at Sherwood Island
On Sunday, October 18th, members of the Norwalk Community College community will be participating in the Fairfield County Heart Walk. The walk is held at Sherwood Island State Park, Exit 18 off I-95 also the site of the 9/11 Memorial and beautiful Long island Sound beaches. The Lifetime Learners heart captain is Lynn Boyar, LLI’s liaison with the college.
Registration starts at 9:00 am and the Walk itself starts at 10:00. The official walk is three miles up and around the meandering trails in this lovely park, but you may walk as little or as much as you can. There are benches to rest along the way, and you can take a shortcut back to the main Pavilion if you want to stop. This is a great day to bring yourself, your family and friends, kids, grandkids and even dogs on leashes. There is no entrance fee, no parking fee.
A note from Lynn: Please make plans to join us this year, rain or shine. Contributions help the American Heart Association do its terrific work so I would like to ask you for a donation. Any amount will be gratefully accepted. A check made out to the American Heart Association can be sent to Lynn Boyar at the college or dropped off at her office, Room W102, where the LLI offices are also located.
If you have any questions, please call Lynn at 857-7054 or e-mail her at lboyar@ncc.commnet.edu
10/22 Lumumba – a film on the Congo
Lumumba: A film on the Congo by Raoul Peck
East Campus Forum October 22nd 5:00-7:30 p.m.
Patrice Lumumba was a passionate advocate for freedom in colonial Belgian Congo (renamed Zaire) and became the nation’s first prime minister after the country gained independence in 1960. This biographical drama explores Lumumba’s short, tumultuous life. The change from colony to democracy was a difficult transition and Lumumba soon had to struggle with secession attempts of the Katanga province, spreading unrest among the military and problems with international allies. Only ten weeks after his election Lumumba’s government was deposed in a military coup by Colonel Joseph Mobutu. The film follows Lumumba’s tragic life to his assassination and investigates the role the Cold War, the UN and European countries played in a development that can be seen as the prelude to the current crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Raoul Peck is an award-winning Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films. Briefly, in the 1990s, he was Haiti’s Minister of Culture. His film on Lumumba gained him wide public acclaim in 2001.
New York Times review
“This is a movie about chaos and regret, focusing on the unleashing of forces greater than any one person could hope to handle and the carnage, however necessary, left in their wake. Mr. Peck’s gambit works, and the result is a great film and a great performance.”
10/21 UN Day – the Congo
“The Human Face of War and Peace in DR Congo” — A UN Day Program
Wednesday, October 21, 11:30 - 1:30 p.m., GenRe Forum
Click here for the flyer
In honor of United Nations Day, four people with extraordinary personal experience in the Democratic Republic of the Congo will share their stories in a program in the NCC Forum on Oct. 21, “The Human Face of War and Peace in DR Congo.” United Nations specialist Stephen Jackson will set the framework for the Congo/Zaire conflict and international efforts to end it. With his extensive experience in the Congo and elsewhere in Africa, Dr. Jackson has firsthand knowledge of how war affects the civilian population and what drives politicians seeking to hammer out a peace agreement.
The next speaker, Francis Kalangala, was abducted from college into the Congolese militia, then spent 22 years as a top colonel in the Congolese army before defecting and joining the rebels. His wife, Evelyne Mukasonga, a Rwandan child in a Hutu-Tutsi family (both parents were slain) was caught in the Rwandan genocide, spent a year in jail with her infant son before intervention by humanitarian groups got her freed. She is now engaged in the Rwandan-Congolese reconciliation process.
Colette Masani’s worked for the rebel group Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD) until it was upstaged by a rival group. Abandoned when her group retreated, she fell into the hands of Ugandan military.
Starting at 10:00, the documentary film The Greatest Silence by Lisa F. Jackson will be shown in the forum.
The program is co-sponsored by the United Nations Association of the USA, Southwestern Connecticut Chapter, which is resident at NCC, and by the Student World Assembly NCC chapter. United Nations Day is officially October 24 since it was established by the UN General Assembly in 1947 as an occasion for governments and people to reaffirm their faith in the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
The NCC UNA-USA chapter is also known as the International Visitors Committee of Connecticut and the International Hospitality Committee of Fairfield County. Besides supporting UN goals, the group seeks to foster international understanding and friendship through international visitors programs. It has welcomed over 55,000 international visitors to Fairfield County since 1956.
Refreshments will be served in the Atrium following the program. For further information, contact Hannah Moeckel‐Rieke at NCC, hmoeckelrieke@ncc.commnet.edu or Barbara Jay, UNA-USA, barbarajay@jpus.org.
11/14 Lumina String Quartet
Saturday November 14 – 2:00 pm in the NCC Theater
The Lumina String Quartet in concert
Honoring the 200th anniversary of Haydn and Mendelssohn
For Lifetime Learners members only
Free tickets to the concert are available from Lynn Boyar, NCC Director of Special Programming.
If you would like to go, contact Lynn with your name, address, and how many tickets you would like.
Her phone: 203-857-7054, email LBoyar@ncc.commnet.edu.
Seating is on a first-come basis. Note that the LSQ concerts are now being held on Saturdays.
10/7 History Symposium – Charles Darwin
The NCC Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Sixth Annual History Symposium
The Charles Darwin Bicentennial (1809-2009)
Celebrating the History of Ideas
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
General Re Forum, East Campus
Presentations: 10:00 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.
Darwin: Scientist or Philosopher?
Dr. Edward Grippe: Darwin, Lincoln and the Nature of Truth
Dr. Robert Howard: Darwin, Marx and Anthropology
Jonathan McMenamin-Balano: W.W.C.D.?
Ernest Wiegand: Between a Clock and a Hard Place:The Contributions of Geology to Darwinian Theory
Panel Discussion: 11:30 a.m. – 12:50 p.m.
Darwin’s Influence in the 19th Century and Today
Moderator: Steven Berizzi
Panelists: Dr. David Levison, Dr. William Grodman, Dr. Robert J. Hall, Dr. Catherine Milton and Dr.Lawrence Goldstone
Wellness Center Fall Hours
LLI members may enter the NCC Fitness/Wellness Center by presenting an NCC ID card.
To obtain one, take your LLI membership card to the Baker Library.
The Center is now located on the ground floor of the D-wing, West Campus, in Room W005.
For additional information contact Ty Griese at 857-7195.
Fall hours:
Monday-Thursday 9:00 am-7:00 pm
Tuesday/Thursday closed 3:50-5:00 for Weight Training class
Closed Friday.
Movies of the Month – Fall 2009
NCC Movies of the Month Club will show eight films September – December. Each film will be presented by a member of the NCC faculty, with discussion afterwards. LLI’s own Byron Matthews will be the presenter in November. The free screenings are on Thursdays at 6:30 pm in the East Campus Pepsico Theater.
Click here for the schedule.
9/24/09 “Tell us your story” at NCC
On Thursday, September 24, you will have a chance to record a literacy-related story to be shared through the national Digital Archive of Literacy Narratives (DALN). Come with your literacy narrative to the West Campus IT Lobby, 11am-3pm.
What is a Literacy Narrative? A collection of ideas or items that describe how you learned to read, write, and compose. It can be in written, spoken, or in video form.
Example: Your narrative story can be about when you learned to read a cereal box or when you wrote your first email message. All kinds of narratives are welcome. Bring your poems, pictures, and memories for recording. Have you ever written a sappy love letter?
Questions? Contact Lisa Dresdner (203) 857-7291
Click here for the NCC flyer. Click here for the national flyer.
