October 6, 2011

ND Plains Conference on Aging

Please enjoy browsing through the photos below from our fantastic art exhibit we had in October!

Many thanks to the artists that contributed to the wonderful success in demonstrating such talents in various media.

Like the aging of a river, human aging is a natural process; we are aging from day one. A river shapes the land day after day, year after year. Likewise, the passage of time changes the terrain of our own bodies.  Huffington Post <<Read More>>

It didn’t happen overnight, this late-in-life sense of youthful possibility; it crept up on me slowly, like time-released vitamins. Once I hit 50 I felt liberated, at 60 I experienced even more freedom. Then, over the past few years I started noticing that I felt good, really good — calmer, saner, more at peace with myself and the world. It wasn’t the result of any outer event or accomplishment but more a inner feeling of well-being.

For me, one of the best things about getting older is realizing that I don’t have all the time left in the world and that’s not such a bad thing. I’ve become aware of what’s important and I’m no longer willing to waste my time or energy on nonessential. I hate the word multitasking. It’s not that I’m less ambitious, I just don’t care about having it all, doing it all or being it all. I want to concentrate on what really matters to me. End of story.

Sure, the hormones, the energy, diminish as you get older, but so does the drama — thank god! Things that used to drive me crazy don’t bother me as much anymore. I have a longer fuse and a lighter touch. Age has also given me a broader perspective. When you’ve experienced loss and illness; when you’ve had your heart broken and hit bottom — and still manage to land on your feet — you realize that the crises can’t destroy you. By the same token, success, wealth and designer shoes won’t redeem you. The good thing about being around for a while is that you gain some wisdom, compassion and humor along the way.

It doesn’t happen automatically. We don’t have a choice about aging; that’s nonnegotiable. But how we grow old is our responsibility. Who do you want to be in your fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties? Someone who is brittle, bored and boring or someone juicy, passionate and free spirited? Start now. Start by loving yourself and your life; find things that make you happy and bring you joy. Focus on what works (and stop complaining about what doesn’t). Feel good, be grateful — no matter what is going on in your life or in the world.

If you want to stay vital then don’t concentrate on removing the wrinkles and cellulite; work on letting go of the stress, anger, resentment and especially the self criticism; those things are far more toxic than sugar, fat and cigarettes.

We all bloom at different times, a rose is no less than a daffodil because it blooms later in the season. We all have our own individual timing and its important is to honor that timing and trust the process. Don’t buy into the cultural myths that say you have to go to college, get married, have a child or achieve success at a certain age. Julia Child published her famous book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” at 49; nine months later she launched her career in television. Frank McCourt didn’t even begin writing Angela’s Ashes until he was 64; he also got married around the same time.

Some of us are late bloomers and slow learners. Who cares how long it takes? Dreams don’t have an expiration date; it’s never too late to be the person you always wanted to be. It’s taken me a long time to finally be where I am but I don’t regret any of the detours and delays; it’s all been part of the journey. In fact, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Virginia Bell (Read Full Post)

StoryCorps is coming to the FM area! Who do you know who would be good candidates for this national oral storytelling project?

WHAT

An independent nonprofit, StoryCorps since 2003 has been celebrating lives of tens of thousands of people by listening to their stories and life experiences. Each conversation (usually pairs but up to four people who know and care about each other, i.e., family members and/or friends) is recorded on a CD to take home and share. A second copy is filed with the Library of Congress, American Folklife Center.

While participants may use a list of topics, the 40 minute conversation needs to be from the heart and unscripted: friends discussing their relationship including key as well as funny experiences, a brother and sister (or child/grandchild with parent/grandparent) talking about growing up, a couple reminiscing about married life and family, an immigrant telling about coming to America, a minority telling about the balance between preserving traditions and living in the majority culture – conversations that evoke universal themes of life such as birth, love, death, coping with life’s ups and downs, values, faith, courage,and humor. Participants are given a list of priming questions prior to their appointments to stimulate thoughts and aid in preparation.

In addition to these personal histories being added to the national archive for historians and other researchers, the public can access them from home – listeners have been enjoying compelling stories on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and on-line, www.storycorps.net, almost from the beginning of the project.

WHEN

StoryCorps recording studio, an Airstream trailer, will be taping in the FM area on select days, August 12 to September 4. ArtSage and other non-profits are taking reservations. The trailer will be conveniently parked (location to be announced) and accommodate walkers and wheelchairs.

