Events

Book Club II to meet January 28

How better to mark our first year of Fourth Friday Book Club than with another selection from the series of detective novels, set in the Périgord region of France, by Martin Walker.

Cabin Fever Happy Hour

Hold the date for UMRA’s first Cabin Fever Happy Hour, a social event for UMRA members and their guests via Zoom at 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 27, 2022.

January 26, 2022—Inuit Art Communities on Baffin Island and Aussie Travel and Trivia

Event Date: January 26, 2022, at 10:00 AM

This Armchair Traveler Program featured two very interesting presentation about two very different parts of the world. Kathryn Hanna, retired faculty member from the Waseca campus and the College of Biological Sciences on the Twin Cities campus, talked about how her interest in Inuit art resulted in a trip to Baffin Island where she visited three Inuit communities and met many Inuit artists.

Book Club I to meet February 18, 2022

Laura Ericksen will lead the discussion of The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah when the UMRA Book Club I meets via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, February 18.

Learn to scan your family photos

Event Date: December 8, 2021, at 10:00 AM

In this session, we learned how to take pictures (of your pictures) with a digital camera, the pros and cons of fee-based digitizing services, and flat-bed scanners.

Book notes | Have You Seen Luis Velez?

Event Date: November 19, 2021, at 2:00 PM

This inspiring book by the prolific American author Catherine Ryan Hyde conveys a hopeful theme that also underlies her first novel, "Pay It Forward."

Book Club II to meet December 3

The Fourth Friday Book Club selection for its meeting in December is Burnt Shadows by Kamila Shamsie.

Book notes | A Confederacy of Dunces

Event Date: October 22, 2021, at 2:00 PM

For those with contemporary 2021 sensibilities, "A Confederacy of Dunces"—acclaimed as a literary masterpiece after it was published posthumously in 1980—is a canonical work of modern literature, best understood as a period piece.

Family History: Engaging Family Members with Their Ancestors' Stories

Event Date: October 19, 2021, at 11:00 AM

Vicki Gaylord's engaging presentation on strategies she has used to engage family members with their family history.

Book notes | Braiding Sweetgrass

Event Date: October 15, 2021, at 2:00 PM

In Braiding Sweetgrass, author Robin Wall Kimmerer, a trained botanist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, shows how other living things like plants offer us lessons to live by. The culture of gratitude is a key theme.

Book notes | Invisible Man

Event Date: September 24, 2021, at 2:00 PM

First published in 1952, Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison is not a one-dimensional novel about racial unrest. Members of URMA’s Fourth Friday Book Club found it to be a book rich in ideas.

Book Club I to meet December 17

The UMRA Book Club I will identify books and discussion leaders for our 2022 monthly meetings when we meet via Zoom at 2 p.m. on Friday, December 17.

Photo Club to meet October 12

^The UMRA Photo Club will meet via Zoom to share and discuss photos on the theme of water at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, October 12.

Book notes | Marcel’s Letters

Event Date: September 17, 2021, at 2:00 PM

Marcel’s Letters, by Minnesota author and graphic designer Carolyn Porter, is a fascinating journey from a small river town to war-torn Europe.

Book notes | House on Endless Waters

Event Date: August 20, 2021, at 2:00 PM

When Yoel Blum travels from his home in Israel to Amsterdam, where he was born, he begins a journey of finding out the many things his mother kept from him, which leads to a new understanding of who he is.