There Is So Much I Don't Know!

Did you know? The Metropolitan Opera live streams its programs through many local theaters―including mine- with subtitles! I have only seen about five live operas in my lifetime, most of them at the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so I have a lot to learn. Seeing live productions at the movie theater is a bargain, and the seats recline, too.

But I made an even more exciting discovery: The Met has its own streaming channel! There are operas going back to the 70s, and different productions of the same opera. It’s well worth the monthly charge to educate myself about opera from the comfort of home, and still have subtitles! So far, I have watched fourteen operas, by Rossini, Puccini, Strauss, Mozart, Verdi, and Lehard. But my favorite, so far, is Don Pasquale, a comedy with music by Donizetti, from 1979, with Beverly Sills!

After watching Ambroise Thomas’s opera Hamlet, I reminded myself to become more educated about Shakespeare. The free Kanopy streaming channel offered by the library (Thanks, Cynthia, for that info) has every Shakespearean play in a wonderful series recorded by the BBC. After Hamlet, I watched Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet.

While watching Henry V, I noted “Into the breech!” and “band of brothers,” as phrases we still hear today. Then I came across this fun graphic of many common lines we don’t realize came from Shakespeare.

My cousin told me about the language site DuoLingo. At one time, I spoke Spanish pretty well, and now can reacquaint myself with the language, for free!

I am really ignorant about astronomy, so welcomed an opportunity to learn about the James Webb telescope in a one-hour ZOOM class. A lot of it was over my head, but the lecture still stretched my mind and gave me a sense of awe. This was offered through a continuing education center here in Greensboro.

My friend Helen told me about live-streamed classes on Artificial Intelligence through a local university in Wausau, Wisconsin. How great that I could tune into that series of five classes from North Carolina, just paying attention to the time zone! As she said, “This is the world our grandkids are going to know and live in.”

Many people carefully selected a “Word for the Year,” as we headed into 2023. My friend Jean’s new motto is “simplify.” I hadn’t really planned to choose a word, but it looks like my 2023 philosophy is going to be “learn.”

How about you? What are you looking forward to this new year?