ON THE TOWN

Making Music for the Soul at Centrum

I have always loved to sing. As a child with my mother, dueting on “The Eensy Weensy Spider.” In grammar school chorus. Later, playing a small role in a student production of The Music Man. And in the coffee house where I strummed on a guitar and crooned folk songs with my high school friends.

As an adult journalist and teacher, I was delighted to interview some wonderful jazz singers and lecture about their contributions to the field. But for a very long time, I only rarely raised my voice in song.

Then, in my 50s, when my husband formed an ad hoc band with a few fellow middle-aged friends, the singer in me awakened. And eventually I was fortunate to discover a place in Western Washington for passionate amateurs like me to learn and share music in a

beautiful place—and in a welcoming, nonjudgmental atmosphere. That place was Centrum, the nonprofit arts center located in a converted military base in Port Townsend, Wash. Centrum hosts many BY MISHA programs for writers and other BERSON arts practitioners throughout the year. But what beckoned to me was their participatory summer music programs. They were like summer camps for teens and adults, but promised a full immersion into music for several days or a week, with instruction from seasoned professional musicians and instructors. It takes some courage to pipe up and sing out in front of others. But I took a leap and signed up for Vocal Works, a five-day program at Centrum that revived my love of vocalizing. I stayed in a former barracks with women who

Centrum’s summer workshops welcome instrumentalists and vocalists of every age and ability. Photos courtesy of Centrum.

ranged in age from their teens to their 70s, and in experience from dedicated musicians to more casual singers like me. I took classes in jazz and folk during the days, jammed with musicians in the evenings, and on the last night heard our teachers perform a joyous concert.

There was a wonderfully inclusive, friendly vibe there, and I made some good music friends. I also got great tips on singing from some enthusiastic instructors including the Grammywinning vocalist Rhiannon Giddens, who with her sister Lalenja Harrington taught us traditional African American folk and blues tunes.

Since then I have been back to Centrum for another Voice Works workshop, and a more challenging but also rewarding jazz camp. And I highly recommend the experience to anyone who would enjoy the

fellowship with other musicians, in a lovely sylvan outpost, and with a lot of encouragement.

Attendees can choose between staying onsite in individual or double rooms in the rather spartan barracks, or arranging for their own housing (definitely in advance) in Port Townsend’s many hotels, inns, and Airbnbs. There is a mess hall at Centrum that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner—for those who sign up for a meals option—as well as a coffee shop and a bistro for drop-in eating and drinking.

And at the end of each session, there is a bonus: a weekend of music by the teachers (many of them respected recording artists) in Port Townsend’s array of restaurants and clubs. It’s fun just to stroll along Water Street, the main drag in PT, hearing music pouring onto the street from so many directions. Workshop participants get in free; others can attend by buying passes, which sell out fast.

In addition to Voice Works, there are other Centrum workshops that welcome instrumentalists and vocalists of every age and ability. This summer’s lineup of sessions is scheduled to take place in person, with some remote options. Check out the latest COVID requirements, and get registration, fees, and other information, at www.centrum.org or by calling 360-385-3102.

Here is this summer’s lineup of sessions:

June 28 –July 1: Voice Works

July 3–10: Fiddle Tunes workshop, for bluegrass lovers.

July 25–31: Jazz Port Townsend, for jazz buff instrumentalists and singers.

August 1–7: Acoustic Blues Workshop, for instrumentalists and singers who love the blues.

September 7–11: Port Townsend Ukulele Workshop, for enthusiastic strummers.

Misha Berson writes about the arts for crosscut.com and many other media outlets, teaches for the UW Osher program, and is the author of four books, including Something’s Coming, Something Good: West Side Story and the American Imagination (Applause/Hal Leonard).

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Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals

BY OLIVER BURKEMAN REVIEWED BY VICTORIA STARR MARSHALL

“Cause I’m a wo—man, I can bring home the bacon. Fry it up in a pan And never let you forget you’re a man. I can work till five o’clock. Come home and read you Tickety Tock. And if it’s lovin’ you want, I can kiss you and give you the shiverin’ fits.”

I have never forgotten this Enjoli perfume jingle. As a young woman with children in the 1980s, it greatly influenced me. I believed I really could have and be it all: Work and career, be a perfect mother, perfect homemaker, a siren for my husband, and have time to do it all. Worse, I believed I should expect all this perfection from myself. I just had to manage my time better. There were plenty of time management gurus (all men) telling us how to do it and I read and practiced Stephen R. Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson, and especially How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. I carried How to Win Friends around like a Bible and even took Carnegie classes and seminars. Oliver Burkeman is an award-winning feature writer for The Guardian and wrote a weekly productivity column, “This Column Will Change Your Life.” In Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals Burkeman, who now refers to himself as a “recovering productivity addict,” tells us that all these productivity tools and technology work; we can now accomplish more than ever. But time is a vacuum and time gained becomes time crammed with evermore busyness, leaving us unfulfilled, exhausted, and burned out.

