Author: Lorne Mallin

Tonight I worked on creating a prototype of a digital newsletter with a new app for a client, part of the freelancing I still do in retirement. Since I was a teenager, I’ve found ways to supplement my income and often add adventure to my life.

Early on at 19, after writing a 1966 feature on surfing at Long Beach on Vancouver Island for The Vancouver Sun, I got a gig as the surfing writer for a water sports magazine under the byline Waimea Jones. Hmm, kinda sounds like Indiana Jones.

The ’60s were the years I also freelanced as a writer and photographer for the Georgia Straight under the byline Sheikh Istanli, covering political protests and demonstrations, while I kept my day job at the Sun. I loved the darkroom in my tiny bathroom where I developed film and printed photos.

In Beirut in 1971, I wrote for The San Francisco Chronicle and Copley News Services. While there was no open warfare then, rival militias were shooting up each other’s cafes, and the Palestine Liberation Organization set up shop near where Betsy and I lived. A fearful visit to that PLO office convinced me I wasn’t cut out to be a war correspondent.

I did some leg work for the Middle East correspondent for The Daily Mail, a London tabloid. He sent me out to Beirut harbour to interview a British seaman stuck on board a ship being held over some issues. The sailor said life was pretty good, with food brought from the city as well as frequent movies. When I reported that to the correspondent, he said it wasn’t dramatic enough, and proceeded to concoct a story about the seaman’s outrageous treatment.

For a while when I lived on Quadra Island in 1972-73, I had a full-time job as the Campbell River reporter for tiny CHQB Radio. It was great fun to report stories on the side to the big radio station, CKNW, in Vancouver. My biggest freelance coup from there was to sell a story to the New York Post about the reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes being holed up at the Bayshore Inn in Vancouver as if I was on the spot instead of a ferry ride and more than 100 miles away.

In the mid-’70s, I was living in Toronto, and before I got a job as a copy editor at The Toronto Star, I did some freelancing. In the photo below, I think I was writing a radio play called “Wanopa” for which I received $50.

I was hired by The Province daily newspaper in Vancouver in 1979. Ten years later, I took a leave of absence and our family went to live in Tokyo where I worked for a U.S. financial news service. In the photo at the top, I was taking notes for a weekly column for The Province called “Japan Journal,” which was a great way to explore the country and its people.

Enough for today. More tomorrow.

Portrait of a young man as a freelance writer. Toronto, circa 1975.

Today was an important step toward living in Vancouver Cohousing. Ravi Jandu, quality control supervisor for our general contractor, Noble Construction Management, walked me through my 510-sq.ft. one-bedroom to check that deficiencies noted in the first walk through on Jan. 6 had been fixed.

Nothing major had needed to be done. The missing track light in the kitchen and the shower curtain rod in the bathroom were installed, a drawer and a closet door were adjusted, all access panels were now in place, and some painting was touched up.

I still hate the splotchy hickory floors, but less passionately. I will try to learn to live with them while I see whether I’m in cohousing for the long term.

Once I signed off on the fixes, I met with Michael Birmingham from 8th Avenue Development, our development managers. He showed me my parking spot for my Honda Fit, which is right next to the two spots with electric car charging stations. Maybe there’s an electric car in my future.

And he gave me my keys. That felt like a momentous step. In the photo above with my floor plan, let me start with the front-door keys to my apartment on the right. I’ve put them on the leather keyholder we received Jan. 19, 2014, when we chose our units. Fellow member Frannie Cruise embossed the holder with “COHO”, for cohousing. Going clockwise, my three mailbox keys, the fob for entry to common areas, and the key to the 6,500-sq.ft. common house.

We don’t get to use our keys and move in until the project achieves a few more steps: approval from the City of Vancouver at our final inspection, receiving the occupancy permit and closing on the sale of our units. Normally, developers don’t hand over keys until the close, but since our community is the developer, we have them now.

Having the keys makes it all seem much more real. And motivating to fill the packing boxes I’ve brought into my current home.

My parking space on the left. My Honda Fit is saying, “Who are you calling small?”

 

 

 

 

Tonight was Movie Tuesday for Roni and me. We saw the British relationship drama “45 Years”, starring Charlotte Rampling as Kate and Tom Courtenay as Geoff. It chronicles the week leading up to Kate and Geoff’s 45th wedding anniversary party.

