Senior Group Newsletter Februrary 1996
Moving Along
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Senior Group Newsletter Februrary 1996
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Senior Group Newsletter is the bi-monthly publication of an
informal group of seniors, community-net senior section
moderators, and others interested in how the net serves
seniors and vice-versa.
editor is Jim Olson
olsonjam@uwec.edu
The newsletter is mailed to subscribers via e-mail and posted at
several net sites including AOL Seniornet On Line Showcase and
Exchange library and the Boulder Community Net senior page
referenced in http://www.seniornet.com/
There is no charge. Just contact the editor.
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Contents
Editorial Bits and Bytes
Features and Gleanings from the Net
To Web or not to Web ( explore the World Wide Web)
Sandwwiched ( Intergerational families)
The Isle of Mann ( visit abroad with Ray and Thelma)
Introducing
Notices and Reviews
Senior Group Library
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EDITORIAL BITS AND BYTES
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This is the first of Senior Group newsletters under the bimonthly
publication schedule. Starting next month the Senior Group will
start publishing another newsletter to alternate with the
regular letter. It will be called "Elderhostel Notebook" and as
the title implies concentrate on that aspect of our interests with
perhaps some concern as well for more general travel related
information. The format is still in the development stage and
any ideas are welcome.
"Elderhostel Notebook" will have a separate mailing list and if
you wish to receive it you will need to subscribe. As with the
regular newsletter there will be no charge. Just contact me at
olsonjam@uwec.edu
We are doing an experiment with the humor in the newsletter this
edition. Last issue we moved it from a section of its own and
interspersed it with the regular features. We will continue that
this issue with the addition of some "campy" type material. We
will try out some of the "good old humor" from past generations
which is often not good at all but so bad that it is good, hence
the campy reference.
Some of you may remember the scene in "The Music Man" that
speaks of sin right here in River City. Besides the reference to
the scourge of youthful character, the pool hall, there is the
revelation that one boy has tucked away in his pocket a copy of
"Captain Billy's Whiz Bang," a publication of the late Cedric
Adams who had a distinguished newspaper career in Minneapolis
but started as a very young man with the infamous Whiz Bang,
catering as Maggie says to dirty old farmers and boys on
Midwestern farms. I suspect many an outhouse on the farm had a
copy tucked away somewhere in a hidden spot. We will have some
excerpts from a 1931 copy rescued from a Kansas junk store.
We would also appreciate contributions for future newsletters of
dated humor some of you may have found or, better yet,
remembered. Some of the old humor is still good, the old Jack
Benny, Fred Allen, Edgar Bergen radio material for example.
Our ending poem this issue comes from Mel Cooperman and is part
of his collection of memories of boyhood in New York City that
he has agreed to share with us.
Our Senior group e-mail library will continue, but it has not
been much used and is probably going to be a casualty of the Web
which now makes material very available and seems to be taking
over cyberspace. Our lead feature will deal with that.
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FEATURES AND GLEANINGS FROM THE NET
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To Web or Not to Web
Several years ago when I first became involved with a local
community net project the World Wide Web was in its infancy and
I recall everyone coming out with a collective "Huh?" when
people started discussing their URLS. I thought it might be some
new senior affliction that hadn't caught up with me yet, having
just recovered form learning about PSA's and that kind of stuff.
I suspect many seniors still think it is an affliction that has
affected the internet. Of course, we all know now that it is the
new way of connecting and relating sites on the internet to each
other through a computer language called HTML (hypertext markup
language) that allows graphics, sound, and text to be displayed
and makes easy connections from one site to another; and we know
that an URL (universal resource location- starting with http:\\)
is an address on the web that makes connecting sites easy ( Ha-
just try typing one correctly the first time with my hunt and
peck skill).
