aarp, entertaining me

This afternoon, Senior Planet had a special about a project that an award-winning actor started in San Antonio a few years ago.

The pandemic didn't seem to affect the interest of the elderly out there in "Seniors At Play", Tony Plana's group to engage people with others for stage performances.

Switching to a ZOOM format, rather than live, saw no decrease in number of folks involved.

The object of the talk today was to determine how much interest the general AARP community had in learning to act and perform short plays.

I want to know how I can view those plays!

Tonight, I was present at AARP Movies For Grownups (MFG) for a biography about a structural engineer, Peter Rice.

As I told the small group (500 or so viewers), "Beautifully done movie. Not usually my cup of tea, but I am thrilled to have seen it. How inventive he was over his short life."

"An Engineer Imagines" covered the major projects he'd help bring to life: The Sydney Opera House, Lloyds of London, Centre Pompidou in Paris - all before his 50th birthday.

No surprise that he won the RIBA Royal Gold Medal for architecture in 1992, being the second engineer ever to receive it.

He had a gift for combining the creative and logical sides of his brain to solve architectural problems and resolve the structure as a piece of art.

I have to wonder how much lovelier cities would be had not a brain tumor interfered and struck him down thirty years ago.

Surprisingly, I have found myself at other narrative documentaries with MFG.

On May 26th, I was part of another small crowd for "The Book Keepers".

The author, Carol Wall, had died at 63 of cancer before the book tour began for "Mr. Owita's Guide To Gardening: How I learned The Unexpected Joy Of A Green Thumb And An Open Heart", a memoir of the man from Kenya who kept her mother company.

Dick Wall, her husband, was eventually convinced to do the tour for her... and found an audience to share discussions of grief and loss and change.

The film is lovingly directed by their son, Phil.

I have to wonder how many others were helped by their sharing their story, both in person, and in this film.

The MFG film from the night before (May 25th) was about the loss of a place, or, rather, the loss of a franchise.

"The Automat" chronicled the Horn & Hardart restaurants from the very first one in Philadelphia in 1902, through the expansion to New York City, to the closing of the last one in the 1960's.

I had but one recurring thought throughout the film: "These look like the food vending machines in the visitation room at the prison in Summerville."

Of course, everything cost much more than a nickel, and electronics were used for the selection process... but, the little doors were slid open by hand to remove the food inside.

Sometimes, there was even pie.

(smile!)