PLATO Weekly Update

August 19, 2025

CURRICULUM

FALL COURSES
NEW! Registration for Fall Courses begins today! Visit the Courses webpage to find the link to the Fall Course Schedule and contact the course coordinator to register. There are 36 Fall Courses to choose from including in-person, virtual, and hybrid options and you may register for more than one course! Most Fall Courses will begin the week of September 15, 2025.

To renew or to become a member, visit the Join PLATO webpage.

SPECIAL EVENTS

THEATER TRIPS

SAVE THE DATES for PLATO Theater Trips – review this flyer for theater trips for the upcoming membership year!

NEW! Join us for Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! on Thursday, October 9, 2025, at The Fireside Dinner Theater in Fort Atkinson. Note that PLATO is partnering with the Verona Senior Center and UW Retirement Association on this travel opportunity so pick-up locations are different from PLATO's usual trips. Learn more and register here.

BREAKFAST & COFFEE GATHERINGS
These social events offer members and their guests opportunities to share conversation over coffee and breakfast or breakfast snacks.

THIS WEEK! Fourth Friday Coffee Gathering – August 22, 9:30-11:30am at Rotunda Café. Learn more and RSVP here.

NEXT MONTH! 

· First Friday Breakfast Gathering at the Pancake Café on Gammon Road on Friday, September 5, from 9:00-11:00am. Learn more and RSVP here.

· Second Friday Breakfast Gatherings will return to the Lakeside Street Coffee House on September 12, from 9:30-11:30am. Learn more and RSVP here.

LECTURES

SAVE THE DATES for PLATO Lectures – review this flyer for lecture dates through November 2025.

NEW! Healing the Heart through Forgiveness on Thursday, September 25 from 1:30-3pm at Oakwood Village University Woods Arts and Education Center. In her lecture, Lisa Rickert will reflect on her last two decades of working with defense teams on death penalty cases and the awe she has experienced in witnessing people who chose mercy in response to unspeakable pain, and the power of forgives in the healing process. Registration is not required, parking is free, and guests are welcome. Learn more here.

NEXT MONTH! Pre-Civil War Quilts: Secret Codes to Freedom on the Underground Railroad on Tuesday, September 9 from 1:30-3pm at Oakwood Village University Woods Arts and Education Center. In her lecture, Connie Martin tells the history of the Underground Railroad and how quilt codes were used to communicate. Registration is not required, parking is free, and guests are welcome. Learn more here.

Enjoy recorded PLATO Lectures at your convenience presented by PLATO members and local, national, and international special guest presenters.

FIELD TRIPS

REMINDERS!

· Celebrating American Design: Prairie Architecture and Wood Type Craft on Wednesday, August 20 – registered guests can review details here.

· Spring Green and Taliesen Tour on Monday, August 25 – registered guests can review details here.

A PLATO PILOT PROGRAM
To provide PLATO members opportunities to gather informally to explore topics or activities of interest at any time throughout the year

Are you interested in hosting a one-time informal group discussion on a particular topic or inviting others to participate in an activity you enjoy? If yes, please fill out this brief online form so that your idea can be shared with other PLATO members because odds are that if it is of interest to you, it will likely interest other members too! Topics can be academic in nature, or focus on current events, or involve a fun activity or outing. For example: a discussion group about star gazing or artificial intelligence; an afternoon gathering of jigsaw puzzlers; or a visit to one of Madison's art museums or galleries. 

We look forward to seeing how you will put the "P" into the "Participatory" Learning And Teaching Organization!

REMINDER! Word of mouth is PLATO's best advertising so please help spread the word by forwarding this email to family and friends who can visit the JOIN PLATO webpage to learn about the benefits and how to join. And, members can learn more about how to spread the word here.

THE AGORA
The Agora, PLATO’s biennial literary and arts journal, 
celebrates members’ creativity and diversity of thought.

THIS FALL! Work is underway to produce The Agora, Volume 9, which PLATO members can look forward to reading this fall in hard copy and/or online. Members will be sent a hard copy in the mail unless they have opted-out of receiving it, with one copy sent per member household. Please be sure your address is up to date in your PLATO member profile so that your copy is sure to reach you.

View highlights from the past season on the The Agora Features webpage.