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November 2018
New to OLLI at USM? Check us out at www.usm.maine.edu/olli
IN THIS ISSUE
Profile: Susan Schraft, M.D.
Festival of the Arts
Theater of the Imagination
Reflections Launched
OLLI Excursions Visits Chinese Empresses
History Book Group
OLLI Resource Development Committee
Walking Club News
Walking Club Walks
Table Safety
OLLI Night Out
Susan Morrow Is Retiring
Susan Morrow read the
following announcement
at the last Advisory Board
meeting:
I believe most of you know that I have been with OLLI for 17
and a half of its 21 years. I started as the Administrative Assistant
to the newly hired Director, Kali Lightfoot, back in 2001. Over the
years, the program grew and my responsibilities increased.
We have an amazing program here at USM. We are held in high
esteem at both the Osher Foundation and the National Resource
Center. We have a nice balance of professional staff and volun-
teers. It has worked as well as it has because of mutual respect and
understanding. I hope this will continue for many years to come.
But the time has come for change. I will be retiring on December
31. This closes the year nicely, allows for the transition during a
slower part of OLLI’s year, and is at the time when all committees
should be stable and functioning at full capacity.
The University recognizes what a valuable program OLLI is.
USM has gone through a remarkable transformation in the past
few years. There is no reason to believe OLLI isn’t ready for the
same.
I’m not saying goodbye yet. We’ll save all the thank-yous and
tears for the future. But now is the time for planning and visioning.
—Susan Morrow, Assistant Director for Program
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(Continued on page 3)
Profile
Susan Schraft, M.D.
T hailand…Central America…West Africa.
Decades of passionate interest in global health
and in doing what she could to make a difference
have brought Susan Schraft to parts of the globe not
exactly on the average tourist’s radar. And her journeys to share medical
knowledge and teach techniques are nowhere near an end: a February trip to
Guyana is in the works.
Recently retired as a board-certified diagnostic radiologist, Susan graduated from SUNY Upstate
Medical Center in 1983, did a three-year residency in radiology at Westchester County Medical Center,
and pursued radiology fellowships at Mount Sinai and the Hospital for Special Surgery. But her initial
inclination was towards pediatrics, and in the last six months of medical school she teamed up with a
group from Georgetown Medical School to run a pediatric clinic in Phanat Nikhom, Thailand, in a ref-
ugee camp.
With her education complete and with two young children, Susan and her husband, Richard Berne, a
criminal defense attorney, wanted a change of pace and chose to relocate to Falmouth with their two
young children. Susan joined the practice at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where, as she
remarks, “I was the only female in my specialty during my entire career there.”
Her work involved performing procedures and interpreting results of ultrasounds, X-rays, CAT scans,
MRIs, and PET/CT, positron-emission tomography, a nuclear medicine imaging technique. Her strong-
est interest was breast imaging, and she ran the first stereotactic biopsy program in the state.
“Radiology is always changing ― MRIs, for example, were in their infancy when I finished my resi-
dency,” Susan observes. “Always, though, I loved working directly with patients.”
Susan Schraft has gone into small villages in Honduras and worked in Guatemala with a group of pe-
diatricians. Her last teaching trip abroad was in March of this year, to Liberia, sent by the international
nonprofit RAD-AID to help fulfill their mission of increasing and improving radiological resources in
developing and impoverished countries. The World Health Organization has estimated that 3–4 billion
people are at risk for disease and death that could be avoided if radiology were available. Today about
