The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Rhode Island is part of a network of 125 OLLIs that span all 50 states and the District of Columbia. They exist because of the philanthropy of Bernard Osher; knowing a little bit about Osher provides a good basis for understanding the lifelong learning philosophy […]
I’m not old, but I’m also not young. I look 18 sometimes but feel 62. I’m 31. For half my life, I didn’t have a phone. I never thought I would need one. I grew up on a farm. We’d run through the swamps and fields and orchards. I don’t have proof because no photos […]
Students take on many different lenses. After I graduated, I found this to be true in life. Sitting in class, students can become consumed by questions: Does my professor like me? Does the person I sit next to enjoy my company? These intrusive thoughts, aimed at validating our identity, bleed beyond the classroom into interactions […]
Between paper-bound streets, a young man sits at a small desk. Around him are amassed towers of books, each title like a glowing yellow window in an elusive night. The book is a beacon of comfort in the dark, akin to the sight of a roaming silhouette traveling through the light canvas of city windows […]
To meet cover artist Jack Xuandong Zhou is to rub elbows with an up-and-coming, celebrity-status, multifaceted professional. Zhou’s demeanor is as bright and shiny as his product; his humor and artwork juxtapose the balance between evil and good, dark and light. Zhou expresses, “The most memorable part is to capture the landscape of Providence in […]
It starts as not a particularly outlandish night. The sun has escaped behind thick clouds, a few raindrops hit the windows, and the wind moving through the leaves is louder than the cars speeding through the slick streets – just another fleeting summer storm, nothing more, nothing less. Inside Riff Raff, PVD’s only bar-and-bookstore, a […]
Have you found any unicorns? When I spotted my first last February, I’ll admit, I didn’t think much of it — I collect treasures and trash alike while out and about in Providence. There it lay beneath a tree on the Washington Street sidewalk: golden green, shimmering, and hardly taller than an inch. Clearly 3D-printed, […]
The changing seasons means different things to different people. The segue from luscious green, warm summer days, to the fiery red fall chill, doesn’t sit well for everyone. I always have the toughest time accepting that summer really is coming to an end; that the sun-soaked days will soon be in the past. One thing […]
Throughout most of human history, elders have occupied an esteemed place in most local cultures, handing down the wisdom gained over their years to younger people trying to figure life out. In more recent American culture, some of this has changed. The status and treatment of older Americans has perhaps never been more discussed than […]
To get to Exeter’s Little River Farm you take the lovely country lane, William Reynolds Road. About a quarter mile past The Queen River, you turn up a long dirt driveway that runs through the woods. When you pass through the gates of the farm you’re treated to over three acres of greenhouses and fields. […]