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Prime Times Weekly feature of the Mail Tribune , Medford, Oregon SOLIR system Photo by Bob Pennell Art instructor Richard Straub, left, looks over Larry Kellogg's work during a class at the Southern Oregon Learning in Retirement center in Ashland. SOLIR offers some 30 classes of solid academic subjects for seniors with a curious mind and a willingness to learn. By JOHN DARLING Maybe you can't stop the effects of aging on the body, but nothing can hold back a curious mind. That's the philosophy of SOLIR -- Southern Oregon Learning in Retirement -- a group of 500 Rogue Valley seniors who gather at Southern Oregon University to feast their minds on some 30 classes of solid academic subjects every term, said Clayton Gordon, SOLIR president. "It's for people who still have a lot of curiosity, people interested in staying alert, stimulating and enthusiastic. The body may fall apart, but the mind doesn't have to," he said. Larry Kellogg, Ashland, a former rocket engineer, agreed. "As you get older you tend to vegetate and one way to keep from doing that is to stimulate the gray matter. This is a unique group of well-informed people. The intellectual level here is about 10." Celia Moss, Ashland, said she loved her classes on medieval art and John Ford's western movies. "It really keeps my brain going.'' For $75 a year, anyone of retirement age is welcome to attend such classes as ragtime and jazz music, learning to draw creatively, Westminster Abbey, gardening, the Internet, Shakespeare sonnets, "Communicating with People Not Like Me," t'ai chi, dream interpretation, the Constitution and "Elegant Universe," a survey of quantum mechanics and relativity. They also do a book series, with students reading from the books of a period -- such as this term's 19th century romantics -- and exploring ideas with lecture and discussion. "This is the best deal in town. Most of the other Learning in Retirement programs around the country charge $300 or $450 and often charge per class on top of that," said Aletha Lundblatt, office manager and the only paid employee of SOLIR. The classes are all taught without pay by experts in their field, some with multiple doctorates, a professor who taught at Annapolis Naval Academy, a singer in the Rogue Valley Chorale, an astronomer, a Peace Corps teacher, a trial lawyer and just about anyone who knows a field well, Gordon said. "It means a lot to teachers to pass on the information of their lives and see that they're enriching the lives of others," said Lee Symonds, one of the founders of SOLIR seven years ago. She taught a well-attended SOLIR class on novelist Jane Austen. "The idea is interesting courses from teachers who know what they're talking about," Gordon said. While SOLIR tries to match SOU in the quality and academic seriousness of its courses, the few spiritually oriented classes have long waiting lists, said Lundblatt. Three popular offerings last year were: Buddhism, taught by Gordon, "Awakening the Heart through Meditation," by John Gorsuch, an Episcopal priest, and "Learning to Accept, Honor and Deepen Our Innate Spirituality," taught by Beverly Gorsuch, a Yale Divinity School graduate and psychotherapist. Although there are no degrees and no credits, it's common for a class to draw 40 to 60 students to the tiny three-room SOLIR building rented from SOU. The students' love of learning is matched by the camaraderie they find there, said Leo Hulick, Eagle Point, who met his partner Phyllis Hughes, Jacksonville, at a SOLIR class. "The sociability means so much to people," said Symonds. "It's so enriching to be able to talk about meaningful topics instead of the minutiae of life. It helps avoid isolation. People have told me this has saved their lives, literally." "You have a tremendous wealth of experience here and sentiments from the most Marxist liberal to the most Limbaugh conservative,'' said Richard Straub, a retired central Los Angeles art teacher who teaches "Fun With Art." "Everyone treats each other with the greatest of respect," he said. "It's a wonderful place for social interaction." Straub's instructions to his art class might be considered instructions for life. "I tell them: Don't voice or listen to negative thoughts about what you're creating, feel free to modify it lots of times, never repeat exact features you've done before, remember the eraser is as important as the writing end and expect to feel uncomfortable. If you're satisfied, you need to move to a less comfortable place." Prime Times Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA