Senior Life Atlanta
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Book Clubs build communities of eager readers page 4
THE ARTS
Renovated Cyclorama Now Open page 8
PROFILE
Catching Up with Bill Tush page 10
watch for these Spring Crime Trends page 18
MAY 2019 • Vol. 4 No. 5| AtlantaSeniorLIFE.com
Contents May 2019
COVER STORY
4
Book Clubs Build Communities of Eager Readers
5
A Club for Writers in Its Second Century
6
Not Your Regular Book Club
8
THE ARTS Cyclorama is Back, Telling Its Story in a New Way
10
PROFILE A TV Comedy Pioneer Joins a Movie Theater’s New Era
8
10
HEALTH
14
Millennial Medical Students Learn as They Teach ‘Seasoned Adults’
16
Four Easy Lifestyle Tips to Reduce Your Cancer Risk
17
PERSONAL FINANCE Ask Rusty
18
PERSONAL SAFETY Watch for Seasonal Trends of Theft and Fraud
19
PET PICK Erwin
20
MAKING A DIFFERENCE Land and Water Shaped a Local Nature-Protector
22
OUT & ABOUT ON THE COVER
Members of a Decatur-based book club that has been together 30 years show some of the books they’ve read through the group. Back row, L to R: Bessie Stephenson, Anne Earle, Lisa Morris; seated: Linda Curry. Staff Photo
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22 Atlanta Senior Life focuses on the interests, accomplishments and lifestyles of the active senior population in metro Atlanta. It aims to inspire readers to embrace a more rewarding life by informing them of opportunities to expand their horizons, express their talents and engage in their community.
CONTACT US Editorial Kathy Dean Contributing Editor kathydean@atlantaseniorlife.com Joe Earle Editor-at-Large JoeEarle@reporternewspapers.net Contributors Diana Bagby, H.M. Cauley, Russell Gloor, Collin Kelley, Donna Williams Lewis, Steve Rose, Kristen Sumpter Advertising For information call (404) 917-2200 Sales Executives: Jeff Kremer, Janet Porter, Jim Speakman
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© 2019 All rights reserved. Publisher reserves the right to refuse editorial or advertising for any reason. Publisher assumes no responsibility for information contained in advertising. Any opinions expressed in print or online do not necessarily represent the views of Atlanta Senior Life or Springs Publishing, LLC.
Steve Levene Founder & Publisher stevelevene@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 111 Amy Arno Director of Sales Development amyarno@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 112 Rico Figliolini Creative Director rico@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 117 Deborah Davis Office Manager deborahdavis@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 110
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3
COVER STORY
Book Clubs build communities of eager readers By Joe Earle
organize. They offer book club kits and allow clubs to On a recent sunny reserve blocks of popular spring afternoon, a halfbook-club-friendly books dozen people gathered so there will be copies for in the community room everyone in a club, and even of a Brookhaven senior provide library employees apartment complex to talk such as Chappel to keep about people and events in a things organized and to lead much different place. discussions. Most members of the Book club founder group were residents of Martha Decker has seen Hearthside Brookleigh, the how a club can build a apartment complex, but a community. She started few were neighbors who’d the Greystone North Book dropped by to chat. Myguial Club among women in Chappel, an administrator her north DeKalb County with the DeKalb Library neighborhood in 2010 and System, was on hand to lead has watched it become a the discussion. Soon, he neighborhood connection. had group members talking “It’s made us all friends,” about the lives and thoughts said Decker, a 76-year-old of people in “Bear Town,” a retired accountant. “And it’s community that itself lives made us all supportive of in a book. This was, after all, PHOTOS BY JOE EARLE. each other. I know I could call a book club. James Poulin (left) and Lucille Walker are members of a book club that meets in Brookhavens. on any one of these people if I And reviews varied. “When needed them … This has become part of the community.” I like a book, I just read it fast,” said Hearthside Ashleigh resident Book clubs also can create their own communities. Linda Curry, a Lucille Walker, a 70-year-old former insurance company employee. 66-year-old retired lawyer, joined a book club of neighborhood women “Why do these people do what they do? It was a very exciting, good friends in 1993. [Full disclosure: My wife is an active member of this book.” club, which turns 30 years old this year.] “Talk about slow,” said James Poulin, who listens to CDs rendition “I’ve always loved to read,” Curry said. “In ‘93, my kids were little, of the books that club members “read” each month. “I don’t know how and I was not doing much reading or doing much hanging out with many times I fell asleep in that first disc.” other women.” Over time, the club become much more to its members These days, whether a book’s a page-turner or nap-inducer, in than just a reading group. “We became really close friends,” Curry metro Atlanta, someone may just be talking about it. Clubs of likesaid. “We’ve been through a lot.” minded book fans gather about every day somewhere — in library One member of the group developed ALS, or amyotrophic lateral conference rooms, the living rooms of private homes, church halls, sclerosis, also known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease,” and club members bars, senior centers and just about anywhere else you can arrange a rallied around her until her death. “We became more than a book group of chairs for a chat. club,” Curry said. Clubs organize themselves around all sorts of books and from all They also started to travel together. They went to Savannah to tour sorts of groups. Meetup, an online service that seeks to connect people sites related to the book “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” by with similar interests, lists clubs in metro Atlanta for women, for John Berendt. They traveled to the north Georgia mountains, and even residents of particular communities, for graduates of certain colleges further afield, to Germany and Maine. Now, the group, down to five or universities, for empty nesters, for sci-fi fans, for mystery fans (see and taking no new members, travels together to New York once a year article on the Sherlock Holmes Book Club on page 6), for cooks, for or so to see Broadway plays and museum shows. And they still read a vegetarians, for beer fans and for brunch fans. book a month. And older adults make up a large part of the ongoing conversation “We look forward to seeing each other every month,” Curry said. about books. “Depending on what’s going on every month in our personal lives or Ginny Everett, branch manager of the Kennesaw Library branch in politics, we discuss other things, but we do get around to the book.” Cobb County, says most of the members of the branch’s reading group The club, she said, “keeps me reading. It broadens my reading.” are older than 60 and other book club organizers agree that seniors Book clubs can be popular with writers, too. Some meet with clubs make up a significant portion of club memberships. “I look at book to talk about their books, both to sell a few more books and to find clubs as a way to build communities and a way to build communities out what readers think of their work. “Those are the people who truly of interest,” Everett said. “It does bring together book lovers, that’s for love books,” said George Weinstein, former president of The Atlanta sure.” Writer’s Club. “It’s almost like the Church of the Book to them. They Because librarians like book clubs, they’ve made them easy to
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really do enjoy books and they enjoy meeting authors.” But in the end, various book club members said, the appeal of the book club gets back to the books. At Hearthside Ashleigh, Walker said the club has introduced her to new books she would not have found otherwise. “It’s been an eye-opener for me,” Walker said. “I like that it carries me places. It shows me places I’ve never been. You wonder if other people have the same reaction you have. Then, it’s exciting, exciting to just read something.” Joe Earle is a member of two book clubs.