Rosaleen Dickson was the first of our original Senior Group to
get caught in the web and become part of it, setting up a web
site to review Canadian books
(http://resudox.net/books/mainpage.html) and then becoming Great
Granny at the SCIP site ( http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/crm) and
finally co-authoring a book on creating web sites and writing
html, sort of a web dynamo. Inspired by her enthusiasm and that
of cyber friend and Senior Grouper Walt Craig of AOL I have
taken a recent look at the web to see what it offers to seniors.
Walt supplied me with his list of URL's from the America On Line
web browser that he uses, and I explored some of them. AOL
subscribers can contact him at (waltdean@aol.com) for advice on
using that web browser and for a copy of his list. A web browser
is a software program that helps you negotiate the web and each
of the major internet commercial services (AOL,
Compuserve,Prodigy) now offers use of one to members. One of the
downsides of these browsers is that they take a rather fast
modem connection to work effectively- I guess a 14.4 connection
at a minimum and 28.8 is better) and one needs to be connected
to a server with one of the main roads on the info superhighway.
The browser I used is called Netscape, one of the more widely
used ones. It is the one usually supplied by the many new local
internet providers that are springing up around the country and
giving the major servers like Compuserve a run for their money.
They often give access to the internet e-mail, World Wide Web,
and other internet areas for a flat fee of about $30 per month
with no added hourly charges. Usually they offer only a local
phone number and access from remote areas may be difficult. We
have two in our local area (competition helps) and each offers
the added feature of allowing users to set up their own web site
(home page) using their facilities.
The new web browsers replace the older academic oriented Mosaic
that is now generally out of use. Academics often pioneer the
way on the internet and then are replaced by commercial
developments with greater concern for wider audiences, user
friendliness, etc. I recall using the academically developed
communications software Kermit and how esoteric and awkward it
now seems compared to the newer commercial software. I will
forgo at this point any discussion of the downside of the
commercialization of the internet (later maybe).
Using Netscape I visited several of the sites Walt suggested and
some that I had learned of through "Internet World" one of the
major internet magazines. From a review of web search sites
(sites that search the rest of the web for you) I choose the one
they selected as the best (http://www.opentext.com/) and had to
agree with their selection. It is a commercial site that has a
search feature allowing a number of types of search. I tried it
out and was amazed at how fast and effective it was. Since I am
trying to learn to write haiku poetry, I tried the word haiku
and within seconds learned of 883 web pages that had that word
in them. Walter, my 94 year old and hence wiser than I am
retired history prof friend specializing in Japan, told me I was
a very brave soul to be trying that art- but at a mere 71 today
youth is impetuous and daring.
My own list of sites for seniors is very short because the two
sites I recommend both have links to many other sites of
special interest to seniors and of general interest as well.
They are the Senior Canadian Information Project site:
http://www.mbnet.mb.ca/crm
The SeniorNet site:
http://www.seniornet.com/
Either of these is valuable in itself but one or the other will
also offer pathways to many other sites including the
elderhostel home page, Blacksburg Electronic Village Senior home
page, and the Boulder Community Net Senior home page where Senior
Grouper Art Rifkin holds forth and archives the newsletter for
us.
The web is changing very rapidly and the sites I have
mentioned are all developing with new features and
improvements on an almost daily basis. From time to time we
will include reviews of web sites in our Reviews section in the
newsletter and would welcome a review of your favorite site
for inclusion in a future issue.
- Jim Olson
__________________________
Alice--- " I don't think much of Bob's New Austin."
Babe--" I don't either. In fact, I was terribly disappointed in
it."
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang- 1931
___________________________
Sandwiched
Family situations often put family members in a "sandwich" or
in-between situation. It starts very early in life as the middle
child feels the sandwich effect of getting hand-me-downs from
the oldest while the youngest gets the new clothes, toys, and
attention. One generation up and the spouse sometimes feels
sandwiched between a wife or husband and a parent. This seems to
be such a prevalent problem that some native cultures have
developed taboos against association with in-laws.
