These past two meetings were really engaging and interactive. I find myself enjoying this course as it is very different from the conventional courses where you memorize material and regurgitate information on a test. This week the class has a book presentation on This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism. I enjoyed the book, with parts of it reminding me of the current event article where my group and I presented an article about Accessory Dwelling Units (A.D.U.s) around two weeks ago. The article’s argument centered around the idea of A.D.U.s being effective as it can house older family members, and the book on page 15 talking about universal design. Most A.D.U.s are created to house peoples’ aging family members, so most of the time, these units can be designed in a way with the aging population in mind (universal design) compared to outside housing complexes with utilities unfit for use in the aging population. In the last two weeks, I also enjoyed reading all of the seniors’ replies and messages about their current lifestyles even in times of COVID and how they are doing in these trying times. The seniors’ responses are always so lively and unique! It is unfortunate how I am unable to meet with amazing seniors in person because of the pandemic. However, it has still been a great experience to be able to read their letters and respond. One of the other highlights was learning about my classmates’ extraordinary person (EP). It was lovely to hear about the work that they put into their memoir and what they got from doing the project. I look forward to presenting to the class my extraordinary person (dad) on Wednesday!
This week, I worked with Cindy and Katlyn on a presentation to talk about current events that are going on. In this group project, we choose a New York Times article that was about A.D.U.s. The acronym, A.D.U., stands for accessory dwelling unit. The article argued that A.D.U.s could potentially alleviate contemporary housing problems as our senior population continues to expand. Learning about this made me think about how widespread development of A.D.U.s could be extremely beneficial for the aging population. Instead of aging in isolation and in-place, seniors living in A.D.U.s can age in place with their family members and not in isolation. They would be able to interact with their family members as they are living close to each other. Something else that was memorable and enjoyable to me this week was the seniors from Casa de Mañana who joined our class. Through the breakout rooms on zoom, I learned about Susan and Daniel’s lifestyle and insights. Something amazing was that Daniel is does something similar to our memoir project. He does interviews with other people in Casa de Mañana and puts them onto CDs so that his interviewees will be able to look back onto them. In addition, an insight brought up by Susan is that moving into senior housing can be challenging. Susan argued that instead of being resentful and moving when you are forced to because of your growing age, you ready yourself when the time comes and have it be your decision to move so you can cope with moving out from your loved ones.
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Danny yuDanny is a Molecular and Cell Biology major from San Francisco, CA. Fun Fact, he has a Black belt in karate. Archives
May 2021
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