A club for writers in its second century By Joe Earle Just as metro Atlanta readers have their clubs, so do the people who create the books they read, the writers. The Atlanta Writer’s Club, founded in 1914, meets monthly and claims hundreds of members who author mysteries, romance novels, historical novels and other types of fiction, non-fiction, poetry and even screenplays. “It’s a club that serves many different subgroups,” said former president George Weinstein, who himself has written a mystery, a romance and a pair of historical novels. “That’s good. We have enough members to keep different groups engaged and to give them what they want.” Weinstein, who’s 53, said he’s been writing his whole life. At age 6, he was scripting plays for his stuffed animals to act out for his siblings. When he started attending Writer’s Club meetings about 2000, the organization was very different from what it is now. “It seemed to me I was a good 30 years younger than the average member,” the 53-year-old said. “It was all very old-fashioned... SPECIAL They were lucky to get 10 to 12 people to come to a meeting. George Weinstein Everybody looked at me like, ‘What are you doing here?’” It felt like the end of something that was stuck in a time when members gathered at a Midtown club and wore tuxedoes and gowns to meetings. At one point, he said, the writers’ group could claim only about 48 members altogether. But since then, the club has reformed and remade itself, Weinstein said. The club opened its ranks to all sorts of writers. It started meeting in the suburbs – it now meets monthly at Georgia State University: Perimeter College’s Dunwoody campus – and began offering more things for members to do and more ways for them to learn about writing. “Suddenly we were growing very quickly,” Weinstein said. The group sponsors critique groups and regular workshops, publishes a newsletter, holds a writing competition and hosts two large writer’s conferences a year. Members pay $50 to join for 365 days and Weinstein says membership has reached nearly 1,000. Now, he said, the club is working on developing a new generation of leaders “so this club that nearly died a few years ago can last another 100 years.” He thinks it can. “It’s got legs,” he said.
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5
Not Your Regular Book Club
PHOTO BY H.M. CAULEY.
Left to right, Jill Tempest, Anne Langan, John Camp, Marsha Faulkner, Jim Barham and Thomas Green.
By H.M. Cauley It started four years ago with an observation: My public library in Kennesaw had no print or audio
copies of Sherlock Holmes stories on the shelves. I was in the midst of writing a dissertation at Georgia State about the Scottish Enlightenment
philosophers who turn up in Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective stories, so the oversight stood out. Librarian Ginny Everett listened to my lament, and we
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both saw the need for more Doyle works, given the enormously popular BBC “Sherlock” series that was reintroducing the character to a new fan base. We both knew people who didn’t realize there was a Holmes before Benedict Cumberbatch, and even more who had not seen the BBC version. The inspiration struck to have a book group explore the Doyle texts and compare how they’d been adapted for the series. Our “Irregular” book club (so named to distinguish it from the library’s “regular” clubs – and to reference the Baker Street Irregular urchins who show up in the Sherlock stories) first met in the spring of 2015 on four consecutive Monday nights. The debut of “Conan Doyle to Cumberbatch” saw about 25 attendees across a range of ages, some of whom had not seen the series, and some who had not read the texts. And they came back energized for week two. “I had no idea these stories existed!” younger readers exclaimed. “I binge-watched the Cumberbatch series!” others admitted. We followed that session with another in the fall and yet another in the spring of 2016. After the third round, the consensus was we needed to meet monthly. Since
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Sherlockian, gave us $500 for the library to buy more Holmes materials. Later that year, I was awarded the Society’s annual recognition for promoting Doyle and his hero through the library as well as through a writing course I taught at GSU around deduction and observation. “When we first started our Irregular group in 2015, I had no idea how deep and durable the interest in the Holmes canon is among so many of our patrons,” said Everett. “Our group has attracted teens, Millennials, GenXers and Baby Boomers, male and female, from every walk of
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life. The common denominator is a love of Sherlock and unlocking a mystery. “What is especially rewarding is that we have brought together people who would never have met outside of the group. Public libraries are all about bringing people together, and our Sherlock group has been a model for doing just that.”
The game is afoot at 6:30 p.m. every Monday at the Kennesaw public library, 2250 Lewis Street, Kennesaw 30144 770-528-2529; cobbcat.org.
