This newsletter is brought to you by Human Resources.
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A Note from Your EA Representatives |
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Dear Fellow Retirees,
We hope this newsletter finds you healthy and enjoying wherever you are and whatever you are doing!
The leadership of our University is doing an outstanding job dealing with the pandemic and making difficult and crucial decisions about providing instruction. It is definitely challenging to keep up to date with new guidance and communicating with the faculty, staff, and students. The new variants seem to be popping up just when you think we have a plan. Kudos to all involved.
Amazingly it has been 6 months since we (Alan and Stacey) have joined this venture (the Employee Assembly). As an introduction to the Employee Assembly, you might want to peruse the Committees page and see how many committees are actively involved in ensuring employee representation and addressing any concerns that fall within their areas of interest. The Assemblies home page provides information on meetings and resolutions currently happening that you may find interesting either for comment or participation.
Coordinating with the HR REAC (Human Resources Retiree Engagement Advisory Committee) folks, we are hoping that there will be an opportunity to have a retiree community get together in the spring or early summer. This is totally dependent on pandemic guidance and space availability.
If you have a few minutes and would like to share any updates with your fellow retirees please send them on to Stacey and we will put together a ‘Where are they and what are they doing’ article for the next newsletter.
Additionally, please feel free to send on any questions or concerns that we might be able to help with or suggestions for articles that you would like to see. You can email them to either Alan or Stacey.
Thank you,
Alan Mittman and Stacey Coil
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Local & Virtual Activities |
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Create Your Dream Landscape on a Small Budget
Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 6:00 - 7:30 PM
Do you feel like your dream garden is beyond your budget? Learn some tips for landscaping on a budget, including:
- how to break the project into manageable parts
- deciding which jobs you can do yourself and which should be hired out
- staging hardscaping projects like stone paths and walls over multiple years
- propagation ideas for producing your own plants for pennies
- finding free and low-cost gardening materials in your community
- reducing yearly maintenance costs
Fee is $0-$40/person sliding scale or pay what you can afford.
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Cornell Cinema Announces Spring Offerings
Cornell Cinema begins its Spring ’22 season with four exquisite foreign-language films, offered on-demand via its virtual platform from January 26 – February 6, while university classes are remote.
Among the four is the Ithaca premiere of a new restoration of American documentarian James Blue’s sole narrative feature, The Olive Trees of Justice (1962), shot in Algiers during the Algerian War. Based on a novel by the film’s Algerian-born French co-star Jean Pélégri, and filmed in the Italian neo-realist style, Olive Trees is “a fascinating cinematic time capsule, a glimpse at the last days of French colonial Algeria.” The virtual screening will include a recorded introduction by former Cornell Cinema director Richard Herskowitz, who works on the James Blue Project and was involved with the restoration, which just premiered in New York City at MoMA as part of their "To Save and Project" series.
Other titles being offered virtually from Jan 26 – Feb 6 are Federico Fellini’s fairy tale road movie La Strada (1954), Hou Hsaio-hsien’s Flowers of Shanghai (1998) and Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s other great film of 2021 (in addition to Drive My Car), Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, a triptych of short stories inspired by life’s tiny miracles, bound together by memory, regret, deception, and fate.
The purchase of a Spring ’22 All-Access Pass offers “free” access to all of these films, plus over 75 more that will be offered in-person after February 7. Single ticket price for virtual screenings is $6. For more information about Cornell Cinema’s Spring schedule and ticketing information, visit the cinema web page.
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Lifelong Senior Theatre Troupe
The Senior Troupe of Lifelong has been performing for more than twenty-one years. They perform stories from their lives, with themes picked by the troupe. The troupe has performed for audiences that number from 15 to 350 people in many venues in Tompkins County.
TheTroupe will resume virtually, starting January 27. The troupe will meet to begin to develop their performance for Spring Writes in May. New members are always welcome! If you are interested, please contact Lifelong and the Troupe director, Sue Perlgut, will get in touch with you.
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Virtual Wellness Book Club
Monday, January 31- Friday, March 18, 2022
Virtual event through email and zoom check-ins
Are you looking to kickstart 2022 by beginning new healthy habits or getting rid of some habits that aren’t serving you? Do you find yourself doing a great job pursuing healthy habits or breaking less healthy habits for a short period of time, but have difficulty maintaining those changes? If you’re tired of that “yo-yo” cycle, join Cornell Wellness staff for a brand new offering: a spring semester book club.
We’ll read Atomic Habits by best-selling author James Clear. As we read this book together, we will learn and grow as a community and also take action on small consistent habits to achieve long-term results on our individual health goals. Set yourself up for lifelong healthy habits!
Purchasing or renting the book is required for participation in the book club. If you're having trouble finding an option to purchase or rent, please email Jeremy from Cornell Wellness.
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Connect to Birds, to Nature, and with Each Other
Birds are everywhere, all the time, doing fascinating things. Join the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, February 18–21, 2022, when the world comes together for the love of birds in the Great Backyard Bird Count.
Participating is easy, fun to do alone, or with others, and can be done anywhere you find birds.
Step 1 – Decide where you will watch birds.
Step 2 – Watch birds for 15 minutes or more, at least once over the four days, February 18-21, 2022.
Step 3 – Count all the birds you see or hear within your planned time/location and use the best tool for sharing your bird sightings:
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Beginner Bird Walks with Cayuga Bird Club
Join the Cayuga Bird Club every Saturday at 8:30 AM at the entrance to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology Visitor Center. Walk the trails of Sapsucker Woods looking and listening for birds. These walks are targeted towards novice birders, but people of all skill levels are welcome.
