For some time I've been facilitating a writing class at the University of Massachusetts at Boston under the aegis of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a program run by the Gerontology Department. The participants are getting better all the time. In June, 2007, we were all delighted to another publication by a class member--Rita Richardson's humorous essay "Black Pants Syndrome" is up at Sasee, a Web-zine for women. Read it--it's funny, even if you're not a woman. Another recent publication by a member of the class is a moving essay, I Always Have a Choice, by Catherine Royce, published and broadcast by NPR on December 4, 2006. Shortly before that Catherine published a memoir called Meeting Cathy in the Fall, 2006 edition of flashquake, a respected online magazine. Another publication, a short piece called "A Date With a Mystery Man," in the Boston Globe's Sunday "Tales from the City" column by B.J. Meade, is posted in full below. And there is a note on Clyde Ann Nelson's memoir, Africa and My New Beginning, below that. * * * |
Carter Jefferson |
TALES FROM THE CITY A Date With a Mystery Man by Betty Jane Meade The Boston Globe Magazine, February 20, 2005 Finding Mr. Wrong My friend Ellie, who passed away in July at age 73, attracted men like ants to a picnic. A divorcee, she was self-confident yet gracious and feminine. She lived in a condo with her French poodle, which she walked twice a day. Sometimes on these walks she crossed paths with Ian, a widower who lived in the same condo complex. They occasionally stopped to chat. One evening last year while walking her dog, Ellie ran into Ian. She felt an afterglow from having had two glasses of wine with dinner and became a little effusive, gushing on to him about what a nice man he was. Flattered, he promptly invited her to go to the movies. She accepted but later thought she ought to know more about him, so she consulted the condo directory to find his number and called. Ellie told me their conversation went something like this: "Hello, Ian, this is Ellie. I've been thinking about you and realized I didn't get your last name." "It's Connors." "You must be younger than I am. How old are you?" she asked. "I'm 75." "I always see you coming and going. Why do you go in and out so often?" "How do you know that?" he replied. "You must go in and out often, too." After a few more questions, Ellie was satisfied and hung up, happy as a woman at a shoe sale that she had a date with her new friend. After their outing, she called me. "The problem is, I discovered that his name is Ian Miller, not Connors, and he's 68," she told me. The man she had talked to on the phone was someone else entirely.---Betty Jane Meade ########## |
Publications by Students From the OLLI Class |
Clyde Ann was born in Panama City, Florida. Life in the South was hard, for she had to deal with racism and segregation. Even after she'd lived in Boston for years she still suffered from the after effects of those bad days. But, she says: "When I stepped on board Ghana Airlines something was beginning to happen to me. It wasas if I were stepping into another world." Her book is the story of that trip to Africa and her awakening. It's told in her own voice, and it would be hard for anybody to read it and not be moved. You may order her book from Trafford Publishing of Victoria, BC., Canada, by calling 1-888-232-4444. |
Clyde Ann Nelson, Africa and My New Beginning |
For some time I've been facilitating a writing class at the University of Massachusetts at Boston under the aegis of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, a program run by the Gerontology Department. The participants are getting better all the time. In June, 2007, we were all delighted to another publication by a class member--Rita Richardson's humorous essay "Black Pants Syndrome" is up at Sasee, a Web-zine for women. Read it--it's funny, even if you're not a woman. Another recent publication by a member of the class is a moving essay, I Always Have a Choice, by Catherine Royce, published and broadcast by NPR on December 4, 2006. Shortly before that Catherine published a memoir called Meeting Cathy in the Fall, 2006 edition of flashquake, a respected online magazine. Another publication, a short piece called "A Date With a Mystery Man," in the Boston Globe's Sunday "Tales from the City" column by B.J. Meade, is posted in full below. And there is a note on Clyde Ann Nelson's memoir, Africa and My New Beginning, below that. * * * |