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good,” said reader Ken Hall, our only member who hails from the U.K. “But we do all this with a great sense of camaraderie. No comments or conclusions are frowned upon or dismissed. Hilarity can at times prevail over studious comment. Oh, and to add icing to the book study cake, you must ensure that you have an English person in the group. This incredible resource helps American colleagues understand many of the bizarre British/Victorian expressions, mannerisms, weights and measures! Along with learning, we’ve forged social ties outside of the library. Many of us head out for dinner after the discussion, and we’ve gotten together to play mystery games and enjoy potluck dinners. And everyone partied when I earned my doctorate in 2017. Our mission to increase Doyle’s readership was honored in 2016, when the Beacon Society, part of the international Baker Street Irregulars who promote all things
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then, we’ve come together every second Monday to discuss, debate and google historical aspects of two Sherlock stories linked with a theme: “Dastardly Doings!” “Creature Feature!” and “Damsels in Distress!” were some of the favorites. “It’s a perfect group, whether you’re addicted to Sherlock Holmes, as some of us are, or if you are a novice and just want to know more,” said reader Nancy Naidu. “With the diverse group of people, there is always something new to learn. But don’t think we are a particularly ‘studious’ group. We have great fun and enjoy each other’s company.” Eventually, we read through the entire Holmes canon, and last summer, we tried some Edgar Allan Poe, since Doyle credits the American author with much of his inspiration. We also added Agatha Christie, but everyone missed Doyle so much, we went back in Baker Street – even though some of the stories aren’t our favorites. “We are not slow in identifying the good plots from the not so
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THE ARTS
Cyclorama is back, telling its story in a new way By Collin Kelley What famous work of art is 132 years old, stands 49 feet tall, is longer than a football field and weighs 10,000 pounds? That would be “The Battle of Atlanta” cyclorama painting, which is once again on view after four years of painstaking restoration at its new home at the Atlanta History Center (AHC). The painting is the centerpiece of “Cyclorama: The Big Picture,” a multimedia experience inside a newly finished addition to the Buckhead campus. A fixture at Grant Park for more than a century, the Cyclorama – as it’s commonly known – was acquired by the AHC in 2015 in a deal negotiated by Mayor Kasim Reed. Atlantans Lloyd and Mary Ann Whitaker donated $10 million toward the desperately needed restoration of the painting, while AHS raised
Left: A member of the restoration team works on The Battle of Atlanta canvas. Opposite page: The Battle of Atlanta during restoration in the new Cyclorama. PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ATLANTA HISTORY CENTER
$35.8 million for the project, including $10 million for an endowment that will ensure the ongoing care and safe-keeping of the artwork. The former Cyclorama building in Grant Park is now an event center for Zoo Atlanta. “The Battle of Atlanta” is one
of only two cycloramas in the United States – the other being “The Battle of Gettysburg. When the painting was created in the 1880s, the gigantic Battle of Atlanta cyclorama painting was an immersive experience – the equivalent of an IMAX theatre today. The painting is a full-
color, three-dimensional illusion designed to transport the viewer onto the battlefield at the height of the 1864 Battle of Atlanta during the Civil War. Created at the American Panorama Company in Milwaukee by 17 German artists, “The Battle of Atlanta” took five months to paint before it debuted in Minneapolis in 1886. Painted 22 years after the Battle of Atlanta, the painting originally depicted the battle from a Northern perspective as a heroic Union victory so that it would appeal to Northern audiences. When the painting relocated to Atlanta in 1892 changes were made to make the battle seem like a Confederate victory, including repainting Southern soldiers so they appeared to be Union soldiers captured by Confederates. This early instance of “alternative facts” was eventually corrected in the 1930s,
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but other changes to the painting caused more lasting damage that AHC has sought to correct. Mostly notably, three missing sections of the painting were recreated, adding 2,908-squarefeet back to the painting, returning it to its original size of 14,952-square-feet. In an era where Confederate symbolism is being removed from public places around the country, the Cyclorama itself has come under criticism during its 127-year history. Some see it as a symbol of Atlanta rising from the ashes after it was burned during the war, but it’s also been interpreted as yet another glorification of the “lost cause” of the Confederacy, which saw Southern states secede from America to maintain slavery. “History is messy. And it has a lot to teach us – if we let it,” AHC President and CEO Sheffield Hale said. “Facts are facts, but the way we view the past varies widely. Visitors to the Cyclorama exhibit will be encouraged to think critically about how art, entertainment and popular culture influence their interpretations of history.” Through exhibitions, rare artifacts, historic images, immersive technology, digital resources, videos, and museum theatre, visitors are encouraged to look critically at a range of Civil War imagery and consider how images and entertainment can influence how we see history. Guests enter the painting rotunda through a 7-foot-tall tunnel – passing underneath the diorama - before ascending an escalator to the 15-foot-tall stationary viewing platform. Here visitors immediately experience a full 360-degree view of the painting, enhanced by technology and a 12-minute theatrical, larger-than-life presentation projected onto the painting. Visitors will also have a chance to see the newly-restored Texas locomotive, famous for its participation in the “Great Locomotive Chase” during the war.
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PROFILE
A TV comedy pioneer joins a movie theater’s new era backyard of his Pittsburgh home, even serving up popcorn. “I think I watched too much ‘Little Rascals.’ They were always trying to start a business,” he says. The changes made by Brandt Gully, who purchased the theater from George Lefont, are perhaps life-changing for people who want to go out for a movie experience but retain the comfort sitting in their living rooms, Tush says. “You can’t just show a movie anymore,” he said.