6100 RAD-AID volunteers from 100 countries venture out to improve public health worldwide.
Putting trepidation aside and concentrating on understanding “Liberian English” ― something she
discovered could only be accomplished face to face and with heavy use of WhatsApp — Susan spent a
month at Monrovia’s teaching hospital, instructing medical students and residents about radiology and
ultrasound and basics such as what an enlarged heart looks like. “It was a very difficult
situation,” she explains; the hospital had three departments, 300 beds, but no interns who, not
November 2018 Page 3
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WEB SITES Maine Senior College Network
www.maineseniorcollege.org
OLLI National Resource Center
www.osher.net
OLLI at USM
www.usm.maine.edu/olli
ADVISORY BOARD Janet Stebbins, Chair
Steve Schiffman, Vice-Chair
Dick Leslie, Secretary
Paul Doherty, SAGE Chair
Susan Jennings,
Communications Chair
Gael McKibben and Rae Garcelon,
Community Co-Chairs
Georgia Koch, Nominating Chair
Walter Allan and Betsy Wiley,
Education Co-Chairs
Steve Piker, Resource Development
Chair
Peter Curry
Karen Day
John Dyhrberg
Matt Goldfarb
Elizabeth Housewright
Star Pelsue
OLLI members are invited to attend
Advisory Board meetings. Check
with the Chair for time and place, or
if you wish to address the Board.
OLLI NEWSLETTER OLLI Office:
Wishcamper Center 210
P. O. Box 9300
Portland, ME 04104-9300
Phone: 207 780-4406 or
1-800-800-4876
TTY 1-207-780-5646
Fax: 207 780-4317
E-mail: [email protected]
Tim Baehr, Editor
Don King, Editor Emeritus
Elsa van Bergen, Contributing Editor
Mogens Ravn, Layout Editor
Please send newsletter material to the
OLLI Office, via our e-mail.
Deadline for the December
issue is November 15.
OLLI STAFF Susan Morrow, Assistant Director for
Program
Rob Hyssong, Program Coordinator
Linda Skinner, Admin. Assistant I
Sue Schier, Admin. Assistant II
getting paid, simply did not work. Patients had very advanced dis-
ease and there was a paucity of medicine, sanitation, and staff.
Susan prepared by seeking out Liberians living on this side of the
Atlantic and learning the history of their country. Created in the
1800s by freed American slaves who often repeated the process by
enslaving the indigenous people, it went through decades of civil
wars, with peace coming only in 2003. Unemployment can go be-
yond 85%, and the average income of $100 a year, together with
high food costs (because there are no farmers and everything is
imported), make for dire conditions. A wild tour of the capital in
an ancient jalopy remains a vivid memory. As does experiencing
Easter there ― actually twice. GPS first took her to a country
church where she had been invited by an acquaintance; there was
dancing and singing and tithing and then blank stares when she
introduced herself. Not finding her host there, she quickly back-
tracked to the intended church and more singing and dancing.
A better word for graduation is commencement. There should
likewise be an alternative to the word retirement. Susan Schraft
may have retired as practitioner, but her plate is very full. In addi-
tion to her work with RAD-AID, she is on the board of Furniture
Friends, the local nonprofit connecting new arrivals to Portland
with household basics. One day she might be writing a grant, the
next learning to drive a 12-foot box truck, and the next seeking
volunteers as passionate as she is. From her Falmouth home Susan
is enjoying a return to playing the piano after a hiatus since child-
hood and taking lessons at the Portland Conservatory of Music.
And of course there is OLLI, which she joined when she “retired”
two years ago and where she continues to enjoy the book group
and classes.
Next February will find her in Guyana, where, with the aid of a
CAT scan, she will instruct the first class of radiology residents
from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. The good news: the rainy season will have
just ended, it is the only English-speaking country in South Ameri-
ca, and the government website promises “unspoiled beauty where
virgin rainforests lead to the Amazon Basin, where the jungle is
still unexplored, rivers uncharted and mountains yet to be
climbed.” That last part seems suited to the doctors like Susan,
continuing to strive to help folks overcome obstacles.
―Elsa van Bergen
Susan Schraft (Continued from page 2)
November’s Festival of the Arts
OLLI Performers’ Showcase
NEW NAME! NEW FORMAT! Our traditional performance day held twice a
year, fall and spring, has been renamed the Performers’ Showcase and the format is
slightly different, too. Instead of holding all events on the same day, on each of five
days audiences will be treated to a performance by one of the talented Special Interest
Groups or class groups during this week-long festival of music, theater, and dance.
Monday, November 5th — 3:15 p.m., Room 211 The Readers’ Theater class will present rousing performances of several
short plays that are poignant, funny, and hold some very entertaining surprises.