COST

There is no charge to participate for this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Prairie Public Broadcasting is sponsoring this event.

For more information go to storycorps.org

ArtSage is pleased to invite sages to a special gallery talk on a unique art form perfected by a renowned, regional sage, Tuesday, August 3, 11 am, Plains Art Museum, 704 First Ave N, Fargo.

Shortly before her 60th birthday, Minnesotan Lillian Colton began doing portraits of famous people using plant seeds and repeatedly captured best-of-show purple ribbons at the state fair. Colton continued her portraiture and images of animals and noteworthy buildings into her 90s. Portraits ranging from religious figures (Christ, Mother Teresa, Billy Graham) to presidents to pop artists and TV personalities (Elvis, Willie Nelson, Oprah) grace the gallery at the Plains. Made with crop seeds as large as sunflower kernels and as fine as ground wheat (cream of wheat), the images by the Owatonna farm wife are remarkable. Colton is sometimes compared to another self-taught artist who also began her career late in life, Anna Mary ‘Grandma’ Moses, whose paintings became famous in the 1940s.

The gallery talk given by Plains Art Museum CEO and Director Collen Sheehy will cover the artist and the art. Celebrated during her lifetime and honored far and wide at her passing in 2007 at the age of 95, The Seed Queen, Dr. Sheehy’s book on Colton, is the definitive work on the artist and the genre’s role in agricultural fairs.

All sages (older adults) are welcome. Others, family and friends, are welcome if accompanied by a sage. There is no charge for this special half hour presentation. However, to accommodate people, a reservation is requested (Rose Marie at 701-205-7818, ArtSageFM@gmail.com or the Plains, 701-232-3821). After the talk, participants are invited to browse and have lunch at Cafe Muse operated in the museum by Mosaic Foods.

A Cole Porter music review. A dazzling mixture of biography and song, ‘Red Hot & Cole’ celebrates the great American songwriter who brought style, elegance and sophistication to the stages and soundstages of Broadway and Hollywood, delighting the world with his devilishly clever rhymes, fresh and unexpected melodies and sassy, sexy sensibility, performed by the talents of the Silver Follies! Fargo-Moorhead Community Theatre, May 13-15, 7:30 p.m., May 16, 2 p.m.

Writing is a form of memory. The phrase stayed with me for some time. I repeated it to myself and told it to others with whom I worked. I realized that for all of my work with people with memory impairments, I had thought very little about memory. To the extent that I thought about memory at all, it was in fact about the loss of memory. It had never really occurred to me to think about other forms of memory and the possibilities inherent in them. It was a writer’s insight on the nature of memory that suggested these possibilities, and although I still had only a vague idea of how we might put them to work, I saw the potential and committed to working out an intervention plan with Don. National Public Radio, Speaking of Faith >>Read More

Rhoda Curtis has written her second book, After Ninety What, a follow-up to her previous one, Rhoda: The First Ninety Years.  The book includes essays, travelogues, short stories and even a play, Family Voices.  Creating has been an integral part of Curtis’s life. “The creative process involved trying, failing or succeeding, and evaluating.  It doesn’t matter if I ever make it.  What’s important is the process.  That’s what’s stimulating and invigorating.  If it doesn’t work, so what?  I think we are hard-wired for the creative process,” said Curtis. Curtis described a myriad of things that kept her healthy, and described her view on aging as this: “People seem to be afraid of aging.  I don’t understand that.  The process of aging is like growing up.  You might just as well be afraid of being a teenager.” Jweekly.com, March 12, 2010, >More

A collaboration between the Longy School of Music and the United South End Settlements has resulted in a singing class geared toward older adults.  While most participants use the class as a social outlet and creative expression, 63-year-old Dory Tobias is using the class to help improve her speaking voice.  Joseph Stemple, professor of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Kentucky described presbyphonia, the changing of voice as people age as muscles weaken and vocal cords no longer close completely.  The music class utilizes breathing techniques to help improve singing voices as well as speaking voices.  “I’m not much worried about being a singer,” said Tobias.  “I just want to speak with confidence.”  Boston Globe >>More

Decades of Dance — There’s the thrill of learning, the thrill of doing better all the time. I dance Friday and Sunday one week and then the next week I dance Sunday. StarTribune >>More