Pages

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Storytelling and Poetry in Later Life

Ellen Ryan, Professor Emeritus at McMaster University in Gerontology, has created two fantastic websites for those interested in storytelling and poetry for older adults:

WritingDownOurYears.ca features:
  • A book series (10 books in Writing Down Our Years)
  • A blog (Aging with Spirit - a link will be on this blog)
  • Available workshops
  • Ellen's academic and professional articles for downloading
  • Resources on writing, life stories, and creativity in later life; aging with spirit; and communication and aging
CelebratingPoetsOver70.ca is a site that presents poems selected from 1100 submissions written by poets after the age of 70 years. The contents of the 2010 anthology Celebrating Poets over 70, edited by Marianne F. Vespry and Ellen, can be browsed and the volume ordered.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

CDRAKE: Canadian Dementia Resource and Knowledge Exchange

Check out this website for the Canadian Dementia Resource and Knowledge Exchange. It's full of useful resources and information about upcoming conferences and events relevant to dementia. Dr. Ken LeClair, SERC board member, is the research lead for this initiative.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Older adults using YouTube

This is a perfect example of how you're never too old to use technology. Check out Geriatric1927's channel on YouTube - he's a prolific vlogger, and has some great posted videos about older adults using computers.

In the News: Washington Post - Older and Smarter

Check out this collection of articles from the On Success series in the Washington Post. Each explores how increased age is an asset in success - whether it's the experience needed to solve difficult issues, or the wisdom gained from a life lived.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Welcome to the SERC blog!

Why does the Sheridan Elder Research Centre (SERC) need a blog?

  • The topic of aging is everywhere in the popular media. We frequently run across newspaper articles, YouTube videos, and other media that we feel would be interesting for people involved with SERC. This is an easy way to immediately share the news that we feel is interesting and/or important to older adults.
  • In addition to email and snail mail, this is a quick way to let people know about upcoming research opportunities and educational outreach events at SERC.
Two important parts of the blog so far:
  • Our Movies & Munchies update. Every month, SERC is hosting a movie and discussion event where we'll show a movie featuring older adults. After the movie, we will discuss the way that older adults and aging were portrayed - both the positive and negative. We'll post here what the upcoming movie of the month will be.
  • SERC is reading... Some sites we keep up with are constant sources of interesting links and stories about the issues of aging. This list will be comprised of these sites - so you can read what we are reading. The first up: The New Old Age blog from the New York Times.