Tuesday, November 6th — noon, Muskie Forum Music is strong among the SIGs, and the Recorder Ensemble will play a
variety of music from the 1500s to today, including works from early mu-
sic greats Michael Praetorius and John Dowland, as well as the contempo-
rary Swedish composer, Bjorn Hagvall.
Wednesday, November 7th — 3 p.m., Room 102 Members of the Senior Players will enact a series of short skits providing you
with an afternoon of mirth and joy.
Thursday, November 8th — noon, Room 102 The Line Dancers first met in 2008 and have been going strong ever since.
They will be including dances from Brazil, Argentina, 50s American Rock &
Roll, 70s American Hustle/Disco, Italian American, Vienna, and American
Pop.
Friday, November 9th — noon, Room 102 The 27-member choir of the OLLI Singers will be performing six selections,
including “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “The Twelfth of Never,” and “From a Dis-
tance,” the latter two being arrangements written by the conductor, Chuck
Hornberger.
Theater on two different afternoons or music and dance during your lunch hour
will dazzle you by the end of this very festive week. Either stay after your
morning class or arrive early for your afternoon class; or, alternatively, stay
after your afternoon class.
Spend your lunch hour or early afternoon enjoying the talents and accomplishments of so many members of the OLLI family.
November 2018 Page 4
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JOIN US AS WE JOURNEY TO THE THEATER OF THE IMAGINATION
It’s 75 Minutes of Entertainment!
DATE: Monday, November 5, 2018
WHERE: OLLI, Wishcamper Building, ROOM 211
TIME: 3:15 p.m.
You will be delighted by what you see and hear!
Back, by popular demand: Actors Barbara Bardack and John Sutherland will reprise
their roles in POST-ITS® (an homage to A. R. Gurney’s play Love Letters), which
was performed at OLLI in 2011. A déjà vu moment!
PLUS the following slices of life, sor t of, as told in…
Foodies
It’s Not You
No Skronking (Written by a favor ite, Shel Silverstein)
Speed Mating
The Grand Scheme
Trudy, Carolyn, Martha, and Regina Travel to Outer Space and Have a
Pretty Terrible Time There
There is something for everyone! —OLLI’s Reader’s Theater Performance Class
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Due to a production error, there was an error in one of the biographies in the 2018 Reflections. The
correct biography should be as follows:
Elsa van Bergen’s decades of book editing and frequent relocating have been leavened by the joys of parenting, gardening, and exploration of her ancestors’ needlecrafts. Workshops in New York, Stockholm, and London furthered special interest in weaving.
Reflections Launched
On October 24, the Re-
flections Committee hosted
a reception to celebrate the
publication of the 18th
annual issue of Reflec-
tions, OLLI’s journal of
art and literature.
Ruth Story, Reflections
Chair, acknowledged her
committee members and
invited a few of the con-
tributors to read from their
submissions. (Pictured
here, in order from left to
right starting at the top:
Ruth Story, Denney
Morton, Rob Petrillo,
Anne Cyr, Val Hart, Larry
Dyhrberg, Tana Leonhart,
Susan Morrow)
The art and photography
from the 2018 Reflections
were displayed in frames
on the refreshment table.
Susan Morrow offered
some closing comments.
November 2018 Page 7
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OLLI Excursions Visits Chinese Empresses
Thursday, November 29
In an extraordinary international exhibition, almost 200 items from the enormous collection of the
Palace Museum in Beijing have traveled to America. Empresses of China’s Forbidden City, now at the
Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, features many, many pieces never before seen in public. They re-
flect recent research on five themes in the lives of hitherto little-known Qing Dynasty empresses: impe-
rial weddings, motherhood, lifestyle, religion, and political influence. Often referred to as “the silence”
that has surrounded royal empresses (seen but not heard), extensive searches in court archives and his-
torical accounts have brought to light their strong influences in the arts, religion, and court politics of
their times.
