Welcome to the first 2021 issue of The Navigator! We are honored to have as a Guest Columnist, Cheryl Woodson, M.D. She is the first to participate in this new monthly feature which will bring fresh perspectives on matters of importance to us all: inclusiveness; age-integrated communities and workplaces; reducing isolation; health and well-being; learning and having fun.
We start the year with a renewed sense of hope and a commitment to the values we hold dear--respect, kindness, generosity and friendship. As we realize that the vaccination process will continue to be slow and uneven in the months ahead, we must remain diligent to protect ourselves and others. We will get through this. When the pandemic has passed, we will carry forward many new skills, important insights, and expanded social connections. The Village will continue with Zoom events in addition to offline events---Zoom is a wonderful tool to build inclusive relationships as we strengthen our community and the social fabric of our country.
We hope you appreciate the value of older adults and inclusive communities. Please help by joining The Village as a member, sponsor, collaborator, donor or friend as we tackle the challenges that lie ahead. Whatever happens, we now know that we are far better together.
Darcy Evon, CEO
P.S. If you are interested in becoming a future guest columnist, please send us a note at info@thevillagechicago.org.
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A new monthly feature! Fresh perspectives from the greater community. |
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Living Out Loud in the Age of COVID-19
Dr. Cheryl Woodson, M.D.
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On February 29, 2020, I moved into a new phase of life. I was in a new relationship, moved to a new home in a new community, and started plans to retire after almost 40 years in medicine. March 20th, COVID-19 shut down the world. I was already working from home, but the lockdown meant I had to learn new ways to stay connected to family and friends, put my post-retirement plan into place, market my books, and be more vigilant about protecting the new relationship.
One blessing of aging is having lived long enough to develop wisdom and resilience. We can look back on years of handling change and hardship without failing and know we can do it again. I lived through my dad’s death just after I started med school, my mom’s Alzheimer’s disease, a miscarriage, a child with a life-threatening illness, divorce, dating at age 60, several job changes and relocations, yet I’m still here! If none of those experiences broke me, what can? A mask? Having to stay in a home that I chose and decorated to comfort me? Buying groceries at a specific time? No! We "seasoned saints" are the same people who figured out how to handle other life crises with creativity and determination. It got us through then; it will get us through now.
My partner and I talk to our families more now than we ever did. Each holiday, I cooked for two days (as usual), delivered meals to family porches, and we Zoomed everybody all over the country. We even watched movies together (the kids talked me through the technology). I even set up a Facebook Portal for my 94-year-old Aunt Terri in Philadelphia and found kids there to talk her through the tech. It was different and often cumbersome but worth it.
We will get through this as long as we remember who we are. We have always dealt with the pain and uncertainty of change and prevailed. Younger people can learn from us as we smile, look around, and say, "Okay. What’s Plan B?"
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Dr. Cheryl just retired after almost 35 years of teaching and practicing Geriatric Medicine. She spends her days being a grandmother, staying fit, taking voice and piano lessons, and writing books on caregiver survival, self-care, and believing in love. She is also a speaker and consultant who encourages people to LIVE OUT LOUD and AGE EXCELLENTLY. Follow her on Facebook and Instagram and visit www.drcherylwoodson.com.
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Stories about individuals making an impact. |
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Everyday Activism
By Laurel Baer
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A 31-year career as a consultant taught Dick Sullivan a certain worthy skill that he has put to very good use in retirement.
"I was always working in places where I didn’t have the authority to lead any part of a client’s business. Only client management did. So if I wanted something done, I had to convince others to do it." Not only did he become skilled at overcoming resistance and motivating, he found that the real kick comes in seeing something actually happen.
Dick retired in 2000, feeling as he puts it, "financially comfortable and having had many fulfilling opportunities," but regretting he had not been able to act upon his impulse to help others.
"There is no guidebook for helping others," he says. "Fortunately, I stumbled upon the Chicago Debates organization which builds and runs competitive debating leagues for the Chicago Public Schools." Dick volunteered as judge, team coach, and Board chairman for over 11 years. He also seeded and nurtured similar inner-city leagues in 21 other large urban centers across the U.S. These leagues currently provide "a transformational activity that helps young people find their voice" for roughly 11,000 inner city youths.