Generally in our culture, many of the resulting problems are
worked out very successfully, but not always. The case of the
child sandwiched between two divorced parents is a case in
point. Not an easy role in life. Grandparents are often caught
in that sandwich as well as they have formed associations with
both their son or daughter and the divorced spouse, or they find
they are locked out of contact with a sandwiched grand child.
Another form of sandwich that occurs later in life in the
sandwich between two generations, adult children often still
needing attention and some type of support and an aging parent
often with acute medical needs. A number of Elders on the Elders
listserv recently discussed some of the issues involved with
being sandwiched.
The issue of being sandwiched between children and an aging
parent was described by one participant:
"I think that what some of us are driving at is the problem of
people in their 70's who are contending with senile or
partly-so loved ones in their 90's, and see the horror of the
loss of control of one's life as a real possibility for
themselves. I am certain that the reaction of many would be
"that's not going to happen to me. I don't want to be that kind
of person nor a burden to my children." I'm also sure that these
selfsame parents of ours would express the same reactions. My
mother-in-law, when she is lucid, makes the best she can of a
life that offers very little more than life itself. It's an
awfully sad way of coming to the end, and it appears unavoidable
unless one is willing to take the route offered by the Hemlock
Society.
And I'm really not describing people who are sick. My
mother-in-law has congestive heart failure and is subject to
small strokes, but she is very healthy and believes she can do
anything she wants to do. A very active woman physically, not
too long ago, she now can hardly get around with a walker. And
she suffers the indignities typical of people in their nineties,
incontinence, having to be dressed, unable to prepare food or to
do all of the things she once did for herself and others.
For us, the meat in the sandwich, it's not so much the burdens
and responsibilities toward Mom, but the prospect of ending up
like her."
Another expressed it this way:
"Speaking strictly for myself, I find it to be a cross between
gratitude and frustration. The gratitude, of course, comes from
the fact that because people are living longer, more of us have
our parents with us as we get older. If you and your parents
were never especially close, for whatever reason, that situation
would not necessarily thrill you. But I always had a good
relationship with both parents, especially my mother, and even
though there are increasing problems as she approaches 100,
there are still many joys that go with it.
Our children, although occasionally needing help in one way or
another, have never been a trial to us--up to now at least! Our
family is fairly small, and we have always been quite close and
mostly congenial, so we help each other when there's a crisis
and it works out to the mutual benefit of all of us.
So far as resident spouses are concerned, that is something one
learns to adjust to as time passes. Sometimes it passes much
faster than others. The biggest problems seem to occur when a
resident spouse and a resident mother (except it's his
mother-in-law) are at odds with one another. It could be
worse... They do try to keep it to a minimum, and a bit of
diplomacy on everyone's part helps to smooth the ruffled fur."
And still another perspective:
My mother died at 86 years old. In her last year she turned
into a rather ornery female and I hope I wont turn that way. But
we (her six children) always kept in mind that she shouldered
tremendous hardship raising us during the depression and the war
years.
I am 62 years, still working, loving my children and
grandchildren and assisting them in any way I can because I want
to. Now I hope that I live a long and independent life
preferable on my own. Something nice and peaceful, with visits
from my loved ones on the weekend, preferable not all of them at
the same time. Now I know it might not work out that way but
why should I worry ahead of time. Some of you wrote that you
hoped that you won't be a burden to your children.
Well heck let's be truthful we raised our children to adulthood
and we all feel at times that despite everything we have done
for them they are still a burden in certain ways and quite often
always will be. I think what worries us mainly when we have an
aged feeble parent constantly around us that we are heading the
same way. But that isn't necessarily so. So why worry about
something which might never come true? I do not like the term
sandwich, and especially I refuse to be considered the meat in
it. Drat all sociologists and their pigeon holes.
And finally one participant describes a kind of triple decker
sandwich- parent, children, grandchild:
" It is interesting to read of all the different types of
sandwiches in our group. One positive reaction I have to this
discussion is that I am not alone on the menu of this remarkably
diverse fare.
