PLATO Weekly Update

 November 8, 2022

QUESTIONS FOR PLATO LEADERSHIP

 
CURRICULUM

CURRICULUM SPOTLIGHT
Next Week! Learn what Wisconsin is doing to address Climate Change on Monday, November 14 at 10am during the virtual Pathways to a Sustainable Planet session featuring Maria Redmond, Director of the Wisconsin Office of Sustainability and Clean Energy. All PLATO members are welcome to attend via Zoom – please use this link and login by 9:55am so we can start on time: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86993898527.

WINTER COURSES
Interested in offering a Winter Course? Please contact Therese Stevens (thmstevens@gmail.com) or Kathie Burman (kburnam@burnamcoffee.com) for assistance. Winter courses generally run 6 to 8 weeks with most beginning the week of January 9th.

PLEASE NOTE
If you participate in a course at Capital Lakes, please note the coffee stand by the front desk is for residents only. PLATO members must bring their own coffee or buy it at the Café.

SPECIAL EVENTS

BREAKFAST GATHERING
This Week! Second Friday, November 11 at 9:30am, join fellow PLATO members and guests for breakfast and conversation at at Lakeside Street Coffee House in the Bay Creek neighborhood on Madison's near south side. Seating is on both the main floor and downstairs levels. You will need to climb nine steps in order to be seated on the downstairs level. RSVP and learn more here.

LECTURES
Tomorrow! The History of Television Soap Operas will take place virtually on Wednesday, November 9 from 1pm – 2:15pm. Dr. Elana Levine, a professor of media, cinema, and digital studies in the Department of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is a longtime soap opera fan who looks at the genre through two connected lenses: the role soaps have played in shaping cultural understandings of gender, as well as the rise and fall of network television’s influence on pop culture. Register and learn more.

Next Week! Clint Smith's Go Big Read Lecture on his new book: How the Word is Passed: A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America on Tuesday, November 15 from 1pm – 3pm. PLATO is pleased to host a virtual presentation of this important talk. We will begin by watching Smith's November 1 talk and follow with an online discussion of the many issues raised in his talk and the book. Register and learn more.

Enjoy archived PLATO Lectures on a range of interesting topics. 

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
Special Events don't just happen – and without your assistance, they won't happen. Your time, talents and thoughts are valuable to us on the Special Events Committee. We need more of all three and would welcome your presence with us in the new year. Contact Carla (carlad@tds.net) or Michael Di Iorio (mdiiorio1234@gmail.com) to learn more.

PLATO SATISFACTION SURVEY
Your Response is Due Wednesday, November 9

On October 26 you received a brief satisfaction survey regarding your experiences with PLATO. If you have already completed the survey, thank you!

If you haven’t yet completed it we hope you will take a few minutes to do so today. Your feedback will enable the PLATO board and committee volunteers to better serve PLATO members. 

The survey was emailed to you by Russell Consulting, Inc. from this email address: noreply@alchemer.com with the subject line “Invitation to Complete the 2022 PLATO Members Satisfaction Survey”. The survey responses are due by November 9. Thank you for your involvement and support of PLATO!

THE AGORA
A juried literary magazine published by PLATO.

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

SOCIAL JUSTICE EVENTS & READINGS

Select from a range of topics and formats 

for your Fall reading, viewing, or listening, 

curated by PLATO's Diversity Awareness Committee.

DID YOU KNOW? for November 8 – 21, 2022

Did You Know… An African American dentist, Dr. George F. Grant, was the inventor of the wooden golf tee. On Dec. 12, 1899, Dr. Grant received a U.S. patent No. 638,920, the world’s first patent for ‘a wooden spike with a flexible rubber peg for the ball’ – a golf tee! Before this time, golfers carried small buckets of sand for pinching a mound of damp sand to elevate a golf ball on the tee box.

Visit the Social Justice webpage for more about Dr. George F. Grant & 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).