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Dick Sullivan and debate students from Walter Payton. |
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Then, inspired by a course on urban violence, he concluded that he could make a difference in the juvenile justice system. He chose the Illinois Youth Center Chicago, a medium-security prison for juveniles. He just walked in one day and asked the Director of Programs how he could help. This led to tutoring through the Literacy Volunteers of Illinois, mentoring juveniles, forming a debating club, building up their library, and a few other needed activities.
Building on his experiences and contacts at the Illinois Youth Center Chicago, Dick has expanded his activities into half a dozen other projects and organizations for improving the justice system in Illinois.
It will come as no surprise to learn that Dick was eager to find a way to have as much impact as possible on the fairness of the 2020 elections. He joined the non-partisan Focus 2020 group which was working on staffing polls in Pennsylvania and boosting Black voter turnout in Georgia. He is proud that mobilizing roughly 8,000 people in each location may have made a modest contribution to an equitable and high-participation election.
The breadth of Dick’s "impulse to help" is awe-inspiring and his commitment to seeing and feeling the impact of what he does is a model for how we can shape a better post-pandemic world.
Dick Sullivan has been a Village member since 2015 and serves on the Board of Directors as the Village’s Treasurer. He leads the Village’s very popular monthly Front Porch Discussion Group.
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Pride Has No Age
By Peggy Walker
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I am proud to be the chair of the Village's vibrant, growing LGBTA Committee (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Ally) which began as a Task Force in 2013. It was a pioneering efforts to create a welcoming place for all within the Village and to attract members from the aging LGBTA community by providing support and programming specifically for them.
By Fall 2017, we had created affiliations with Howard Brown Health, Lake View Presbyterian Church and Gerber Hart Library and were successfully leveraging LGBT-focused programming with them, as well as collaborating to create unique, relevant, original programming such as "Being Gender Non-Conforming," an event that included two film discussions, a panel featuring two trans women who shared their stories, and presentations on resources.
Now a standing committee of the Village our goal is not only to promote LGBT awareness with programs and events, but to bring people together in a fun and informative way. For example, last fall we held an outstanding series of documentary discussions that brought the voices and views of LGBT older adults and black transgender women and men to the Village community.
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Members and guests of the Village attend an intergenerational dinner co-hosted by the Bridging Generations Board and the LGBTA Committee (2019) |
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Today, the 20-member committee is the Village’s most diverse with members who identify across the LGBT spectrum and their allies. It is intergenerational and includes people who are not Village members, but are actively involved with LGBTA efforts elsewhere, greatly expanding the Village’s capacity to collaborate.
In spite of Covid, committee members are still making an impact by advocating with outside LGBT organizations. They have gone virtual, hosting a bi-monthly reading and discussion group focused on books with LGBT themes and support the LGBT-themed movies featured at the Village’s Saturday Afternoon at the Movies.
Jonathan Tague, the Village’s Director of Membership and Engagement is a member of this committee. He says, "It is one of the many reasons that I knew that I wanted to work at the Village. Since I started in 2019, I have watched this diverse group of individuals, members, volunteers, and community partners of all ages grow and come together with excitement and camaraderie each month."
LGBTA Committee events and meetings are open to everyone – both Village members and the community at large. We have a great deal of fun and look forward to a post-Covid world when we can be together again.
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Here are the headlines that have the Village talking. |
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Actually, Americans Are Feeling Better Than You Think This Winter
From FastCompany.com
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In a new Fast Company-Harris Poll, 75% of Americans say their emotional state is about the same or better in 2021. The study also finds that 79% of Americans report feeling their sense of purpose in life is stronger than or about the same as this time last year Experts say the harrowing year we’ve all just been through could have played a role in reminding people to appreciate what they have in life. The arrival of COVID-19 vaccines may also be a factor in people’s improved outlook, she adds. Toss in the lack of a commute, which research has long shown to make people miserable, and the sense of control that some people now feel over their lives, and it’s a period of uplift, not sadness. Click here to read more.
