Seniors at the Palm Court senior living facility in Culver City are redefining their roles through a new writing workshop taught by Yvonne Good, owner of Today’s Seniors, a company that works with local senior centers and retirement homes.
Participating seniors meet every other Tuesday for an hour to talk, share their work, and receive feedback from Good and the group.
But for the students, who range in age from 71 to 95, the workshop is much more than a class: it provides a sense of community, important social interaction, inspiration and motivation.
“It [the workshop] keeps us mentally stimulated. It is one of the most fun things that I’ve done since I’ve been at Palm Court,” said student Betty Citrin.
The meetings are a time for creativity and openness, with students often reflecting on past memories and experiences through their work.
Hearing particularly good work from one student encourages the rest of the group to strive to accomplish.
Each of the students works on an individual project of their own choosing, which range from poems and short stories, to series, screenplays, memoirs and full books.
“They [the students] are so versatile. Each has their own direction,” said Good.
Indeed, the group of students is a mélange of personalities from a host of different backgrounds.
Take Uelaine Lengefeld, a retired professor who is writing her fifth edition of the book Study Skills Strategieswhich is founded in current brain research, or the shy and humble Martha MacDonald who writes striking short stories about her own life.
Good says of Mac Donald, “I have never seen a more definite brilliant writer of short stories. So much so that she is an inspiration to me. She writes a story a week and puts a date on all her stories.”
But MacDonald explains simply, “I am just an amateur who likes to write.”
Cyrus Kirshner, also a retired professor, is working on a short series, Fly on the Wall, a creative and out-of-the-box story in which a fly serves as a spy in unconventional settings such as inside a confessional or psychiatrists office.
Citrin is working on an inspirational series for children and adults about a young disabled boy who triumphs over his disabilities, and student Wilma Sherr is the groups in-house poet who loves rhymes and has an organic and spontaneous work style.
She sums up her experiences writing in the workshop simply, “ I enjoy doing what I do.”
They are all enjoying the workshop so much in fact that they meet even when Good cannot make it, and are trying to start a lunchtime writing club.
When asked about what they would tell other seniors, the advice is unanimous: start a writing club or workshop at your local senior center or living facility.
“Just write. Don’t worry if its good. If its in your mind and you want to express it just do it,” said Citrin.
The hardest part, they agree, is getting started.
“Once I start, its like a steam engine rolling and going and going,” said Sherr.
Together, and with the help of Good, whom they affectionately call “their inspiration,” the students have gotten pretty far indeed.
For example, Lengefeld has recently signed the contract for her fifth edition book, and Citrin is looking into the possibility of a children’s network for her series about overcoming disabilities, and has already registered one story with the Writers Guild of America.
The students speak with highest regards of Good, who motivated them and reminded them of a skill set perhaps forgotten, who gave them a new sense of agency and worth, and who turned a writing class into a community.
Good says, “I teach them nothing, they teach me. I just enhance what’s in their hearts.”
On the whole, this small group of seniors shows us that there is no age limit for creativity and success.
They are seniors, but also, writers who inspire, challenge, contribute meaningful material to the community, and who have redefined the role for many over the age of 65.