Who Said 75 Is Old?

Abstract

In May 2009, Jan Buttram and Bara Swain began team teaching a weekly writing workshop at Women-in-Need, a women's center for substance abuse and wellness. The hour-long workshop begins on a simple premise: everyone has a voice. For 1 hour, the participants are relieved of their roles as mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, girlfriends, or recovering drug addicts. For one hour, our common bond is to have our voices heard. The workshop, Communicate Sober, is attended by women ages 18 to 50. Some are homeless and living in the New York City shelter system. Others are survivors of physical and sexual abuse. Many are single women who have lost temporary custody of their children. All are in the recovery process. The structure for the workshop includes journal writing, improvisation, and weekly writing exercises. The prompts for the timed writing exercises include found objects, literary quotes, song titles, animal masks, photos, and household items. The results are read at the end of class. At each subsequent workshop, we design and distribute an illustrated chapbook of the women's work. The prompt for these stories and plays was to write about aging senior citizens or from the point of view of an elderly person. Timing the exercise allowed the writer to tap her unconscious and pay close attention to what she felt through the process of association- random sensations, ideas, and memories. This group of extraordinary women have voices that should not be silenced. Thank you for giving Erin, Hanan, Lindsay, Milady, and Victoria the opportunity to be heard. WHO SAID 75 IS OLD?: WRITTEN BY VICTORIA AQUINO GRANDMA PAT: 75 GRANDSON GEORGE: 25 GEORGE: Hey, Grandma, what you doing? GRANDMA: Well, I'm getting ready to go on a date. GEORGE: A date! Woman, are you crazy? You should be home knitting or something. GRANDMA: Georgy honey, pass me my cane. (Grandma gives George a clunk with her cane.) GEORGE: Oww! What was that for? GRANDMA: Boy, when you get to my age, it's like being young all over again. You could never be too old to date, shoo! I got a good 50 years of experience under my belt. Just ask your grandpa, may he rest in peace! That old coot couldn't get enough of me. GEORGE: Well, just be home at a reasonable time. (Grandma gives George another clunk with her cane.) GRANDMA: You better get out of my house so I can get ready! GEORGE: Well, I guess Grandma got her groove back. GRANDMA: Honey! I never lost it! Now give me some sugar! I AM SO GLAD TO SEE YOU: WRITTEN BY JAN BUTTRAM I am so glad to see you. I dropped my cane, and I can't bend my knee, so I can't reach it. I've been holding onto furniture all day. I tried hooking it with the mop . . . didn't work. I tried getting a rope around it . . . didn't work. I tried getting my toes under it. Didn't work. I won't call the police because they've got bigger problems than my cane and I knew you were coming back- but I got scared you wouldn't come. So I called you . . . you didn't answer. I said, Gladys, you are in a pickle. Where were you that you didn't answer the phone? Come here. Look, there it is-wedged between the bathroom door and the hallway. I kept moving it but not in the right direction. You are the best kid to come and help me. I'm leaving you all my things when I die. I'll write it all down so you can tell my kids, she gave everything to me because I stopped by to see her and helped her find my blankety-blank cane. THIS IS BECAUSE OF YOU, MR. BROWN: WRITTEN BY MILADY RIVERA This is because of you, Mr. Brown. Because of your inspiration, I am who I am today. You are age 86 with so much energy and love, and I wanted to be just like you. As I grew up talking, watching you, I got to admire the person you are, and I wanted to be just like you when I'm your age. Hopefully, still alive! You are vibrant and forthcoming for a man in a wheelchair. …