Beautiful Minds: Margo Frazier

To say Margo Frazier is selfless is an understatement. Her life story continually reflects her going out of her way to protect and care for her family even after having been diagnosed with breast cancer. Margo was married at the age of 19, had two children, and then divorced at 30. Her husband, a Memphis musician, abandoned her two daughters and left Margo as a young, single mom. In order to support her family, she joined the Navy where she got in touch with her creative side as a photographer. At the age of 40, when it seemed like Margo would finally have time to follow her own hopes and dreams, her granddaughter was born.

The moment that Margo saw her granddaughter, she felt a special connection. Little did she know that within a year, she would be singlehandedly raising her. Even though Margo had to put her dreams and plans on hold, she never gave a second thought to taking in her granddaughter. Margo was given a second chance at parenting, which she was able to enjoy more thoroughly the second time around. Margo says the best part of raising her granddaughter was that she was able to experience the world through a child’s eyes again. However, her granddaughter did more than open Margo’s eyes, the love and interaction helped her heal from all the pain of her past.

When I interviewed Margo, her granddaughter had moved out the week before. However, Margo will not have a lack of things to keep her busy. When asked what her plans are now that she will have so much free time, she replied, “I am going to take back my space and create a writing room.” She currently works part time at a church which not only keeps her in touch with her spiritual side, but also keeps her learning every day of her life. Margo is an avid author and has had many of her writings published including an essay in NPR’s This I Believe. She also continues her earlier hobby of photography.

Margo is not only spiritually, intellectually and creatively aging, but also remains very physically active. She loves to bike, participates in yoga and belongs to the YMCA. Like any Jacksonville, Florida resident, she also enjoys spending time at the beach.

When asked what her secret to aging well is, she replied, “You must accept whatever comes your way rather than fighting it. Live your life in the moment rather than trying to force things to happen.” A perfect example of Margo’s acceptance was when she was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer at the age of 47. It was a pivotal time in her life and forced her to slow down and take care of herself. The diagnosis helped Margo see the importance of de-stressing and stopping to smell the roses. Margo is not only giving, but resilient and strong, and has been cancer free for 13 years.

Written by Rachel Black, Communications Associate.

Art & The Brain Series Opens at Strathmore Music Center

On February 2, I had the honor of moderating the first in a series of presentations on the arts and the brain, hosted by Strathmore Music Center in Bethesda, Maryland. The series is the brainchild of Strathmore’s Lauren Campbell. The first session featured Dr. Gay Powell-Hanna, Executive Director of NCCA and Dr. Bruce Miller Director of The Memory and Aging Center at UCSF Dr. Miller is one of the leading experts on dementia and creativity.

Miller began his talk by commenting on the important connection between the rise of creativity and the evolutionary development of the human brain. Miller showed pictures of the magnificent cave paintings of Lascaux and Altamira as examples of the sudden explosion of culture that appeared in the archeological record roughly 50,000 years ago. Miller’s mother was an artist and a great fan of the cave paintings. Miller recalled his mother telling him not to make the mistake of thinking of the cave paintings as “primitive” art. “These were very sophisticated and skilled artists” she explained. This relatively sudden appearance of sophisticated art surely signaled, Miller suggested, a significant change in the human brain. Something about the human brain changed – something that supported the creation and appreciation of art and culture. 

Dr. Miller’s work with neurodegenerative diseases and patients suffering from various forms of dementia, has, ironically, given him insights into the workings of the creative brain. Miller has had the opportunity to work with a number of artists suffering from dementia and has been able to track the progression of the disease and its impact on the artistic expression. He has found that different dementias create different deficits in creative ability, with some types of dementia even enhance creative output.

Read the rest of this blog post on Michael Patterson, Co-Founder of MindRAMP & Associates, LLC on his blog.

Beautiful Minds: Kathy Eldon

Many people use Gandhi’s refrain “be the change you wish to see in the world,” however, not many people embody this quote the way Kathy Eldon does. At the age of 65, she works full time as Founder and Chair of the Creative Visions Foundation. The Creative Visions Foundation focuses on creating innovative solutions to local and global challenges using both media and the arts. Kathy created the foundation in memory of her son, Dan Eldon, a Reuters journalist who was killed in Somalia at the age of 22. Dan’s death marked a dark time in her life, but she realized that the only way to get through the darkness was by encouraging good in the world, and from that the Creative Visions Foundation was born.