I am thankful my mother, in an assisted living retirement center
one half mile from my front door can still do her business
without assistance. It is easy duty to set her hair once a week
and take her to church on Sunday!
But what is most upsetting is when our thirty something, going
on forty something children (five of them), cannot seem to get
through life without major catastrophes. Knowing that there was
no one to go to, my husband and I coped with that "adulthood" on
our own.
Family is what it is all about. As I prepare a holiday meal for
11 of us, I am really grateful I have each one of them. My heart
breaks for one of my sons who will spend the day making dinner
for his three sons (15 to 7) alone as his wife has left them.
This country is so vast. Seattle, San Diego, Wichita and Omaha
are so far apart that all 17 of us cannot be together.
For my husband, Bryce, and me, the birth of our children was an
occasion of much joy and hope for their futures. We were
probably overly serious about life. We worked hard, had goals
for our own future. We believed our children should be loved,
fed balanced meals, and that their activities should revolve
around what we thought was a sensible sleep, mealtime, school
and play schedule. We were probably typical parents of
children born between 1955 to 1963 as were ours .
What was not in our future plans, hopes and goals was that we
should suddenly become responsible for a five year old
granddaughter when we were in our fifties. Our five children
had all left home to make their own futures. The youngest was
in his third year of college and we were enjoying an empty nest.
We were working toward our retirement and what we thought would
be freedom from much responsibility. Bryce was a civil engineer
for an architectural/engineering firm and I was a high school
media specialist.
In 1985 our daughter came home very mentally ill. Her daughter,
Ashley was an insecure, frightened little girl of five. Bryce
and I were hopeful that after a rather lengthy hospitalization
our daughter would be made well and would resume her
responsibilities of raising Ashley. Roxanne s illness was first
diagnosed as schizophrenia and later as manic depression. We
were absolutely traumatized by her mental illness. Roxanne has
never become well enough to work, manage her money, shop for her
groceries, or raise her child.
We had, literally, a mid-life crisis. I was 51 and my husband
was 52. There is an incredible energy toll taken when hopes and
dreams are dashed and one 's life assumes a direction least
expected. After raising five children, I was simply devastated
by the commitment to the fifteen year task of raising another
child. My daughter needed all the emotional and physical
assistance we could give her. Ashley was a bright little girl
who needed as much security as is possible to give a child that
had lived alone with a mother who swung from mania to despair
and back again. She had been neglected, sometimes hungry,
sometimes abused. We had two very needy people on our hands and
we were at a loss of how to deal with it all.
We were parents of children born in the 50's and 60's. Becoming
parents again in the 80's and 90's is traumatic and sometimes
bewildering. Ashley's friends and class mates are all being
parented with a new and different philosophy of child rearing
from ours.
We had to decide if we were going to have a child that would
read, play musical instruments, do homework, go to church, and
learn to cook, or would we reconcile our values and cave in to
the norm of eating a diet of fast food, hours of television
viewing, chatting on the phone, being involved in weekly
sleep-overs, and running the malls with the other girls. I
don't think her peer pressure was any greater than that of our
peer pressure from the younger parents. We decided we were so
different already, that we would raise this youngster according
to our values. It was not easy for either her or us.
We were faced with trying to find appropriate child care. We
experienced the dilemma of occasionally having a child too sick
to send to school, no day care and being unable to leave work.
We have no extended family in the city we live in, so we had no
family to go to for help. Several times I checked Ashley into a
hospital which provided baby sitting for sick children. It was
an expensive alternative to taking time off of work.
When she was older and exposed to questionable video-movies and
a lot of blue language at her baby sitters, we made the decision
to let her stay at home alone after school. We now had a
latch-key child.
Bryce assumed all of the school/home communications. He was
called when she was ill at school, he went to the parent-teacher
conferences, he took the treats when necessary. He was
responsible for all the things that I had been thirty years
earlier.
