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2-Hour Online Guided Autobiography Introductory Workshops May 29 and June 3
And we’re off! I’ll be holding two 2-hour online Guided Autobiography introductory workshops on Wednesday, May 29, from 2:00 – 4:00 p.m. eastern and Monday, June 3, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. eastern (for the morning people!)
THEY’RE FREE! My introductory workshops are always complimentary.
Register here for Wednesday, May 29
Register here for Monday, June 3
What is Guided Autobiography? Let’s begin with its description from the Guided Autobiography website:
“Guided Autobiography (GAB) has been researched and developed by Dr. James Birren over the past 40 years as a method for helping people document their life stories. Guided by a trained instructor, participants are led through themes and priming questions that evoke memories of events once known but filed away and seemingly forgotten. Each participant writes a two-page story on a particular theme each week, brings the story to class and reads it to a small group of receptive classmates. Writing and sharing life stories with others is an ideal way to find new meaning in life and to put life events into perspective. While connecting with one another on their journeys of self-discovery, participants feel enlivened by the group experience and gain a greater appreciation of their own lives and of the lives of others. GAB can be a powerful catalyst for improved self-esteem, self-confidence and communication within communities and within families.”
Read more about Guided Autobiography here.
These workshops are limited to 6 people*, so RSVP and grab your spot now.
*I’ll add additional online workshops as each one fills up. First come/first reserved. – Mark
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The Twist Podcast #262: Big Wheels for Big Kids, ‘Black River Orchard,’ and Rick Shows Up on the ‘Where Do Gays Retire?’ Podcast
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we talk apples and Big Wheels, chaplains coming to a school near you, Rick’s guest turn on the ‘Where Do Gays Retire?’ podcast, and the Book Beat recommends ‘Black River Orchard’ for some serious scares.
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Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies Launches ‘Biographers in Conversation’ Podcast
“In this episode of Biographers in Conversation Gabriella chats with Bernadette Brennan about her book: A Writing Life. Helen Garner and her Work, a literary portrait of one of Australia’s most vital and revered authors.”
About Biographers In Conversation
Biographer Gabriella Kelly-Davies chats with biographers across the world about the multiplicity of choices they make while researching, writing and publishing life stories.
In each episode she explores elements of narrative strategy such as structure, use of fiction techniques, facts and truth, beginnings and endings and to what extent the writer interpreted the evidence rather than providing clues and leaving it to readers to do the interpreting themselves.
She also asks writers how they researched their books; how they balanced a subject’s public, personal and inner lives; and ethical issues such as privacy and revealing secrets.
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Twist Podcast Co-Host Rick Rose Featured on ‘Where Do Gays Retire?’ Podcast
I’m pleased to share that my Twist Podcast co-host Rick Rose was recently interviewed on the Where Do Gays Retire? Podcast, hosted by Mark Goldstein. LISTEN HERE.
Summary (from Where Do Gays Retire?)
Rick Rose, a retired producer, writer, and director, discusses his move from Shreveport, Louisiana to Madison, Wisconsin. He shares his reasons for choosing Madison and talks about the climate and amount of snow in the area. Rick also discusses the LGBTQ+ community in Madison and the absence of a specific gayborhood.
He highlights the growth and economy of Madison, the ease of making friends, and the presence of arts and culture in the city.
Rick also mentions the local food and dining scene in Madison. Madison, Wisconsin has a vibrant arts and entertainment scene, with a thriving comedy community and a diverse range of performances and events.
The city also has a strong public transportation system, with options for biking, electric transportation, and plans for an Amtrak center.
Healthcare in Madison is highly regarded, with access to quality providers and affordable insurance options.
While crime exists, Madison is considered a safe city overall. The city also has a significant Native American community and is working towards preserving and promoting Native American culture and tourism.
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Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Healing the Liver in Spring
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
Healing the Liver in Spring
Spring has arrived with its chirping baby birds, windy weather and multitudes of fragrant blossoms. The Spring is associated with the Wood Element (Liver and Gall Bladder). We will be the healthiest when we attempt to attune our energies to that of the natural seasons around us. Imagine your energy is like that of a tree – if you observe the natural flow of the tree’s Qi (vital energy) through the seasons, you get an idea of being in harmony with Nature. In the winter the energy is deep in the trunk and roots, storing up for seasons to come. In spring the tree’s Qi (vital energy) moves upward and outward to the branches, forming buds.
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One Thing or Another: Pills for All Our Ills
One Thing or Another … a lighthearted look at life, aging, and the absurdities of it all.
Mark McNease
Too many episodes of heartburn after a meal? It must be GERD! Cholesterol numbers not what they should be? Here’s a statin!
I don’t know about your doctor—how could I?—but my primary care physician is one of those nice, softspoken, well-meaning doctors with a great office manner who reacts to every ill I present him with by prescribing some new medication. Most recently, it was something for Restless Leg Syndrome, which I dutifully took as prescribed for several weeks while I kept reading about its applications and side effects. Two things stood out: it can increase my risk of deadly melanoma, and it shouldn’t be stopped without first weaning off it for an extended period of time. Hmm, I thought, finger to lips while I processed this information. I’m not interested in making myself more vulnerable to skin cancer than I already am, as a fair-skinned older man of British and Irish descent. And I really don’t want to take something I can’t decide to stop taking without lowering the dose first over a period of weeks. I don’t have the patience for it, and I don’t like anything that can have its hooks that deeply into me.
Of course I stopped on my own, with just a day of real or imagined discomfort. The bigger issue for me is that my doctor, like too many others, made no attempt to determine if I do, in fact, have Restless Leg Syndrome. This kind of instant diagnosis happens all the time. Too many episodes of heartburn after a meal? It must be GERD! Cholesterol numbers not what they should be? Here’s a statin!
