Elders: A short documentary about Nicole J. Georges and her project with senior citizens, "Tell It Like It Tiz". A film by Heather Rigby.
Our friend Heather Rigby made a film about Nicole, the Marie Smith Center, and our project!!!
You can get your own copy of “Tell It Like It Tiz” here (Note: click “add to cart” directly from the shop page.)
Here is how to start your own zine/comic project with elders:
1. Contact your local senior citizen day center and ask if they’d like a free, weekly workshop. You can show them our book as an example of what you’d like to do.
Your workshop will vary depending on the cognitive needs of the population you’re working with. At our center, a lot of people have dementia or difficulty with reading & writing. What worked best for us was to have 2 volunteers at a time come weekly. One person could chat up the group and have the other person take notes, or we could split up and talk to several people.
The staff at the center referred us to people who would be a good fit for the group. Those who had interesting life stories or who didn’t mind talking to strangers.
We sometimes gave poetry or drawing workshops, but most of our time together consisted of finding out about each other, discussing their life stories, being embedded friends who noted the funny or interesting things that occurred while we sat together, and sometimes bringing in advice questions, or lists of “20 Questions”.
Take notes each day & date them. Keep careful track of who said what. Make sure you have permission & clearance to photograph participants & to publish their stories. We collected our notes for several months, then went through the stacks to discover recurring themes, and/or notable quotes that we could cut & paste on a page with a particular person.
You will put this together yourself. We used a mix of computers and cut & paste, and made copies of the zine at the Marie Smith Center. You could print yours at a copy shop and let the cover price (you don’t charge elders, DUH) cover the expense of printing. We had our book printed at a printer after launching a Kickstarter. The Center uses our books as PR for their services. It’s great for families to see the kinds of activities their loved ones will be participating in at any given day center, and having a book about the elders, in their own words, as an example is great for everyone.
1.5 Optional: Apply for a grant. Our book was printed thanks in part to a generous project grant from the Regional Arts & Culture Council.
2. Enlist volunteers (or yourself) who can stay on board, once a week, for at LEAST 6 months.
We stayed at MSC for 10 years, so 6 months sounds like child’s play.
This is not a cut & run operation. You are there to form bonds with the participants and to do them a service, not just to create a product & get Golden Girls-points with your buddies.
Please imagine/know that the people you’re coming into contact with are a very sensitive and vulnerable population. Some of them are institutionalized and isolated from their loved ones. They’re excited to make new friends and share stories from their lives. When volunteers come, form bonds, draw them out of their shells and then flake, our seniors have said “Why did they even come here in the first place?”. Your presence is of ENORMOUS value to this community, and your absence can have an effect.
3. Go through volunteer training & fingerprinting at the place.
4. Make your zine!
5. Spread it around! Tell us about it! Give one to your grandma! Take one to the library! Host a reading, and host a release party at the senior center. Have fun!