Because we are old parents, Ashley seemed to be overly concerned
that we would die before she is grown. All the verbal
reassurance does not put her at ease on this issue. Since we
have retired and started walking, watching our diets, and my
husband stopped using tobacco we have assured Ashley by our
actions that we are doing all we can to see her through to
adulthood.
One disadvantage that had some long lasting ramifications were
the changes in our relationship with our other grandchildren and
in some cases with our own married children and their spouses.
Being near the same ages as our other grandchildren, there was a
tragic temptation for comparisons and some jealousies. I see
this happen yet. Report card time still creates an unhealthy
comparison of grades. I sometimes felt a competition from my
three daughters in law in the sad game of my child wears...
does... has... goes... All of us lose at this and end up with
uneasy feelings. I am rather rigid in my old fashioned ways and
should have loosened up, but didn't , or perhaps couldn't.
There are some advantages of this late in life parenting. We
have had more available money than we did with our own children.
Ashley has been a more privileged child. We have been able to
give her not only music lessons on four instruments, but also
the tuition and tour fees to sing six years in the Nebraska
Children s Chorus. I saw another advantage from an insecure
child s standpoint; we rarely had to have night babysitters as
we have been simply too exhausted to go anywhere. The latch-key
child had at-home parents at night.
Now Ashley is a 15 year old high school sophomore who insisted
on registering for more classes than either the principal, who
is her home-room advisor, or her counselor thought was possible.
She is doing nicely in the nine classes which range from
Advanced Honors Algebra and Physics to Orchestra. Ashley plays
viola in the Omaha Youth Philharmonic. She sings with the adult
church choir. She loves her mother unconditionally and is kind
and helpful to her. Ashley adores her uncles who seem like
brothers to her, she is wonderfully kind to my mother, she
cherishes family holiday traditions and she has goals for her
future.
But there are times when Ashley is as frustrated with being
raised by old fogies as the old fogies are by raising a child in
their Social Security years, nevertheless we are a mutual
admiration society."
editor's note:
I know a widow in her late 80's who has recently had her knee
joints replaced encouraged by my success with in having that
done. Her son has what modern jargon would call a dysfunctional
family- separated from his wife, daughter with a substance
abuse problem (but recovering well with help from grandmother) and a
six year old son without a father present. The great grandmother
has become the surrogate parent for the six year old, is
successfully raising the child who is responding very well but
concerned about how long granny will be there to help him. I
suspect we have a case here of a sandwich answering that old ad
"Where is the beef?"
Right there at the top of the sandwich.
____________________________________
A small girl was at her play table, drawing with crayons. Her
mother asked, "What are you drawing?"
The small girl said, "God."
The mother said, "How can you draw God? Nobody has ever seen
him. Nobody knows what he looks like."
The small girl said, "They'll all know when I finish this!"
from Wayne Barney's collecton- 1996
____________________________________
From: Thelma and Roy Harden, Leamington Spa, Warks, England.
Subject: The Isle of Man. (Mannanin Veg Veen).
The Isle of Man is a tiny island (33 x 12 miles) tucked between
Ulster, Scotland and N.W.England. The Manx nation is one of the
smallest nations in the world, but as terrible wanderers the
people are to be found all over the world. The Island was
untouched by the Romans or the Anglo-Saxons or the Normans, but
the Vikings made up for all that!
The Celtic races are not all the same -languages, temperaments,
mythology etc.differ quite greatly. The Welsh and the Cornish
are the Britons, and their language is Brythonic. The Manx,
the Scots and the Irish are Gaels, with languages known as
Goidelic. The Gaelic languages are all different but occasional
similarities can sometimes be spotted, while the Welsh and
Cornish tongues are incomprehensible to us. Of course, English
is the first language for all of us now, but, contrary to many
outside opinions, the old tongues are not dead. I cannot claim
to speak Manx, but I certainly can use a lot of the naughty
words quite fluently, and if I lose my temper there are times
when only a Manx word can say what I want to say.
