Senior Mixing Day in Marlborough
by Christi Moraga
On August 25, the Marlborough Senior Center provided a new activity for their members: Senior Mixing Day, during which languages were the centerpiece. Christi Moraga co-organized the event with Senior Center Director, Vi Schwarzman. The main idea was for the seniors to get to know each other better through the topic of languages, that is, languages of their heritage, travels, studies, and their families. By speaking another language, seniors keep their minds agile and reconnect with their childhoods.
The event began with the reading of the Marlborough Proclamation for 2005: The Year of Languages by Senior Center President, Emma Lou Cranfield, . Then, Christi Moraga, Marlborough resident and former Spanish teacher at the Marlborough Elementary School, explained the getting-to-know-each-other activity in which members used a grid to stimulate conversation with questions such as, “Do you have grand-children who are using languages?” and “Have you traveled to a country where little English is spoken?”
An ethnic lunch was served followed by four presentations of Marlborough residents, each of whom has a connection with other languages. Joan Fykse grew up in Norway and has a large collection of traditional crafts. Dressed in an exquisite Norwegian dress, she explained lovingly her treasures, each with its own story. The replica of the Norwegian sled brought back memories of her childhood when she and her brother would spend the whole day on the ice and snow. Emma Lou Cranfield told of her travels to Haiti and Honduras where she visits her adopted children. She also brought interesting artifacts to share with the audience. Fran Hurlburt is a world traveler, originally from Ireland. The whole audience laughed as she told stories with funny Irish twists. Finally, Ricardo Moraga, a Chilean, entertained everyone with his songs in French and Spanish. The group especially enjoyed singing with him “¿Qué sera?” and “Alouette.”
