Spring Highlights- with stories | The Spring tour – already like some long ago dream..... | Primary Highlights= People Reconnected with lots of relatives and met many new remarkable friends in the tribe of EOL educators/ co-conspirators for living life with grace and kindness. EOL= End of Life | ========== In Philly, librarian, Marsha Stender, self described as a funky old lady ( my mirror) hosted a screening at Lovett Memorial Library- Mt Airy neighborhood is racially diverse. I was scared that my practically all white movie wouldn't be relatable. But it was. Whew. Rabbi and Chaplain Tsurah August shared a story about the Reb Zalman's imaginal exercise - picturing 'who do you want to be in the room with you when you are on your death bed?' Tsurah noticed that her brother was missing at the bedside. So she decided to do heal that relationship. Oh, the power of death as a teacher for living. | extended family- Rivkah's sisters helped at screening | | | Dr Sarah and cousin Buddy find bones | Cousin Rachel lives in Swarthmore, near Philadelphia. We started there to celebrate her daughters' graduation from Medical School. Yay Dr. Sarah! | with Rabbi Diana Miller of Kehelat HaNahar | In New Hope, Rabbi Diana Miller had set up a screening. Thunder and lightning whipped up. A bunch of people canceled. We sat in the temple wondering if anyone would show up. They did. A dozen family members joined. Tech lesson/tip: don't try online streaming for a public screening. It went out of sync. I cringed, but across the aisle, my wise experienced- filmmaker cousin, Abby Ginzberg, knew that the emotional impact could overcome the technical problems. | From Philly to NY by Amtrak | | PELHAM My cousin Dale Zheutlin, an internationally acclaimed abstract painter, and her husband Fred, hosted us. I'm blessed with a big kind, generous family. We went to see mom's childhood home. Serendipity arranged for the current owner of mom's old home to come outside as we chatted on the sidewalk with a neighbor who had read about about our film screening in the local news. Being temporary mini- celebs got us an invitation to see the inside of mom's childhood home. Fancier now, but much of the the original skeleton including stairs to three floors were there. 91-year old mom insisted to climb them all. Super fun- watching mom recollect her childhood, and note all the changes. | That evening, 80 people showed up at the Pelham Picture House. An outstanding panel included Christina Staudt of Live With Care; Westchester End of Life Coalition, Laura Hanlon from Jansen Hospice, (write to them if you want copies of their extensive informative hand-outs), my mom and I. The owner of theater, Clay Bushong moderated . Special guests included David Leven, JD, ED Emeritus for End of Life Choices New York, and Nora LeMorin from the Great Peace March- who launched and marketed this screening. Next morning while in pursuit of cold-brewed coffee, mom wandered into an antique store. Anne Kossowan, DDS recognized her from the film. She came over to learn more about mom's childhood in Pelham, and a 2nd lady from the screening showed up! Its a beautiful day in the neighborhood. Mom has a fan club. It felt like angels guided our FLOW. | Pelham Picture House Panel | in antique store | | | On to the the Big Apple. At the Open Center- an urban destination for “holistically-based educational programs to create positive transformation in individuals and the world,” my film was first in a series of films on death and dying. | It was a love fest- an ideal audience of awakened beings coming for more awakening. They totally got the love that was expressed . Kathleen Long a music-thanatologist organized the panel. Robert Chodo Campbell co-founder of the NY Zen Center for Contemplative Care, and Suzanne O'Brian, RN, founder of Doulagivers, both were fountains of wisdom from experience. A woman in the audience called my film, perfect. As good as it gets, right? Even better.. in attendance, were Carin Martineau of Bevival, Amy Cunningham of a Fitting Tribute Funeral Services, Karla Rothstein of the Death Lab at Columbia University, and John Wadsworth creator of the Art of Dying Magazine. I know I'm leaving people out. I'm not yet good at collecting business cards, and names and addresses of attendees. Please help me if you come to a screening. | Mom and I took a day to enjoy the Whitney Art Museum, and dinner with Monica Wagner. Her mom had gifted us 2 nights in her apartment on Riverside Drive. We were saying yes to an endless stream of generosity. | Berkshires- Great Barrington My sister Barbara lives there. She's the one who told me she would help me organize this tour if I would visit her. A no brainer. Our first night in GB, the wow was RBG. SO GOOD! | In the morning, mom and I drove to U Albany. The classroom screening ( high tech! ) was sponsored by the School of Social Welfare and The Community Hospice – another roomful of heart-centered people grappling with the sometimes not so neatly packaged aspects of the end of life. | Next day, a lovely lunch with my aunt Sheila, and head north . First stop, Bob and Mona's house in Amherst. An exercise in faith, led by Mona. Leaving for Amherst, there was a phone message; “Oh by the way, just wanted to make sure you know that although we have invited folks to our home to watch your movie, tonight, we don't own a DVD player or a TV; oh and by