A letter arrives confirming that the perfectly preserved body of Geoff’s previous girlfriend Katya has been discovered in a Swiss Alps glacier 50 years after she was lost in a climbing accident. As the week progresses, Kate discovers just how much she has been living in a ménage à trois.

Roni found the characters and what they had to say uninteresting. While the movie is certainly slow-moving, I found it very moving, even emotionally gripping. Perhaps the experience of surviving two divorces has sensitized me to how fragile and toxic a long-term relationship can be when it comes off the rails.

Rampling is a fellow member of Club 69 (she turns 70 on Friday), and Courtenay is 78. Their acting is superb, with Rampling the more nuanced. Both have won two European film awards for their roles and Rampling is nominated for an Oscar.

. . . . . . .

Tonight I was very happy to see the New Democratic Party sweep the two byelections in B.C. held today. Melanie Mark won handily in Vancouver-Mt. Pleasant, which is next door to the Vancouver-Kensington riding held by the NDP, where I’ll be living in our cohousing community. Federally, our address is in the NDP stronghold of Vancouver Kingsway.

The construction site today was a beehive of activity preparing for the City’s final inspection for our occupancy permit. Siding was going up and glass canopies were getting caulked. I was particularly pleased to see the beginning of our landscape plantings. I look forward to the trees in the courtyard budding and bursting with fresh green leaves in the spring.

 

I took a quick peek at the kitchen in the common house.

 

 

 

It’s February and in Uganda that means the start of the school year. Here is a new photo of Miriam Nankwanga, one of the five Ugandan orphans whose education we are supporting through Chanting & Chocolate and the monthly Shabbat potluck dinners I host. The 18-year-old is a student at Semei Kakungulu High School, administered by the Abayudaya Jewish community in the village of Nabugoye Hill.

All five students are members of the Abayudaya, who trace their Jewish history back less than 100 years ago when Kakungulu, a powerful military chief, declared himself a Jew. More than five years after I left Uganda, it feels very gratifying to continue to be helpful.

I am very grateful to the lovers of sweet Hebrew kirtan who attend Chanting & Chocolate on the last Sunday of the month, to Or Shalom for making our charity work a project of the synagogue and providing the sanctuary as an excellent venue, and to the superb musicians who join me every month for the love of this sacred music – Charles Cohen, John Federico, Martin Gotfrit, Charles Kaplan and Wendy Rubin, plus vocalists Rabbi Hannah Dresner and Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan. Last night, we were thrilled that Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel was our special guest artist.

Today was the first of February already. It marks a month of daily practice during which I missed three days. Today I added a minute for each component of chanting, meditation and yoga. Somehow that sixth minute of meditation felt deeper. My body is loving the extra yoga attention.

Today also marks 34 days since I began posting “Being 69” daily, with one day missed. I’m delighted that people are reading and some are commenting. One friend suggests I write more about feelings and less about details. Another says I’m quite vulnerable and open. Still others figure once a week would be enough – why knock myself out? I worry that it might be Too Much Information. I do feel determined to maintain the daily pace, offering whatever insights I might have into a life on the leading edge of the baby boom. Insha’allah, I’ll be able to transform a year of posts into a book.

What do you think – how am I doing so far?

 

I enjoyed all my sessions at Limmud Vancouver ’16 at Congregation Beth Israel where more than 400 people gathered Sunday morning. In the photo above, participants sing a wordless melody in the fascinating session called “Niggun as a Spiritual Practice” taught by Or Shalom’s Rabbi Hannah Dresner.

I’ll flesh out this post a little more Monday but for now I’ll share some photos from the day.

Avi Dolgin and Jackie Soicher at the opening on Sunday morning.

My day began with Annie Klein’s excellent session on “Wisdom in Later Life.”

For lunch, we picked up our pre-selected wraps and sat at tables where salad, oranges and brownies were waiting for us.

Kevin and Liorah Johnson entertain during the lunch break.

From left, Carol Ann Fried, Michael Klein and Bonnie Sherr Klein teach a session on “Dramatizing Difficult Conversations.”

Philip Dayson with his Manischewitz wine bottle organ. The bottles are filled with coloured mineral oil to prevent evaporation and loss of tuning.

Limmud is all about volunteering and participating. Irina volunteers at the table selling presenters’ books, CDs and other products.

Methinks the handiwork of Avi Dolgin.

