Listen to Your Elders

An anthology of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry written by San Francisco Bay Area seniors who have participated in classes as a part of the Litquake Foundation's Elder Project. This anthology features work from some of the participants in workshops, classes, or storytelling sessions between the Summer of 2022 and Fall of 2023. This is writing from 33 writers who are residents and attendees across all of the sites we serve as of 2023: Cayuga Connectors and Life Remembered at Bethel Church through the Community Living Campaign, Downtown Oakland Senior Center, Dr. George Davis Senior Center, and the San Francisco Campus for Jewish Living.

In this anthology, you'll read about the kid who, on a drive through bucolic '60s Tennessee, gets a matter-of-fact lesson in racism from his dapper Uncle Roy. You'll meet a Jewish youth assigned a Nazi to tutor him in German in the late '40s, a story told in sly deadpan. In the '50s, a girl parked with her boyfriend on a runway is interrupted in their make-out session by the sudden shriek of a military jet. Dancing ensues.

A lot of dancing appears in this collection-as does love, for friends, partners (those alive and those gone), dogs, cats, horses, and the sight of moonlight at 5 a.m. Parents continue to confound the writers, a half-century after they left home. (As D. Fromm writes: "Semi-waking, semi-sleeping, I was visited by mom / who said that her grave didn't look finished ") You'll hear about war (WWII, war with Korea, the Cold War, not to mention Star Wars), and rage between spouses (in fiction and nonfiction). You'll travel to Indiana, Coney Island, Japan, and of course our beloved, imperfect Bay Area. Elder Project is a focuses on creative expression for seniors in the community through writing and performances. The project brings teaching artists to the elders in a classroom accessible to them in-person or online. The class and writing partnerships allow elders to discuss and record past and current life experiences, resulting in personal empowerment through creativity.Learn more at www.litquake.org/elderproject.html.