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

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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: ollinews@maine.edu

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.

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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.

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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.

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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 (SusanGesing@gmail.com) 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

pikersteven@gmail.com

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.

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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

lascala2@comcast.net

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