Blog

The OLLI Blog showcases the voices and perspectives of the OLLI @Berkeley community as well as news from and about OLLI. Have a submission? Please contact Nancy Murr to learn more.

Can you imagine a country where 109 languages are spoken and refugees and others from around the world are embraced and welcomed and fully included in their society? Well, that country does exist and is also where 375,000 people reside.
The adults are the first to arrive. From the back of their SUVs they carry to the field two batting nets and a spring-loaded pitching machine. With a line-striping cart, they…
Recently, OLLI members enjoyed a field trip to the Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive to explore the first retrospective exhibition of the work of longtime Bay Area…
Bebo White is retired from the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, the U.S. National Laboratory at Stanford University. He currently holds faculty appointments at multiple…
It felt like a kick in the stomach. Exploring an ancestry website, I discovered an 1860 Slave Schedule showing that my great-great-grandfather, William Henry Robertson of Mason County, Kentucky, owned 13 slaves. I had often wondered if any of my ancestors were slave owners. Now I knew.
Depth, breadth, choice — there is an abundance of courses this fall that signal our turning the corner on the pandemic and taking your suggestions to heart. We Asked, You…
If all goes according to plan (finger's crossed), our fall brochure will be landing in mailboxes starting this week. Inside you'll find information about more than 30 courses —…
With summer here, we decided to ask faculty to recommend books they've recently read and loved, and to explain why. Feel free to steal their choices as we wade deep into beach-…
My first story was published in my elementary school creative writing anthology. As I remember, it was a story of a snail in my mother’s garden. I don’t remember the plot, but I…
We all know our nation’s history of slavery in the South as well as many details and aspects of “The Underground Railroad”, a term used to describe attempts of citizens in the…
Richard Bell is Professor of History at the University of Maryland and author of the book Stolen: Five Free Boys Kidnapped into Slavery and their Astonishing Odyssey Home which…
Susan Alunan, Ph.D. teaches political theory, urban politics, and activism. Previously, she staffed, then led the SF Urban Institute, developing creative approaches to critical…