Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Power to Change

Power to Change: Creative Aging Symposium was a one-day virtual event hosted by Senior Center Without Walls (SCWW) and Creative Aging San Francisco
“Elders are looking for ways to have their voices heard, to create change in their lives, and the lives of others…
Whether you think of yourself as creative or not, we will give tools to unlock the creative promise we all carry… creativity is beyond art-making – it is about using your imagination to forge new paths. This symposium will share inspiring stories and creative tools to ignite changes from the very personal level of communicating one’s story all the way to addressing policy-makers.”

This online Symposium, accessible via computer or phone, included 15-minute breaks for reflection between presentations and a 75-minute lunch break.  
Fred Mandell, Ph.D., co-author of Becoming a Life Change Artist: 7 Creative Skills to Reinvent Yourself at Any Stage in Life (2010), talked about risk-taking in his creative transition.  Leaving the familiarity of a 21-year career in financial services, Fred explored the unknown when he enrolled in a sculpture class as he had not taken an art class since 7th grade.  Three years into studying sculpture, he had a one-man show to sell his art and then took up painting; his artworks are sold online. His reflections: “Do and learn at the same time …Build skills through failure in workshops …Find a community of support …develop a new network (tribe) that will be a source of encouragement and resilience … passion will sustain growth and discovery.”  He recommended journaling that helps reflect on our state of mind and heart, opportunities and disappointments.  

In 2014, Fred founded Global Institute for Arts and Leadership, a nonprofit that uses arts-based learning for innovative leadership and social impact. Fred explained art’s value in problem-solving by providing divergent, expansive ways of looking/thinking and a communal experience to make and share art that will elicit a response and dialogue that is less threatening than politics—a fixed mindset can be challenged with art that connects what’s deep inside us and to the world. 

According to Fred’s book, here are the 7 creative skills to reinvent yourself:
  1. Preparation: Deliberately engaging in activities that help break us from our usual patterns of thought and feeling, and prepare us for creative insight.
  2. Seeing: Discerning new connections, fresh perspectives and possibilities.
  3. Using context: Understanding how varied environments in which we live and work influence our thoughts and behaviors, and then using this knowledge to make changes in our lives.
  4. Embracing uncertainty: Acting on opportunities, sometimes hidden, presented by change and uncertainty.
  5. Risk taking: Acting without certainty of outcome.
  6. Discipline: Acting consistently, regardless of motivation.
  7. Collaboration: Engaging with others to help one make desired changes.
Its essence was similar to AARP’s Life Reimagined. Power to Change honors the creative possibilities available to us as lifelong learners who can make meaningful contributions.
Next up was Stagebridge performing arts company founded 1978 in Oakland, celebrating its 40th anniversary this year! Stagebridge members talked about Telling Your Story:
  •  Time Slips creative storytelling project (Anne Basting's “forget memory, try imagination”) with people with dementia, using photo image, facilitator, echoer, and scribe. This experience enabled member Emily to be more comfortable with memory loss, after realizing that memory goes, but lots left—creativity, imagination and fun remain.
  • Playback Theater with Ed Bernstein and Sarah Strong, learning that improv is about trusting inner guidance; using roles of conductor (like to add anything?), teller (new perspective on life story), and actor.
After lunch break, enjoyed 15 minutes of Poetry Reading by Gregory Pond, who has published two books of poetry, Blackened Blue and after moon.  We were nostalgic or looking forward to our next meal as he read home cookin’:
back burner glows
slow slimmer on
crock pot watch
heated up then
turned down low
to slightly bubbling
babbling brook…
rich thick steam rising
and mixing above
with
the good home aroma
of spices
and love.

David “Lucky” Goff, Ph.D., author of The Evolving Elder: Applying What Really Matters to Life (2017) and community organizer, talked about surviving a hemorrhagic stroke in 2003 and experiencing a “traumatic blessing.”  After his stroke left him permanently disabled, he lost his marriage, home, and career in psychotherapy.  He started writing a journal, Reports from the Slow Lane (now blog), to exorcise his regrets, re-learned to speak so he has been on Growing an Elder Culture radio show for past 6 years now, and co-founded Elders Salon in Sebastopol.  Lucky said he has been living creatively as a social artist because of his hardships, and his experience with disability has meant moving to a slower pace so he can notice what’s going on, rather than miss a lot while speeding through life. 
Postcards with a Punch workshop demonstrated how writing your legislators does make a difference and provided tips on how to make our letters stand out.
  •  Shirley Krohn of California Senior Legislature discussed Meals on Wheels’ “Don’t Empty My Plate” campaign that involved seniors writing their personal stories (“If it wasn’t for Meals on Wheels, I would starve”) on paper plates for visual impact and sent to Congress.
  • Jessica McCracken of Ruth’s Table suggested ways to get informed on policy issues (American Society on Aging, Leading Age, Americans for the Arts), and then showed how to create a collage from magazine clippings, using glue stick, on a 3”x5” postcard with message—"AGING massive power JUST BEAUTIFUL" or song lyrics/poems that touch the soul.
After the polarizing 2016 election, Cindy Weil left her wallpaper business to follow her impulse to be part of something bigger and found Enactivist.  She launched the Immigrant Yarn Project, involving seniors and Girls Scouts in piecing together a yarn-based creation (knit squares, pom-poms) representing our common immigrant roots for a massive public art, open-air installation at Fort Point this fall.  
SCWW Program Manager Katie Wade (pictured above at left) concluded the symposium, noting the mosaic Power to Change logo of the butterfly symbolizing transformation, reflection and exploration of our creativity as a tool for change within ourselves and our community. 