Bill Tush, who garnered cult figure status on Ted Turner’s fledgling local TV station in the 1970s, is now a manager at Springs Cinema & Taphouse. PHOTO BY DYANA BAGBY
By Dyana Bagby Bill Tush became one of Atlanta’s beloved cult personalities in the 1970s with a late-night newscast that became the prototype for such shows as “The Daily Show” and launched the careers of such comedy stars as Jan Hooks. Tush (the name rhymes with
“rush”) now is a manager at Springs Cinema & Taphouse in Sandy Springs, where he helped usher in a complete transformation of the former Lefont art house theater. Luxury, heated recliners have replaced beaten up and stained traditional movie seating. A full bar with a wide selection of craft beer and menu items including chicken
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fingers have replaced a lonely hot dog warmer. The popcorn, candy and sodas remain, although with a wider variety. Working at a movie theater is a natural choice for employment in his “twilight years,” he says. His love of movies dates back to his childhood when he would charge neighborhood kids to watch 8mm films in the
Cult figure status Before there was an art house theater, though, there was WTCG Channel 17, a local station purchased by Ted Turner. Tush got a job in the 1970s at the new station, where he became a jackof-all-trades and Turner’s “yes man” and loyal “pal.” Turner filled his new station’s airwaves in the mid-1970s with Atlanta Braves ballgames and old sitcoms like “Gilligan’s Island” and Bugs Bunny cartoons. During the weekends on Channel 17, Tush’s love for movies was put to use as the host for film broadcasts ranging from Academy Award-winners like “Giant” starring James Dean and Rock Hudson to Hollywood classics like 1935’s comedy “Ruggles of Red Gap” starring
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Bill Tush, in rear, with Jan Hooks, at left, and the rest of the crew of the sketch comedy show “Tush” that aired on what is now TBS in 1980-81. The show helped launch Hooks’ career, including on “Saturday Night Live.” SPECIAL
Charles Laughten, who went on to star as Quasimodo in 1939’s “Hunchback of Notre Dame.” “We ran the gamut … it’s like what TCM [Turner Classic Movies] does now,” Tush says. Tush also started hosting a 3 a.m. newscast on Channel 17, where he and a few crew members incorporated silly skits into a regular reading of events
of the day. There was the episode where Tush was literally dragged off the set by a “kidnapper” as part of a sketch highlighting news of diplomats being kidnapped around the globe, he said. “There was fake panic from the crew,” Tush remembers as he actually screamed while being forcefully removed from behind his news desk. Then there was the addition of a new, award-winning weatherman from Cleveland, Ohio. Tush and his crew promoted his start date for a Continued on page 12
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Continued from page 11
week. On the day the new weatherman started, Tush said, he grabbed an older announcer who worked elsewhere in the station, positioned him in front of a weather map, and gave him his cue that he was on the air. The star weatherman introduced himself, then grabbed his chest as part of the gag and died on air, creating another fake panic on set. “That was the joke!” Tush laughed. Nothing was written down other than the weatherman would die on air after a week of anticipation, he said. Late-night viewers were instantly amused and Tush achieved a cult following of fans captivated by this new niche entertainment. The success led him to becoming a face of Turner’s media empire during its fledgling years. He still receives an invitation to Turner’s birthday bash every year.
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Tush’s 1970s newscasts are considered by many TV pundits as a pioneer in late-night TV. In 2002, renowned Associated Press TV writer Frazier Moore wrote of Channel 17 and Tush’s brand of humor, “Here, a quarter-century ago, was Comedy Central’s ‘The Daily Show’ stripped down to raw abandon, on zero bucks.” “People always say it was ‘The Daily Show’ before ‘The Daily Show.’ But it wasn’t,” says Tush with a headshake. “It was a crazy, all ad-libbed, [a] whatever goes, goes show. There were no writers, no scripts.” Tush says he still writes jokes and humorous musings on one of his six typewriters in his Atlanta apartment. He keeps the pages and pages of ideas, with nowhere yet to go, in boxes of stationery paper he finds at Goodwill stores. The success of his newscasts led Turner to give Tush his own one-hour sketch comedy show aptly named, “Tush.” The one-hour show aired from 1980-81 on what is now
MAY 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
the multichannel TBS network. The show helped launch Hooks’ career, as well as the careers of writers Bonnie and Terry Turner, who went on to create such massive hit sitcoms as “3rd Rock from the Sun” and “That ’70s Show.” Hooks was a master of many personalities, Tush says. On “Tush,” her character Tammy Jean pleaded in a sugary sweet Southern accent for viewers to donate money to save humanity from the evils of hang gliders. She sang the song “I’m Commercial,” a satire of Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman,” with the chorus, “I’m inane, I’m an imbecile, I’m commercial.” She played Tootsie Plunkette, the diva of the popular “Captain Space” skit, where Tush and others wore weight loss sauna suits as uniforms and oversized water bottles as helmets. Sometimes Tammy Jean was so convincing, people would send in $4 or $5, he said. Back then, that was enough for a lunch. “She was the star of the show,”
Tush said of Hooks. During a recent afternoon in the Springs Cinema lobby, Tush, 70, took out his cellphone and nervously played the last message Hooks left him, the date stamp showing March 2014. Hooks died Oct. 9, 2014, at age 57, of throat cancer. “I’m deathly afraid of erasing this darned thing,” Tush said, visibly frustrated as he taps his phone’s screen. After a few seconds, “Biiiilllll!” in Hooks’ familiar voice, although a bit scratchy, finally played. “It’s Jan. You’re probably away across the ocean, but, um, I haven’t talked to you in a while and I just wanted to check in … and I’ve been thinking about you,” she says. “I hope all is well. OK. Bye.” “I don’t know what to do with this,” he says of the message, which came when he was working in Nigeria as a consultant for a new TV network. “When I came back, she was already dead ... and I had this message.” When “Tush” was axed after one season, Turner landed Tush a job as host of a new entertainment show, “People Now,” on CNN. The new gig meant packing up and moving from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Tush and Hooks were roommates along with a former “Tush” writer; all three decided to take their chances and head to Hollywood together. “She’s out there, doing her thing, getting nowhere. Then [“People Now”] is canceled, and I’m left drifting,” he says. “She’s struggling. And she’d call me and say, ‘I can’t take it anymore. I’m calling you to tell you I’m killing myself. “I’d say, don’t do it! And meet me at Alan Hale’s Lobster Barrel,” he says of what became a tradition for the duo. The two would meet at the small restaurant where Hale, the skipper from “Gilligan’s Island,” would come out every night at 6 p.m. and make an appearance. “And we’d go there and drink and laugh,” Tush says with a smile. “And a week later, I’d call Jan and say the same thing, and we’d meet again.” Tush then got a gig at CNN’s “Showbiz Today” in New York City
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and Hooks called a few months later to say she was coming to New York to do “Saturday Night Live.” She also went on to do “Designing Women” and also “3rd Rock from the Sun,” a show created by former “Tush” writers Bonnie and Terry Turner. “So, we went from Atlanta to L.A. to New York together. We were always together,” he says. “We’d call each other four times a week to talk about stupid things. And then I go to Nigeria and she gets sick.” Hooks was a heavy smoker and Tush said he later learned she smoked right up to the end, removing her oxygen mask to take a drag and to drink her wine. “We always had this running gag where she’d go, ‘Biiiillllll!’ he said. “We had so many crazy fun times together.” A few months ago, another close friend and “Tush” alum, Bob Gillies, died. Gillies had starred in “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh In” in 1967 before becoming teaming up with Tush and Hooks. Gillies is now in an urn on a
G N I N OPERING SP 19 20
shelf in Tush’s apartment. Tush said he’s not sure what he’s going to do with him. Sneaking his ashes on an upcoming trip to London
on the Queen Mary luxury cruise ship and dumping them into the ocean may be a good idea, he says. “He’d like that,” Tush says. “He’s
got nowhere to go. Like me, I’ve got nowhere to go. Throw me over the side.”
