Dear Friends,

At the outset of the Covid pandemic Skyline Village Chicago quickly transitioned to online programs in order to keep people connected and informed during the period of potential isolation and separation. Dr. Michael Ison was a big part of our online presence, generously sharing his wisdom on Covid-19, particularly in reference to the aging population.

We salute Dr. Ison for always saying “yes” to another Zoom when we were nervous about the latest Covid bad news. 

As he leaves his post at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and takes up his new post at the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, Bethesda, as Respiratory Diseases Branch Chief, Dr. Ison has agreed to continue to join us via Zoom to answer our questions and quell our worries about covid.

On behalf of the entire Skyline Village Chicago community, the board thanks

Dr. Ison and congratulates him on his new position.

—Phyllis Mitzen, Sandy Herman, Evelyn Shaevel, Regan Burke, D. Clancy

Who WAS Ida B. Wells?

Author Philip Dray

A Lynching at Port Jervis

September 15, 4:00-5:00 pm

Via Zoom

Register HERE

The Port Jervis lynching coincides with the beginning of Ida B. Wells anti-lynching crusade, which turned her eventually into an international civil rights figure and co-founder of the NAACP. 

Ida B. Wells: May 1892: Nobody… believes the old threadbare lie that Negro men assault white women. If Southern white men are not careful, they will over-reach themselves and a conclusion will be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women.

Philip Dray: Publishing such volatile words in the South in the early 1890s was beyond asking for trouble; it was suicidal

Philip Dray is author of Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist (2021. Peachtree), and A Lynching at Port Jervis: Race and Reckoning in the Gilded Age (2022. Farrar, Straus & Giroux).

Philip Dray is the author of several books of American cultural and political history, including Yours for Justice, Ida B. Wells: The Daring Life of a Crusading Journalist (2021. Peachtree), A Lynching at Port Jervis: Race and Reckoning in the Gilded Age (2022. Farrar, Straus & Giroux),

At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America, which won the Robert F. Kennedy Book Award and was a Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and There is Power in a Union: The Epic Story of Labor in America. He has also written a history of Benjamin Franklin's scientific endeavors, Stealing God's Thunder.  He has been the recipient of generous support from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the New School Faculty Research Fund. He is a Fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities at NYU. He lives in Brooklyn and in his spare time plays the piano or rides a Citiibike along the waterfront.

 New York Times review of Philip Dray’s A Lynching at Port Jervis.

Philip Dray article in Literary Hub: How Ida B. Wells Campaigned to Expose the Lies Behind the Lynchings

Volumes Bookstore, 900 N. Michigan Ave., is offering a 10% discount for Skyline Village Chicago participants for A Lynching at Port Jervis 

Thursday October 13, 4:00-5:00 pm

Anna Rappaport

Decisions During and Later in Retirement

Via Zoom

Register HERE

Many of us make decisions and take action steps at the time we retire and soon after that. Often we think we are done with decisions. We know where we want to live and how we want to enjoy retirement. (We may prefer not to focus on the fact that we may decline and need help later.)

But there is more to the story. The Society of Actuaries in partnership with Financial Finesse recently published a "Late-in-Life Decisions Guide". 

The guide reviews steps we need to take in retirement in three stages: 

• Active years with no limitations 
• Years with moderate limitations 
• Years with major limitations.

The guide focuses on four domains – health care, finances, housing and maintaining a support network. 

This presentation will provide an overview and interactive discussion of the issues discussed in the guide.

The guide will be provided upon registration.

Meditate with us! A partnership with Skyline Village and the Center for Life and Learning offers free meditation via Zoom. Interested? We meet virtually every Monday and Friday from 11:30 am-12:00 noon. There is a guided meditation followed by a 20 minute silence, then a brief check-in. Email Regan Burke at regan.burke@gmail.com for the Zoom link. All are invited. No meditation experience necessary.

Thank you for making this summer’s sing along the best ever (says everybody!) Stay in touch for notices on the upcoming Holiday Caroling in December. Thank you to all who contributed to this year’s great success: Lake Shore Park Advisory Committee, Jean and Dave Kostelansky, our extraordinary father-son choirmasters, Curt and Chris Powell, Amada Senior Care’s, Jen and Adam Busch and Alderman Brian Hopkins.

Many of our friends are back to in-person as well as hybrid and

online classes and events.