Art-making
Rhoda Goldman Plaza (RGP) Assisted Living residents learned step-by-step Portrait Painting taught by Mike Ritch of Jean Henry School of Art (pictured with model Amy Hittner, Board member of Legacy Film Festival on Aging and former Chair of SFSU Counseling Department).
RGP’s Annual Resident Art Show + Reception with strolling violinist Seth Byrd, featured origami by Hedy, paintings by Roberta, and mixed collage/painting by Shelly. 
Metal sculptures by Barry
Upcycled art by Freda


Power of Resilience
This month’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts featured a screening of the documentary, “Resilience:The Biology of Stress and the Science of Hope”, followed by journalist Belva Davis moderating a discussion with panelists: James Redford (filmmaker), Claire Willhite (Center for Youth Wellness), Lyslynn Lacoste (Bayview-Hunters Point Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities) and Lauran Cherry (Alameda Department of Education).
The documentary explored the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE, such as abuse, neglect, household dysfunction) on adult health and behaviors, and adopting a resilience-oriented approach to trauma-informed care. According to the ACE study, chronic inflammation due to toxic stress in childhood can lead to changes in brain development and body systems. Resilience is built over time, so universal screening and interventions (presence of a stable, caring adult; therapy; mindfulness; nutrition; exercise) are key. 
FDR Democratic Club hosted a community conversation on Disaster Preparedness for Seniors and People with Disabilities (PWD) at Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  We viewed Rooted in Rights’ “Right to be Rescued,” a short documentary that tells the stories of PWD affected by Hurricane Katrina.  In times of disaster (hurricanes, wildfires, severe weather, etc.), older adults and PWD are vulnerable due to special needs and tend to be overlooked.  In “The Right to be Rescued: Disability Justice in an Age of Disaster," Adrien Weibgen argued for the right of PWD to receive emergency services, including their input in emergency planning.

“…the systemic exclusion of PWDs from disaster plans, coupled with arguments that it may be impossible to meet the needs of all people during times of disaster, suggests a widespread, if tacit, endorsement of the notion that it is fine to value lives differently when push comes to shove…Rather than accept as inevitable that some people will be left behind, we must significantly increase our overall level of commitment to managing emergency events.”

We heard from local and state officials on disaster preparedness:

Daniel Homsey, Director of Neighborhood Resilience, visited New Orleans 10 years ago in aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which he called a “social justice disaster." Each of us can asset map, prepare Recology disaster kit, get Neighborhood Emergency Response Team (NERT) training by SF Fire Department, and know our community (get connected to AlertSF to receive real-time emergency alerts by texting your zip code to 888-777).  After noting that 70% of the City’s first responders do not live in the City, Daniel talked about building community resilience through grassroots Neighborhood Empowerment Network (NEN)’s Empowered Communities Program (ECP).  He encouraged us to build “who’s in kit” (social capital) through relationships in the community to kick-off a social contract of caring and problem-solving; for example, Resilient Miraloma Park neighbors staged an off-the-grid block party to practice their safety responses using emergency radios for communications and solar generators for cooking.  Daniel explained that the City promotes Neighborfests as community building tools through incentives by removing fees, providing free barricades and training for organizing block parties for neighbors:  how to form teams, implement a plan and feed one another – frequent practice uses muscle memory to respond in a real emergency.

Vance Taylor, Chief of the Office of Access and Functional Needs at the Governor's Office of Emergency Services, joined the meeting via Skype.  Vance is responsible for ensuring the needs of individuals with disabilities and persons with access and functional needs are identified before, during and after a disaster. 
Event included resource tables by nonprofit and government organizations:
  •  Joanna Fraguli, Deputy Director of Programmatic Access at Mayor’s Office on Disability: Disability Disaster Preparedness Committee (DDPC) meets every other month to identify policy needs and propose concrete recommendations