Happy Halloween (Joan and Loretta D.)

Halloween is fast approaching, a festival of candy, costumes, and the occasional bit of mischief. Let's take a look at the Halloweens of decades past, before the days of trick-or-treating at the mall, adult supervision and meticulously examining candy for poison.

Joan Bunting 

10.23.2014 

Halloween Story

Halloween is a time when people dress up to become whomever or whatever they want to be. 

As a young girl, my brothers and I made up our own costumes. Sometimes we would just mark our faces with charcoal, and sometimes I would wear one of my sister’s dresses or skirts or blouses. One Halloween, I wore my youngest brother’s pants and shirt and he wore a dress of mine and covered his head with a scarf. 

People thought he was me and I was him. We were just about the same size and only two years apart in age. The older girls in our block actually thought we were twins. 

They used to call me "Paul with the dress on." I could not for the life of me convince them that we were not twins. 

Whenever we’re together people are still saying we look like twins. At his church, one of his members called me "Paul with hair."

Back to Halloween. After I grew up, I hadn’t dressed up for Halloween for years. 

When I worked at Western Day Care Center, I dressed up for Halloween as a cowgirl. 

I had a hard time finding a gun and holster, but I finally found one at Toys R Us. 

A few years ago, I dressed up as an Indian princess. The center used to have a mask contest. I thought everyone dressed up. I didn’t have a mask. So everyone that entered the contest had to sign up. I just sat down. So someone came to me and asked if I was going to sign up. I answered no because I had no mask. That’s when I was told my costume is my mask. Guess what y’all? I won first prize. Who will you be this Halloween?

Loretta Dotson 

10.30.2014 

My Nutrition No No’s 

It is so easy making wrong choices concerning our daily lives. Junk food is everywhere. In stores our eye lend to entice us and children, or check our counters, on TV., etc. Basically everywhere. We know what’s good for us and what isn’t good. But, junk food looks good and taste oh so good. Yum. I would prefer to have a wedge of apple pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or is “Pie a la mode” than to have a sugar free 4 oz. artificially flavored yogurt. Ugh. But, later in life we realize enough is enough. We can still enjoy our sweets but in moderation making sure we don’t overdo it. I have cut back on pepsi colas, Italian hoagies with everything on it, and pizza with pepperoni-mushrooms-sausage. Also my nightly milky way with sourdough pretzels. So much good stuff I had to eliminate or reduce. Oh, such misery. But, I know if I want to continue living I must continue eliminating my empty calories. So far it’s working I am doing okay but I can and will do better. I am careful not to consume my goodies around my children and grands. In other words I must practice what I preach. Woe is me.

 

No costumes this week, since I typically post photos from the week before. Hopefully next week's photos will be a little more spooky. Also, there's one older bud who did not want to be in the senior selfie, so her face was covered.

The Story Cure in Erie, PA came and went, but you can read Kaitlin Kortonick's (Best Day's Community Engagement Director) recap here. Also, you can read Story Cure's writing here since we're talking about all the different places we work with.

Don't forget, on this Sunday, October 29th, Best Day's Benita Cooper will be giving a lecture at the Perkins Center for the Arts' "Before I Die" Event. It starts at 3:15 and the address is 30 Irvin Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108.

And on November 9th Best Day will be having its Center City Philadelphia Happy Hour at the City Tap House. That starts at 6PM and the address is 2 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103. City Tap House is actually very close to my job, so you can meet me in person. We can even do some Happy Hour Senior Selfies!

 

 Curated by Caitlin Cieri

Are You Benita? (Loretta D.)

In 2009 when The Best Day of My Life So Far first began in the basement of the Philadelphia Senior Center, Benita was running the sessions. Best Day had gained several facilitators over the years, but Benita had always been the Lead Facilitator. New members would enter the Center and see the day's schedule written on a whiteboard. Every Thursday it would say some variation "1:00 Room B 'The Best Day of My Life (So Far)' Storytelling; Benita."

 

In 2013, Benita gave birth to Kian and had his younger brother Jett in 2015. She also moved to New Jersey, which made coming to Best Day that much more difficult. Even before Benita had her first child, she wanted to expand Best Day across the United States. As she transitioned from Lead Facilitator to Fearless Leader Behind the Scenes, she trained and assisted as new volunteers like Jana, Jada, Jen, Kira, Mary, Rachel, Hannah, Allison, Cassie, Neha, Kadambari, Kara and myself compiled the older buds stories.