Contrary to general uncivilised opinion, the Island is not so
called because it is inhabited by male chauvinist pigs - indeed,
no! Here is the story:
In the north of the Island is a mountain called North Barrule,
and on top of this mountain lived the great Manx god Mannanin.
Now do you get the hang of the name? He was the mighty god of
the sea and everything in it. He was not worshipped, but
greatly feared. The people devoted their "worship"to the trees
and rivers, so most of their rites were carried out in the
beautiful glens and woods. Of course they had the fairies to
contend with - the Phynoderee were just mischievous little
fellows who played merry pranks, but you were in trouble if you
got on the wrong side of the other fellows called the Bugganes.
That was serious stuff.
This is more about Mannanin sitting on top of his mountain. Now
the Irish had a god called Mannanan-Beg-Mac-y-Leirr (you
see,clever people like us get by with only one word!).On a
clear, calm day the people in Ulster could see the top of Mount
Barrule on the horizon, and they thought it was the home of
their god (silly people!).Some Irish legends called the Island
the Island of the Dead, because when occasionally an Irishman
set off in his little skin boat to explore this strange little
place he was never seen again. Not surprising - they either
never got there in one of the fiercest seas in the world in the
hands of Mannanin, or, if they did arrive safely, they were
probably eaten for dinner.
Of course, we all know that to go poking around the home of the
gods is just asking for trouble, and, not surprisingly, old
Mannanin got quite fed up with all this nosing around from the
West. One day, he rolled himself into a circle like a bicycle
wheel and set himself on fire. He then rolled down his mountain
into the sea and went to live on his other island on the bottom
of the sea. When his burning wheel plunged into the sea a
tremendous mist arose, and this was Mannanin's way of confusing
any strangers who tried to get to his Island. Unfortunately he
didn't take the Vikings into account! There is a legend which
says that the old lad created this fire round about 500 A.D.
when he saw the first Christians trying to land. Today, The Manx
flag is bright scarlet for the fire, and in the centre is a gold
circle containing three spurred legs with the motto insribed
round it: "Whichever way you throw me, I'll stand".
Thelma Yn ollick gennell as blein vea noa!
____________________________________________________
The last time Deacon Callahan registered in a small hotel and the
maid told him it wasn't modern, she gave him quite a jor.
Captain Billy's Whiz Bang- 1931
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INTRODUCING
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Fred Miller
Thumbnail sketch? Hmnn - Live on the seacoast in NH but
contemplating move shortly to Cape Cod, MA. Age 69 - before
retirement eight years ago owned a bookstore in Portsmouth, NH
for some 13 years. Married to Lesley Harper who entertained my
late wife and I on our very first date at dinner at her house in
1953. Six children for me, two for her. One grandchild for me,
four for her sort of balances it up.
Started sailing in Larchmont, NY - Lesley helped sail bring my
first boat from the broker to the mooring in Larchmont. More
recently we have been on a few Elderhostels which we both enjoy.
A little over a year ago we had a home exchange with a family
from Holland which we also highly recommend.
First computer was an Apple IIc, now have LC III. Planning to
upgrade shortly - just hope that Apple isn't at the end of the
line. One daughter with IBM and may have to switch allegiance.
editors note: Fred has an interesting article in latest issue of
CyberSenior Review- see SG Library listing
_________________________________________________________________
E-Mail: c.ribone@qut.edu.au
C. Ribone, Brisbane Australia work for a university in the Drama
Program - and yes, there's always dramas going on! Keeps me
young - I'm 54, just had a birthday. Am married to a great guy,
Bruno (parents were Italian), a pharmacist, have two sons, both
married. One grandson - the light of my life - at the moment,
waiting for grandchild number two - already s/he's 24 hours
late! Enjoy writing letters (e-mail and snail -mail), I gobble
up books and magazines (love to read), cook (I collect recipes),
play squash fixtures (similar to hand-ball or racquet-ball they
tell me), enjoy watching sports (especially soccer, kids played
it for many years), some t.v., cinema, theatr e, love gardens
but kill everything, even cacti (we have lots of shrubs and
trees). Collect postcards (especially of universities and
map-type ones), a few other things, am a bit of a packrat. Live
on acreage in an outer Suburb, very rural, love animals
especially dogs (have 4). Am especially interested in hearing
from women about my age, but, as I am fast becoming e-mail
addicted (we've only had it at work a short time), if you want
to write to someone who is long-winded, write anyway.
