LLI offering class on graceful aging

Sep. 27—GOSHEN — Donald Lanctot will teach a course with the Lifelong Learning Institute titled, "She Ain't Exactly Your Aunt Bea: Images of Aging in Elizabeth Strout's Novel 'Olive Kitteridge'"

LLI's synopsis of the course reads that numerous articles and books are published each year attempting to show people the way to "age gracefully." Many of these books seem to conceive the successful approach to aging as a function of some kind of positive thinking. Aging, according to this school of thought, is more a state of mind than it is anything else.

In her Pulitzer Prize winner novel "Olive Kitteridge," contemporary American novelist Elizabeth Strout doesn't offer a confident assessment of aging. Rather her work, which focuses on Olive, a retired math teacher, presents a wide range of expressions of what it means to grow old.

The class will take place over four sessions, discussing six stories from Strout's novel of 13 stories, and also looking at one episode from the HBO series "Olive Kitteridge," which starred Frances McDormand. Students will use the stories to reflect on the experience of aging, its opportunities, its threats and its inevitabilities. Strout infuses her stories with humor, wit, rich irony, and most of all, a deep love for her characters, the release reads.

"She Ain't Exactly Your Aunt Bea: Images of Aging in Elizabeth Strout's Novel 'Olive Kitteridge'" will be taught from 2-3:30 p.m. Oct. 11, 13, 18, and 20, and is available in person or online. The in-person classes will be held in the Jennings Auditorium, Greencroft Community Center, 1820 Greencroft Blvd., Goshen. When registering, be sure to inform coordinators which format each student is using.

The cost for the class for LLI members is $20, non-members $40, and free for Medicare/HUD with a $10 LLI membership.

Register by calling the Goshen College box office at 574-535-7566 from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Friday, or online at www.life-learn.org.