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Blog archive

November 2024

Event of Remembrance
11/22/2024

Phishing Scams: What You Need to Know
11/22/2024

Pupusas Family Style: Another Adventurous Dining Winner
11/22/2024

Celebrating the Holidays
11/21/2024

Genealogy Group: Discovering Our Pasts
11/21/2024

Nathan Wolford – From Tragedy to Ministry
11/21/2024

Pasadena Village Board of Directors: A Brief Overview
11/21/2024

President's Message
11/21/2024

The Day of the Dead (Dia de muertos)/ Mexican Culture/Community
11/21/2024

Vintage Celebration: Aging Like a Fine Wine
11/21/2024

Review of Racism in Our Local Past
11/20/2024

Creative Juices Flow in The Village
11/19/2024

Checking In by Ed Rinderle
11/15/2024

Eagle Poem by Joy Harjo
11/15/2024

I Shall Forget You Presently, My Dear (Sonnet IV) by Edna St. Vincent Millay
11/15/2024

Pictures From Brueghel by William Carlos Williams
11/15/2024

October 2024

ARBORIST WALK: NOT FOR TREE HUGGERS ONLY!
10/29/2024

Bill Wishner: Visual Hunter
10/29/2024

Can a Village Group Fix Our Healthcare System?
10/29/2024

Community Board Directors Strengthen Village Board
10/29/2024

Connecting with Village Connections: The A, B, C, & D’s of Medicare @ 65+
10/29/2024

Grief is a Journey: Two Paths Taken
10/29/2024

Message from the President
10/29/2024

Promoting Informed & Involved Voters
10/29/2024

What Will Be Your Legacy?
10/29/2024

1619, Approaching the Election...
10/27/2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born
10/17/2024

Happiness by Priscilla Leonard
10/11/2024

Those Winter Sundays by Robert Hayden
10/11/2024

Unpainted Door by Louise Gluck
10/11/2024

In the Evening by Billy Collins
10/10/2024

Wild Geese by Mary Oliver
10/10/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

Betty Kilby, A Family History
10/01/2024

September 2024

August 2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

1619 Wide Ranging Interests
08/19/2024

First Anniversary
08/19/2024

Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen
08/16/2024

Muse des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
08/16/2024

The God Abandons Antony by Constantinos P. Cavafy
08/16/2024

Ch – Ch – Ch –Changes
08/15/2024

Cultural Activities Team offers an ‘embarrassment of riches’
08/15/2024

Engaging in Pasadena Village
08/15/2024

Future Housing Options
08/15/2024

Message from the President
08/15/2024

There Are Authors Among Us
08/15/2024

Villagers Welcome New Members at the Tournament Park Picnic
08/15/2024

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas
08/14/2024

A narrow Fellow in the Grass by Emily Dickinson
08/13/2024

Haikus
08/13/2024

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop
08/13/2024

Poem 20 by Pablo Neruda
08/13/2024

Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
08/13/2024

Trees by Joyce Kilmer
08/13/2024

July 2024

June 2024

May 2024

Emergency Preparedness: Are You Ready?
05/28/2024

Farewell from the 2023/24 Social Work Interns
05/28/2024

Gina on the Horizon
05/28/2024

Mark Your Calendars for the Healthy Aging Research California Virtual Summit
05/28/2024

Meet Our New Development Associate
05/28/2024

Putting the Strategic Plan into Practice
05/28/2024

Washington Park: Pasadena’s Rediscovered Gem
05/28/2024

Introducing Civil Rights Discussions
05/22/2024

Rumor of Humor #2416
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2417
05/14/2024

Rumor of Humor #2418
05/14/2024

Springtime Visitors
05/07/2024

Freezing for a Good Cause – Credit, That Is
05/02/2024

No Discussion Meeting on May 3rd
05/02/2024

An Apparently Normal Person Author Presentation and Book-signing
05/01/2024

Flintridge Center: Pasadena Village’s Neighbor That Changes Lives
05/01/2024

Pasadena Celebrates Older Americans Month 2024
05/01/2024

The 2024 Pasadena Village Volunteer Appreciation Lunch
05/01/2024

Woman of the Year: Katy Townsend
05/01/2024

April 2024

March 2024

February 2024

January 2024

Beyond and Within the Village - A Star is Born

By Susan Kujawa
Posted: 10/17/2024
Tags: beyond the village, newsletter november 2024