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MAY 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
From left, “Modern Health” course instructors Robert Scheel, Claire Castellano, Connie Lo, Hannah Gold, Daquan Daly with Jeffery Alejandro, program manager of OLLI, Emory University’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. (Anthony Kelly, OLLI)
First-year medical students at Emory University are bridging the generation gap as teachers in Emory’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) for “seasoned adults,” ages 50-plus. Through the medical school’s “Community Learning and Social Medicine” class, students are dispatched to a variety of locations they select. Four this year chose OLLI and, joined by a CDC Fellow, they put on a five-week class called “Modern Health: Policy, Medicine, and Science.” Their topics arose from an initial “town hall” meeting and survey of the OLLI community to learn about the main topics of interest. OLLI Program Manager Jeffery Alejandro said OLLI’s two-year-old partnership with the Emory School of Medicine is all about giving millennials a chance to learn more about a population they may be working with in the near future. “It’s also an opportunity to have some myths dispelled,” he said, during a recent followup meeting with the five presenters. One of them, Robert Scheel, 29, kicked off the Modern Health class with a lecture on the
societal impact of disease and the allocation of medical research funding. He said he found it challenging to find “a middle ground” among people who have much more life experience than himself. “It was a different audience than I was used to being around — all different levels, different backgrounds,” Scheel said. “A guy in the front row probably worked for a pharmaceutical company he knew so much. … It was interesting to find a way to teach people who know way more than us.”
A ‘win-win’ for all
Fred Glassman, a recent Atlanta transplant from Los Angeles, was one of 45 students in the class, which ended in March. A former president of the California Collaborative Practice organization, Glassman is also an OLLI instructor who teaches a course in collaborative law. The Buckhead resident didn’t expect first-year med students to have extensive knowledge of their topics but did hope they would have a “particular passion” for them. He says he was pleasantly surprised. He also said the class was a “win-win” for the teachers
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and their students. with an emphasis on the history of Glassman believes the potential medical experimentation and its future doctors were inspired to implications for medicine today. develop personal relationships He was moved by the with their patients. And, he said, realization that many of the “it was a win for the seniors to people he was addressing had know that the new generation of lived through the times and events medical students has that feeling he was talking about, such as of relating one-on-one with proposals by elected officials to patients rather than relying solely use a contraceptive as a means of on computers.” population control. “We get to talk Hannah Gold, 24, who lectured to people who have experienced on mental illness and alternative these things on a visceral level,” therapies, said the OLLI students Daly said. “were able to see a window into Wrapping up their meeting, the way doctors are being trained Alejandro said his program’s these days. collaboration with the Emory “I think they’re really School of Medicine “has a emphasizing the person,” she tremendous value to OLLI. said, adding that their med school “Not only does it give [OLLI instruction includes students] great classroom visits information from people living related to health with conditions and wellness, they discuss. but … they can Claire Castellano, feel that they 25, who lectured on contributed to “Aging Well,” talked future medical about society’s practices and they “push and pull” gain a greater Fred Glassman was one of the of respect for the respect for those students in an Emory University elderly but dislike who will become OLLI class taught by first-year for and fear of their providers.” medical students. (Special) the aging process. (Think anti-aging creams.) She made a case for 30 minutes of physical activity each day and School’s in! presented findings that loneliness The Osher Lifelong Learning increases death risk and that those Institute (OLLI) at Emory offers who feel younger live longer. a wide variety of educational Castellano said interacting courses and social programs for with seniors made her think of the adults ages 50-plus in short and needs of the whole person, beyond long sessions offered year-round. bodily functions that may break Current term: OLLI is in its long down. “I’m learning how much we spring session with classes from can always gain from people as April 8 to May 29. well as share with them,” she said. Upcoming terms: Summer Connie Lo, 32, is the Centers for short session is June 3 to June 28. Disease Control and Prevention Summer long session is July 8 to Fellow among the instructors. She Aug. 23. Registration begins said students in her lecture on May 20. health policy “really pushed each other to think about each other’s Cost: Long sessions — perspectives. $45 per class for members; “They were really engaged $65 for non-members. and most of them were really Short sessions — $25 per class for well informed about the different members; $45 for non-members. issues,” Lo said. “To be able to impart something to them felt Annual membership is $50. really nice.” Address: Emory Continuing Daquan Daly, 24, was a high Education, 6 Executive Park Drive school biology teacher for two N.E., Suite 100, Atlanta 30329. years before going to med school. So he already knew a thing or two Info: olli.emory.edu or about making a lesson plan. Daly 404-727-0600. focused on the history of medicine PS0241 MECH RPTR-ASL 2019-05 MAY 4.94x12.5 SMILE.indd 1
MAY 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
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4/3/19 4:54 PM
HEALTH
Four Easy Lifestyle Tips to Reduce Your Cancer Risk If you’re anything one-third of the most like me, you’re common cancers probably trying to can be prevented by implement some implementing the healthy habits this lifestyle changes listed summer to reduce below. stress, increase your happiness and live a #1 Achieve a healthy healthier life. There weight. is a good chance that The latest cancer Kristen Sumpter these habits will also research says that is the Family and Conlower your risk for being overweight or sumer Sciences Agent for the University of Georgia developing several obese increases the Cooperative Extension in types of cancers. risk for 13 different Fulton County. She proResearch has types of cancer. It’s vides programming on food discovered some of the safety, health and nutrition, unhealthy to try and causes of cancer — like financial literacy and the achieve a number home. the sun’s ultraviolet on a chart. Rather, rays and cigarette “a healthy weight” smoke — but many can be defined as the causes of cancer are unknown. weight you achieve and maintain While cancer is still a mystery, with healthy eating and regular scientists agree that lifestyle physical activity. changes play a role in cancer It’s also important to note that prevention. the fat around your waist is more In fact, the American dangerous than the fat on other Cancer Society shows that parts of your body. Therefore,
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women should aim for a waist size less than 35 inches and men should keep their waist size under 40 inches. #2 Eat a plantbased diet. A plantbased diet simply means filling your plate with lots of fruits, vegetables and whole grains while also choosing plant-based proteins, seafood and poultry over other meats. Research shows that eating too much red and processed meats increases your chances of getting 11 different types of cancer.
