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News From CALL Mid‑November 2022
Photo by Gail Kingwell
Message from the President
I am honoured to take my turn as President of CALL.
Under the leadership of previous Presidents Ron Foyer, Lorraine Smith and Leslie Dort, CALL was able to keep going through Covid lockdowns. It was amazing to see how our coordinators, facilitators, presenters and committees adopted new technology so willingly, with the support of our wonderful technical teams. Their efforts meant that CALL not only survived but continued to thrive in the most difficult of times.
Now that we are taking the first steps returning to some in-person events and interest groups we realize the importance of social interactions that were missed when meeting only online. But we recognize that while many of our members are anxious to return to “normal” others are remaining cautious due to health concerns - and still others have found Zoom to be more convenient and accessible. It will be an exciting year as we continue to evolve and adapt. While there will be challenges, there will no doubt be many opportunities.
If you have ideas about how CALL can continue to evolve, please let your Board members know! I encourage you to continue to stay connected through interest groups. If you’re missing seeing your CALL friends, watch for opportunities to attend larger events in person. And if you would like to become more involved, please consider joining a committee, starting a new interest group, attending a monthly Board meeting, or filling one of our vacant Board positions.
Finally, if you are new to CALL or have not had an opportunity to meet other members in person these past years, please join us for the CALL Open House at cSpace on December 3, 1 to 3 pm. I hope to see you there.
Linda Flanagan
Executive@calgarylifelonglearners.ca
CALL Open House
Saturday, December 3, 1 – 3pm
Room 310, Third Floor, cSpace, 1721 29th Avenue SW
Whether you are a new or long-time member of CALL, please join us on Saturday, December 3.
It's a chance to enjoy some light refreshments as you:
- chat with a Board member and share your ideas of how CALL can continue to evolve;
- learn more about CALL offerings;
- socialize with other CALL members;
- check out CALL’s Room 310;
- wander the halls of cSpace.
You are welcome to bring guests who may be interested in learning more about CALL.
Please go to the CALL Open House page to register so we can better manage our logistics.
November Events
Treks and Travels
Wednesday, November 16, 7:30 – 9:00pm. Varsity Presbyterian Church
Presenter: Michael Taylor
Join Michael Taylor as he concludes "In Franklin’s Footsteps”. In October, he focused on the natural beauty experienced on a five-week adventure cruise in 2017 through the North West Passage. But Michael’s biggest learnings were from the waves of peoples who occupy these apparently barren lands; from pre-history, through colonization, to today’s Arctic generations, eagerly awaiting the promises of reconciliation as global pressures roil Canada’s third coast.
This is an in-person event for CALL members but non-member guests are welcome for a fee of $5.
CALL Café: End of Life Care Is a Right for All … Isn’t It??
Monday, November 21, 7pm – 8:30pm Online with Zoom
How do we imagine a ‘good death’? Can palliative care and a ‘good death’ ever be truly equitable for all?
How we answer these questions will be central to Dr. Simon Colgan’s presentation. A palliative care physician, Dr. Colgan is the founder of CAMPP (Community Allied Mobile Palliative Partnership). CAMPP is a low threshold, harm reduction focused, mobile palliative program targeting structurally vulnerable persons experiencing homelessness and others vulnerably housed. Working closely in partnership with various organizations to help ensure seamless, equitable care, CAMPP provides advocacy and navigation to people to ensure equity of care and to avoid their slipping through the cracks. Dr. Colgan’s presentation will challenge us to think about what palliative care means for those experiencing homelessness.
You must be a CALL member to register but the registration process allows you to bring 1 to 4 guests. If you decide to invite guests after you have registered, you will need to cancel your registration (Cancellation Tips) , then register again and indicate the number of guests that you will bring.
To register and for more information, go to the CALL Café page.
CALL Greeting Cards Sale
Tuesday, November 15, 12:00 – 2:00pm Room 310 at cSpace
December Events
Science and Environment
The Evolution of Parental Care in Birds
Tuesday, December 6, 7:30pm – 9:30pm Online via Zoom
Speaker: Dr. Dorothy Hill
Animals that provide parental care greatly increase the likelihood that their offspring will survive to adulthood. Birds are well known for their parental care and in many species both members of a mated pair will share the parental duties of feeding, brooding, or defending the young from predators. However, providing parental care is not cheap! It takes time and energy to raise offspring and this means there are fewer resources available for other activities such as self-maintenance, defending territories from competitors, or producing a greater number of offspring. This conflict between the needs of the offspring and the impacts on the caregivers has helped shape the mating systems of birds and has resulted in some fascinating alternative reproductive strategies.
For more details and to register go to the Science and Environment page.
Interest Groups Welcoming New Members
The Joy of Poetry
Poetry is inspirational, intuitive, and mystical: a concise distillation of an idea. The Joy of Poetry Group welcomes all who have enjoyed or have yet to enjoy the written and the spoken word we know as a poem. We Invite you to engage with selected poetry and to share with your peers the poets who have moved something within you. Our group discusses poets from all periods.
This year we are experimenting with guest poets reading their works on-line. On November 10 we were delighted to have Alberta poet, Sid Marty, who spoke about his craft and his work. Sid Marty delivered spoken word and treated us to a foreshadowing of poems from his most recent collection, Oldman’s River, New and Collected Poems, due May 2023 with NeWest Press, Edmonton. Sid brought out his guitar and shared his folk songs which spoke of his love of place the mountains and the prairies. This was an amazing event that included spoken word, recitation, and song.