• • • • • •

The day that kept on giving. Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel rehearses with the band before Chanting & Chocolate Sunday evening at Or Shalom. (Reamick Lo photo)

This evening’s Cabaret for Limmud Vancouver ’16 was full of magic moments. More than 200 people gathered for the entertaining evening at Congregation Beth Israel, the new venue for this third annual edition of Jewish learning, which continues with a full day Sunday. There was music, spirituality, philosophy, debate, a quiz and door prizes.

Music co-ordinator Charles Kaplan did an amazing job to make it possible for all the singers to sing: organizing, communicating, charting, transposing, leading the band and singers in creating the arrangements.

In bringing the evening to you, I’m feeling like a reporter-photographer again, what we used to call a two-way man. I’ll let my photos and captions tell the story, beginning with the havdalah ceremony ending Shabbat (above). Sharna Searle holds the havdalah candle while Harley Rothstein on guitar and Debby Fenson sing the blessings.

Rabbi Laura Duhan Kaplan sings “Adon Olam” backed by guest artist Elana Brief on violin and the Sulam band.

Wendy Rubin (right) sings with Sulam.

Dancers spontaneously circle the ballroom to a klezmer tune.

The Vancouver Jewish Folk Choir sings “Yomervokhets,” conducted by David Millard, who wrote the music to this Yiddish adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky.”

Rabbi Hannah Dresner sings. “Ela Mistateret” is a product of her synthesis of two of her passions – making paintings, which were projected on big screens, and singing niggun, which are wordless melodies.

Singer-songwriter Myrna Rabinowitz sings in her beloved Yiddish.

My Thursday began unusually early, just after midnight. Here’s how the day unfolded:

12:30 a.m. – Began watching Canada’s No. 1 tennis pro Milos Raonic play against British star Andy Murray in a semi-final at the Australian Open in Melbourne. First player to take three sets wins. Milos was up two sets to one when he asked for a medical timeout. In the AP photo above he’s showing the tournament trainer with his right hand where his adductor is injured. Murray went on to win the fourth and fifth sets and book his spot in the final. “It’s unfortunate – probably the most heartbroken I’ve felt on court,” Milos said after.

4:00 – Crawled into bed and set my alarm for 7:45 because I was due at 9 at the tennis centre at the University of B.C. to play doubles.

9:01 – Woke up groggy and shocked. I had set the alarm for 7:45 p.m. on my iPhone. Called one of the players, jumped in the shower, grabbed two bananas and headed out the door.

9:30 – Arrived on court, apologizing profusely. Pam said I should use a real alarm clock. Had fun playing until 11.

11:15 – Shopped at Save-On-Foods for key ingredients for the triple-chocolate brownies I’ll bake for Sunday’s Chanting & Chocolate: Callebaut semi-sweet and milk chocolate chunks.

12:30 p.m. – Reheated a bowl of the organic split-pea soup I made the other day in the crock pot.

1:00 – Caught up on some of the sleep I lost.

2:00 – Did my brief daily practice of chanting, meditation and yoga.

2:22 – Sent a text to Marcie-Ann in Toronto that I’d done my practice. She’s a fellow graduate of the Kol Zimra chant leadership training, which fosters “spirit buddy” relationships for mutual support. So Marcie-Ann and I are spirit buddies for our daily practices.

3:51 – Drove to Yaletown to the office of our development manager. As a director of our development company for Vancouver Cohousing, I signed a cheque for construction work.

5:02 – Called my cousin Esther in Winnipeg and chatted for going on an hour. My mention of the late Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi in a previous blog post prompted her to tell me about a sermon he delivered in Yiddish in Winnipeg years ago. I said I’d send her a photo of me and Reb Zalman (below).

6:39 – Replayed CBC’s newscast “The World at 6” on my iPhone while I prepared a quick solo dinner. Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup is one of my guilty pleasures. I added organic broccolette, and chicken and cilantro mini wontons, mushroom stir-fry sauce and Japanese shoyu.

6:57 – Sent an email to a young woman in England who inquired about my sublet that she saw on the UBC Rentsline.

7:30 – Responded to a woman on Match.com with whom I’d exchanged some messages. Tried to diplomatically ask when her profile photos were taken, because they seem to be from different eras. I caption my photos with the month and year. Truth in advertising.

8:30 – Worked on a client’s website that I update, failing to solve how to restore the testimonial slider that had disappeared from the home page. Yes, I know it’s Shabbat. I can be pretty loosey-goosey about when that kicks in for me. Often, when I’m alone on Friday night, my Shabbat really starts when I arrive at Or Shalom for Saturday morning services.

