PLATO Weekly Update

August 3, 2021

CURRICULUM

Registration for fall courses will begin August 24 - more details coming soon!

For all in-person courses this fall, PLATO will follow the CDC and Dane County Health Department Covid-19 guidelines. Please note that these have recently been updated and that Madison Public Health is encouraging everyone ages 2 and older — regardless of vaccination status — to wear masks inside public spaces, schools, and when gathering indoors at private residences with members of other households.

Stay tuned - we will continue to update our guidelines as we hear from our Host Locations.

SPECIAL EVENTS 

Walks of Dane County

· Registration is open - for the August 17th walk at Pheasant Branch Creek Corridor Trail with Hans Herbert, co-president of the Friends of Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Come with us for a walk and to learn about 75 years of significant rain events and corresponding conservation measures taken during that time. Read more...

· For your planning purposes, we have compiled a list of the remaining "Walks in Dane County" on PLATO's Local Tours page. These walks are scheduled through October, occurring twice monthly on various mornings. Simply scroll through the list to find dates and times and click on "Show Details" to find out when registration will open.

THEATER
Cool off from hot summer days by "attending" theater performances from your home through a variety of options on PLATO’s Virtual Theater Trips page – new items being added all the time!

PLATO's Lecture series will return this fall. In the meantime, members can access Past Recordings.

FEATURED AGORA WORKS

Each week, we offer for your enjoyment, a featured piece from contributors to The Agora, PLATO's journal of arts and ideas. This week’s piece, a poem called One Tree at Sunset by Diane Hughes, reflects the author's quest to find beauty in the mundane in order to savor life and not to merely exist.

SOCIAL GATHERINGS

Social Gatherings will resume this fall with in-person breakfasts. 

SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENTS & READINGS
Suggested readings, films, activities, and podcasts.

Select from a range of topics and formats for your Summer reading, viewing, or listening, curated by PLATO's Diversity Awareness Committee. 

We hope you’re intrigued by DID YOU KNOW? – our new bi-weekly feature spotlighting arts, scientific, cultural, and other notable contributions made by non-mainstream individuals you might not have learned or read about. Suggestions for inclusions are welcome (send to Kathy at: ksmichaelis@gmail.com).

DID YOU KNOW? Mario Jose Molina-Pasquel Henriquez (known as Mario Molina), Mexican chemist, was the first Mexican-born scientist to receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995 for his role in discovering the threat to the Earth’s ozone layer from chlorofluorocarbon gases.

Visit the Social Justice Webpage to learn more about Mario Molina!