Hamilton Grange Senior Center

Field Notes

The first half of my research project involves shadowing older adults to get a sense of how exactly older adults operate. I hope that by framing older adults in a more relatable sense that will allow me to compare with organizations that serve the elder adult population. My first intention was to shadow my neighbor an older Latina woman that from passing has mentioned she goes to church activities and mostly has family members visit her from time to time. When I requested to follow her for some time, she respectfully declined citing language barriers and confusion as to what the project involves. Similarly, when reaching out to organizations I was unaware of the arduous task of getting approval to complete the observation part. I am currently pursuing an AHS adult day community center that caters to the elderly population and waiting to get approval to observe. In the interim, I will give an anecdotal account of my interaction with an older gentleman named Larry Jackson. I hope to keep him anonymous in the research paper. Luckily, I also found another gentleman to interview in the Hamilton Grange New York public library.

Larry Jackson is an elderly adult residing in the Bronx and I first learned about him by observing that he does something typical of elder adults. Without generalizing, they usually sit on benches or parks and either are talking to older adults or attempting to find communication sources from their environment. Larry is quite humorous and enjoys coming into contact with other people in the neighborhood. He is African American and gives long detailed accounts of things personally going on in his life. We have discussed so many topics in the short time I’ve known him ranging from the mundane of what is going on such as the weather, to more esoteric topics such as the zodiac. In passing, he always seems like a wise sage that is wanting to communicate information to the younger generation. Although sometimes he will get so excited about what he is talking about and will often remind me that he comes from an era when the youth is meant to listen while older adults are meant to talk.

From what I’ve gathered on this study with Larry, is that he was formerly a school teacher of some sort. Larry taught younger children and in this experience discussed how even from an early age younger children were able to sense his energy before he came into the room. He discusses the problematic nature of not having enough African American men in education. According to Larry, African American men need more male role models in their life because of the issues they may face at home. He agreed and consented to be in my study since he was once in the education sector and understands the merits of learning to advance one’s mind. Larry Jackson describes himself as an early riser and considers himself a foodie. He always tries to give me recommendations of cuisine to prepare which I still haven’t gotten around to. His favorite snack is shrimp rolls from the local Chinese restaurant and the food that he eats the most is chicken. One time we even went through all the different ways to make chicken that he describes as “Chicken pot pie, baked chicken, fried chicken, steamed chicken…” . He grew up in a large household with multiple brothers and sisters although I’m having a hard time recalling the exact number. In discussing the differences between New York and other states he relayed to me that his youngest brother lived in Arizona and has not looked back on living in New York City. The high rent prices in New York City and the noise is something his brother couldn’t stand. Larry on the other hand loves the activity and stimuli of the city as well as the easy convenience of things that are close around. He does however agree with his brother, that the rent is to high recounting to me the political candidate that ran on the platform “The rent is too damn high” – Jimmy Mcmillan.

Larry often discusses how he sees the world changing. One of his pet peeves is when people pull out their phones while someone is talking to them. He often says that if people need to reach him they will find a way to get in contact with him. Mostly by their identification in his cell phone. According to Larry’s stories prices in New York city have gone up drastically in such a short period of time. He attributes most of this to gentrification. He’ll often describe how the neighborhood has changed and in a comical sense will describe dogs chasing people in the neighborhood late at nights in the past. To make sure I’m listening he’ll ask me from time to time if I understood what he was saying. In one account we were discussing finances and he asked me about “purse strings” I had never heard the term before. From what I gathered from Larry, purse strings were used to carry coins and described someone that was essentially a penny pincher.

Larry Jackson did not always live in the Bronx and recently moved from housing on the Upper east side. He says he is appreciative of the experience although he thinks that things such as paying four dollars for a bagel is ridiculous. In a more serious sense Larry discussed with me having a kidney transplant at the beginning of 2018. He sometimes admits that the operation hinders him most notably when he wants to work. He sometimes just to help out in the community and have extra resources volunteers with another man in the building. They both are Christian believers so they get along quite well. I found Larry’s belief in esoteric concepts such as astrology idiosyncratic with his belief in Christ but he is fine with it so he ultimately finds a way to reconcile the two.

An anonymous gentleman in the Hamilton Grange Library agreed to answer a couple of questions about elder adults 10/29/2018

Q: Since this is a study on how elderly adults age in place in New York City what would you like to convey about your personal situation or the situation of your demographic at this interesting stage in your life?

A:1.” He finds that the because of the cost of living and inflation it is tougher because the majority of people are on a fixed income. He participates in church activities for seniors and knows where to get referrals. He thinks there should be more places for people to get accessibility since most elder adults are not able to find this information. Seniors should be getting more discounts to get medical prescriptions because that eats up their money. He also wanted me to include that rent eats up his money.”

Q: There have been studies showing that the more relationships we have, the happier we are since we are social creatures, how do you view relationships?

A:2. “He finds that relationships are a generational thing. He finds that relationships are a problem for elderly people. No particular relationships that he is fond of. A lot of time that has to do with and the generations the older we get the more people pass on and the newer generations don’t necessarily associate with older adults”

Q: In dealing with life after work or planning for retirement was there anything you found as striking? If you are still working, then what hobbies do you occupy in your free time?

A:3. “He used to exercise to keep himself busy and he would go to museums and go to retirement centers where he knew there was some type of activities for the seniors. He stopped working at 55 years old”

Q: Elderly adults in my opinion have a lot to share with younger generations. If you could give advice to younger generations, what would it be?

4. “Don’t shun the elderly and listen to their advice to because one day you will ultimately be in the same predicament”

Q: If you could give advice to adults your own age what would it be?

5. “In life in general you have to keep an even balance when things are going well you can’t get to high, when things are going bad you can’t get to low either it’s important to have a balance”

Q: Anything else you would like to add?

6. “He thinks that society has lost a lot of values like courtesy and good manners referring to contemporary times. And those are the little things that make a society. He thinks our current president is to volatile and will lead us into war.”

Q: Are you into Basketball?

7. I inquired about Cleveland hat that I saw on his desk which he replied “I like LeBron James but he’s not doing so well in Los Angeles. My favorite player is Russel Westbrook and I like Durant also. There’s also a guard for the Washington Wizards that I like John Wall.”

“Have you lived in New York City your whole life?”

“Most of my life I also lived in Panama”

Great discussion that came from visiting the library while pending approval from my site AHS communities. The gentleman was very sincere and even gave referrals to his church as well as to diners in the area that may serve the elderly population. I hope to use these two men’s account to do a deeper analysis when I follow up with my organizations. These men do not seem like they have a strict regimen or a program that is catered specifically to their demographic yet they are well assimilated into their respective communities.