Maggie Griffin, 88, is comedian Kathy Griffin’s mother and a regular on her daughter’s reality TV show. How doe she handle her own recent fame and her daughter’s often outrageous humor? Click here to read the story!
Being a Comedienne’s Mother
Posted in Film/Television
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Online Computer Training for Seniors
“SeniorNet Online Learning Center is a virtual campus offering online computer and Internet Lesson Plans for Boomers, Seniors or anyone who would like to gain more enjoyment from their computer.” Over 300 lesson plans cover Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Windows 7, Vista, XP, Paint, Works, Adobe Photoshop Elements as well as a section devoted to job-related skills. The cost is $99 for a year’s worth of access. Click here for 
more information about SeniorNet. Also check to see what computer training is available in your apartment community or at your local senior center. Those classes are usually free. However, some seniors are unable to take advantage of local classes, so SeniorNet could provide a viable at-home alternative.
EngAGE is not affiliated in any way with SeniorNet. Before you sign up, please explore the site thoroughly to see if it will work for you.
Posted in Learning, Technology
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Experience Talks 10/15: Russell Banks
Tune in to Experience Talks, our “Radio Magazine for the Experienced Listener.” Saturdays 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, 98.7 FM Santa Barbara, 99.5 China Lake, 93.7 N. San Diego, streaming live online and now syndicated on up to 100 Pacifica Network stations! You can also hear previous shows on the Listen Page of our Experience Talks website.
Russell Banks is one of America’s most prestigious fiction writers, a past president of the International Parliament of Writers and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His books include The Rule of the Bone, Contintental Drift, Affliction and The Sweet Hereafter. Tim Carpenter talks to Russell Banks about his new novel, Lost Memory of Skin.
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What Does 100 Look Like?
What does 100 look like? Karsten Thormaehlen, a German photographer, decided to show us “Die Schönheit des Alters” (“The Beauty of Old Age”) in her book, Mit hundert hat man noch Träume (At 100 One Still Has Dreams). Here’s a rough translation from the website:
“They have witnessed almost the entire 20th Century – two world 
wars, the division of Germany and reunification. The pictures show dignified old men and women who have previously worked as farmers, booksellers, theater owners. But the 100-year-olds are not only people with a past, but people with very current passions, from chess games to gymnastics, for books, operettas or fishing.”
See a selection of the photographs here. Although the captions are in German, the joy in the faces of the subjects doesn’t need translation!
Posted in Art/Architecture, Writing/Storytelling
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Calvin Tomkins: Art Critic
Calvin Tomkins (age 86), author and art critic, has been a staff writer for The New Yorker since 1960 and has profiled such creative luminaries as Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Robert Rauschenberg, Merce Cunningham, Buckminster Fuller, Philip Johnson, Julia Child, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Jasper Johns.The tables were turned recently when Tomkins was interviewed for a New York Times feature article.
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“Prof” Johnson and The Kashmere Stage Band
Not many teachers get a feature film made about them to honor their work, but Conrad Johnson did. The Houston music educator formed the Kashmere Stage Band, a renowned high school orchestra that broke the color barrier and won a number of awards during its decade-long run from the late 1960s to 1978. In February of 2008, thirty original members of the Kashmere Stage Band, all in their mid-50s, reunited for the first time in over three decades to pay tribute to their legendary leader, Conrad “Prof” Johnson, who was 92 at the time. Prof Johnson passed away just days after his former students staged the celebration in his honor. Thunder Soul, the film honoring his work, is scheduled for release September 23, 2011. Listen to an NPR story from 2005 about the band here. See the film trailer here.
Posted in Music
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Herb and Dorothy Vogel: Art Collectors Extraordinaire
Herb (age 89) and Dorothy (age 76) Vogel, retired postal worker and librarian, live modestly in their small New York City apartment and amassed a huge collection of contemporary art. The collection was so significant that in 1992 they generously decided to donate it (over 4,782 works) to the National Gallery of Art.
Collecting began again and in 2008 they launched “50 x 50,” a program that donated 2,500 works to 50 institutions across 50 states and was accompanied by a book with the same name.
The Vogels were the subjects of a wonderful documentary made in 2008. Click here to learn more and watch for it on your local public television station.
Posted in Art/Architecture
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