Past events

Please join us on Sunday, March 12 At 3 pm Eastern Time (US) for a Casual Conversation on Zoom, the topic being President Biden’s foreign policy, with classmate Professor Mark Sheetz '69 as our guest.  If you are viewing this information in the email sent to you, it will not have attached either of the two pdfs authored by Mark that he has offered in connection with the discussion.  IF you want to read his two essays—and neither are in any way required reading for meaningful participation in the Casual Conversation—you have THREE OPTIONS, all three of which

Please join us on Sunday, February 26 at 3 pm Eastern Time (US), for a tour of Julie Mathias’s art studio in Chicago, led by, of course, Julie herself.  Julie is the third Mathias to be the guest of a Casual Conversation.  Her husband, classmate and former Class President John Mathias, spoke to us about his pro bono legal work on behalf of individuals who faced the possibility of the death penalty.  Their daughter Alice Mathias spent time with us discussing her career in the entertainment industry as producer and director.

As a result of the efforts of classmate Dick Glovsky, on Tuesday, February 21 at 5 pm Eastern Time (US), Joe Berman will be the guest for a Casual Conversation sponsored by the Jewish Culture Group, chaired by classmate Bruce Alpert.  Joe Berman’s t

Courtesy of classmate Ben Romney, Jacob Appel will be our guest at a Casual Conversation on Sunday, February 12 at 3 pm Eastern (US).  Ben and I were high school classmates (Mamaroneck NY) of Jacob’s father, Jerry Appel, M.D., who after successfully treating Alonzo Mourning, became nephrologist to the Sp

Something new for our virtual community: a music recital!  Sue Leavitt, wife of classmate John Leavitt, will give us a piano performance on Zoom on February 8 at Noon Eastern Time (US).  The timing will be a lunchtime recital for the East Coast, and a late breakfast for those on the West Coast.  If you live in between, listen to beautiful music to accompany your brunch.  Whatever time zone you are in, make sure that you join us to celebrate: champagne (or rare tea) would be appropriate.
 

You are invited to join in a Casual Conversation sponsored by the Jewish Culture Group, and arranged by Group chair and classmate Bruce Alpert, with Rabbi Micah Greenstein, senior rabbi of Temple Israel in Memphis TN, to be held on Zoom on Monday, January 23, 2023, at 5 pm Eastern Time (US).
 
Our guest is Bruce’s Rabbi.  The topic chosen is:  “The Israel of today is NOT the Israel we knew."
 
The following column was written by Rabbi Greenstein and published in The Daily Memphian on Friday, December 23, 2022:

Time to sharpen our reading skills and get ready to discuss Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.   Classmates David Abbott and Tex Talmadge will be our docents on this tour through history, but as David writes, see below, the goal is to get your views in reacting to the book and at looking at the future of our species.
 
The date is January 17, 2023 and the time is 4:30 pm Eastern.   You have plenty of time to obtain the book and read it.
 

Join us for a casual conversation with Professor Haslam, who will offer us a window into the Soviet Union and, through it, today’s Russia, on Sunday, January 8 at 3 pm Eastern Time (US).  

On Tuesday, December 20 at 4:30 pm Eastern Time (US), Jennifer Rauch will join us for a Casual Conversation.  Ms. Rauch is Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Massachusetts Amherst.   Our Class President Jim Staros asked her to spend time with us, and she has generously agreed.  Here is Jim’s email to me from October 21 placing the importance of her work in a context we can all appreciate:
 

On this Sunday, December 18, at 1 pm Eastern (US) time, the Traveling Troupe, made up of classmates and others, will present a reading on Zoom of classmate Eric Forsythe’s translation and adaptation of A Flea in Her Ear, which is widely believed to be the greatest of all French farces by the greatest of all French farceurs, Georges Feydeau.