Monday Courses   

This course is designed for students who have taken the Absolute Beginners Pickleball course or who have a rudimentary knowledge of the game. It will be taught by seasoned instructors who have taught before. Expect to build on the basic game to include advanced strategy in play. We will meet at Lithia Park pickleball courts every day for five consecutive days for 1½ hours. There will be an emphasis on safety and sportsmanship. This skills-building class will focus on different types of serves; lobs; third-shot drops or “drop shots” drives; partner communication; stacking; types of scoring; and identifying Bert, Ernie and Nasty Nelson! The last day will be a fun round-robin in which players will rotate play with all other players. There will be an instructor/Ashland Oregon Pickleball Club member at each court who will be ensuring no faults and providing feedback. A waiver must be signed prior to the first class. 

NOTE: Students are expected to have their own paddle and know the basic game, such as rules/usapickleball.org, court position, basic serve, return of serve, NVZ, calling “out” balls, safety and sportsmanship. Players will need court shoes, a hat or visor, snacks and a hydrating drink. Eye protection is recommended. 

In this course, Pat O’Scannell, a performer of Irish traditional music who has attended Irish sessions in the U.S., Canada and Ireland for over 40 years, will introduce students to the Irish session. No previous musical knowledge is required, and questions are welcome. The first meeting includes a full description of the session and a discussion of its history, cultural importance, function and place in the modern world. The second meeting concentrates on the instruments and the details of their history, construction and technique. It will go into more depth on two vocal traditions, ballad singing and sean nós, that one might find at play in an Irish session. The meeting will conclude with a mini-session. A brief bibliography will be made available to the students, as well as supplemental resource material with an extended bibliography, lists of players, singers, festivals, periodicals and other items of interest to those who wish to explore this subject matter more fully on their own.

NOTE: The class includes an optional three-hour lab consisting of visits to Irish sessions at Dunbar Winery, 2881 Hillcrest Road, Medford, on Thursdays from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., and at the Copper Plank at the Elks Lodge, 202 N. Central Ave., Medford, Saturdays from 5 to 8 p.m.

Many adults think of picture books as simple and simplistic, designed and suitable only for the limited minds of children. Untrue! We will read three picture books that will challenge such conventional ways of thinking about the genre: Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are,” Beatrix Potter’s “The Tale of Peter Rabbit” and Verna Aardema and Leo and Diane Dillon’s “Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears.” I will try to convince you in this course that these books are highly complex texts worth studying seriously, and we will work on developing a keen eye for details and consideration for how verbal and visual texts work together to create the book as an artistic whole. We will also consider what the texts imply about child readers and their overall views of childhood. Please come to class having read the books beforehand, including reading “Where the Wild Things Are” for the first week. No prior knowledge of the topic is needed, just a general interest.

NOTE: These books are all widely available in libraries and new and used book stores. Digital copies are fine for outside class reading, but in-class discussion will focus on the books as artistic artifacts deliberately and carefully designed by their artists.

The 2025 Ashland Independent Film Festival returns to the Varsity Theatre April 24-27 with another outstanding slate of fine films from international and domestic filmmakers. OLLI members will view six films over the four-day festival weekend. During the week following the festival, OLLI members will meet three times to discuss the films. The films are a mix of documentary and narrative that have recently premiered at U.S. and international film festivals. The discussions will focus on the cinematic qualities of the films, with particular emphasis on the choices made by the filmmakers; the effectiveness of those choices; and the cultural, sociological and artistic content of the films.  

NOTE: Class members will purchase tickets at the theater. It is expected the ticket price will be $12 per film. 

This course will present 10 classic musical films starting with “Bells Are Ringing” (1960), starring Judy Holliday and Dean Martin, and concluding with “Funny Girl” (1968), starring Barbra Streisand. The other eight are “West Side Story,” “The Music Man,” “Mary Poppins,” “My Fair Lady,” “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” “The Sound of Music,” “The Young Girls of Rochefort” and “Oliver!” A handout for each film will be made available the week before the showing of the film, except for the first film, for which the handout will be made available on the first day. The instructor will mention anything special to be noticed about each film just before it is shown, and students may offer comments or questions at that time. A guided discussion will follow the end of the film. Students need bring nothing more than a desire to see these musical classics.

NOTE: There is no class session on Monday, May 26, in observance of Memorial Day.