2020 Symposium On Aging Events Schedule

GARY IRWIN-KENYON

These morning sessions will be based on Irwin-Kenyon’s book Pathways to Stillness.  Participants will be invited to engage in two activities. The first will consist of a series of “Relax into Stillness” movements based on Tai Chi. No experience is necessary to perform these movements and they can be done from both a seated and standing position. In the second activity, participants will be invited to “Explore Your Pathway”, which consists of a gentle guided reflection on life themes.  The sessions will be of benefit to older adults, and also to professionals working with older adults who may, of course, be older persons themselves.

Dr. Gary Irwin-Kenyon is the founding Chair of Gerontology at St. Thomas University in Fredericton New Brunswick, Canada. He is a long-time teacher and practitioner of Tai Chi. Dr. Irwin-Kenyon conducts workshops and seminars in many parts of the world to professionals and community groups. Dr. Irwin-Kenyon designed a seated program entitled “Tai Chi as Narrative Care” which he shares with special groups, including dementia survivors.

KAREN SKERRETT, PH.D.

Dr. Karen Skerrett is a licensed clinical psychologist, Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, author and consultant.  Over the past 35 years, she has worked in a variety of settings from academic to business and clinical. She specializes in strength-based approaches to change with a research focus on processes of relational resilience and the development of healing narratives across the lifespan. She has run ‘The Story Project’, which collects and analyzes individual and couple stories, for the past 15 years. Holding an M.A. & Ph.D. in Human Development and Psychology from the University of Chicago, she has been on the faculties of the University of Illinois, the Chicago Center for Family Health and the University of San Diego where she developed the first doctoral program in Advanced Practice Mental Health Nursing in southern California.  Most recently she was an Associate Clinical Professor at the Family Institute/Center for Applied Psychological Studies at Northwestern University.

She has led numerous life writing groups modeled after the Guided Life Review developed by James Birren, considered one of the pioneers of gerontology, and has led “What’s Your Story” groups in business and healthcare settings for over 20 years. As a consultant for Vistage International, she co-developed and implemented Journey with Intent groups to assist executives with transitions and personal development which ran for over 10 years in both Chicago and New York City.

Dr. Skerrett is the co-author of Positive Couple Therapy: Using we-stories to enhance resilience (2014) with Jefferson Singer, published by Routledge Press and is co-editor of Couple Resilience: Emerging perspectives (2015), Skerrett & Fergus with Springer Press. She has also written the memoir: Tell me again how I know you? (2019). She has published numerous book chapters, professional articles and is a frequent presenter at national and international conferences.

NANCY HILLS, M.A.

Nancy is an Episcopal deacon, graphic designer and artist who has been doodling, drawing, coloring and lettering her way through journals for over 20 years. She is newly retired from her graphic design position with the City of Milwaukee, and is a deacon at Christ Church in Whitefish Bay. She and her husband Julian live on the westernmost edge of Milwaukee’s East Side with their two cats, Sophia and Samantha, and only slightly fewer books than the local library.

Journaling as Art Form

Art journals are as unique as fingerprints, and no journal is the same as the one that came before it. For many people, the written word is enough, but my heart finds its place on the page and its most powerful expression through combining writing and illustration. These journals have become a treasured and intensely personal visual record of major life events, as well as being a handy place to record class notes, jot down recipes, favorite quotations, prayers and random thoughts. After a brief tour of my own art journals, we’ll dive right into the creative process, learning about materials and page design, and what to do to get past the fear of making mistakes when faced with a new journal or fresh page. There will be handouts, and participants are encouraged to bring their favorite writing or drawing tools and their own journal to work in, but only if they already have one.

