In my apparent continued quest to talk about my Italian travels as much as possible, about six months ago I signed up to do three Library Forums, in Saugerties, Kingston, and Woodstock. The purpose, other than providing yet another venue to revel in the glory of the stunning images and expound on my favorite adventures, was to promote my book, Alan's Italy: My Personal Journey. The first in Saugerties in mid January was fun, although only five people showed up. I enjoyed it, however, and apparently so did the participants. My Kingston Forum on January 29 was better attended with fifteen people, and the people who run the forums indicated a desire for me to do a series of lectures in the summer on different topics. Then I did the forum in my hometown of Woodstock this past Saturday, Feb 16. Over twenty people showed up on a very cold evening including my wife and one of our good friends. They were a marvelous audience, as really all of them were, asking questions and applauding at various times. The "Hat Trick" was hence very successful and highly enjoyable for me !
Teaching mathematics in college in different. I do a great job of teaching mathematics, and occasionally students come up after class to tell me so, and, of course, that is very rewarding. However, there is something wonderful about getting paid for a job well-done as I do in my college teaching, and something especially rewarding and uplifting about doing the forums. In the fall I will hope to return to college teaching to see if I am still capable of doing that. I have also agreed, finally, to teach in the Saugerties Lifespring Program simultaneously - or at least for a six-week overlap. So my probable schedule looks like Tues/Thurs at the college, and Wed at the Lifespring. I hope I don't collapse. The Lifespring is only 5 mins from my house and only slightly over an hour in length. The college will require 6 hrs a day of car, bus, subway, and walking travel, and then 3 1/2 hrs of teaching. I used to enjoy that (believe it or not), so I am eager to see if that continues and if I have the stamina.
My next venture is the New Paltz College Lifetime Learning Institute which begins on March 20 and goes right up to the week before our trip to Italy on May 20. It will be my boldest Italy lecture venture yet with eight classes touring people from Venice north west east south and everywhere I have ever been. I tested the classroom two weeks ago and it is wonderful, state-of-the-art, so I cannot wait. Meanwhile I have run out of the creative spark to write, so my 3rd book on my teaching and supervisory career is on hold for now.
On the TV show I resume this Friday after a three week hiatus when we were derailed by the snow storm, and then a gallery opening for a friend. I will resume with Show # 53 - Umbrian Hills Towns. It covers several of the charming towns that dot the countryside to the east of Tuscany including Perugia, Citta della Pieve, Lake Trasimeno, Orvieto, Todi, Spello, Assisi, and Gubbio. I will also throw in Urbino which although not in Umbria, is just north in the region of Le Marche. During my little vacation from the show I developed enough possibilities to carry me through the spring into early summer including topics on the Towers of Italy in two parts with Franc Palaia helping out with number two in that series. I will also focus on the two Lazio towns of Viterbo and Tuscany with Ric Hirst doing that with me. Also in the hopper are shows on Loggias, Verona, Michelangelo in Rome, Eating in Italy (concentrating on the concept of eating rather than how to make the food - which I am clueless about), and a special show which parallels my Library Forums during which I will do the actual lecture about the book. I am doing that because several people have told me that they could not help but miss the forums, and wanted to see it anyway. So to get the lecture on record for "all-time" I will do a whole show on that.
So this Friday, Feb 22 at 5 PM I resume the weekly broadcasts, which, without unexpected cancellations, continues until mid May when we leave for Italy. And, of course, all shows will be then uploaded to Youtube. Grazie per la lettura di questa blog !
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