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What 99 Leading Experts Think Our World Will Look Like After Coronavirus
From the Pardee School of Global Studies
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1. Disruption will accelerate because the impact of the crisis will accelerate pre-existing transitions. A year of a global pandemic can pack in a decade or more of disruption. For example, Phil Baty from Times Higher Education warns that universities will change "profoundly [and] forever," but mostly because the higher education sector was already screaming for change. Experts form fields as diverse as journalism, and structural global debt see the same trend.
2. Politics will become more turbulent. Not one of the experts, including Francis Fukuyama, leading political theorist at Stanford University, expects politics anywhere to become less turbulent than they were pre-pandemic.
3. Not all turbulence is unwelcome and many pandemic habits will persist. Conveniences such as automated services, robots and telemedicine will remain. In addition, the crisis has created opportunities to address the injustices of our economic and societal systems. Because "there will not be a single activity that goes on as it once did."
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Screenshots from the Pardee Center virtual events, "The World After Coronavirus," a video series featuring more than 100 interviews with leading experts and practitioners from BU and across the world. |
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Reasons to Hope in 2021
From FastCompany.com
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• We hoped for a vaccine in 18 months. We got two in less than a year. They are critical to ending the pandemic and give new hope for curing other diseases.
• The US is rejoining the Paris Climate Agreement and will once again be part of the international effort to stem global warming. Outdoor dining is revitalizing America's cities. Urban design has had a "palate cleanser" and given us a taste of what our cities could be.
• Artificial Intelligence did something good. It can now predict with impressive accuracy how a protein will fold in three dimensions – an essential task for designing new drugs and for making the development process faster, cheaper and more effective.
• Solar and wind energy are now cheaper than fossil fuels.
Telemedicine is becoming mainstream. Yearly check-ups and mental heath care are cheaper, faster and only a click away.
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Yale's Most Popular Course Ever Teaches the Science of Being Happy |
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Taken by one in four students at Yale, the class teaches participants to "increase your own happiness and build more productive habits" - something we could all use these days. And now you can take it free(!) at the online learning platform Coursera. Just click here.
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Exciting events (past and present) and news from the Village. |
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An Afternoon of Glorious Music
A Village Event Recap
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On January 19, Village members and guests were enthralled by the beauty of a virtual concert of works by Mendelssohn, Liszt, and Brahms, performed by the world class Civitas Ensemble, founded in 2011 by Chicago Symphony Orchestra members. The concert was presented by the Village’s Brain Health and Memory Loss Advisory Board who collaborated with Civitas to share the healing power of music through virtual live performance. |
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Coming Soon: Fat Tuesday Trivia Night!
RSVP today for this upcoming event!
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The Village's Bridging Generations Professionals Board is gearing up to host one of their famously entertaining virtual trivia nights. Celebrate Mardi Gras with guests of all ages playing trivia on Tuesday, February 16, from 6–7:30 PM (CST). Bring your boas, beads, and masks for a fun evening of friendly competition. Questions will cover a wide range of fun topics – and we’ll place you on a team with very interesting people!
Register for this free event by visiting thevillagechicago.org/calendar/ OR by emailing celebrate@thevillagechicago.org.
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The Village Health and Wellness Initiative Committee Presents: Financial and Legal Health
RSVP today for one (or all) events in this series!
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This series of free virtual events will kick off on Tuesday, February 2 from 4–5 PM with "A Legal Roadmap for Aging Well." Certified Elder Law Attorney Katie Casey will discuss how proper advanced legal planning can help ensure a smoother and safer journey.
This event will be followed on Tuesday, February 16 from 12:00 to 1:00 PM with a virtual presentation, "Advance Directives: Powers of Attorney and Living Will Declarations," presented by the Center for Disability & Elder Law. Attendees at this presentation may then sign up for a virtual workshop on February 26, 2021, where volunteer attorneys will help complete powers of attorney for health care and property and Illinois Living Will Declarations.
Register for these free events by visiting thevillagechicago.org/calendar/ OR by emailing celebrate@thevillagechicago.org.
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"How We Got to Today" Featuring Don Bell!