OTIS MOSS III, M.DIV, DMIN

Senior Pastor, Trinity United Church of Christ, Chicago, Illinois

Lyman Beecher Lecturer (Yale University)

Author: Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World: Finding Hope in an Age of Despair

Rev. Dr. Otis Moss III is senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. He is a preacher, activist, author and filmmaker with an eye toward justice and equality, as evidenced through the gospel of Jesus Christ. He founded the Unashamed Media Group, a justice-centered faith-based agency committed to producing and curating stories to inspire the heart and challenge the mind. His most recent book is Blue Note Preaching in a Post-Soul World: Finding Hope in an Age of Despair (2015). Dr. Moss is ordained in the Progressive National Baptist Convention and the United Church of Christ.

AGING BLACK:  GROWING OLD IN A POST-SOUL WORLD

In the 400 years of their life in the United States, aging, dying and death itself has been a fundamentally different experience for African Americans than for whites or members of other ethnic groups in the country.  That experience, marked by discrimination, poverty, inadequate health care and violence has mapped a different perspective about suffering, care and mourning.  Many harbor deep distrust of the traditional health care system stemming from egregious past ethical violations. Too, African Americans, who according to research studies are the most religious racial group in the US, have significant religious concerns about the advance care strategies of currency in white-normative health care.  However, the role of the traditional church has changed dramatically over the past generation, once pervasive spiritual beliefs have eroded, leaving older black people particularly vulnerable, challenged to find hope in the midst of pervasive despair.

At the close of this session, the participant will be able to:

• Understand the historic context of religious tradition in the African American community.
• Assess the gap in national discourse and educational efforts to serve older black persons nationwide.
• Address the ability and relative unwillingness of providers to provide care that respects deeply-held cultural, religious and other personal values.
• Appreciate the sources of hope among African Americans in a rapidly changing socio-cultural environment.

RONALD J. ANGEL, PH.D.

Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Texas – Austin

Author: Family, Intergenerational Solidarity, and Post-Traditional Society

Latinos in an Aging World: Social, Psychological, and Economic Perspectives

Ronald J. Angel received his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Wisconsin Madison in 1981.  His research interests focus on comparative social welfare, retirement, and health care systems.  His work has been published in numerous books and journal articles.  He has been involved in the development, translation, and administration of survey instruments for use in comparative studies.  He is currently involved in a study of the role of civil society organizations, both secular and faith-based, in advocating for and providing services to very low-income elders in Mexico and other nations in Latin America.

JACQUELINE L. ANGEL, PH.D.

Jacqueline L. Angel, Ph.D. is Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology and a Faculty Affiliate at the Population Research Center and LBJ School Center for Health and Social Policy at The University of Texas at Austin. Her research examines health and retirement issues in the U.S., with a focus on older minorities, immigration processes, the impact of social policy on the Hispanic population and Mexican-American families.

She is a Co-Investigator on the NIH/NIA, Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (H-EPESE), the first large-scale investigation of the longitudinal health of older Mexican Americans in the Southwestern United States and Principal Investigator of the Conference Series on Aging in the Americas: U.S. and Mexico.

Dr. Angel is author/co-author/co-editor of 80 journal articles, 30 book chapters, and 12 books. Some of her recent publications include: Family, Intergenerational Solidarity, and Post-Traditional Society (2018); Latinos in an Aging World: Aging (2015), Health and Longevity in the Mexican-origin Population (Springer Science), and “Institutional Context of Family Eldercare in Mexico and the United States” (2016). At the LBJ School she teaches courses in aging, health, and social policy.

THE NEW REALITY OF AGING DIVERSITY

Western European fertility rates have reached historic lows.  In Italy and Spain, where up until a generation ago families had many children, women have 1.3 children on average, far below the 2.1 that is necessary for a stable population.  In the absence of immigration, these countries would shrink in size.  South American populations are aging at an astonishing rate as well and will continue to do so well into the twenty-first century.  This new demographic and social reality of rapid growth in the proportion of populations in the oldest age ranges requires novel approaches to the care of older adults.  Increasingly, immigrants are becoming essential to the economic productivity of high-income nations, and they will become even more essential in providing care to aging low-fertility Western populations.

This presentation and discussion focus on the cultural, economic, and political causes and consequences of immigration for the economies of high-income nations, and especially its impact on the economic and social security of older citizens.