There is a very strong link between a diet heavy in red and processed meats and colon cancer, specifically. Because of the risks, the American Cancer Society recommends eating less than 18 ounces of red meat (beef and pork) per week and avoiding all processed meats like bacon, ham and lunch meats. #3 Drink little or no alcohol. Alcohol is associated with an increased risk for six cancers, and even drinking a small amount daily increases the risk of breast cancer in women. All types of alcohol seem to have the same effect on cancer risk. It’s recommended for women to have no more than one serving per day of alcohol and for men to have no more than two servings per day. #4 Be active as much as possible throughout the day. You can decrease your risk for 13 cancers just by increasing your physical activity. Remember to SIT less and MOVE more! It’s recommended that adults have at least 30 minutes a day of moderate activity five or more days per week. It’s easy to not think about cancer until someone receives the diagnosis. Let’s be proactive this summer and practice daily lifestyle habits that will help prevent cancer so we can live longer, healthier lives.
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PERSONAL FINANCE
Ask Rusty: Benefits for Disabled Adult Son By Russell Gloor
Dear Rusty:
We have a 100 percent disabled son, disabled from birth. He is now 35 years old and receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI). My wife and I plan to retire in the next two years and start drawing our Social Security benefits; my wife intends to apply in January 2020, and I will apply later that year, probably in August 2020. When can our son start receiving Social Security Disability benefits? Will it be half of the parent’s benefit? My wife’s benefit is less than mine, so will his be based on her amount or my amount? If we start his Social Security disability in January when my wife applies, will his benefit increase when I claim my benefits? What is our best strategy?
Signed: Anxious Father
Dear Anxious Father:
Your son is eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) benefits as soon as either of you claim your Social Security benefit, and he will be entitled to 50 percent of the amount you are due at your full retirement age (subject to the Family Maximum). If your wife files for her Social Security benefit first, when she files her application (about three months before she wishes benefits to start) there is a section where she will be asked to list any dependent(s) who are either minors or disabled, and she should put your son’s full name in this section. When your wife files, she should separately file an SSDI application on your son’s behalf. Even though it is a new SSDI application, your son will not need to go through the normal SSDI determination process;
they will adopt his existing SSI determination as evidence of his disability. But if his SSDI benefit is more than $770/month, his SSI will stop; if it’s less than $770/ month he’ll draw both to receive that total. Then when you apply for your own Social Security benefit in August, you should file another SSDI application for your son to switch him to his increased benefit based upon your record. As an FYI, the “Family Maximum” applies whenever two or more people are receiving benefits based upon the same worker’s record, which will be the case if your wife also will get a spousal benefit from your record
when you apply in August 2020. She will get a spousal benefit if 50 percent of your benefit at your Full Retirement Age (FRA) is more than her own Social Security benefit at her FRA. The formula for the Family Maximum is somewhat complex, but to simplify, the total benefits from your work record for all beneficiaries can’t be more than 150 percent to 180 percent of your Primary Insurance Amount (or PIA – your benefit amount at your full retirement age). If the usual dependent benefits exceed the Family Maximum, the family maximum amount is proportionally divided among your dependents.
This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity. To submit a question or learn more, visit amacfoundation.org/programs/social-security-advisory).
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Watch for Seasonal Trends of Theft and Fraud confident the area was clear of hunters Here’s a brief and gatherers, they historical perspective sauntered into the of crime. cave only to be The first evidence ambushed by the of men goes left-behind guys, back to the time and thus, received when they were what is known as nothing more than the first recorded dinosaur appetizers, serious whoopin’ STAY SAFE running amok and by man. The thieves Steve Rose is a retired occasionally into one Sandy Springs Police absconded to a Captain, veteran Fulton another. Eventually, place now known County police officer and they banded together freelance writer. He is the as a safe-space, and to hunt and share, never again returned author the book “Why Do My Mystic Journeys and were known to this particular Always Lead to the Waffle cave. They learned as hunters and House?” and the column gatherers. They to carefully choose “View from a Cop.” compiled their goods, only those caves storing them in caves, they were certain grunted and then continued to did not contain the “guys.” This hunt. method became Other men, known as “old later known to school,” and us as thieves, is now mostly also roamed outdated. the earth, What is stealing from clear, and the hunters has been for and gatherers. centuries, is They pillaged that crime the caves, — like water, taking food, maybe clothing and, electricity, sometimes, but certainly women, like water — causing the follows the hunters and path of least gatherers resistance. to say “Hey! Here are Where’s my a couple of food and clothing?” which springtime trends to look for. By did not fare well with the now, most of you should know women, resulting in the the IRS scam that involves a call earliest accounts of divorce and to you informing you that you lawyers. owe money. To resolve it, simply Eventually, men took note purchase pre-paid gift cards of the thievery and developed and send them to the provided measures to prevent it. Those address. I hope you know the measures included traps, IRS doesn’t do business that comprised of a hole in the way. But what if you file your ground covered with grass, taxes and, later, you’re informed sticks and an angry prehistoric by the actual IRS that someone warthog. In addition, when they filed taxes in your name already hunted, men left a few of the and received your refund? guys back at the cave to protect Obviously, this is fraud, so what the goods. do you do? When the thieves arrived, First things first. The IRS
By Steve Rose
Crime, like water, follows the path of least resistance.