10:00 – Writing this post.

 

With Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi at his Boulder, Colorado, home in 2004.

 

 

Tonight I had a Tinder date at a local cafe. Tinder is the dating app where users see one or more photos, first name, age, sometimes a short description, plus any common Facebook connections or interests. And then we either swipe left if we don’t want to connect, or right if we do.

L. and I had both swiped right and then chatted through the app. We had some mutual friends and when we met it turned out our offspring may have been at camp together. L. is a very nice person and we talked easily, but there was no spark. Ironically, a few tables away was a woman, chatting with friends, to whom I’ve been attracted for years, but I’ve never registered on her radar.

I wished L. all the best in meeting a wonderful partner. In any case, she may bring a friend to Chanting & Chocolate this Sunday evening.

It will be a special evening – 7:30 p.m. at Or Shalom Synagogue – because of our special guest, Rabbi Hanna Tiferet Siegel, our great band and my yummy triple-chocolate brownies, baked from scratch and served with tea after the chanting. Hanna Tiferet – a co-founder of Or Shalom – is a poet, mystic and singer-songwriter through whom song and inspiration flow. She weaves together prayerful melodies and inspired lyrics in a web of spirit and celebration.

But back to Tinder. I check it three or four times a week on my iPhone but there are seldom women close to my age. When I researched Tinder on Wikipedia today, I found the chart you see above. L. is 55, part of the 55-64 group that registers only one percent of the estimated 14 million users in 196 countries. My age group is right off the chart.

I’m better off continuing to do the things I love and may meet someone there, and focusing on the dating sites that have been more fruitful. I met my last girlfriend on Match.com. I also use Plenty of Fish, OKCupid and JDate, the site for Jewish singles for which I will let my subscription lapse in four days – just not enough new people joining. I also must admit to checking the personals on Craigslist, which is similar to Tinder in that there are few women close to my age. Quite honestly I’m not looking for a much younger woman.

Some years ago on CBC Radio I heard a story on dating later in life. A Halifax bartender interviewed said it was a double whammy – you get less attractive and more picky.

 

Since New Year’s Day, I’ve been doing a daily spiritual practice of sacred chanting, meditation and yoga – a goal I’ve never been able to sustain since my early days as a seeker in the 1970s. (Full disclosure, I’ve missed twice this month.) To help make the practice achievable, I’ve begun with five minutes of each, with the idea of adding a minute a month to build up to 20 minutes of each. I feel this work is essential for spiritual maintenance.

For the first part of the practice, I’m chanting along to an iPhone app called Flavors of Gratefulness created by my chant leadership teacher, Rabbi Shefa Gold (in the photo above). There are 36 different versions of chants for the morning prayer that begins “Modeh ani l’fanecha” (I am grateful before you), so it never gets boring.

For the meditation, I follow my breath, paying attention to the inhale and the exhale. When I get lost in thought, I come back to the breath. I’ve had some amazing Jewish meditation teachers over the years, including Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, Rabbi Naomi Steinberg, Rabbi Jeff Roth, Sylvia Boorstein and Norman Fischer. And Shefa, who told us in her training to spend 20 minutes a day in the silent presence of the Divine. Another iPhone app, Meditation Timer, helps with the timing.

I do simple Hatha postures for the yoga portion. For years I took classes with Evelyn Neaman. More recently I’m taking classes with another excellent teacher, Karen Heaps at Vancouver’s Jewish Community Centre twice a week. When I told Karen about my practice today, she said she could tell that my body is getting less tight. That’s very encouraging.

I’ve taken workshops with Rabbi Andrew Hahn, known as the Kirtan Rabbi. By the way, kirtan means “praise” in Sanskrit, and it commonly describes devotional chanting, often in the call-and-response style. He’s made it clear that chant leaders need a daily practice.

But not only chant leaders. Kirtan luminary Krishna Das – originally Jeff Kagel, who says he was “born to Jewish parents” – prescribes it for everyone. As Brenda Patoine wrote on the website for The Bhakti Beat: Kirtan News, Reviews and Interviews:

Krishna Das has said it in so many workshops: “When you leave here, you’ve still got to pay the bills.” His advice? “Practice.” He doesn’t care if you chant, meditate, do asanas…whatever;  just do something. “There’s a reason they call it practice,” he always says. You’ve got to do it. As in, every day.

With Andrew Hahn, the Kirtan Rabbi.

With Krishna Das.