ReCollection!

Here's our zine in downloadable PDF form. Be forewarned that it's a pretty large file, so it may take a few minutes. Printed zines will be ready for folding and stapling next week!

This version is missing a few of the captions and headers that were hand cut-pasted in at the end (not to mention the colored covers)... but you get the gist of it. Download ReCollection HERE.

Kevin's Audio Narrative

Here's Kevin's radio piece with Leo, produced through our research collaboration with the nursing and rehabilitation center. Finally online for all. Enjoy!

"PROOF FROM THE WIZENED AND SILVER-HAIRED SET THAT PERSONAL STYLE ADVANCES WITH AGE."

Smooth. What I like about this blog... . . Beyond the wonderful images are the mini conversations around flattery. Go to advancedstyle.blogspot.com for more elderly urban fashions.

Angee Lennard

As we wrap up our interview project with residents at the nursing and rehabilitation home, I wanted to spotlight another artist working with similar communities. She's especially relevant because she's a recent SAIC alumni (BFA 2005). Angee Lennard self-publishes Mossdale Estate, a comic book series inspired by the work she has done in nursing homes. While her relationship with the elderly is always evolving, she currently teaches computer classes and helps residents use the computer to complete cognitive exercises to improve age-related cognitive decline. Lennard is the founder and director of Spudnik Press , a cooperative print studio and alternative gallery space in Chicago.

Ortencia

Here is a clip from an interview. Hope you like it.

Rudy -da man

War

Me - "Tell me about the war"

Rudy - "The president, he pissed the Japanese off, and thats where it started. The war goes on and on and on, they say its gonna stop, they'll tell you that, but they're lying. I got shot in the bellybutton..."

Me - "Shit"

Rudy - "...yeah, and they didnt take it out!"

Rudy - "We take our men out there, and half of them get slaughtered"

Rudy - "Theres no stopping the wars. Were you in the service?"

Me - "No, I couldnt shoot anything."

Rudy - "I gotta shoot those sons of a bitches, or they'll shoot me, you gotta know that, ok?"

Me - "Ok."

Rudy - " Dont ever go into the service... were you in the service?... Its just rocks out there.... man its bad over seas."

Family

Me - "Did you have family?"

Rudy - " Settled down, after I got back, i have my babies, have my wife, settle in an apartment. I put my two arms around her. Said hi to my babies, [they] said hi, and they send me back!"

Meet Leo.

I was immediately excited to have been partnered with Leo and after his first words with me on the record I knew this would be a good interview:

There's this cold going around. My ears are sore. So.

Am I talking loud enough?

Yeah, you are, but I can hear him, him, him...

(Leo points at two gentlemen right next to us and one fifteen feet away).

So, you have supersonic hearing?

Yeah. But It's on muffle.

There you have it. Supersonic hearing on muffle. Irony of the century. 

A Visit to the Nursing Home

I interviewed Jean, who was born in 1946 and lived in the UK when she was young. She lived mostly in Chicago throughout her life.


Well they cook for you but you have to do your own uh laundry… stuff like that. But uh, it’s almost the same as this. But here, you take your laundry downstairs to be done. But I like doing my own stuff. I miss doing that. Yeah, do your own stuff, having your own time. Yeah, being my own boss.

Interview Images

Hey all, here's a pool of photographs that Christa and Xavier took during our interview visit (move your cursor over the bottom of the slideshow for more images, including some from great ones from Etta and Irene). A lot of the "avant garde" compositional choices were for the privacy of the residents we talked with. There are more photos on our Memory Museum photoset. These are the start of our collective research archive, and can be used as the basis for zine illustrations or comics, repurposed into a slideshow, video, or collage.

Advice From Eddie

Put your mind to a goal. Achieve it, keep on goin'- don't stop. Don't turn, don't turn back. Alright? Don't turn back. Uh huh. You shouldn't, or you're not, you're not gonna get anywhere, know what I mean? Nope, you're not gonna get anywhere. That's true.

Experiences from the nursing home

I interviewed an elderly man named Robert last week at the Alden Nursing home. He was born in Chicago in 1951 and talked mainly about his time drifting as a hitchhiker with his band during the 60’s. He was very open with me about his personal life, and all of his experiences during his youth.

The things that struck me seem somewhat shallow to myself, but they were the things that I overlooked so easily, such as the fact that there was marijuana in the 60’s and that hippies did in fact smoke it, and that it did not just somehow sprout up in the last decade. It made me put that into perspective and realize which age group was a part of which social movement and I found that interesting. I’m hoping to interview him again next week to find out more about his life.

Alden Nursing Home - Part 1

My experience at the retirement home was very good. I was paired with a man named Milton Doogal. As you all saw, he picked me out of the line-up -- I didn't have to do much work at all. The common question he kept asking me was, "So what else do you want to know?" Immediately followed by him starting into another story without me asking anything. The information that he was spilling ranged back and forth between very personal accounts of life events, and an insider view of living at the home.

When I got it completely typed out, the interview came out to be 10 pages! I'm looking forward to sharing some of Milton's wonderful insight (such as how he made it to 81 and how to keep a successful marriage going) with you guys next week.

Interview REversal

S: Do you ever think you'll be put in that situation, What do you think your family would do?

P: I'll probably be put in a retirement home.

S: You think you'll be put in a retirement home?

P: All the people in my family have been put into retirement, why wouldn't I?