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PETS will not provide you with any information on the fraud until they receive a police report. Call your local police agency and report the fraud. Get the report, make several copies and provide the IRS with the information and case number (found on the top right or left on the report) to document the case as fraud so you can proceed with your tax filing. Another seasonal crime involves burglars, working in tandem, committing quick hit-and-run thefts from homes. One thief knocks on the door and tells the occupant he’s with a tree or landscaping company, clearing trees next door or clearing an easement. He distracts the victim by asking
him or her to walk the property to understand the project that’s taking place next to it. The second man enters the home, stealing whatever he can find in five minutes. Remember, every crime has what I call a “trigger,” or a clue to raise your mental alarm. In this case, the man insists the homeowner walk the property. It may be totally legit, but if you recognize the trigger, you can respond, “Okay, just a minute,” and then lock the back, as well as front, doors. Also remember, nothing is too insignificant to call the cops when you have that “feeling” something isn’t right. Stay safe this spring and enjoy the pollen!
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MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Land and water shaped a local nature-protector JOE EARLE
Alan Toney collects a water sample at Sandy Springs’ Lost Corner Preserve.
By Joe Earle Sandy Springs naturalist Alan Toney admits to a fondness for box turtles. “They’re just pretty cool
little animals,” he said. “They just don’t handle cars or lawn mowers very well.” His affection for the reptiles started when he was about 12. This was back during the 1950s,
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in the days Lake Lanier was just filling up. His dad liked to take the family boating there. As the younger Toney watched Lanier’s water rise over time, he was startled by what he saw. “I realized things were drowning,” he said. “Things like box turtles. We rescued 169 box turtles, my dad and brother and I. I ended up keeping about 20 of them.… When I got to 14 or 15 and discovered girls, I let my turtles go.” Toney grew up in Buckhead’s Garden Hills. He spent hours playing in the lake now known as the Duck Pond. He found ALAN TONEY turtles there, too. “I lived in the Duck Pond. I was there about every day,” Toney recalls. At age 72, Toney now has a pair of dogs as pets. But he hasn’t given up on seeing the natural world up close and doing what he can to try to save it from disappearing beneath floods of people and the cars and lawn
mowers they bring with them when they move into newly developed areas. “I love nature. I think nature sort of makes us who we are,” he said one recent morning during a stroll through Lost Corner Preserve, a 24-acre woodland park near Toney’s present home in Sandy Springs. “If you live in an isolated world of buildings and air-conditioning, you just miss a lot. I think you’re unhappy, too. We need to make sure [nature’s] protected. Right now, it’s under siege …what you can do locally is really important.” Locally, Toney does a lot. He chairs the Fulton County Soil and Water Conservation District, which is charged with protecting soil and water resources; has been trained as a naturalist and lectures at Lost Corner on Sandy Springs’ natural history; serves as treasurer of the Friends of Lost Corner, which supports the preserve; and collects water samples each week for testing by the Chattahoochee Riverkeeper. “He’s been of our most active volunteers with Chattahoochee River over the past eight years,” said Chattahoochee Riverkeeper Jason Ulseth, who’s also a member of the board of the soil and water conservation district and says he’s known Toney for about 15 years. “The amount of work Alan contributes has been invaluable for us in terms of getting data.” Ulseth said that since 2012 Toney has collected more water samples – something like
We need to make sure nature is protected. Right now, it’s under siege …what you can do locally is really important.
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1,400 of them – than any of the Riverkeeper’s other 100-or-so volunteers. “It’s vital work for us,” he said. “Without people like Alan, we wouldn’t half of what we know about these waterways.” Toney, who’s retired from a career in corporate finance, stays in close contact with nature in other ways, too. For five or six recent winters, he’s headed west to Yellowstone National Park to watch the ecosystem there after the re-introduction of wolves in the park. He enjoys studying ecosystems, he said, and learning how the animals interact. At Yellowstone, he said, he’s sighted wolves, eagles, bears, beavers, otters and bighorn sheep. In Sandy Springs, his lectures about the local eco-system often start with a reference to Appalachiosaurus, a dinosaur that may have roamed the area millennia ago. But, he said, discussion often turns quickly to more familiar scary creatures, copperheads and coyotes. Figure you have both in your neighborhood, he said. His advice: for the most part, leave them alone. They’re part of the system. They eat rats and other rodents. Besides, he said, most people bitten by a venomous snake were trying to kill the snake at the time. And coyotes? “If they’re not causing trouble, leave them alone,” he said. “If they’re not eating your cats or
harassing your dogs, they’ll keep other coyotes away.” One recent Thursday, Toney carried a plastic bag down the hill to the creek that runs through Lost Corner. He wore a fisherman’s getup: Georgia Naturalist cap, shorts and a yellow rain jacket. The early spring sun shone brightly and birds carried on conversations in the trees. Toney said he was near a place he’d seen a turtle laying its eggs. Falling Branches Creek was to be his first stop of the day. He planned to collect water samples from a half-dozen creeks and the Chattahoochee by day’s end. He takes the little bags of water to the Riverkeeper’s office for testing. It’s something he does every week. It’s paid off. Samples he’s collected from local waterways have helped identify and locate four or five sewage spills that were damaging the creeks, he said. “Why do it?” he asked. “I don’t understand why people wouldn’t be concerned about water quality. Unless somebody’s doing it, water quality will suffer.” And he wants these creeks to stay healthy. “My goal,” he said, “is to keep these creeks so my grandson can come play in them the same way I did.”