A Northside AARP Virtual Event
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Village Board member, local community activist, and retired higher education administrator, Don Bell, will help launch Northside AARP’s new virtual series, "Be Part of the Solution - Come Together to Affect Change" with this first session, "How We Got to Today" on Tuesday, February 2 at 12:30 PM (CST). RSVP and receive the Zoom link by emailing northsideaarpcommunitygroup@gmail.com. |
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Share Your Smarts with a Village Committee
A Call to Action
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Volunteering for Village committees is a wonderful way to meet new people while putting some of that wisdom and experience you’ve acquired to good use. Committee members plan Village events; seek out speakers for our thought Leader series; throw a really big party every year - our annual benefit; create new and better resources for health and well-being; counsel us on technology; and apply strategic thinking to all kinds of initiatives. You don’t have to be a Village member, you can step in to work short-term and a special project, or you snowbirds can just be involved when you’re up north.
For more information, please email us at info@thevillagechicago.org with the subject line COMMITTEE VOLUNTEER, or call us at 773.248.8700.
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Registration is required for all events; Zoom links will be sent via email to registered attendees the day before. RSVP to events by emailing celebrate@thevillagechicago.org or visit thevillagechicago.org
- (1/28) Coffee Chat BYOC - "Memories from the Eighth Grade"
- (1/28) Support Group for Family Care-Partners (10-week series)
- (1/28) Great American Read Book Club | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (wait list only)
- (1/28) Short Story Intergenerational Discussions
- (1/29) New York & Friends
- (1/30) Saturday Afternoon at the Movies - Blue Jay (2016)
- (2/2) Exercise at Home with Jill Stein
- (2/2) A Legal Road Map for Aging Well
- (2/3–2/24) White Rage: A Chapter-by-Chapter Book Discussion (7-week series) (wait list only)
- (2/3) LGBTA Book Discussion | Patricia Nell Warren's Front Runner
- (2/3) Great Books, Great Conversations (wait list only)
- (2/10) Discussion of The Trial of the Chicago 7 with Don Rose Presented by the Village Men’s Group
- (2/14) Valentine's Day Guided Meditation
- (2/15–3/22) Memoir Writing with Beth Finke (wait list only)
- (2/16) Advance Directives: Powers of Attorney and Living Will Declarations
- (2/16) New Member Mardi Gras Party
- (2/16) Fat Tuesday Trivia Night!
- (2/17) Death Café: An Informal Conversation About Death & Dying
- (2/18) Essential Apps Every Chicagoan Should Know About with MacTutor
- (2/21) Tiny Theatre Presents: Bagdad Cafe (1987)
- (2/26) Advance Directive Workshop
All virtual events require registration, so be sure to RSVP today! Participants will receive an email confirmation with details for joining via Zoom.
To RSVP for any event, please visit our web calendar or email us at celebrate@thevillagechicago.org!
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Village Member Pastime Groups |
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Are you...
Looking for a new career, about to retire, wondering what's next? Seeking companions that share your interests? Searching for a way to utilize your abilities? In need of occasional help? New to Chicago? Worried about changing needs? An adult child with aging parents?
Village members are part of an inclusive, intergenerational community, connected to others and to the resources that support growth and well-being as we navigate life after 50 together.
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Leadership of The Village Chicago |
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Board of Directors
Karen Terry,
President
Nancy Felton-Elkins,
Vice President
Charles G. Cooper,
Vice President
Angie Levenstein,
Secretary
Richard W. Sullivan,
Treasurer
Kathie Kolodgy,
Immediate Past President
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David E. Baker
Donald M. Bell
Patricia Clickener
Thomas C. Eley III
Glen Gabert
Judith Gethner
Bruce Hunt
Ira Kohlman
Therese Meike
Liz Metzger
Gail C. Moss
Linda Randall
Wally Shah
Lois Stuckey
Janet Walters
Melville Washburn
Joyce Winnecke
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Advisory Council
Neelum T. Aggarwal, MD
Robyn L. Golden, LCSW
Joanne G. Schwartzberg, MD
Mary Ann Smith
CEO
Darcy L. Evon
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The Village Chicago is a social network of friendship, engagement and services for people over 50. We support all aspects of well-being through social engagement, an extensive services and referral network, lifelong learning, health and fitness, intergenerational relationships, work and purpose.
2502 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60614. 773.248.8700
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