Bull Jivin' at the CHA

The image of a bunch of oldsters staging a “die-in” in the lobby of the Chicago Housing Authority made my day. It accompanied an article written by Carlos Ballesteros in yesterday’s Chicago Sun-Times, the subtitle of which was “Seniors take over CHA lobby to protest faulty elevators, demand oversight.” 

Here are the opening two paragraphs:

A vivacious* group of senior citizens occupied the Chicago Housing Authority’s downtown office lobby on Tuesday morning to protest what they say are dangerous living conditions at many of the agency’s senior homes across the city.

The action…comes two weeks after an investigation…revealed how the CHA failed to properly inspect and maintain hundreds of elevators at its public housing facilities since 2015.

In addition to the elevator problems, there was more:

The group also reiterated long-standing complaints about faulty heating and cooling systems in buildings operated by CHA and alleged retaliatory behavior against senior residents by building managers. Seniors also chastised the CHA for, as one resident put it, “putting the interests of wealthy and politically connected developers over the lives of elders.”

What resonates and rings true in that paragraph is the retaliatory behavior toward pesky residents who dare to both complain and chastise.

But, I mean, come on. You reach a certain age, guess what? You get to complain and chastise to your heart’s content. Why, in an given day, I chastise lots of people: drivers who try to run me over as I’m crossing the street; Starbucks customers who talk too damn loud on their smarty-pants phones; old men in bars who drop the “f” bomb repeatedly.

More article excerpts:

Three-dozen seniors and their allies entered the building shortly before 9:30 a.m. and plopped down on the floor, disregarding warnings from building security to leave the premises. At 9:37 a.m, the group proceeded to stage a two-minute “die-in,” followed by a rendition of the Freedom Song, “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round.”

Ooohhh, how I wish I would’ve been there, especially to hear that lovely and spirited song from my youth. Instead, I’ll have to settle for these two great renditions on youtube:

https://youtu.be/WPuBGcng6Tw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aa8G44S6_c

I also wish I’d been there to meet a fellow septuagenarian, Eugene Nelson, and hear his response to what CHA chief executive Eugene Jones, Jr. had to say:

“I’m tired of all the bulljivin’, Mr. Jones,” said Eugene Nelson, a 70-year-old resident of Flannery Apartments on North Clybourn Avenue and Halsted Street. “I want to enjoy my youth — I want to be able to walk out of my building and know I’ll be all right.”

To read more of this inspiring article, click here:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/cha-seniors-elevators-protest-sit-in-die-in-public-housing/

 *(NOTE: It will surprise no one to learn that I emailed Mr. Ballesteros, suggesting a better word than “vivacious” to described this concerned and committed group of CHA residents. He immediately responded, and gracefully.)

Living a Happy Life in Song

My newest journal writing workshop starts on Saturday at the Newberry Library. A four-week series, “The Purpose of Aging, Aging with Purpose,” filled at 15 people, and I can’t wait to meet and work with each of them. It’s thrilling whenever a new workshop finds an audience, especially one focused on this particular chapter of our lives.

In the workshop description, I describe four categories of writing prompts that we’ll use during our weekly sessions: mind, body, spirit, and story. I’ve designed each of these to help us “best define and manage our own aging process.”

Of course, much has been written about this “new” old age, and I’ve devoured many of the articles, essays, and books on the subject. One of them, from the March 4, 2018 print edition of the New York Times had particular resonance because it celebrates a passion of mine: singing. For me, all music, and particularly the kind I help make, goes on my list of spiritual experiences, and so is one of the ways I manage my own aging process.

Borrowing from online definitions of spirit/spiritual, I think of these as moments that “can be felt to be present, but cannot be seen.” They can relate or affect my “human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.” Now I can’t tell you what I think the soul is, but I feel its presence whenever I sing—especially in my little church choir.

Now that choir is a long way from the 1,000+ retirees who sing in the Encore Creativity for Older Adults chorale program described in the New York Times article, but the experiences of three of them reflect my own.

Here are excerpts from “Singing Their Way Through Retirement,” by Noah Weiland:

Howard Smith, 89

“Music is life,” he said. “I know that if I keep going to rehearsals for what we’re doing this coming season, that everything will be fulfilled. It’s what I really wanted to do. I didn’t have that opportunity professionally, but I’ve had it here.”

 “Singing to me is the best medicine,” he said. “It makes you want to live a little longer.”

Tom Hoppin, 79

“We [in the chorus] are mutually dependent on one another,” he said. “There’s a sense of reliance.”

“There’s always an element of the spiritual side, in the sense that we’re living out of our own selves into a creative art.”

Tony Tambasco, 78

“We’re singing a piece now that says, ‘viva la musica,’” he said. “It’s a piece that’s very melodic. I get choked up when I’m singing it sometimes. It’s hard to even sing it because I feel like I want to tear up in the middle of it.”

The music “has an effect on mind and heart,” he said, adding, “It makes for a happy life.”

I agree, Tony, that singing’s effect on my mind and heart indeed makes for a happy life.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/25/business/retirement/singing-chorus.html