It seems to be accepted as common knowledge that our lives shrink as we get older.  Some of this is due to physical limitations that accompany old age – decreased vision and mobility, being common elements of growing older. Some of this is also due to a lack of opportunities. Older adults know too well the feeling of being over-looked when certain activities are planned.  “We’d love to have you join us, but we understand it will be too tiring for you.”  And we also build our own walls that contribute to the shrinking of our world. We are often reluctant to try something new.  How many times do we hear an older person state, “Who needs a smart phone? I do just fine with my old rotary dial!”

Pasadena Village Board President, Dick Myers, does not buy into this “small world” narrative. In 2018 Dick left his home in Texas to be closer to his son in Highland Park.  Although visually impaired with macular degeneration, Dick says that when he first moved in with his son’s family, he would take the Metro to Pasadena and “roam the streets looking for something to do.”  In 2019, when a friend told him about Pasadena Village he checked it out – and he was all in!

Over the years Dick’s visual impairment increased and he soon needed a walker to get around. The steep hills of Highland Park were not a friendly place, and so Dick moved into Villa Gardens Retirement Community.  He appreciated the friends he made at Villa Gardens, but his commitment to and involvement in Pasadena Village did not diminish.

Last year, a film director, Sarah Friedland, approached Villa Gardens with the idea of making a coming of (old) age film, that follows an octogenarian woman's transition to life in assisted living as she contends with her conflicting relationship to herself and her caregivers amidst her shifting memory, age identity, and desires.  Villa Gardens agreed and over the course of 15 days in June 2023, the facility was transformed into a film set with Villa Gardens residents and staff participating as members of the cast and crew. Read here about the Familiar Touch and Front Porch relationship.  The film that emerged, “Familiar Touch,” premiered at the Venice Film Festival Orizzonti Competition on September 3, 2024 where it won three awards, including the Luigi de Laurentiis Award for Best Debut.

As the filming progressed, Dick Myers was approached and asked to play the husband of the lead actress's best friend. "I was at one of the filmmakers’ introductory workshops, and as we were sitting around afterwards, they were saying that they needed somebody to play one of the roles, and they needed a man, and they looked at me and said, 'Can you do it?' That was my audition," he says. Dick needed to play someone with a cognitive impairment. He was asked to hum something, and he chose an Irish lullaby. "I just hummed that (with my eyes closed), and when my 'wife' came over to me I looked up and acknowledged her, and smiled, but due to my dementia I didn't say anything. That was my big moment in the film."

Dick’s participation in the film proved to be a wonderful experience. “I learned a lot, met very interesting people, and had a lot of fun.”  His experience illustrates that if you are open to new opportunities at any age, and actively engaged in a community, there is always the possibility to do more, to be more, to live more.

Pasadena Village encourages older adults to be active participants in their lives to the fullest extent possible.  Villagers create workshops and activities that build on their interests and expertise – whether that be art, music, science, walking, reading, or current events. In an atmosphere of acceptance, they are emboldened to try new things, whether that be writing poetry, leading a group, or joining a program team.  Villagers also go “beyond the Village” to volunteer at local nonprofits that support former foster youth, volunteer at the animal shelter, or teach reading to third graders. 

As a smiling Dick Myers points out, “Who would have thought I would begin a new career as a screen idol?  It just shows that it’s never too late to start something new.  Pasadena Village creates an environment for our Villagers that opens them up to new possibilities at any age. My film career will be a short one, but it is something I’ll never forget.”

“Familiar Touch” will premier at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles on October 26, 2024. The film has received favorable reviews in Variety, Rotten Tomatoes, and the Hollywood Reporter, among others. 

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