At the close of this session, the participant will be able to:

• Examine causes and consequences of international migration in the modern world, with a particular focus on Europe and the United States.
• Assess how rapid growth in aging global populations of older adults requires new approaches to their care.
• Appraise the impact of growing anti-immigrant sentiment in many nations today on older adults.
• Confront the complexity of this important social process for the elder-care.

SERENA WORTHINGTON, M.A. (MODERATOR)

Director of National Field Initiatives Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders (SAGE), New York

Serena Worthington is the Director of National Field Initiatives at Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders (SAGE), where she oversees the SAGE affiliate network, facilitates policy advocacy on LGBT aging issues, and strategically enhances the capacity of partner organizations across the country to work effectively on behalf of LGBT older people.

A leader in aging services and advocacy, she frequently presents at national conferences, sharing her passion and expertise on LGBT aging issues. She has been quoted in the BBC News Magazine, Business Week, Health Care Finance News, and Medill Reports.

Serena serves on the Chicago Department of Public Health’s LGBT Health Advisory Council and the Chicago Task Force on LGBT Aging.  Prior to this, Serena was the founding director of Chicago’s Center on Halsted, the Midwest’s largest LGBT community center.

Serena received her Master of Arts in Art Therapy from The School of The Art Institute of Chicago in 2002. Her undergraduate degree is from Fairhaven College where she completed an interdisciplinary concentration in art and cross-cultural psychology. She is a certified activity director and a licensed professional counselor.

JAQUELINE BOYD, B.A., B.S., C.G.C.M. (PANELIST)

President, The Care Plan, Chicago, IL

Jacqueline Boyd brings passion and expertise to the field of aging and LGBTQ+ advocacy. A dynamic speaker, facilitator and entrepreneur, Jacqueline is the owner of The Care Plan. The Care Plan (www.the-care-plan.com ) is the country's first LGBTQ+ centered care management company. The Care Plan’s innovative model of client-directed care provides advocacy, care navigation and advance planning for successful aging experiences.

As part of The Care Plan’s leadership, Jacqueline has consulted with national and local organizations including SAGE, Howard Brown Health Centers, AIDS Foundation Chicago, and Affinity Community Services to enhance services offered to LGBTQ+ older adults.

Jacqueline is a sought after speaker and author, having presented at the American Society on Aging National Conference, Creating Change Conference, the Los Angeles County Older Adult Summit, and University of Chicago among others. She recently contributed a chapter to Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Health and Aging, available from Springer Publishing and authored the guide Create Your Care Plan: An LGBT Person’s Guide To Preparing For Medical Procedures.

LOREE COOK-DANIELS, M.A., M.S. (PANELIST)

Director, Policy and Program Director, FORGE, Milwaukee, WI

Loree Cook-Daniels FORGE’s Policy and Program Director and founder of the Transgender Aging Network and Elder TG, was among the experts who collaboratively developed the elder-services training program for SAGE (Services & Advocacy for LGBT Elders).  Since 2000, she has helped design and co-facilitate FORGE’s multiple in-person and virtual support groups, research studies and programs.  She has been involved in advocacy, research, training and services for LGBTQ populations since 1975 and is nationally known for her work on aging and transgender issues.

Her policy, program and trainings have focused on aging, elder abuse, domestic violence and sexual assault.  She has published numerous book chapters, articles and online publications on these topics, and currently blogs for the Huffington Post.  She holds a B.A. in woman’s studies and history, an M.S. in conflict management and a post-graduate certificate in trauma counseling.

BRITTA LARSON, M.A. (PANELIST)

Senior Services Director, Center on Halsted, Chicago, IL

Britta Larson is the Senior Services Director at Center on Halsted, the Midwest's most comprehensive community center dedicated to building and strengthening the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) community.  Britta is responsible for overseeing the older adult programs at Center on Halsted which serves over 1,000 seniors annually.  Additionally, she supervises the programs and services that are provided the residents of Town Hall apartments, Chicago’s first LGBT-friendly senior housing.