the way, Bob just had emergency abdominal surgery. See you in a few hours. We'll wait til you get here to figure what to do about the screening.” When I got there, Mona was still in GO mode, reminding me in the midst of stress- "this can be fun." We contacted neighbors about borrowing a TV. No luck. Jogged to the library to see if they had a room and projector. Yes, but it was being used. Got on the phone. Too late to rent anything. Already 5 PM- screening at 7. Finally listened to that still small voice saying get in touch with the EOL educator who contacted you yesterday. Couldn't find her contact info anywhere. Had to use one of those contact-me website forms. Within minutes, there was Emily Eliot Miller a death doula, on the phone saying that she taught video, and YES, she did happen to own a video projector, and sure, she would go home and get it. So Angel Emily saved the day. One of the guests was Sandy Ward, head of Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Mass.- fount of information and energy. | By contrast, the next day, we slept in, and went to a yoga class. It was an easy drive to Brattleboro VT. A dear friend and sound-person for the Great Peace March Film, Elizabeth Hancock, helped me organize. The Brattleboro Area Hospiceis one of the few remaining volunteer hospices in the US. A sweet place staffed by sweeter people. Michelle Ending Well Acciavattifrom Montpelier, joined us. | Amanda Carr RN, Changing the Face of Dying, gypsy healer wanderer and dreamer hosted not one but two screenings in Maine, both at public libraries. She also connected me to the generous sponsorship of Chad Poitras Funeral Homes. I begin to feel like I'm repeating myself. Same movie. More Fabulous people. Great conversations. Deep Q& As. Kindness of strangers . Sacred privilege to travel amongst such goodness. | The week surrounding Memorial Day – no screenings. Time to organize, walk the dog, freak out about ticks, do a few massages, and visit my new and old Berkshire friends and cousins. Barbara organized an interview with Hannah Van Sickle, an excellent writer from The Berkshire Edge. | For my return trip to Amherst, a screening co-sponsored by the Jewish Community of Amherst and Cooley Dickinson VNA & Hospice, mom joined. Ben Tousley, Barbara Burkhart and team organized small groups with trained facilitators to follow the screening. Everyone had ample time to talk/process. | Brief Interlude in Maryland | Congregation Beth El in Bethesda | Charlie Rosenblum, America's top mensch, made it possible for me to show my film at the Chevra Kadisha Conference in Bethesda. I'm grateful to Rabbi Simcha Raphael for giving me these words: “my film is harbinger of things to come, a clarion call , a vision of what's possible”. | Thoughtful, kind and wise women in the Threshold Support Circle, Baltimore hosted yet one more successful screening at the Church of the Redeemer. Kim Adams became an instant long time friend. I'm running out of the good superlatives. The treat on top was staying with my beloved childhood confidante cousin Lynne, and her husband Kevin. | Threshold Support Circle | | | Circle back to GB- the screening at Kimball Farms Senior Living. Usually the worry is whether enough people will come. With Barbara organizing, the worry was: will we have enough seats? We jammed over 80 people into their small theater. Barbara's network expanded the audience beyond the usual suspects. My film really is for people who don't 'want' to see it. The trick is - to get them into seats. | Last lap: Cape Cod. In the loving hands of Ms Heather Massey, extraordinaire, a local regional and national teacher for home funerals, all around organizer for EOL edu. | Afternoon at Cotuit Library with Gus Aslanian, who is producing an ongoing EOL edu series at the library. | Evening with Arza Goldstein, “Living Wisely Dying Well” at theological First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton ( near Boston). A high energy event– and happily for me, one more cousin, and my niece. | In Haverhill, Tom Ellis combined delicious food with the spirit of kindred souls. Lunch with alpacas, chickens, caterpillars, garbanzos, tahini, trees, blueberry cobbler, enthusiasm, care, and love,. Heather marshaled minions to attend the screening at The Church on the Village Green in Falmouth We took daily walks in the Bay- and had theprivilege of dinner with Dr Roger Kligler – champion of death with dignity in MA. | Last but not least, we took the Ferry to meet Joyce in Martha's Vineyard, for the final showing at West Tisbury Library | In June, the film was part of the Third ACTion Film Festival in Calgary. It WON an award for Resiliency in Aging! Very exciting! | The New England trip spawned a return trip in the Fall that I'm organizing with help from Heather and Barbara. My friend Melina is helping me write a grant proposal for an audience engagement – planning and implementation grant. Challenge: figure out how to make enough money to afford the time to organize more screenings, and pay travel expenses. In an ideal world, there will be funds for an assistant- the return trip to New England late October early November, a tour of California, a visit to Colorado, and then Florida. | Personal use DVDs sell for $15 plus $3 shipping. Pay to Peace Films Inc. 3416 NE 30th Ave. Portland, OR 97212 You can send a check by snail mail or order from the website | |