Binoculars are available for loan. Walks take approximately 90 minutes and are led by Cayuga Bird Club volunteers. Visitors must adhere to Cornell’s COVID-19 policy which states that masks must be worn outdoors when physical distancing cannot be maintained.
For more information contact Cayuga Bird Club President Suan Yong.
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The Cornell Concert Series Returns to Bailey Hall
Sunday, March 6 at 3:00 PM in Bailey Hall
The Cornell Concert Series, in partnership with ONEcomposer, presents a celebration of our country’s legacy of Black women composers in a concert that combines the incredible talents of soprano Karen Slack, the Miró Quartet, and collaborative pianist Erika Switzer. On the heels of Black History Month and in the lead-up to International Women’s Day, these artists will present arrangements of art songs, spirituals, and other works by two of the foremost Black women composers to impact the musical field: Florence Price and Margaret Bonds. The program further highlights composers who have been historically overlooked, but whose musical contributions are enduring and undeniable.
For a full program listing, please visit the event web page.
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New Year, New Meals!
Mondays, January 24 & 31, 4:00-5:00 PM
Join Sarah Curless, SNAP-Ed Nutrition Educator for Tompkins County, to learn how to set SMART goals around nutrition and physical activity, and discover some small, easy changes to make for the New Year! The focus will be mainly on how to make delicious food quickly and easily at home. Class topics and recipes for this series are:
- January 24: Tips for finding and using one-pot and quick meals/make Stir-Fried Brown Rice
- January 31: SMART goals to start eating healthier/make Easy Tostadas
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Cornell Caregiver Support and Education Network - 2022 Tech Trends and the 60-Plus
Tuesday, January 25, 2022, 12:00 - 1:00 PM
At our January meeting, in addition to catching up, sharing, and welcoming new members, we will focus our discussion on a deeper dive into technology and how it can help with our caregiving roles.
In what ways do you (or your loved one) use technology? To stay connected, for banking and financial transactions, texting, video conferencing, using Siri or Alexa, YouTube tutorials, telehealth medical appointments, audiobooks, wearable devices (medical monitoring and alerts), video security cameras, comfort robots?
The pandemic has accelerated the use and adoption of technology by older adults to an all-time high. As more older adults and their caregivers are embracing technology, what is working and not working? What are your experiences that have been helpful? What has not been helpful?
Please email Work/Life to get the zoom link for the meeting.
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Alzheimer's Association Community Forum
Wednesday, February 2, 2022, 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Ithaca College Gerontology Department is partnering with the Central New York Alzheimer’s Association to offer a virtual community forum on Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and memory loss.
All those impacted by age-related brain changes including individuals and families, caregivers, providers, and community partners are invited to participate.
The forum will include a brief overview of Alzheimer’s, dementia, and memory loss, as well as opportunities to share and learn about resources and needs in Tompkins County. You are invited to share your thoughts about how we can help people in your community.
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Scams Targeting Senior Citizens
Thursday, February 17, 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM
In this live Consumer Issues program, NY State Assistant Attorney General Mike Danaher will discuss scams and frauds that may affect older adults, including how to recognize and protect yourself and others from becoming victims.
The presentation begins at 11 AM and from 12:00-1:00 PM, Mr. Danaher will take questions that have been submitted via the Zoom chatbox.
Presentations are videotaped for broadcast during the following month on Public Access Channel 15 on Mondays at 7:00 AM, 1:00 PM & 7:00 PM and also can be found on the Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County YouTube Channel. Please contact tompkins@cornell.edu with any questions.
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FitSober Crossfit Classes
Thursdays, 6:00 - 7:00 PM
The Phoenix’s mission is to build a sober active community that fuels resilience and harnesses the transformational power of connection so that together we rise, recover, and live. And the only cost is 48 hours of continuous sobriety.
If you have been to a FitSober fitness event before, nothing much changes in the actual experience of class, fun, and community. Functional movement for all levels of fitness! What does change: We get to be a part of something bigger AND have the opportunity to reach more people!
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Advocacy Center Seeking Hotline Volunteers
Looking for a fulfilling and impactful volunteer experience for the new year? Consider becoming a trained Hotline Volunteer with the Advocacy Center!
Hotline Volunteers answer our 24-hour hotline on evenings and weekends, right from your home. Volunteers provide crisis intervention, safety planning, information about legal or medical options, and emotional support to survivors and those supporting survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Volunteers are provided with free and extensive training by Advocacy Center Staff prior to answering the hotline and have immediate access to a staff member during their shift. Training will begin in late January 2022 and will be offered virtually.
To apply, please complete the Hotline Volunteer application at actompkins.org or email Kristi with any questions.
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Long Term Ombudsmen regularly visit nursing homes or adult homes and help residents and their families understand and exercise their rights to quality care and quality of life. They will help a resident improve his or her quality of daily life by providing information or by advocating on the resident’s behalf to solve a problem that the resident has not been able to resolve on their own.
Long Term Care Ombudsmen are NYS certified. The local county program coordinator and staff of the Office of the New York State Long Term Care Ombudsman will provide the necessary certification training as well as ongoing training and support.
Volunteers are asked to dedicate about 2 hours per week for visits and necessary follow-up, documentation of activities, and a monthly meeting or in-service training.
To find out more about the program or to sign up, visit:
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Miscellaneous Articles & Webinars |
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