Hitting the Hire Notes
This Brooklyn couple are taking a stand on ageism. Leslie Lewis, Criminal Justice Liaison for the Brooklyn Borough President's Office was recently the panel moderator for "Ageism, Senior Citizens as a Valuable Resource". This mini-conference was sponsored by the Senior Umbrella Network of Brooklyn (see Vicki Ellner). Miriam Levenson was the program coordinator, and also part of the entertainment for the event, as a member of SASSI, Senior Artists Singing Society, Inc.
They have just begun to get involved with activism to thwart ageism. They have aligned themselves with Vicki Ellner to see "if we can cure this disease." Levenson claims nobody will admit that they are an ageist. So they are organizing more seminars and taking to the streets to help stop age discrimination. Lewis says "You have to remember, older people vote." That is something to think about.
Levenson, a professionally trained opera singer, who came to singing very late in life and became very good, could not get parts singing. "Even the parts of old crones are played by very young women." she lamented. Miriam decided to put together SASSI and started to look for venues for them to perform at. She got very angry at the attitude she encountered by people who did not want to accept the older singers.
Lewis did not feel the sting of ageism quite like Levenson, he feels he does his job well due to his experience and background because of his age. For Lewis "the cure is – be good at what you do and people will respect you for it."
Observe what they say about how older people are treated.
Learn what value Lewis has found in what he terms "psychic income".
