Baby boomers are identified with youth culture. So who do they think they are when they get old? The answer may be in their stories, the ones they tell and the ones they share. Ottawa librarian Wendy Robbins looks at the growing popularity of a narrative approach to aging, even for individuals with dementia.
Participants in the program:
Keith Oatley, Professor Emeritus, Department of Human Development & Applied Psychology, University of Toronto.
William Randall, Professor in Gerontology, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative.
Ellen B. Ryan, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University, Department of Health, Aging, & Society.
Reading Circle guests: Facilitator: Trudy Medcalf, PhD, educator and researcher in gerontology. Participants: Artemis, Yash, and Gaetane
Robert Bockstael narrated the readings.
On Seeing Red
Red Wash it separately. They called me carrots... I always wished my hair was a different colour. Kids made fun of us...about 1914 it was... used to make me all knuckles and teeth. Made me see red! I gave her the hardest kiss she ever had. The colouring does everything. Makes you smile a smile, makes you feel good. Red roses remind me of someone I love. Flowers remind me of death and sickness. When you feel it, you feel it, when someone you love passes away. My husband always gave me red roses at Christmas. I think we did everything together. Always had flowers in the house. I like every red I see.
- Group poem facilitated in Long-Term Care (participants with dementia). From You Grow Out of Winter: Poetry in Long-Term Care, edited by Chris Hagens, Andrea Cosentino, and Ellen B. Ryan (2006) McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies.
Reading Circle Readings used in the program:
How it all Began, by Penelope Lively, published by Penguin, 2012
Memories, Dreams, and Reflections, by Carl Jung, published by Vintage, 1961.
"Thanks, Robert Frost" by David Ray, from Music of Time: Selected and New Poems, published by The Backwaters Press, 2006.
"On Seeing Red," by a group of patients in long-term care, from You Grow Out of Winter: Poetry in Long-Term Care. Edited by Chris Hagens, Andrea Cosentino, and Ellen B. Ryan (2006). For more information contact McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies.
Reading List:
The Stories We Are: An Essay on Self-Creation (Second Edition) by William Randall, published by University of Toronto Press, 2014
Storying Later Life: Issues, Investigations, and Interventions in Narrative Gerontology edited by Gary Kenyon, Ernst Bohlmeijer, and William Randall, published by Oxford University Press, 2010.
Read for your Life: Literature as a Life Support System, by Joseph Gold, published by Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2001.
Related Websites:
Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Narrative, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, home base for William Randall.
Writing Down Our Years, Ellen Ryan's website dedicated to "Aging with Spirit."
On Fiction: an online magazine on the psychology of fiction, with contributions from Keith Oatley
Online Elder Circles: A Guide to their Creation and Benefits: Trudy Medcalf's recent research project for the Sheridan Elder Research Centre.