Prior to Center on Halsted, Britta worked at a senior living community in the areas of social services and marketing.  She is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator and holds a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from North Park University.

PAUL MASTERSON, M.A. (PANELIST)

Columnist and Commentator, The Shepherd Express, Milwaukee, WI

Paul Masterson spent his formative years in Connecticut growing up in a traditional Irish Catholic family. After graduating Marquette University with a Master’s Degree in German, he moved to Germany where for the next two decades he worked for Lufthansa German Airlines and Air Zimbabwe globetrotting as a flight attendant.  Over the years he pursued another Master’s Degree (in History) at UWM, took up cultural studies in Nyiregyhaza, Hungary and culinary training in Bangkok, Thailand.

Returning to Milwaukee in the early 1990s, Masterson immediately began his long community engagement,  volunteering as auction chairman for ARCW’s Make-A-Promise Dinner & Auction and later as the event’s co-chairman, as well as with the LGBT Community Center as an adult ally for its Project Q youth program.  He has since served on various boards of directors including Milwaukee Pride, GAMMA, and the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, as well as team participant (SSBL, Monday Night Irregulars Bowling League, MGVA) and as communications director of the 2009 NAGAAAfest, Gay Softball World Series committee.

With his extensive experience to draw upon, he became a contributing writer to Milwaukee’s LGBTQ and mainstream press.  His beat spans the spectrum from athletics to the arts (culinary, visual and performing) and from health, politics and history to religion. His work includes theater and visual arts previews and reviews, lifestyle features and interviews with a broad range of local and national personalities. He has also published fiction and poetry. His weekly Shepherd Express opinion column, My LGBTQ POV, focuses on social justice and the broader realm of Milwaukee’s LGBTQ community affairs.

TONY SNELL RODRIGUEZ (PANELIST)

Equal Rights Commission, Milwaukee, WI

Tony Snell Rodriguez, a longtime human rights activist and community organizer, comes to Milwaukee from South Carolina, where he served as president of South Carolina Pride for several years and is a founding member of the Harriet Hancock Center Foundation. In Milwaukee, Tony is a member of the City’s Equal Rights Commission (ERC), Milwaukee Pride Board of Directors and PrideFest Production Team, and the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center Board of Directors – and has served as its interim executive director.

Over the years, Tony has served as an LGBTQ Community spokesperson while organizing initiatives and demonstrations, including an infamous trip to Bob Jones University; Pride events in Columbia, Greenville, and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; the historic inclusion of S.C. Pride in the Columbia St. Patrick’s Day Parade; and state Senate passage of a hate crime bill which included sexual orientation. In 1998, Tony was interviewed by the New York Times in a ground-breaking, front page story about LGBT political organizing in the South. Demanding transgender inclusion, he was instrumental in the crafting and passage of the City of Columbia Human Rights Ordinance – first in the state and groundbreaking in the South. Tony has also served as a founding member of both the Equality Federation (a national group of state LGBT organizations) and the F.B.I. Community Engagement Council.

While serving as the Milwaukee LGBT Center’s interim executive director, he and his staff led a community coalition ensuring the passage of Milwaukee’s ordinance banning conversion therapy work which continues at present.

Milwaukee Magazine says Tony is passionate about human rights and his Twitter account is one of ten you want to follow (@TonyEquality). A newly released book Southern Perspectives on the Queer Movement features Tony as a contributor and chronicles his coming out and advocacy.

OLD, OUT AND PROUD – THE LEGACY OF LBGTQ AGING

The end of life presents unique considerations for LGBTQ+ people, including family structure, life experience, disclosure and visibility of identity and preference.  It is informed by the historic experience of people who occupy position outside the mainstream of the surrounding socio-economic and cultural environment.  This presentation will explore some of these dimensions as aspects of the growing and increasingly visible aging cohort in the community.  It draws on the personal stories and assessments of presenters whose lived experience is varied, deep and broadly representative of the LBGTQ+ community.  It will focus on the community’s strength and resilience as it suggests best practices in providing care and ways to integrate LBGTQ+ concerns in to person-centered care and connect with local and national resources.

