The quarter is flying by and these past two weeks were a bit on the busier side for me. For week 8, I was able to present my oral history project on my extraordinary person (EP) who I chose as my mom. Through this project, my mom not only relayed her life experiences but also reflected on how she felt about those experiences, her life motivations, and how she feels about everything now. It allowed me to learn more about her life before kids and gave me a deeper understanding of her values in life. My mom ended up really liking the poster board (see picture) I made that had her memoir embedded in it. I decided to present her memoir as a poster because when we were going through her pictures of her life before kids all of them were just stuffed in a briefcase that she rarely opens. Having the pictures displayed on the poster allowed her to truly showcase her accomplishments and life highlights. She ended up saying that she was amazed at the things she was able to accomplish in her life, coming from a difficult life in the Philippines. I am glad this project was able to result in increased satisfaction for her life and a sense of pride in her accomplishments as she was a minority (a woman and Filipina) in her main workplace in the Navy.
Week 9 was also insightful as I finished up the second book for this quarter entitled “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism.” I loved how this book was informative but also presented a call to action about how to fight against ageism, something that the first book we read this quarter lacked. Through this reading I realized that I was contributing to ageism by praising “successful” agers, such as older adults who ran marathons or played sports. This idealizes a certain way to age, which is wrong, as aging in any form is an accomplishment and an inevitable part of life! I hope to be an “Old Person in Training” in order to bridge the gap between my present self and future self, to embrace the changes that come with age/living, and to continue to fight ageism that is so mainstream in our youth-driven society.
Week 9 was also insightful as I finished up the second book for this quarter entitled “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism.” I loved how this book was informative but also presented a call to action about how to fight against ageism, something that the first book we read this quarter lacked. Through this reading I realized that I was contributing to ageism by praising “successful” agers, such as older adults who ran marathons or played sports. This idealizes a certain way to age, which is wrong, as aging in any form is an accomplishment and an inevitable part of life! I hope to be an “Old Person in Training” in order to bridge the gap between my present self and future self, to embrace the changes that come with age/living, and to continue to fight ageism that is so mainstream in our youth-driven society.