Between her work and lifestyle, Kathy has never felt more motivated than she does today. Not only does her job keep her active, but the amount of energy and stimulation that it requires forces her to take strict care of her health. She enjoys walking on the beach and stays physically active, even if she dislikes some of the exercises that her body demands. She also keeps busy by chasing after and helping to care for her early rising next door neighbors, her grandchildren. 

Not only is Kathy’s work and lifestyle inspirational, but it reflects her as a person. She believes that everybody has something that is important to them and that it must be reflected into the world to inform, inspire and empower change. Kathy says she “wakes up every day excited about what life has to offer. Every day is an absolute adventure into the unknown.” She attributes part of her adventurous spirit to Dan’s philosophy, “there is no difference between exploring and being lost, it is just a shift of perspective.” 

Kathy has two secrets to her inspirational aging process. The first is positive thinking.  Kathy, and her work through Creative Visions, reflect the long held belief that you have to create a positive vision of yourself in the world. You cannot just passively hope for this vision to come true, instead, you must go after it and create the circumstances that will lead to the outcome you desire. Again, she reiterates, “you have to be the change you wish to see in the world.”

The second secret is her parents and grandparents. Kathy watched her grandparents live to 106 and 100, and her parents to 99 and 98. They not only stayed active (her father played in his last national tennis competition at 92), but ate healthily, breathed good, clean Iowan air, and stayed active in their communities. Kathy uses their lives as examples, and now has a refreshing sense of age.  “I believe that I have 40 years left, I just have to decide how I want to spend it.” I think that we can all agree that whatever she chooses to do will be inspiring.

Written by Rachel Black, Communications Associate.

Beautiful Minds: Gwendolyn Aqui-Brooks and Bernard Brooks

Bernard Brooks and Gwendolyn Aqui-Brooks. Photo courtesy of WAMU.

Life as an artist can be solitary at times, spending long hours in the studio perfecting your work. But not so for Bernard Brooks, 72, and Gwen Aqui-Brooks, 65, artists who celebrated their third wedding anniversary last week. The cheerful couple, both retired professional artists, will always find companionship in their shared studio in Washington, DC.

While their marriage is relatively young, their friendship is not. They first met 45 years ago when Mr. Brooks worked with the father of Mrs. Aqui-Brooks, who was the chief curator at Howard University. As their careers progressed, they exhibited at many of the same shows and kept in touch. However it was not until a few years ago that a fateful exchanging of art led to their courtship.

Mr. Brooks and his cousin went over to Mrs. Aqui-Brooks’s place to drop off some artwork, and three hours of laughter and chatter later his cousin asked them if they realized how much they had in common. That question turned out to be the spark that ignited the flame, as the two went on their first date shortly after that.

Indeed, the two have a lot in common. Both have been surrounded by art their entire lives. Mrs. Aqui-Brooks credits her father and two very special teachers for fostering her love of the arts. Mr. Brooks also comes from an art family; his grandfather was an iron worker and his uncle was the first African American to instruct at the prestigious Maryland Institute College of Art.

These early influences led both Mr. Brooks and Mrs. Aqui-Brooks to seek further development in higher education. Mrs. Aqui-Brooks an Arts Education degree from Howard University and her Masters in Arts with a concentration in guidance in counseling from Trinity College. Mr. Brooks studied under a number of talented artists at Philadelphia College of the Art, University of Maryland and Howard University, from where he holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts.

The couple not only shares a penchant for learning, but teaching as well. Mr. Brooks has mentored over 60 students and interns in his career. Mrs. Aqui-Brooks chose to pass on her knowledge as an art teacher in the DC public school system for over nine years.  She also taught Kindergarten and Preschool for the HeadStart and art and English in Gambia in the Teachers for Africa program.

Mrs. Aqui-Brooks’s passion for traveling is shared by her husband. Between the two of them, you would be hard-pressed to name a place they haven’t been. Their travels are often the subject of their work. Mrs. Aqui-Brooks, a mixed media artist who also makes quilts and dolls, describes her work as mostly Afro-Caribbean influenced. Mr. Brooks too takes inspiration from his travels, using his observations for scenes in his mixed media or water color works.