_____________________________________________________________
Why is that dog running in circles?
It's a watchdog, and it's winding itself up.
classroom humor circa 1940
_____________________________________
E-Mail: wendtp@alnitak.usc.edu
Pamela Wendt, University of Southern California
ANNENBERG PAL PROJECT
We used to have neighborhood communities in which friends and
family visited others who needed help or moral support. The
demands of today's world have eroded our neighborhood
communities so that families no longer live near one another and
virtually all adults are working, leaving no one available to do
this face-to-face visiting. The challenge is how to more widely
provide the moral support and social involvement and interaction
in a society that has fewer members available to be involved.
The goal of our project is to create a "digital community" that
will visit and support one another. That is, we will help create
a community of individuals through electronic mail (e-mail pen
pals) as digital friendly visitors, and we will measure its
effectiveness at addressing social isolation and connectedness.
We are looking for both younger and older people to be PALs in
our community. 1. Would you like to join us? You need to have a
computer and modem. The project will pay for your e-mail
connection from now to the end of the school year. We will match
you up with a student PAL right away, and, of course, since this
is a study will we will need to ask you a series of questions,
etc. We are particularly interested in involving people who feel
a bit isolated because of the lack of near-by family or
difficulty in getting around like you used to, or are caregivers
and not able to get out often.
2. Do you have grandchildren that have computers and a modem who
you would like to get involved? Think of the fun of sending
e-mail back and forth with them!
If you can participate or know of others who would like to,
please contact Dr. Pamela Wendt (wendtp@rcf.usc.edu), (213)
740-1723). We look forward to meeting you!!
_____________________________________________________________
Him--"Marry me or I'll drink poison tonight."
Her-"My gosh, where's the party?"
Captain Billy's Whiz bang 1931
_____________________________________
E-Mail: dunbar@reap.org.nz
Ray Dunbar, New Zealand I'm a 52 year old New Zealander married
to Carol ( My English Rose). We have three children, one and
seven eights grand children, and an English Setter dog called
Monty. We Live in Taupo which is beside a lake of the same na me
in the centre of the North Island of New Zealand. It is an area
of lakes, volcanoes, forests, and hydrothermal activity. Try my
servers home page . I'm an Ex Royal New Zealand Navy, trained in
the British Isles now working as a self employed maintenance
engineer, fixing sawmills, geothermal steam equipment, and
anything else that is dirty, smelly and won't work. Hobbies
include skiing, canoeing, mountain biking, fishing and hiking
and camping in the forests and mountains. So if you would like
to know more about this part of the world or would just like to
write to someone at the top of the world (Northern hemisphere
maps are all upside down) drop me a note.
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NOTICES AND REVIEWS
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Spotlight on Food--nutrition news for people 60-plus
http://www.fortnet.org/~fivstar
This site is accesed by the above URL or can be found by
browsing the Fort Collins Community Net Business Pages under the
heading Nutrition.
http://www.fortnet.org
It is a commercial site with the tag line:
"News for people 60-plus is a monthly newsletter that meets
those changing needs with humor and understanding."
The sample newsletter lived up to that blurb with good sound
nutritional and dietary advice written in a lively and
informative style. Readers could perhaps find the same type of
information from a non-commercial source, but probably without
the lively style.
Reading about senior nutritional and dietary needs is often dull
enough to drive seniors away from this very important aspect of
making the second half of life as good as it can be. If you
prefer, the Fort Collins home page does also provide links to
major senior health related sources based on government and
non-profit groups material.