On December 8 one of our peers, Wayne Valleau, will introduce us to the poetry of Lorna Crozier, an Albertan now living in Victoria. We have a second guest poet coming on January 12 to present to our group. Mark Abley is a writer and poet from Montreal who has agreed to join us to speak about his craft and read from his poetry collection Tongues of the Earth. Mark spent much of his youth in Alberta. He is well known for his work as a journalist on the Montreal Gazette and for his novel, The Organist.
Contact either Melvin Pasternak or Barbara Grant if you are interested in joining our group or might like to drop in for one of our special presentations.
With poetic joy and welcome,
Melvin and Barbara
Intergenerational Speaker Series: Connecting through Film and Conversation
By Barbara Decker-Pierce, CALL Vice-President
Snow, wind, snarled traffic … that’s what greeted Calgarians as they awoke on Wednesday Nov. 2, date of the second event in the Intergenerational Speaker Series. Wondering if anyone would brave the elements and make their way to Mt. Royal University, we were pleasantly surprised and very pleased to welcome just over 60 students and older adults to the Lincoln Park Room. While the weather outside was frightful the friendly chatter and personal connections being made among attendees rewarded those who managed to attend. The topic for this event was generational similarities and differences. Researcher Amber Dukart presented preliminary findings from her work on intergenerational programming, and we viewed a short film, I am a Unicorn, originally presented at the Third ACTion Film Festival. Lively and open discussion followed as students and seniors talked with each other about experiences of stereotyping, suggesting better ways to approach generational differences. Along with education, the Speaker Series program hopes to promote a sense of belonging within an age-diverse community. Comments from attendees, both young and not-so-young, suggest this goal is a worthy one and confirm the program is making a contribution.
Our next event will be held on Wednesday January 18 from 11am to 1pm. Julie Van Rosendaal Calgary-based food writer and CBC commentator will be our speaker. We expect her talk about finding ways to stretch the food budget while retaining healthy choices will be of interest to both young adults and seniors during this time of rising economic inflation and food insecurity. Registration details will be announced in an upcoming newsletter. You don’t need to have attended the other events to join us on January 18. Let’s hope that weather conditions are better that day… chinook anyone?
From Our Members
Tiny Forest Project
By Claudette Whiting, member of CALL’s Our Lives Our Stories 3 Memoir Writing Group
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| Claudette, at right, with a friend, planting a tree |
On a balmy October 2 morning we join 125 other volunteers in a lineup. This is not the somber silent cue that we have come to expect these past pandemic years. No, this is a chatty, smiling, gregarious cohort of Calgarians of all ages, eager to participate in the launch of a Tiny Forest Project. Under the leadership of Calgary Climate Hub (CCH) and the City of Calgary Parks we will plant 210 native type trees and shrubs in a designated area in Bowmont Park in Silver Springs.
A grant from Alberta Ecotrust was awarded to Calgary Climate Hub’s Nature Node to plan for ten Miyawaki tiny forests around Calgary. This type of project was inspired by a Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki. He developed a method of planting tiny forests using native species as a way to restore biodiversity in resource-depleted communities. Sadly, we all know that our planet is rapidly losing its forests. Historically, we understood massive tree plantings as a means to replenish the timber industries. Now we increasingly recognize that trees are more than a commodity; they help sustain life on earth. Not only do they remove vast amounts of carbon from the air, they cool the planet, generate oxygen, clean our waters and help regulate precipitation and wind. Plus they are home to countless species of insects, birds and animals.
Though today our fellow volunteers may not all be thinking of the science behind this project, I suspect we all share an emotional understanding of the value of forests and trees in our lives. The crowd is respectfully silent as Elder Marilyn Shingoose leads us in a blessing. Then we are guided into a bucket brigade to move the saplings to the planting location. A drone hovers overhead recording our symphony of movements as all participants work in solidarity on this project of hope in a tiny part of our earth-home. We complete our mission with celebratory high fives, photo shoots and good wishes. On my walk home I am further bolstered as I remember Margaret Mead’s quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”.
Volunteer Bookkeeper Required
Do you like spreadsheets and reconciling bank accounts? Even if your answer is a qualified “maybe” please consider getting in touch for more information. CALL is looking for a volunteer to provide bookkeeping assistance to the treasurer. We use Quickbooks Online to record our financial transactions and Excel to prepare reports for the Board of Directors. The treasurer’s assistant role would require a time commitment of about 10 hours a month and may entail the following:
- Processing payment requests
- Making online e-transfers
- Downloading transactions into Quickbooks from linked TD and PayPal accounts
- Monthly bank reconciliations
- Recording deposits
You would need a Mac or PC at home with reliable internet access. Interested in more info? Please email the current treasurer, Cathy Martin at treasurer@calgarylifelonglearners.ca and she may even buy you a coffee when you meet to discuss! (okay – she WILL buy you a coffee!)
Your CALL Newsletter
The CALL Newsletter is our way to communicate what is going on in our community. It's a way to highlight events of interest, ‘peek behind the curtain of CALL’ and to give some general information about CALL groups and members.
You are invited to send your ideas and suggestions for future issues to newsletter@calgarylifelonglearners.ca. We reserve the right to edit submissions and to determine when submissions will be published.
CALL Newsletter dates for posting:
- November 25
- December 16
- January 13/27
Meanwhile, be well, stay well in every sense of the word.