Among the pieces being displayed are opulent robes
and jewelry, embroidered boots and socks, portraits,
and even a 237-pound bejeweled gold shrine built as an
act of veneration to hold the hair of a deceased dowager
empress.
On the Web: https://www.pem.org/exhibitions/
empresses-of-chinas-forbidden-city
A pre-trip discussion led by OLLI’s own Denney
Morton will be held at 1 o’clock on Tuesday, Novem-
ber 27, in Room 211. She will talk about the role of a
Chinese Manchu empress during the Qing dynasty,
which lasted from 1644 to 1912, at which time the Rev-
olution overthrew the Chinese imperial system. How were the empresses chosen? What were their lives
like in the Forbidden City? Their expectations? Their importance? Their standards of accomplishment?
What did they find beautiful? Denney will bring some artifacts from her own collection to show during
the 90-minute talk.
Our museum tour on November 29 will be docent-guided at 11:15, after which we will be on our own
to further explore the museum. If you haven’t already been to the Huang family’s 200-year-old ances-
tral home, Yin Yu Tang — brought to the Peabody Essex and reassembled by Chinese workmen —
you should consider that. Timed entry tickets ($6) can be bought at the admission desk.
The PEM is best known for its collection resulting from the China Trade. But do not miss its galleries
of American art and architecture. A second temporary exhibit is the recently opened Japanomania! Jap-
anese Art Goes Global, which covers export art from the 1500s to the present.
Departure is from Wishcamper Center on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 8:45 a.m., returning to Portland at approximately 6 p.m. Trip is limited to 50 OLLI members. Cost is $60 and includes museum en-try, docent tour, and tip for the bus driver. Lunch is on your own. Deadline for registration is Nov. 16. There will be no refunds after Nov. 21 unless the space can be filled from a waiting list.
Reservations can be made beginning Nov. 1 using the online OLLI registration system at www.usm.maine.edu/OLLI.
After Nov. 7 you may mail your check to OLLI, PO Box 9300, Portland, ME 04104; OR call 780-4406 to pay with a card; OR register in person at the office.
For further information call Gael McKibben at 774-7177.
November 2018 Page 8
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Notes from the History Book Group
OLLI members are invited to join the History Book Group, which meets at 3:15 p.m. on the second
Wednesday of each month, from September to June. Book suggestions are submitted and voted on by
attendees in the spring. There’s no obligation to read all the books or to attend regularly. To get on the
group’s e-mail list, contact Susan Gesing ([email protected]) or Dawn Leland (LelandDM@
gmail.com). The books for the coming months are as follows:
Nov. 14 – Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann
Jan. 9, 2019 – Balfour’s World: Aristocracy and Political Culture at the Fin-de-Siecle,
by (OLLI member) Nancy Ellenberger
Feb. 13 – A Short History of Reconstruction, by Eric Foner
Mar. 23 – Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World, by Laura Spinney
April 10 – Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II, by John Dower
May 8 – 1776, by David McCullough
June 12 – Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America, by James Forman, Jr.
Recent books read have included these:
Lincoln at the Bardo, by George Saunders
The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-89, by Joseph Ellis
Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right,
by Jane Mayer
Grant, by Ron Chernow
Dead Wake, by Erik Larson
OLLI Resource Development Committee Seeks Members, Input, Involvement
The main job of the Resource Development Committee of the OLLI Board is to raise money for
OLLI scholarships, so that no member who wishes to take OLLI courses will be unable for financial
reasons to do so. The Board considers this to be an important part of OLLI’s mission.
The Resource Development Committee each year needs help from OLLI members, help of two
sorts:
1. Membership on the committee (expect about three meetings per academic year)
2. Some volunteer time to suggest fund raising events and help to organize them and carry
them out
If you would be interested in either or both of the above, please be in touch with me.
Even if you don’t have time to serve on the committee, we would appreciate any suggestions for
fundraising events.
