wcw JANUARY 2024

lifelong learning
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Ringling College
Presents “Listening to Women,” Jan. 18-Feb. 22
The Osher Lifelong Learning
Institute at Ring-
ling College (OLLI at
Ringling College) pres-
ents its fifth annual Listening to
Women, a six-session series that
recognizes women whose brilliance
and fortitude have reshaped indus-
tries and who are making a differ-
ence in today’s communities. The
series takes place on Thursdays at 1
pm, from Jan. 18-Feb. 22, at Sarasota
Art Museum, the Rngling College
Museum Campus, 1001 S. Tamiami
Trail, Sarasota. Registration for the
complete series is $81 for OLLI Gold
Members and $90 for OLLI Silver
Members and general admission;
register at www.OLLIatRingling-
College.org.
A six-session series
that recognizes women
whose brilliance and
fortitude have reshaped
industries and who are
making a difference in
today’s communities.
Holly Freedman, co-chair of the OLLI
Advisory Council, is the founder of the
Listening to Women series. Members
of the Listening to Women team in-
clude Victoria Eckl, Louise Gallagher,
Susan Gorin, Bev Harms, Victoria Kas-
dan, Judy Levine, Terry Rixse, Sherry
Suggs, and Tobie van der Vorm.
“At each session, we’ll hear the in-
spiring personal stories of women
who, driven by vision, passion, and
determination, have achieved success
in a variety of fields,” Freedman says.
“The women in the 2024 series from
Sarasota and Manatee counties have
persevered in journalism and civil
rights, space science, the visual arts,
mentoring children, non-profit lead-
ership, thwarting human trafficking,
and shark science. Their inspirational
stories will engage and captivate the
audience.
Freedman adds that the Listening
to Women series brings attention to
the incredible women who live and
work here and who are making a differ-
ence both locally and globally, and adds
to the breadth of OLLI’s course offer-
ings. “Our hope is that the audience—
men and women—will be motivated to
suggest or seek out similar programs
at OLLI.”
The Listening to Women
schedule at a glance:
• Jan. 18: “Keeping Hope Alive” with
Charlayne Hunter-Gault and Liz
Walker. Even when we’re faced with
challenging times, history can keep
us hopeful. Emmy Award-winning
journalist and author Hunter-Gault
began her career at The New Yorker,
becoming the first Black reporter for
the Talk of the Town section, then
joined The New York Times, where
she established the Harlem Bureau,
the first of its kind. Walker is a former
journalist, co-founder of a girls’ school
in South Sudan, ordained minister, and
the creator of Can We Talk, a communi-
ty-based clinically-supported program
focused on collective trauma and heal-
ing that is currently being replicated
nationwide. A book signing of My
People: Five Decades of Writing About
Black Lives by Hunter-Gault will follow
this session.
• Jan. 25: “Why Are We Exploring
and Exploiting Space? Who is
“We”? And What’s the Point?” with
Dr. Linda Billings. More and more
actors—governments and corpora-
tions—are entering the business of
exploring and exploiting space, with
an increasing focus on establishing
a permanent human presence there.
Advocates talk of creating lunar bases,
Mars colonies, and orbital communi-
ties. Should they come to pass, what’s
the value of these endeavors? Billings
is a consultant to NASA’s astrobiology
and planetary defense programs at
NASA headquarters, and co-editor of
and contributing author to Reclaiming
Space: Progressive and Multicultural
Perspectives on Space Exploration.
• Feb. 1: “Curating Life from Seoul to
Sarasota” with Dr. Rangsook Yoon
and Stephenie Frasher. Yoon has
never let boundaries limit her curiosi-
ty. She moved from Seoul, South Korea
to the U.S. in 1995 to study art history.
She has lived and worked in four lan-
guages, five
countries,
six states,
and 12 cit-
ies. Yoon
will discuss
how she
has gone
from being
immersed
in European
Dr. Rangsook Yoon
art to build-
ing bridges between communities and
contemporary artists from around the
globe, sharing her life’s journey, past
exhibitions, and dreams for future
ones. She’ll also talk about her vision
for Sarasota Art Museum as a shared
public space, open to creativity and
change, in this conversation between
two globetrotting art professionals
about cultural heritage, the power of
art, and the power of community. A curator
tour by Yoon in Sarasota Art Mu-
seum galleries will follow this session.
• Feb. 8: “Women with Purpose—
Ensuring Our Children’s Future”
with Lisa Bechtold, Suriya Khong,
Dr. Rachel Shelley, and Melanie
Custer. Four women raised in different
parts of the
country and
in different
cultures
have come
together
to create
opportunity
for deserv-
ing students
in Sarasota
Lisa Bechtold
County.
Shelley,
Khong,
Custer, and
Bechtold
are women
with the
passion
and vision
to provide
mentoring,
post-sec-
Suriya Khong
ondary
education, and hope for over 400 cur-
rent students in our community. In
this session, they will talk about their
childhoods, their educational journeys,
and what made them choose this path
to ensure a great future for so many
children.
• Feb. 15: “Freedom is An Inside Job”
with Dr. Brook Parker-Bello and
Dawn Sakes. The profound effects of
shame in combating human traffick-
ing and violence will be discussed in
this session. Parker-Bello will share
from her own life (with questions from
Sakes) and with history about the circle
of shame and its effects on her life as
a woman, a woman of color, and a sur-
vivor. She will break down how shame
relates to all facets of life and build a
bridge of empathy for all human beings
to experience.
• Feb. 22: “Beyond White Sharks and
White Men” with Jasmin Graham,
Raven Harrison, Magrieli Rodriguez
Ruiz, and Carlee Jackson Bo-
hannon. This session features a panel
discussion
with wom-
en of color
in shark
sciences,
highlight-
ing their
journeys
in science,
technology,
engineer-
Raven Harrison
ing, and
mathemat-
ics (STEM)
and the cur-
rent state
of affairs
in marine
STEM,
particu-
larly shark
science.
They will
Magrieli Rodriguez Ruiz
take a deep
dive into representation: how far the
marine STEM fields have come, how
far they still have to go, and how to get
there. Along the way, we’ll learn about
the importance of sharks and their rel-
atives and how inclusive conservation
can help protect sharks and shift public
perception from fear to fascination.
For more information and to register,
call 941-309-5111, , or visit
www.OLLIatRinglingCollege.org
22 WEST COAST WOMAN JANUARY 2024