Thursday, October 27, 2011

Retired in Ann Arbor: Penny Stamps lecture



I finally made it to one of the Penny Stamps lectures, provided by U of M's School of Art and Design, and it was a perfect way to spend an hour on a chilly Thursday afternoon.  First, the setting:  It is in the beautiful Michigan Theater, and starts at 5:10, most Thursday afternoons.  I was there a few minutes early, and enjoyed the theater organ before the lecture started-- especially his version of "Puttin' on the Ritz"--  You could bring in a coffee from the Bigby's next door, or  have some popcorn and liquid refreshment from the concession (even beer!).  I looked around to see how many people of my demographic (Retired in Ann Arbor!!) were present,  and there was a decent showing of grey hair.
Then about 2 minutes before the lecture started, a flood of college kids came in-- fresh off the bus from their previous class on north campus.  The speaker was Emily Pilloton-- an interesting speaker on several levels, who has also presented at TED.  The description and her lecture is posted here if you want to hear it.  Having taught for awhile early in my career, I had particular interest in her observations of how the school where she is working, doesn't work.
In summary, here are 4 reasons I'm happy to be one of the retirees in the audience rather than a college student:

  1. I'm better rested
  2. I'm not going to be tested on what I just heard
  3. I can legally drink beer if I want to
  4. There is very little drama in my daily life.
How about you?  Do you agree?



No comments:

Post a Comment