Feeling a little guilty about that calorie laden recipe for the
best chocolate cookies ever in the last issue, we offer this
from Spotlight on Food:
Black Bean Soup for Two
No-stick cooking spray, such as Pam
1/2 tsp oil (preferably olive oil or canola oil)
1/2 cup chopped onion (about one-half onion)
2 tsp chopped garlic (about 2 cloves)
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped fine (optional)
1/2 green pepper, chopped (about cup)
1 can black beans
2 medium tomatoes, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 TB chili powder
1 TB cumin
Spray 2-quart saucepan or large skillet with cooking spray,
heat to medium-hot. Add 1/2 tsp oil. Add onion, garlic,
jalapeno, and green pepper and cook, stirring, about 3-5 minutes
till vegetables are tender. Add beans with their liquid (or
beans plus 1/4 cup water, if you rinsed them), tomatoes, chili
powder, and cumin. Turn heat down and simmer 15-20 minutes.
Makes about 3 cups or two 1-1/2 cup portions.
Nutrition information per portion: 2 servings vegetables, 1
serving protein.
The newsletter gives sample diets and information on exercize,
basic healthy diets, and diets related to many of the ills that
plague senior flesh (and bones).
- reviewed by Jim Olson
______________________________________
LITTERATURA MAGAZINE
J. Dolsen, editor/publisher
PO Box 18092, Chicago IL 60618
(EMail Litteratur@aol.com)
( Johnnyd827@aol.com)
John Dolsen has been active in the Chicago area in promoting
senior writing, inter generational writing, and in giving an
outlet for creative efforts of a wide group of people.
We reviewed the online and snail mail versions of the Novemeber
issue and found it to contain many items of interest to seniors
as many of the writers are seniors. I found the personal essays
to be of uniform high quality and the poetry and fiction to
represent a wider variety of quality.
We will place copies of the e-mail version of the magazine in
the Senior group library as we receive copies of it. To submit
poetry, essays, and short stories to for the magazine send material
in via snail mail as e-mail submissions are not invited.
Authors will be paid for items accepted for publication.
- reviewed by Jim Olson
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Senior Group Library
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The Common denominator for all subscribers to Senior Group
Newsletter is e-mail in one form or another. Because readers are
not all connected to or familiar with such other information
transfer methods on the net as ftp, World Wide Web, Gopher,
uuencode/decode, file attachments, etc., the Senior Group is
setting up a simple text based e-mail library where readers can
request and get selected SG library items by e-mail request to
olsonjam@uwec.edu
In the message subject simply type and in the
body of the e-mail the name of the document you are requesting.
Documents Currently Available:
Back issues of Senior Group Newsletter from Oct 1994 on.
Back issues of CyberSenior Review- just state the quarter,
spring, summer, fall or winter and year- from 1993 on.
Latest issue is Winter 1996
Care Givers Manual
Manual of practical advice for those supplying at home care
to a family member.
Joyce Post list of internet resources on aging
Nursing Home Costs
How to plan your estate to avoid your assets
being wiped out to pay for nursing home costs
Genealogical resources on the Internet
Litteratura Magazine on line issues.
SCIP Pen Pals List
Senior Canadian Information project list of pen pals.
- note All documents are written in Monaco 9
font with 65 characters per inch.
_______________________
Tiger Hunt
A small blond head bobs above
A serrated border, lining
The path between the fences,
Following the tiger's spoor,
Tipping toes, small hands poised to spring.
A darting grab rewards the hunt
With a handful of soft, yellow, wiggly fur
In which to rub the hunter's cheek.
The captive prey pushes a tiny paw
Against the Nimrod's chest,
But failing to leap free,
Licks its captor's nose.
>From Six Songs of Childhood in the City
by Melvin I. Cooperman
MIC35WILD@aol.com
Long Island, NY