Time had passed, and a lot of us shared the baton of Lead Facilitator for various weeks. I was usually the one running the sessions, but the whiteboard didn't change. So every time someone new came in, they'd ask "Are you Benita?" I'd say no and they'd look confused and disappointed. Fortunately, Loretta D. and I got the whiteboard issue taken care of. Next week, I'll be having new older buds ask me "Are you Caitlin?" instead.

Loretta Dotson 

9.21.2017 

The Window

Sometimes, I sit at my window looking out and watching people pass by. The weather dictates their pose usually. I like guessing if they’re going to work and running late or if they’re meeting friends for a meal or a movie. When they have little ones in tow are they taking them to grandmoms or to pre-school? Maybe they’re coming here? Oh no, please not today, I am enjoying the quiet. I love the spring having a daily personal record of budding flowers and grass blades protruding with promises of nature’s beauty is amazing. The summer, hot, humid, muggy, thank God for air conditioning and high powered fans then come the fall. Leaves turning beautiful colors. So lovely. Then, winter is here. Sleet, snow, high howling winds. Just thinking about it makes me shiver. So on the days when I remain home and my chores are completed, I can usually be found sitting on the window sipping coffee or Pepsi, watching the people and the seasons. You’re welcome to join me.

The Story Cure in Erie, PA came and went, but you can read Kaitlin Kortonick's (Best Day's Community Engagement Director) recap here. Also, you can read Story Cure's writing here since we're talking about all the different places we work with.

Don't forget, on October 29th Best Day's Benita Cooper will be giving a lecture at the Perkins Center for the Arts' "Before I Die" Event. It starts at 3:15 and the address is 30 Irvin Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108.

And on November 9th Best Day will be having its Center City Philadelphia Happy Hour at the City Tap House. That starts at 6PM and the address is 2 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103. City Tap House is actually very close to my job, so you can meet me in person. We can even do some Happy Hour Senior Selfies!

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

Our Other Workshops (Norman, Adele, Lorie)

If you've been following Best Day for a while, then you know my group isn't the only one writing stories. There are several other Best Days located in Pennsylvania, including the Free Library of Philadelphia and Center in the Park (which our older bud Norman also writes for.) Plus, we also have workshops in Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon, and Washington. So here's a few stories that go off the beaten path.

Norman Cain

06.20.2017

Center in the Park, PA

Odunde

Each year, in June, I leave my premises with a folding chair and head towards South Street to engage in the atmosphere presented by the largest Afro-American Street Festival in the nation. Odunde means Yoruba New Year. The festival has been in existence for 42 years and annually attracts over a thousand spectators; who are entertained by break dancers, a spontaneous conglomerate of drummers on 22nd Street, other dancers keep alive a Brazilian martial arts form presented as a dance. The preceding is but a splattering of the street entertainment the Festival affords. There is also, between 1:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., continuous entertainment on the stage on Grays Ferry Avenue and 22nd Street and South Street. According to an article written in the Philadelphia Tribune newspaper,  the festival averages over 100 vendors who sell exotic art, t-shirts, books, and food Etc. The festival starts with a procession to the Schuylkill River. This is where sacrifices to Osun Aruba god of love.

Each year, I watched the drummer’s drum when they attend the procession. It is traditional for the drummers to perform throughout the day at 22nd and Bainbridge. That’s where I always spend the greatest portion of my Odunde time. I always enjoy this event. It is a culture. It is like a reunion. I always see folks from the previous year. This year I bought a complete set of poems by D. Maya Angelou, as well as well as her second autobiography “Gathered together in my name,” from a vendor who was from New York who’s cut-rate prices were phenomenal. His collection could take one into bankruptcy. Looking forward to the next Odunde festival.

Adele

07.30.2014

Senior Housing Assistance Group Rainer Court, WA

I Know How To Cook Everything

I grew up on Ilocos Sur – that’s a province in the Philippines. It’s nice over there, but it’s hot – too hot. When I was 5 years old – already cleaning the house, riding bicycles, learning to cook. When I was 17, I know everything.  I went to Mindanao. I worked in a hospital. I learned to give medicine. I’m lazy to study, but I’m a quick learner. In school, I had to learn. When school stopped, I didn’t have to learn anymore. Now it’s like I forgot everything. Because I’m old.

I’m the youngest, I’m the one to take care of everyone I’m the mother, I’m the father. Early in the morning, I’m cooking rice. I know how to cook everything. I make sweet rice, puto, bibinka. I don’t use a recipe, I taught myself. Someone asked me to cook pancit. I didn’t know the recipe, I made up my own. People ask how come the color is like this? I don’t know!

