PLATO Weekly Update

December 7, 2021

CURRICULUM

WINTER COURSES
Winter Course Registration opens next week Tuesday, December 14th! The Course Schedule Calendar is posted on PLATO's Home Page to help keep track of registration and start dates for Winter and Spring Courses.

KEEP IN MIND

These COVID-19 Protocols continue to be in place for in-person participants:

· Wear masks inside of Host Location buildings.

· Follow social distancing guidelines.

· Follow any additional guidelines required at Host Locations - visit the Courses Page or check with your course coordinator.

A TIME TO SAY THANK YOU
"Course coordinators are the lights in our organization"... writes Paula McKenzie in her recent article to celebrate and give thanks to course coordinators who retired in 2020 and 2021. Course coordinators help make PLATO a community where the love of learning never gets old!

SPECIAL EVENTS

FALL LECTURE

Wisconsin Cocktails: Join us this week on Friday, December 10th at 2:30pm for a festive, one-hour virtual lecture by author Jeanette Hurt. We will learn about and celebrate some of Wisconsin's most iconic drinks and explore why Wisconsin has a love affair with Brandy Old Fashioneds, Tom and Jerrys, boozy ice cream and more. Registration is required.

As always, members are also welcome to access Past Recordings. 

IN-PERSON GATHERINGS

Dates for the resumption of social gathering breakfasts and an in-person theater trip are coming soon! PLATO's Executive Committee and COVID-19 Advisory Task Group have allowed us to begin planning for early 2022. Each event will require participants to follow COVID-19 protocols including masking and providing proof of vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours of the event.

SELF-GUIDED WALKS

Walking Tours of Dane County: Find descriptions of 11 of the most popular self-guided walks designed to help you locate parking easily and guide you along the trail.

THEATER 

Peruse a mix of virtual options found on PLATO’s Virtual Theater Trips page which is frequently updated.

EDUCATION FUND UPDATE 

YEAR-END GIVING - Please consider including PLATO's Education Fund in your charitable gift giving plans to help PLATO continue to provide scholarships for returning adult students at UW-Madison, as well as supporting the Odyssey Project and other local community programs. Since 2012, PLATO has raised more than $205,000, with this year's member donations providing $34,000 to support these educational efforts. Learn more and donate online at PLATO's Donate webpage and send questions to Rod McKenzie: rod.mckenzie@mail.tds.net.

FEATURED AGORA WORKS

NEW! Explore the digital version of The Agora, Volume 7, 2021 now online!

Visit The Agora Features webpage for highlights from this past season, created and curated by fellow PLATO members for your enjoyment.

Our Biweekly Offering through December 13th is Woodpecker, a poem by Jane Hall, which offers a glimpse of how nature shapes this poet's work. 

SOCIAL GATHERINGS

NEW! PLATO Breakfasts to resume in early 2022 – see Special Events section above for more details.

SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENTS & READINGS

Select from a range of topics and formats 

for your Autumn reading, viewing, or listening, 

curated by PLATO's Diversity Awareness Committee.

DID YOU KNOW? November 30 - December 13, 2021

Did You Know… An  enslaved African man, Onesimus taught Cotton Mather how to inoculate against smallpox. The concept of immunization came to the American colonies via Africa. In the early 1700s, Puritan minister Cotton Mather learned from Onesimus, a man he enslaved, about a method long used in West Africa, where a weakened form of the disease would be intentionally applied to a cut.

Visit the Social Justice Webpage for more about
Onesimus & past DID YOU KNOW? features.

DID YOU KNOW? – spotlighting 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).