Lunch & Learns

Dig into the mud and sand of Georgia’s rivers and you will uncover our story, for Georgia’s history is rooted in its rivers. Drawing on research conducted in the writing of seven guides to Georgia’s rivers, author Joe Cook will take students on a voyage through Georgia’s cultural and natural history as told through stories connected to the state’s rivers. The voyage will span the rice plantations of the Altamaha River delta to the moonshiners’ auto races along the Etowah River in North Georgia. At the end, students will understand how rivers have shaped our culture.

Joe Cook serves as Paddle Georgia Coordinator and guidebook author for Georgia Rivers, a statewide river advocacy organization. He has traveled thousands of miles on Georgia’s rivers and studied and reported extensively on water resource issues in Georgia since 1994. A photographer and writer, Joe is the author of Georgia Rivers’ River User’s Guide series, including guidebooks covering the Etowah, Chattahoochee, Broad, Flint, Oconee, Ocmulgee and Altamaha rivers. He lives in Rome, Georgia.

The State Botanical Garden of Georgia is a university garden with signature collections, cultivated spaces, and abundant natural areas attracting more than 370,000 visitors per year. Engaging educational programs served more than 9,000 participants over the past year. Experts at the garden have also developed programs to help conserve plant species across the state. This presentation will provide an update on programs at the State Botanical Garden and discuss how horticulture is helping to address critical needs for plant conservation in Georgia.

Jennifer Cruse-Sanders, Ph.D., is the Director of the State Botanical Garden of Georgia. The garden is a 323 acre university garden with 33 acres of cultivated gardens and more than five miles of trails through significant natural areas. As part of Public Service and Outreach at the University of Georgia in Athens, the garden serves the communities of Georgia and beyond through educational programming, horticultural expertise, display gardens, and conservation programs.

Giving Voice to Linnentown is the true story of a young Black girl’s family in the thriving Black community of Linnentown. Author Hattie Thomas Whitehead recounts how, in the 1960s, the City of Athens and the University of Georgia’s Urban Renewal contract displaced Linnentown families, taking their homes for university expansion. Families were forced to move and separated. Decades later, Hattie chronicles her role in seeking justice for Linnentown and its descendants, aiming to give voice to a once vibrant community that was erased.

Hattie Thomas Whitehead became an activist during the desegregation of Athens, Georgia, later working 27 years in corporate operations management. She developed the Athens StepUp Scholarship Program that has awarded 85 scholarships since 2011. As a first descendant of Linnentown, she is president of the Linnentown Project and co-authored a resolution for recognition adopted in 2021. She wrote Giving Voice to Linnentown and is the playwright of the musical Linnentown. Hattie is a mother and grandmother.

John Singer Sargent (1856-1925) is widely considered America’s greatest portrait painter of the late 19th century’s high society – whether in America, France, or England. With a vigorous brush, daring compositions, admiration of Old Masters Velazquez and Van Dyke, and a recognition of the power of contemporary fashion, Sargent created dazzling portraits of the most important society, business, and cultural figures of his age. This lecture will focus on Sargent’s most celebrated and reviled portraits including Madame X, Dr. Pozzi at Home, and Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth with attention to his creative use of art surfaces to convey human character.

Dr. Janice Simon is Josiah Meigs Distinguished Teaching Professor Emerita of the University of Georgia where she taught Art History for thirty-five years. In addition to teaching American art, she taught Spirituality in Modern Art and Modern Artists in Film, where she engaged with the life and art of Frida Kahlo.

Because of international trade, the U. S. has been able to access the world’s talent, resources, and products. Recently, however, a growing bipartisan consensus holds that trade has hollowed out our manufacturing sector, crushed jobs, destroyed communities, and deepened inequality. This consensus favors protectionism. We will explore the arguments for and against free trade. Does it kill jobs? Benefit consumers? Threaten national security? Are trade deficits bad? We will consider the economic and political implications of protectionism, paying particular attention to tariffs and our trade relations with China.

Robert Grafstein is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia. He also was the associate dean and interim dean of the School of Public and International Affairs. He received his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and his MA and PhD from the University of Chicago. Specializing in political economy, he is the author of two books, co-editor of one, and author of numerous articles in leading political science journals.

Humans are inherently musical, so it is no surprise that musical experiences can significantly impact individuals. This seminar will explore how music affects humans socially, developmentally, cognitively, and culturally. We will investigate how our brains respond to music, how musical content can trick our brains into hearing things that are not present, how music can shape us as individuals from birth to death, and how cultural exposure affects our preference and understanding of musical information. Whether you enjoy music as a classically-trained musician, a pop-music fanatic, or a casual listener, you are likely never to consume music in the same way again.

Dr. Alison Farley is an Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Georgia, where she teaches courses in instrumental music education, psychology of music, curriculum and supervision, and world music pedagogy, and she advises undergraduate and graduate students. Her research interests include the mental health and well-being of college music students, student-directed learning, teacher education, and cognition and perception of performance from written notation.

Athens based author (and OLLI favorite) Will Leitch will discuss his latest novel, Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride. Leitch’s previous two novels, The Time Has Come and How Lucky were set in Athens. This time, the action moves to Atlanta, and Leitch thinks this is his best novel yet.

Leitch is the author of the novels How Lucky and The Time Has Come, a contributing editor at New York magazine, and the founder of the late sports website Deadspin. He writes regularly for the New York Times, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, NBC News, CNN, and MLB.com. He lives in Athens, Georgia, with his wife and two sons.