You had a great holiday season, got nice gifts and enjoyed your time with friends and family. But there was just one problem. Your children gave you a computer. They thought it was about time you learned how to use one, or maybe they thought it would make your life more interesting. And there the computer sits, waiting for you to do something to it. Or maybe you bought a computer a while ago, but just haven’t gotten around to learning how to do much with it.
Here are some reasons to begin to learn to use your computer, no matter how it entered your life.
• You can email your out-of-state grandchildren as well as share pictures of your newborn great-grandchildren instantly with friends and neighbors.
• You can explore your family tree or write an account of your life for your children and grandchildren.
• You can use it as a learning tool and memory aid by going to Google or other search engines and asking questions and getting answers about almost anything.
• You can save money by looking at grocery ads and finding coupons online.
• You can go to Google Earth and see the site of your old home or neighborhood.
And if all those reasons aren’t enough, using a computer could help you feel cheerier and more social. It’s also a good workout for your brain. Recent studies have found that older people who use their computers have less depression, more friends, improved memory function, and increased activity in the areas of the brain that control language, memory and visual ability.
The computer lab has classes to get you started, classes that will give you the foundation you need before you start learning about the things you can do on the Web or take word processing or photo editing classes.
For beginners who have a PC, there’s the VERY FIRST COMPUTER CLASS. If you have a Mac, check out IT’S YOUR MAC. If you are familiar with the keyboard, mouse and desktop, you’re ready for the INTERMEDIATE COMPUTER class. If it’s been a while since you took a class, why not sign up again for a refresher? You’ll be in a class with both instructor and coaches to help you. And if you come to the lab on Fridays to practice, there will be people to help you there too.
For more information about these classes, see descriptions in the computer section of the SUN.
OLLI’s own Michele Roberge, Executive Director of the Carpenter Center, played a major role in winning a two-year grant from the National Association of Performing Arts 
Presenters to bring the B-Word Project to CSULB, one of only six USA universities and the only western school.
Many of you have already attended the education classes titled “Censoring the Cinema” taught by Dr. Craig Smith at the Art Theatre. OLLI alerted you to the class in the SUN 2011 issue, along with enrollment information in the OLLI office. This reporter interviewed Dr. Smith a couple months ago to gather some background about the man and his role in the project.
A brief resume of Dr. Smith begins with a Ph.D. at Penn State University, teaching at San Diego State University, the University of Virginia, and University of Alabama. In D.C. he had a stint as a political speech-writer. In 1982 he formed and was President of the Freedom of Expression Foundation. He moved the Foundation to CSULB in 1988 and re-named it The Center for First Amendment Studies (check its web site). Dr. Smith has also authored sixteen books and over sixty scholarly articles.
He personally became involved in government censorship as a youth when his mother used to telephone her sister in the Ukraine and spoke in their tongue. Also, naturally, against a backdrop of McCarthyism, HUAC and tremendous fear of the spread of Communism, the calls were suspect, leading to a government investigation.
The movies for presentation and lectures by Dr. Smith were chosen to illustrate the context for five prominent blacklisted Hollywood artists. As recommended reading for OLLI members, he suggests one of his own works: Silencing the Opposition: How the Federal Government Suppresses Freedom of Expression During Times of Crisis.
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