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Robin Williams Tribute Friday, May 10, 7 p.m. The James Beard Award winning author and PBS star shares his handbook for mastering brisket, “The Brisket Chronicles: How to Barbecue, Braise, Smoke and Cure the World’s Most Epic Cut of Meat.” Free and open to the public. Books will be available for purchase and signing. A silent auction and refreshments will be provided by the Friends of the Library. Norcross Cultural Arts and Community Center, 10 College Street, Norcross 30071. Get details and learn about more events by calling 770-978-5154 or visiting gwinnettpl.org.
The Music of Chicago and the Beach Boys
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MAY 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com
spirited journey of a woman embracing many roles in her new book, “Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself.” Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody 30338. For tickets, more upcoming events and info, visit atlantajcc.org or call 678812-4002.
Saturday, May 11, 8-11 p.m. The Georgia Players Guild presents the music of these two legendary bands. General admission is $20 in advance, $25 on the day of the show. VIP tickets are available. Earl Smith Strand Theatre, 117 North Park Square, Marietta 30060. Visit earlsmithstrand.org or call the box office at 770-2930080.
A Page from the Book Festival: Jill Biden, Where the Light Enters Wednesday, May 15, 7:30 p.m. The former second lady of the U.S. from 2009 to 2017 and Northern Virginia Community College professor Jill Biden shares her
Saturday, May 18, 7:30 p.m. David Born is an exact clone of the late Robin Williams in look, sound and style! A four time Las Vegas Award Winning Impersonator of Robin Williams, he is considered by many to be the best in the world. Tickets are $25.75 for seniors, $28.84 for adults and $20.60 for students. Chestatee High School Theatre, 3005 Sardis Road, Gainesville 30506. For tickets and more information, call 770-5342787 or visit TheArtsCouncil.net
A Raisin in the Sun Runs May 31-June 9. Marietta’s New Theatre in the Square presents Lorraine Hansberry’s classic play about dreams and family. The Younger family gets an insurance check from the death of the father, and tensions increase as each member of the family has their own idea how the money should be spent. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and military. Marietta’s New Theatre in the Square, 11 Whitlock Ave., Marietta 30064. Get details and tickets at theatreinthesquare.net or by calling 770-426-4800.
LIVE! In Roswell presents Balsam Range with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble Saturday, June 8, 8 p.m. Balsam Range has become one of the bluegrass genre’s most awardwinning acts in recent years. In
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2018, Balsam Range embarked on a collaboration with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra Ensemble to create Mountain Overture, an album that takes the band’s most-loved songs and elevates them. Tickets are $30; $25 for seniors, military and students. Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest Street, Roswell 30075. For more info, visit RoswellCAC.com or call 770-594-6232.
Learn Something The Loving Approach Family Education Series on Dementia Wednesday, May 15, 7-8:30 p.m. This dementia skills education series, begun in December, is still open to family members and caregivers of people with brain change. It offers invaluable knowledge while providing guidance and a forum for questions and discussion. Free; registration is required. Oak Grove United Methodist Church, 1722 Oak Grove Road, Decatur 30033. Register by emailing wecare@orchardseniorliving or calling 404-775-0488. More at orchardseniorliving.com/ brookhaven.
How to Write a Will Thursday, May 16, 6 p.m. Join the
Gwinnett Chapter of the Georgia Association for Women Lawyers and Gwinnett Legal Aid for this will workshop. Attorneys will be on hand to go over the basics of estate planning strategies and assisting in filling out a will form. Free, but registration is required by emailing events@ gwinnettpl.org. Gwinnett County Public Library, Hamilton Mill Branch, 3690 Braselton Highway, Dacula 30019. Get details and learn about more events by calling 770-978-5154 or visiting gwinnettpl.org.
Chattahoochee River Crossings Thursday May 16, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Join Friends of Lost Corner and local historian Clarke Otten for a lecture about the Chattahoochee River. For several centuries the river was part of the boundary of the Creek and Cherokee lands and has long presented a barrier and an opportunity to those who live on its banks. Many have made a name for themselves by meeting that challenge. Suggested donation of $5; pre-registration is requested, but walk-ins are welcome. Lost Corner Preserve Cottage, 7300 Brandon Mill Road, Sandy Springs 30328. For info and registration, go to friendsoflostcorner.org.
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Family Forest Walk and Craft at Big Trees Preserve Friday, May 24, 9-10:30 a.m. Come see some of the tallest trees in Sandy Springs, including Tulip Poplar and American Beech with Sandy Springs Naturalist Roseanne Guerra Then, enjoy a short, guided walk through Big Trees Preserve. Free. Big Trees Preserve, 7645 Roswell Road, Atlanta 30350. Pre-registration requested at registration.sandyspringsga.gov.
Festivals Decatur Arts Festival Friday-Sunday, May 24-26. Friday, 5-10 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Downtown Decatur once again celebrates the arts with an event that includes an ArtWalk, Artists Market, Kids Art, music, even a Friends of the Library book sale at the Decatur Public Library. General admission is free. For
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Virginia-Highland Summerfest
Friday-Sunday, May 31, June 1 & 2. Friday, 8-11 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.-11 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. The Acoustic Street Party on Friday kicks off Summerfest with the band Moontower as it performs favorites from the Beatles, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin and more. The music continues throughout the 3-day festival, and there’ll also a 5K road race, Artists and Maker’s Markets, KidsFest, and plenty to eat and drink. Admission is free. Virginia Avenue between North Highland Avenue and Park Drive and John Howell Park. Details at vahisummerfest.org.
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details on events and locations, click on decaturartsfestival.com.
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