Passage to India

In the Hidden Treasures of Western PA class last term, Linda Bosson and I learned about the Palace of Gold at New Vrindaban in the panhandle of West Virginia. We drove out there on Sunday and found a little bit of India. After about 15 miles of winding, two lane roads, passing farms, tiny towns and rolling hills, we came to the Palace of Gold, a monument to the founder of the global Hare Krishna movement. On a tour of the palace we learned about how it was built and how the International Society for Krishna Consciousness was founded by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in 1966. After the tour we went to the temple arriving in time to observe some of the prayer service and stay for lunch, Sunday vegetarian lunch being an important part of the temple activities. We were made to feel welcome by the participants in the service, both Indian and Western adherents, who helped us understand some of what was happening. This is the lake at New Vrindaban.

We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Palace and I was uncomfortable taking pictures in the Temple. Many photos of both the Temple and Palace can be found here.

Ruthe Karlin

Brief Encounter

I was sitting in the back of the Apple Store at the Mac-for-Dummys Bar with my wetnurse trainer, when I heard a familiar high pitched laugh. I looked up across the counter and spied one of my OLLI classmates, Ginny Eskridge. “Ginny, what are you doing here?”, I asked.
“I’m gathering my wits today–going to learn how to blog. What are YOU doing here?”
“You know about Silver Streakers…I’m learning how to do a Silver Streakers blog on Osher,” I replied.
“Correct,” she answered. Then Her eyebrows shot up. She guffawed, “Silver Streakers? I thought you said ‘Silver SNEAKERS’!” Eyeing me with a sidelong glance, she said, “But you know the connotation of the word ‘Streakers’, yes?”
“Oh yeah”, i said, “it’s just sort of a pun, double ententre, you know. Hey–-we’re consenting adults here, right?”
“OK then…I don’t know how many people would want to see a bunch of geezers streaking–but we’ll do it if necessary!”
Having resolved the streakers misunderstanding to her satisfaction, she gushed, “I just love Osher! Osher’s the best…it’s the most fun and the most educational and it’s just…fabulous.”
Correct. And that goes for Ginny, too. She’s the most fun and she’s just…fabulous. By the way, her tee shirt says, “NO FIGHT FOR LIBERTY EVER STAYS WON”. I’m looking forward to hanging with her in September.

Len Zapler

Experiencing Tai Chi

“Relax and Sink.” At various times during the course of each class, our instructor Stan Swartz repeats this uber-mantra, the distilled essence of the venerable Chinese martial art of Tai Chi. Stan has been teaching Tai Chi for some 30 years now, and he knows whereof he speaks. His voice is one of gentle authority, a voice that belies a rock hard musculature. I found out, because I tried to push him off his stance, and in the process wound up stumbling and nearly falling. Bottom line: he knows how to relax and sink and I don’t. That is the “distilled essence” of why I am taking the course. But I am learning–learning the Tai Chi way to walk, to stand, to breath, and to develop a meditative awareness of my body. Learning these lessons should improve my balance, strengthen my bones and muscles, lower my blood pressure and raise my spirits. Well, the jury’s still out for me but contrary to my usual duck-like waddle, I AM doing a better job of walking with my feet pointing forward.

Stan’s ten week Tai Chi course has become so popular that a second session has been added to accommodate OLLI members eager to become proficient in this increasingly popular exercise form.

Len Zapler

City Person Goes to the Farm

Yesterday afternoon a group from OLLI took a tour of Harvest Valley Farms. This was a real learning experience for me. Being very much a city person (Chicago, New York) my most intimate experience with farming came in a car driving from Chicago to where ever. You can’t escape those farms in the Midwest. And they are boring to look at. How many cornstalks or soy plants bring excitement to a moving car. So yesterday’s visit was a revelation for me, and probably many others.

Flowers and lots of great looking vegetables are grown in greenhouses or what were referred to as ‘high tunnels.’ Nearby fields had rows of plants coming up through holes in plastic sheeting with hay covering the furrows between the rows. Irrigation is done using tape and a drip method. I don’t remember all of the information we were given on the tour. What impressed me most about the people who run the farm was their ingenuity, willingness to research and try new methods of both production and marketing, and their understanding of the longterm need to educate people about the benefits of supporting local agriculture.

Controlling brush growing along a creek is done with this very efficient mowing machine.

Ruthe Karlin

More film class from Martha Harris

The unique aspect of David Shifren’s class ‘adaptation of fiction into
film’ is that we first talk about the story we read and afterwards the
film we saw.
The “The Greatest Gift” was changed from a flimsy, somewhat pallid
story into a film packed with action in “It’s A Wonderful Life”. The
essence of the character of George Bailey traveling from his wish to
never having been born, to non-existence, and back to life brought up
questions of suspended disbelief, casting, the characters’ change or
lack thereof, and for me, even an aspect of spirituality–George
Bailey’s heightened sense of understanding and appreciation of existence
by the end of the film.
In the short story “Rear Window” Jeff, an idle, incapacitated secluded
man sitting in his living room almost passively solves a murder. The
film gave us a sleuth (Jimmy Stewart) with a broken leg swiveling
around his living room in a wheelchair, a career on-hold, a love
connection, and humorous help from Thelma Ritter.
I expected to see a enactment similar to what I’d read, but
was happy to be wrong. These classes and our thoughtful
comments offer a new outlook on the process of adaptation.
Martha Harris
May 25, 2007