—Steve Piker, Chair, Resource Development Committee
Walking Club News
On Wednesday, November 10th, 17 hardy members
of the OLLI Walking Club spent their morning vol-
unteering for Portland Trails. It was an unusually
warm and spectacular summer-like day — 75 at the
start, with a light breeze — perfect weather for this
outing
The group in their 60s to their 80s gathered at the
Loring Memorial Park on the Eastern Promenade to
confer with Jaime Parker, Trails Manager, who gave
us our assignment: to do some pruning of branches
and brush along the trail and to pick up trash. He
passed out tools and trash bags, we donned our work
gloves, and we spread out along the mile-long stretch
that runs just below the Promenade to the Promenade
Towers Condominium complex.
One man discovered an abandoned campsite and
filled a trash bag with discarded bedding and other
assorted refuse. Many trimmed vines, branches, and
scrub growing into the trail. Others found lots of plas-
tic waste and broken glass to retrieve, although I nev-
er saw a cigarette butt the entire time.
After about an hour and a half we had completed
our task and made our way back to the start to return
our tools. We all felt very satisfied and pleased with our efforts. I heard
comments like “We should do this more often.” “Let’s challenge other
SIGs to undertake a volunteer project.” “I feel great.”
Some of us stayed for lunch overlooking Back Cove, while others left
for class or other obligations. We all agreed it was a morning well
spent, and I thank all of our group who participated. They are a great
bunch of people, willing to undertake any challenge and ready to lend a
helping hand to our city.
—Rae Garcelon
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Loring Memorial Park
Jaime Parker, Trails Manager, gives directions.
Margaret Haverty, Mary Levy, and Bev Blair enjoy lunch overlooking Back Cove.
Bruce Napolitano and Moe Caron break up a deserted
campsite.
November 2018 Page 10
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November OLLI Night Out Kills Chill
Don’t let the chill of Novem-
ber get to you. Join us for a
warm and spicy dinner this
month at Margaritas Mexican
Restaurant.
What a fun place this is, with
marvelous drinks and choices
from an almost endless variety
of dishes. Everything is made
from scratch.
On the Web: www.margs.com
/locations/maine/portland/
They have a happy hour (no
reservations) you can catch be-
fore joining the OLLI group.
There’s plenty of parking be-
hind the restaurant (but not in
the shopping center lot).
This will be our last dinner
event. We switch to lunch
next month.
When: Tuesday, November
13, at 5:30 p.m.
Where: Margar itas Mexican
Restaurant, 242 Saint John
St., Portland, 874-6444.
Reservations: Please call or
write before noon, Monday,
November 12.
—Barbara Bardack
829-1240
Walking Club Visits Standish and Falmouth
We have two new walks scheduled for November. On Wednes-
day, Nov. 14th, we will be visiting the Mountain Division Trail
in Standish and eating lunch nearby. Norma Stover will be leading
this hike. Call her if you have any questions, at 787-5134.
On the Web: www.traillink.com/trail/mountain-division-trail/
On Monday, Nov. 26th, we will be heading to the Falmouth
Nature Preserve off Rte. 88 for our last fall walk.
On the Web: www.mainetrailfinder.com/trails/trail/falmouth-
nature-preserve
For both walks you should bring
your lunch and water. We will
meet at Back Cove parking lot
across from Hannaford at 9:50 a.m.
to carpool to the trails. If you have
questions about the Falmouth walk
or are a new walker, please call
Rae Garcelon at 846-3304.
Walkers at Libby Hill in Gray
Table Safety
The tables in our classrooms have wheels on their feet. This
makes it easy to reconfigure classrooms for particular uses.
But there’s a problem.
The table wheels have a locking mech-
anism that keeps them from moving. If
you move a table without unlocking the
wheels, you’re likely to break the lock-
ing mechanism.
And another problem.
If you leave the wheels unlocked, the
table can become a giant skateboard. If
someone sits on the table, it may scoot
out from under them. Ouch!
Check out the pictures to see when a
wheel is locked and when it is unlocked.
Here’s another reason to not sit on the tables in the first place:
The tables can be tilted to make them more compact for storage.
The lock for the tilting function is a lever under the table. If the
lock is not secured properly, anyone sitting on the table is in for
an unpleasant surprise, or even injury.
Wheel Locked
Wheel Unlocked