Now, Mr. Brooks is retired after spending 26 years as the Chief Medical Illustrator at Howard University. Mrs. Aqui-Brooks has largely retired from her Art On Wheels program, which she ran since the late 80s. The program provided art opportunities to children without any, and Mrs. Aqui-Brooks will still occasionally bring the program to older adult centers in similar plights. She is also thankful for the very rewarding work she did as an art therapist for the disabled at the Better Treatment Center. As she said, “I’ve had a very interesting and challenging career.”

To say that the couple is retired is misleading though, as they were presented eight shows last year alone. The State Department recently purchased a piece from Mrs. Aqui-Brooks, “The Jazzy Drummer,” and Mr. Brooks, “Family Origin” for the embassy in Liberia.

"The Jazzy Drummer," Courtesy of U.S. Department of State

Both artists agree that making art is a great release and something they recommend every adult try. But to Mr. Brooks, the most important thing is finding something you can share. “What has really made my retirement fun is finding companionship, someone I can do things with that we both enjoy,” said Mr. Brooks, who insists there’s not a dance they can’t do or a dish they can’t cook. Few find the kind of love Mr. Brooks and Mrs. Aqui-Brooks found post-60, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t friendships to be formed based around the activities one loves. Finding someone with similar passions can be hard and it may take 45 years to really take off, but once you find that person, Mr. Brooks and Mrs. Aqui-Brooks can attest that it’s worth the wait. 

Beautiful Minds: Jerry Rothstein

“The gift of giving” is a common refrain around the holidays, but local paper editor Jerry Rothstein, 71, adheres to the concept year-round in interesting, engrossing and replicable ways. 

While he hasn’t always been an editor, Mr. Rothstein has been heavily involved in community development for most of his life. After getting his masters in Philosophy and Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, Mr. Rothstein moved north to Canada where he would spend over 25 years in hospice care.  The work was incredibly hard, helping patients become comfortable and assisting with the family’s grief. To spend decades in such an emotionally-demanding field seems beyond generous, but Mr. Rothstein did not see it that way. To him, the feeling of giving back and doing something important for the community far outweighed any hardships endured during the process. A career in hospice care instilled in Mr. Rothstein a sense of the importance of giving back to the community and what can be gained from doing so. 

Mr. Rothstein carried this belief with him when family circumstances brought him at the age of 64 to St. Paul, Minnesota in 2004, and the funding for the project he was working on remotely for Health Canada was cancelled.  When he found out there was an opening for the editor position of his community’s local paper, The Community Reporter, Mr. Rothstein knew he could contribute to St. Paul’s West End neighborhoods in a meaningful way.  In his time as editor, Mr. Rothstein says he has turned The Community Reporter into a “community of reporters.” Central to this philosophy was bringing in columnists in categories relevant to the community, such as arts and culture, spiritual life, gardening and health.  Mr. Rothstein and the rest of The Community Reporter staff have also made sure to form valuable partnerships with local organizations, further integrating the paper as a useful tool for the community.

Just like when Mr. Rothstein received as much as he gave to the hospice centers he worked at, working for the newspaper has been no different.  In addition to the priceless feeling of belonging to his new hometown, he also became heavily involved in several local boards like the West 7^th Business Association. Sitting on these boards provides Mr. Rothstein an even greater insight into the community and an excellent opportunity to gather material for the paper. The editor position has also exposed Mr. Rothstein to the potential of social media, giving him a keen interest in what might be accomplished with them. Mr. Rothstein has fully committed to the newspaper and his community and is now reaping the many benefits.

When he is not recruiting West End residents for the newspaper and empowering them to be part of the community, he is setting up his Gestalt Learning Program. Gestalt psychology, which emphasizes the integration of different components to form a whole, has been an interest of Mr. Rothstein since his Berkeley days. Now afforded the luxury of time, he wants to use this interest to aid those in his community whom he can help. The little time he has left over between his newspaper work and Gestalt work he devotes to writing—he is working on a book of philosophy and a book of poetry at present.

Mr. Rothstein has found there is no shortage of satisfaction that can be found from volunteering and helping the community.  He encourages others to get involved in their communities, arguing volunteers feel better and live healthier. He said, “Volunteer for a while and soon a light bulb will go on, and you’ll ask, who’s getting more, them or me?” For Mr. Rothstein, there’s only one right answer.