Four thousand weeks is the total number of weeks we have if we live to 80, and Burkeman wants us to think about time management through the lens of our imminent mortality. Four thousand weeks of life—4,000 Saturday nights, 4,000 lazy Sundays, 4,000 Monday mornings—is, as Burkeman puts it, “absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short.” We are never going to be able to do it all in a single lifetime. This means every choice we make on how we spend our time is both an affirmation and a sacrifice. “Any finite life—even the best one you could possibly imagine—is therefore a matter of ceaselessly waving goodbye to possibility,” and “once you no longer need to convince yourself that you’ll do everything that needs doing, you’re free to focus on doing a few things that count.”

So, the question we each must answer in our lives is “what counts?”

At my current age, if I’m lucky enough to live to 80, I’ve calculated that I have approximately 800 weeks of life left. If I see my kids and grandkids one weekend a month—more frequent than I currently am—that’s 200 more visits. That can either be depressing math, or it can motivate me to think about how I want to spend my time. It puts me back in the driver’s seat.

Four Thousand Weeks is just what I needed to read right now. It feels like a hall pass. I highly recommend it.

GAMES FOR YOUR BRAIN

ANSWERS

It starts with a letter

1. Kmart 2. Q-tip 3. C-Section 4. T-Bone 5. D-Day 6. J. Crew 7. O-Ring 8. U-Haul 9. E. Coli 10. Y Chromosome

Initial Reaction

1. P. T. Barnum 2. H. G. Wells 3. W. C. Fields 4. e. e. cummings 5. A. A. Milne 6. I. M. Pei 7. J. C. Penney 8. J. D. Salinger 9. T. S. Eliot 10. M.C. Escher

T Plus Three

1. Trix 2. Toto 3. Tang 4. Tutu (Desmond Tutu) 5. Tart 6. Tofu 7. Teal 8. Toga 9. Tojo 10.Tick

for your brain

Exercise your brain and have some fun with these puzzles designed to stimulate different cognitive functions.

It Starts With A Letter (easy)

All of the answers in this game start with a letter, as in X-Ray, I Beam or V Chip 1. Discount store chain formerly known as S.S. Kresge Company.____________________________________________________________ 2. A brand of cotton swab. _________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. Surgical baby delivery. __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Cut of steak also called Porterhouse. ____________________________________________________________________________________ 5. June 6, 1944.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. U.S. clothing retailer with a popular catalog. _____________________________________________________________________________ 7. Well-known joint or gasket that caused the space shuttle Challenger disaster. _____________________________________________ 8. Do-it-yourself moving equipment company. _____________________________________________________________________________ 9. Some strains of this bacterium can cause serious food poisoning.___________________________________________________ 10. Genetically, this separates the men from the women. _____________________________________________________________

Initial Reaction? (harder)

Many people, such as O. J. Simpson and B. B. King, are known by their first and middle initials. How many people can you identify from their lesser-known, full first two names? 1. Phineas Taylor, American showman. _____________________________________________________________________________________ 2. Herbert George, English science-fiction writer. __________________________________________________________________________ 3. William Claude, American comedian and comic actor._____________________________________________________________________ 4. Edward Estlin, 20th-century American poet. _____________________________________________________________________________ 5. Alan Alexander, English children’s author. ________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Ieoh Ming, Chinese American architect.__________________________________________________________________________________ 7. James Cash, American department store founder. _______________________________________________________________________ 8. Jerome David, reclusive American author. _______________________________________________________________________________ 9. Thomas Stearns, American-born poet, author of The Wasteland. ___________________________________________________ 10. Maurits Cornelis, Dutch graphic artist inspired by mathematics and geomet. _________________________________________

T Plus Three (hardest)

All of the answers in this quiz are four-letter words that begin with T. 1. This breakfast cereal is for kids, not rabbits.______________________________________________________________________________ 2. Dorothy’s dog. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. The astronauts’ favorite drink. __________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. A South African cleric and 1984 Nobel Peace Prize winner. _________________________________________________________________ 5. Having a sharp or bitter taste. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ 6. Basically, this food is made from coagulated soy milk._____________________________________________________________________ 7. A blue-green color. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. Roman garment. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 9. Prime minister of Japan for most of World War II. _________________________________________________________________ 10. Insect responsible for Lyme disease and tularemia. _______________________________________________________________

Reprinted with permission from Nancy Linde, author of the best-selling book 399 Puzzles, Games, and Trivia Challenges Specially Designed to Keep Your Brain Young, 417 More Games, Puzzles, and Trivia Challenges Specially Designed to Keep Your Brain Young; and On-the-Go Games and Puzzles to Keep Your Brain Young. She is also the creator of the website Never2Old4Games.com, which is used by many senior-serving organizations in the U.S. and Canada. ANSWERS ON PAGE 62

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