Lorie Rosenblum

10.26.2016

Services For Adults Staying In Their Homes, IL

What Book?

I kept returning to A Tangled Web by Louisa M. Montgomery, the author of the Anne of Green Gables series. I was brought up in Canada, in the years during and after World War II.  I was a solitary and bookish child, gluttonous for reading.  A Tangled Web was a novel for grownups, and it featured romance, of course.  All I remember is this:  In a small town the heroine, quite young, has a feisty relationship with an older man, jousts of verbal wit.  The man is an outsider in the community, someone of stature, though – perhaps a doctor – and a bachelor.  He is in love with the young woman, but never tells her.  She marries, some kind of lie is told – hence the “tangled web.” Years later the heroine and the older man are brought together and profess their mutual love.  I think they marry.  I’m struck now how this theme – thwarted or forbidden romance between a young woman and an older man – kept turning up in my reading.  The two novels that I also returned to again and again with fervor were Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, each of which focus on a romance between a kind of princess in disguise – the girl may be plain but is valued for her mind – and a stern, taskmaster older man.  A powerful fantasy for an adolescent female, growing up in the fifties, with a handsome father, and looking for a prince charming far different from the bumbling, scornful adolescent boys she feared and despised.

The Story Cure in Erie, PA came and went, but you can read Kaitlin Kortonick's (Best Day's Community Engagement Director) recap here. Also, you can read Story Cure's writing here since we're talking about all the different places we work with.

Don't forget, on October 29th Best Day's Benita Cooper will be giving a lecture at the Perkins Center for the Arts' "Before I Die" Event. It starts at 3:15 and the address is 30 Irvin Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108.

And on November 9th Best Day will be having its Center City Philadelphia Happy Hour at the City Tap House. That starts at 6PM and the address is 2 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103. City Tap House is actually very close to my job, so you can meet me in person. We can even do some Happy Hour Senior Selfies!

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

A Sort of Summer Vacation (Loretta D. and Joe)

Over the past few months, both Joe and Loreta D. decided to take a summer vacation from Best Day. They wanted to take advantage of the nice summer weather and enjoy the great outdoors, and they both used this time to start planning what to write. The good news, both of them wrote a story last week. The bad news, Loretta couldn't even come to class because her CCT bus picked her up just after class started. I always feel bad when our older buds are beholden to a transportation system the can't control. But I'm glad I can feature them both today.

Loretta G. Dotson
9.28.2017
What If  

Such a small word, but quite significant, so meaningful, so powerful. If the sun wasn’t out it would be dark and cloudy. If I would have had bacon and would have made breakfast at home. If the bus wasn’t late I would have arrived on time. If this dress was in my size, I would have purchased it. If an apartment was available in that building, I would have applied for it. If they don’t have coffee I’ll have tea. So many "ifs" so important in every way. If I would not have written this for sure, I have another written view of my life experiences.
If you don’t mind, over and out. 

Joe Garrison
9.28.2017
School Days  

I had been out of high school for a few years, and the idea of going back to a classroom was a little intimidating. I was a little nervous but I thought maybe I’ll give it a try.
I prepared myself for the first day. It was a new experience because I was the only sightless person. On the first day, I walked in and introduced myself. People asked, "How is he going to keep up? Take notes? Survive in the class?" One particular fellow who was sitting next to me had a really surly attitude. He said, "Do you expect us to take care of you? To help you, write your notes?" I said to him, "I never asked you to help me. I can hold my own and keep up." Another lady was the opposite of this man. We became friends. She helped me out, took some notes and we were friends outside of class.
People always pre-judge. All that man could see was that I was sightless and he judged me. I maintained an "A" average in my classes. I had my text books on tape. I hated Algebra though I took other math classes, but Algebra was the worst.
I found my way around the school. I knew where to go on campus. I took the bus and sometimes my friend would drive me home. I loved my music history class. I thoroughly enjoyed it. We learned about music from the medieval period to rock and roll! I imparted some of my knowledge to the instructor! She gave me an A+!
I enjoyed my experience at Philadelphia Community College. 

Don't forget, on October 29th Best Day's Benita Cooper will be giving a lecture at the Perkins Center for the Arts' "Before I Die" Event. It starts at 3:15 and the address is 30 Irvin Avenue, Collingswood, NJ 08108.

And on November 9th Best Day will be having its Center City Philadelphia Happy Hour at the City Tap House. That starts at 6PM and the address is 2 Logan Square, Philadelphia, PA 19103. City Tap House is actually very close to my job, so you can meet me in person. We can even do some Happy Hour Senior Selfies!

Curated by Caitlin Cieri