On Friday,
April 27 La Causerie will hold its Annual Business Meeting, followed by
our Spring Fête in Fellowship Hall. The
Annual Meeting will begin at 11 a.m. and include election of officers for the
upcoming year. No classes will be
held at 11 a.m. or 12 p.m. and the party will begin immediately after the
meeting.
For the
party, members are asked to bring a dish to be shared with the group—hors d’oeuvres,
snacks, nibbles, desserts. Food with an
international flair is especially welcome.
Rosemary is already getting her famous punch ready and we will provide
plates, napkins, utensils and cups.
We are
seeking interested members to assume roles on the board. Even if you are
new to La Causerie these are positions that do not require any previous
experience. Open positions are:
- 1st VP Membership Chairman (supervises registration)
- 2nd VP (acts as social and
hospitality chairman)
- Assistant Secretary (in charge of
publication of the Livret)
We are
also looking for three people (one from French, Spanish and Italian) to
organize noon programs next year. This
is a flexible volunteer position, meaning you can easily work it around your
schedule and do it from home or office. Each program person identifies and
schedules six programs during the school year.
We have lots of names to suggest and the Secretary coordinates the work
of these three people.
If you are
willing to serve in any of these positions, please let one of our board members
know (see list of current officers later in the newsletter). It is always good
to have new energy in our leadership and several current board members have
served full terms of office.
Since we have many new members this year we thought it might be a good idea to mention how registration is handled over the summer. First, the board has to finalize teacher contracts and class schedules. Then the information is posted on our website and registration begins online. You can anticipate registration beginning in August. For more details—and next year’s calendar—attend the Annual Meeting on April 27.
Have
foreign language books, tapes, CDs that you no longer use? Somebody else at La Causerie might enjoy
having them, so consider placing them in the annual book sale.
Our annual
foreign language material sale will take place during the Annual Meeting and
Spring Fête on April 27th. Mark each item in pencil with your name and
the price you want for it.
We’ll
prominently place these on a table on April 27 and members can shop at their
leisure. As usual, the selling price
will be divided equally between the seller and La Causerie. If you have
questions, call Jan Cohen.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to long-time member Betty Wilkin (Spanish) whose husband Roger is very ill with cancer. He has discontinued chemotherapy and is currently receiving hospice care at their home. Cards can be sent to her address in the Livret.
Your board
of directors has been looking for possible new locations for La Causerie
classes. We love First Lutheran and
they are great to us. However, everyone is aware that we are cramped for space,
meeting in some odd spots and have no place for coffee and conversation.
Do you
have ideas of additional places we might explore? If so, tell a board
member. We need 7-8 separate classrooms
on Friday mornings (with seating suitable for adults) and a social area is a
plus.
FYI We’ve already contacted the following locations (none of which has
panned out): St. Andrew’s Episcopal,
Wornall Road Baptist, Baptist-Lutheran Hospital (Research), Village Presbyterian
Church.
The Kansas City Filmmakers Jubilee
takes place April 12 – 16 in Westport, celebrating independent films made in
Kansas City—and around the world. Short
international films will be shown in a group called “World Cinema” on Thursday,
April 12 at 5:45 p.m. at the Tivoli Theater and repeated again on Friday at
8:30 p.m. at the Westport Coffee House Theater. Dalene Bradford was a
preliminary judge and highly recommends a Bolivian film in this group called
“The Fighting Cholitas.” A featured documentary with international flair and
broad appeal is “Beyond the Call” to be shown on Saturday, 7:45 p.m. at the
Tivoli. It’s a “Mother Teresa meets
Indiana Jones” adventure of three middle-aged men, former soldiers and modern day
knights, who travel the world delivering life saving humanitarian aid directly
into the hands of civilians in some of the most dangerous yet beautiful places
on Earth—the front lines of war. For
details and the full schedule of movies visit www.kcjubilee.org.
The Italian Film Festival of Kansas
City will take place in April at the 770 seat Granada Theatre, 1015 Minnesota
Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas. It is sponsored by the Istituto Italiano di
Cultura di Chicago and the National Italian American Foundation (www.niaf.org), will feature the Kansas City premier of
four recent Italian films: La febbre
(The Fever) by Alessandro D'Alatri (108 minutes) and Romanzo criminale (Crime
Novel) by Michele Placido (130 minutes) on Saturday, April 21; La destinazione
(The Destination) by Piero Sanna (124 minutes) and Alla luce del sole (Come
Into The Light) by Roberto Faenza (90 minutes) on Sunday, April 22. Admission
is FREE and open to the general public. For further information see www.italianfilmfests.org or call
314-422-3102.
April 13 Classes meet
April 20 Classes meet French program at noon
Professeur Cyprienne Simchowitz will talk about the presidential elections in France. Program in French.
April 27 Annual meeting at
11 a.m. followed by spring fete at noon
Classes meet at 9 and 10
a.m. No classes at 11 or 12.
May 4 classes meet. Italian program at noon by Max
Ambrosio of Brescia, Italy, topic TBA
May 11 Last day of classes; no noon program