Click into their newsletters and websites for information

• Forward Chicago Website
• Beth Finke MasterTeachers™: Website
• Center for Life and Learning 4th Presbyterian Church: Website
• Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease: website
• Rush Generations Center for Excellence in Aging:  Website
• Streeterville Organization for Active Residents: Website 
• AARP Chicago Newsletter

Sounds Good/Good Memories Choirs

Join the Choir! Fall 2022 session.

Flexible rehearsal options. No audition.

Click here for Information & Registration

Contact: Jonathan Miller at (630) 441-5157.

Watch Sounds Good Choir on TV. Click HERE.

Are some of your building residents displaying signs of dementia? The Chicago Department of Family and Support Services Age-Friendly Commission offers a free training program.

Training Program: Creating Dementia-Friendly Buildings

• Free Training Program
• 1-hour, Online
• For Apartment/Condominium managers, building maintenance staff, door people, security staff and Condominium Association Board Members
• Practical ways to interact with residents living with dementia. 

Register at www.dementiafriendlybuildings.com to take part in this training which focuses on understanding the causes of dementia, communication techniques and community resources to assist your residents coping with progressive dementias.

For info contact: Danielle Riley, at: 312-743-1475 email Danielle.riley@cityofchicago.org or Victoria Russo at: 312-743-3528 email Victoria.russo@cityofchicago.org

Click here to apply for your Vote by Mail ballot 

Renaissance Court Senior Center Now Open

Chicago Cultural Center

78 E. Washington Chicago

For information on classes and fall schedule, call 312.744.4550.

Sign up HERE for free online classes and programs.

Renaissance Court is an award-winning senior center which presents a variety of enriching and enjoyable cultural, educational, health, and fitness programs for adults age 55 and older. It offers an opportunity to renew past interests, learn new skills, and make new friends. The focus of the programming is on the arts: the visual and performing arts, literature, music, and more make up the core of the many high quality classes and events.

— Judy Karlov

It’s back to school time for children and grandchildren. Have you gone with them to help unpack, or gone on an adventure of your own? Please share it with Skyline Village by mid-October by sending words, photos and sketches to judy.karlov@gmail.com .

Turning Flowers Into Abstracts

By Sydney Feuchtwanger

I really love to create abstract photographs, so I decided to work on making flower pictures more abstract.

Chicago Botanic Garden

By Anna Rappaport

I went to the Chicago Botanic Garden with a group from my new home, The Admiral at the Lake. Here are sketches from the Japanese Garden, which is an island, and from across the water; also of photographers we saw along our walk.

Walking Chautauqua

Abigail Nichols

My expedition was walking the 2.72 mile perimeter of the grounds of Chautauqua in the run/walk race "The Old First Night Race" at Chautauqua Institution July 30 (yes, where Salman Rushdie was knifed two weeks later.) There were few older than me in the race - I'm 77 -- but from the get-go, I was last. At one point I had to tell the guys bringing up the rear (with the EMT truck behind them) -- after they'd suggested a shortcut to me, "Don't worry, I'm not going to drop dead. I'm just slow. I walk up 26 flights to my condo in Chicago."

One picture is of me just as the race began. Another is of me with the EMT at the end of the race. The other picture is of me with Diane Friedman from Indianapolis who was next to the last. She was just 4 minutes ahead of me. That was reassuring as I figured I was keeping those protecting the rear from getting on with their Saturday.

Field of Dreams

By Jean and Dave Kostelansky

“If I could turn back time...If I could find a way" — Cher, 1989

We won the Cubs season ticket holder lottery in July, which allowed us to attend the Field of Dreams game in Dyersville, Iowa August 11th, Chicago Cubs vs Cincinnati Reds. It turned out to be a heavenly game; if we had a bucket list this would have been on it.  

The game was played in a stadium that holds 8,000 people. It reflects the field from the movie set close by but seats a much larger crowd of visitors. It was built by local entrepreneurs who added land to the cornfields they already owned. Unlike most major league baseball stadiums, ample ADA compliant seating was built all the way around the stadium in the first row of stands. Access and movement needs were orchestrated to make people with physical challenges feel comfortable and part of the event. Before the game we visited the house and barn from the movie, hosted by people in period costumes.

The miles of corn fields, featured in the 1989 movie starring Kevin Kostner, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster, allowed us, as well as the Cubs, to be "ghost" players who came in from the corn. Before the evening game began, we noticed that even the scoreboard was staffed by people in period costumes.

Cincinnati Reds 2. The Cubs won!

Thank you to our Donors:

We are grateful to all of our members and donors for your on-going support.

Sketches of Beatles Sing Along, July 2022 by

Anna Rappaport