At the close of this session, the participant will be able to:

• Understand the history of LGBTQ+ experience in the United States.
• Describe the intersections of complex family and personal identities with access, needs and barriers to service.
• Identify best practices for care engagement with LGBTQ+ older adults.
• Discuss the unique challenges of planning and care at the end-of-life with families of choice and families of origin.

The Waverly Gallery

A live theatrical performance directed by Marti Gobel. The brilliant 2019 Tony-nominated Kenneth Lonergan play about the final years of a generous, chatty and feisty grandmother’s final battle against Alzheimer’s disease. The play explores her fight to retain her independence and the subsequent effect of her decline on her family.

JOSEPH APPLEBAUM, PRODUCER

Joseph Applebaum is a television broadcast producer and documentary filmmaker with over 20 years of experience in the national entertainment industry covering most formats of the unscripted genre.  Past clients have included Buena Vista Entertainment (Disney), Merv Griffin Entertainment, Comedy Central, MTV, LOGO, BET, FX, Lifetime, NBC, CBS and FOX networks.  Applebaum is a graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts and is a native of Mill Valley, California.

STU MADDUX, DIRECTOR

Stu Maddux is an award-winning producer and director of non-fiction media with international credits including PBS, Showtime, TLC, VH1, Spike, Logo, CMT, and the BBC.  His work has been featured in The New York Times, The Atlantic, VICE and NPR’s Morning Edition among others. His honors include seven regional Emmy Awards, as well as awards from film festivals around the world.  Maddux is an outspoken activist for the LGBTQ aging and LGBTQ history movements. He has spoken at national conferences including the American Psychological Association and the American Society on Aging.  He is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and lives with his husband, Joe (see above), in San Francisco.

Their work together:  After giving up careers in Los Angeles, Joe and Stu moved to San Francisco and began The Clowder Group. A small production company that successfully uses documentary film to create social change.  Their roster includes the groundbreaking documentary about older LGBT people going back into the closet, Gen Silent. This was screened at VCPEA’s statewide conference in 2017.

ALL THE LONELY PEOPLE

First-look screening with discussion by director Stu Maddux and producer Joseph Applebaum.

Everyone gets lonely and feels isolated at various times in life. It’s perfectly natural and for most of us it passes. But for some of us from all walks of life it persists and can have serious debilitating effects both psychological and physical. It can even be deadly. Chronic loneliness and isolation is now a growing worldwide epidemic. Loneliness is a feeling now as frequent as happiness for millions of us around the world.

“All The Lonely People” is the first deep-dive documentary into a bad feeling that's getting worse for millions of us. It probes not only the causes of the problem but what is being done to fight it and the solutions taking root.

A handful of people from different walks of life and different life stages offer the cameras intimate access to their struggle to overcome crippling loneliness and isolation with the help of innovative new programs and practices that if used in enough places, may make millions of us feel like we belong again.  Each person is pulled out of isolation by a different innovative solution.

At the close of this session, the participant will be able to:

• Understand why loneliness is an issue that requires intervention on a community and personal level.
• Know actionable steps to reduce loneliness and isolation among the people attendees serve.
• Have knowledge of programs around the world that can be emulated in their communities.
• Know their own level of loneliness and how to assess loneliness in others.

DAN MCADAMS, PH.D.

Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology

Professor of Human Development and Social Policy, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Author: The Redemptive Self: Stories Americans Live By (Oxford University Press, 2006)

Dan P. McAdams is the Henry Wade Rogers Professor of Psychology and Professor of Human Development and Social Policy at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.  He was Chair of the Psychology Department 2009-15.  Author of nearly 300 scientific articles and chapters, numerous edited volumes, and 7 books, Professor McAdams works in the areas of personality and life-span developmental psychology.  His theoretical and empirical writings focus on concepts of self and identity in contemporary American society and on themes of power, intimacy, redemption, and generativity across the adult life course.  He has pioneered research on the manifestation and development of life stories, especially in midlife and older adults.

