Scrapbook Anxiety: Preserving Seniors' Legacy
Eliana Appel (YUHSG) and Antonia Canosa (Bard High School Early College Queens) were participants in the DOROT Teen Internship Program, helping to alleviate loneliness and social isolation for seniors through a variety of volunteer tasks and intergenerational programs. The program is one of several incubated through the New York Teen Initiative. Eliana and Antonia shared the following reflections about asking seniors to share their life stories:
It takes a lot of courage to be able to open one's home and unpack one's life for two teen interns, sharing with them parts of one's childhood and memories of one's parents. Things that one might have not thought about in years.
But memories are the type of thing that like to be shared, pulled out and shown off. Just as she may have been nervous about opening her home to us, we were nervous that we would do her a disservice with this scrapbook and somehow offend her or not include enough about her life.
Despite this concern, we were thanked profusely when handing her the scrapbook.
As she gave us the gift of her time and conversation, it was a profound thing to be able to give back a physical manifestation of our gratitude for her openness and respect for her life story in a scrapbook that she could then read and pass on to her children. Preserving her legacy.
We spoke about what it was like to be a feminist, teenager, and a lover of books. We were also made more aware of the importance of art and literature. The senior we visited, Mika Szabo, has a passionate love for literature, and her favorite author is Albert Camus. Hearing her talk about what inspires her about Camus made us more interested in his work.
Through sharing her values with us, our values were shaped. Through exposing us to what interests her, we found some new interests of our own.
The DOROT Summer Teen Internship program is a recipient of support from the New York Teen Initiative. The New York Teen Initiative is jointly funded by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jim Joseph Foundation. The Jewish Education Project serves as lead operator of the initiative. Learn more about volunteering with DOROT.