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YourWritePath Workshops Coming in May and June
Things are kicking into high gear. I’ll be offering four more 2-hour workshops (May 4 Fiction Essentials is full!). Follow the links beneath each description to register. Two are online, two are in-person (the Fiction Essentials workshop on June 9 is for congregants of the First Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Hunterdon County, where I’m a member).
“Storytelling is healing. As we reveal ourselves in story, we become aware of the continuing core of our lives under the fragmented surface of our experience. We become aware of the multifaceted, multi-chaptered ‘I’ who is the storyteller. We can trace out the paradoxical and even contradictory versions of ourselves that we create for different occasions, different audiences… Most important, as we become aware of ourselves as storytellers, we realized that what we understand and imagine about ourselves is a story. And when we know all this, we can use our stories to heal and make ourselves whole.”
—Susan Wittig Albert, Writing From Life
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Book Review: Here We Go Again, by Alison Cochrun
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Here We Go Again” by Alison Cochrun
c.2024, Atria $17.99 368 pages… Joe didn’t want to die surrounded by hospital walls. Would Logan and Rosemary drive him and his dog to Maine, to a cabin he owned? Would they spend time crammed side-by-side in a used van with a gay logo, keeping Joe alive, coast-to-coast? Could they do it without screaming the whole way?
Can you do me a solid?
Just one little favor, a quick errand, it won’t take long. You can do it next time you’re out, in fact. Consider it your good deed for the day, if it makes you feel better. A mitzvah. An indulgence to a fellow human. As in the new novel, “Here We Go Again” by Alison Cochrun, think of it as a life-changing thing.
She couldn’t remember the woman’s first name.
Did Logan Maletis really ever know it? Everybody at her job – administration, students, other teachers – called everyone else by their last name so the colleague she’d been hooking up with for weeks was just “Schaffer.” Whatever, Logan didn’t care and she wasn’t cold-hearted but when Savannah broke up with her in public, she did wonder if maybe, possibly, the awful names she called Logan were fair or true.
Rosemary Hale would’ve agreed with every single last one of those nasty names.
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The Twist Podcast #260: Seeds of April, Pop Goes the Jury, and an Interview with Guided Autobiography Instructor Steve Dolainski
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we check on a few fun facts for April, try out some jury questions for the Trump trial, and listen to an interview with Steve Dolainski, certified Guided Autobiography instructor.
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An Interview with Steve Dolainski, Guided Autobiography Instructor
I’ve been friends with Steve Dolainski for over a decade. We co-edited and published Outer Voices, Inner Lives: LGBTQ Writers Over 50, an anthology that became a Lambda Literary Award finalist in 2014. I finally met Steve in person a year ago when we were visiting my sister in Ojai, California, and he told me about recently becoming a certified Guided Autobiography instructor. I was hooked by the description and what Guided Autobiography has to offer, and earlier this year I took the instructor’s training to became certified myself.
Enjoy this 15-minute interview recorded yesterday. It will be part of my weekly co-hosted Twist Podcast, but it stands alone very well.
GAB Gazette Features Guided Autobiography Instructor Steve Dolainski
Featured Guided Autobiography instructor Steve Dolainski, who introduced me to GAB. My own workshops and courses start this spring.
https://birrencenter.substack.com/p/featured-gabber-stephen-dolainski?utm_medium=email
“Stephen Dolainski was drawn to GAB after learning about it through friends in Oregon in 2022.
“I did some research on GAB and, as a long-time adult educator and writer/editor, I was intrigued with the concept and the methodology. I immediately knew that GAB was something for me to explore,” he said.
After taking the the training in November 2022, he wanted to work with LGBTQ seniors.
“When I received certification, I contacted the Los Angeles LGBT Center and proposed forming a GAB class,” he said. “In 2023, we offered three GAB 1 classes and one GAB 2 class. More classes will be offered in 2024.”
Stephen loves teaching GAB and talks about how it how much it benefits writers by sharing their truth.”
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Savvy Senior: Recommended Vaccines for Medicare Recipients
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
My husband and I recently turned 65 and would like to find out which vaccines are recommended and covered by Medicare?
New Beneficiaries
Dear New,
All recommended vaccines for adults, age 65 and older, should be covered by either Medicare Part B or Part D, but there are some coverage challenges you should be aware of. Here’s a rundown of which vaccines are recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and how Medicare covers them.
Covid-19: Even though Covid-19 is no longer a public health emergency, it can still cause severe illness, particularly in older adults. Because the Covid virus continues to mutate, new vaccines are being developed to keep pace, so the CDC recommends that all seniors stay up to date with the latest Covid vaccines, including booster shots.
All Covid-19 shots are covered 100 percent by Medicare Part B.
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Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Eyes: A Window to Liver Health
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
Traditional Chinese Medicine has given us a way to physically view how healthy or unhealthy is our liver via the eyes. So much information is provided to me as a practitioner by simply observing my patient’s eyes. The tongue is used in Chinese Medicine for diagnosis. The sides of the tongue tell you about liver health…pale = blood deficiency; red = heat; purple = stagnation. If your eyes are still in good condition, but you observe one of these colors on your tongue, start now to remedy the imbalance in your liver and protect your precious sense of vision. One of the beauties of tongue reading is that it empowers us to prevent diseases before they strike.
Here are some of the most important messages seen in the eyes, followed by some simple remedies:
Red eyes show heat, inflammation, or irritation.
Dry eyes show lack of body fluids, deficiency of blood or too much heat.
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