Professor McAdams is the author most recently of The Art and Science of Personality Development (2015) and The Redemptive Self:  Stories Americans Live By (2006/2013).  His book, The Strange Case of Donald J. Trump:  A Psychological Reckoning, will be published in early 2020, by Oxford University Press.   Professor McAdams has won numerous awards in personality and developmental psychology including the Henry A. Murray Award for the study of lives, the Theodore Sarbin Award for theoretical innovations, the Jack Block Award for career contributions to personality psychology, and the 2006 William James Award for best general-interest book in psychology, for The Redemptive Self.  His work has been featured in many popular venues, including The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and he has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and many other television and radio venues.

REDEMPTION AND ACCEPTANCE:  TWO STORIES THAT PROMOTE CLEAR-EYED (AND HEALTHY) AGING IN AMERICA TODAY

People create meaning in their lives through stories.  Internalized self-narratives – what psychologists call narrative identities – connect the remembered past with the imagined future, providing our lives with some degree of unity, purpose, and coherence.  In modern societies with long life expectancies, how do late-midlife and older adults make narrative sense of life?  Research in life-span developmental psychology suggests that aging adults may find fulfillment and meaning in two sharply different narrative forms, both of which are shaped by gender, class, and race/ethnicity.  In stories of redemption, a gifted and deeply principled protagonist overcomes adversity and transforms suffering into positive outcomes.  In stories of acceptance, a humble and graceful protagonist learns that life cannot be fully controlled and that suffering must be managed rather than redeemed.  Whereas stories of commitment provide psychological support for generativity in adulthood, stories of acceptance may support wisdom, intimacy, and ego integrity.  The two story forms compete with each other as cultural master narratives, each presenting a template for aging well and living a good life in America today.

At the close of this session, the participant will be able to:

• Acquire a template for healthy aging expressed in narrative identities.
• Appreciate the latest research trends in life-span psychology on late-life development of the self.
• Analyze the roles of stories of commitment and stories of acceptance by which aging adults create meaning and significance in life.

CHARLES H. VOGL, M.DIV.

Lecturer, Yale Law School, Yale Law Project

Author, The Art of Community – Seven Principles for Belonging

Charles’ experiences include international human rights advocacy, social change leadership and producing internationally awarded nonfiction media. He studied business management and spiritual traditions at Yale University. He is a regular guest lecturer at the Yale School of Management and Yale Leadership Institute.  His book The Art of Community (Berrett-Koehler 2016) won the Nautilus Silver Award in Business & Leadership. His newest book is Storytelling for Leadership (Apocryphile Press 2019).

THE ART OF COMMUNITY

Strong communities help people support one another, avoid loneliness and isolation, share their passions, and achieve big goals.

But what defines a community and how is community changing in America?

Strong cultures, too, help people support one another, build networks of common acquaintance, share their passions, and achieve big goals. And such communities aren’t just happy accidents – they can be purposefully cultivated, whether they’re in a company, a faith institution, or among friends and enthusiasts.

But what makes a “belonging culture” in times of social, sexual political, spiritual and generational change?

Charles Vogl will discuss these questions and introduce fundamental ideas from his book, The Art of Community. He will lay out the inner workings of successful communities and how they work drawing on real-life examples from both online and in-person groups.

With wisdom distilled from 3,000 years of spiritual tradition, Vogl shows how anyone can build loyalty, strengthen identity, create meaning and inspire powerful connections in critical relationships to produce the kind of change that impacts generations.

At the close of this session, the participant will be able to:

• Understand the meaning of community and a “belonging culture” in a rapidly changing social structure.
• Learn how loyalty, strengthened collective identity and shared purpose provide foundations for strong cultures.
• Describe how individuals can create powerful, change-oriented connections in personal relationships.
• Examine how dimensions of historic tradition, common practice, and life’s trajectory generate the wisdom of the elderly in modern community.