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Life & Times Transcript
08/19/05 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- It should be a time to spoil the grandkids. Instead, these women are raising them. Frances Crawford>> For them, it's a loss of freedom. It's a loss of their children. It's a loss of their social lives. They lots of times lose friends, lose their support, because they're now raising grandchildren. Val Zavala>> And then, from a child's keepsake to a soldier's gear. We preview a museum that's preserving the memory of the Cold War. It's all straight ahead on tonight's Life and Times. Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> Just when you thought your own kids were grown with kids of their own, you find yourself raising kids again. It's happening to thousands of grandparents who, for various reasons, are raising their children's children. Now parenting is hard enough. Imagine doing it for a second time in your fifties or sixties. Is there anywhere they can go for help? Toni Guinyard found a place. [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> Wanda Keith is a proud grandmother, but never in her wildest dreams did she think she'd ever be in the situation she's in. After raising three daughters, she is now raising two of her grandchildren, Mariana and her brother Malique. What was the situation that led to your raising your grandchildren? Wanda Keith>> It was a breakup between the parents and my daughter not being able to do it by herself because she had to work. So she asked me to help her so she could go to work and I've had them ever since. Toni Guinyard>> When she took the children into her home in 1996, Keith was struggling with her own medical problems. Wanda Keith>> I was ill and I was not in a position really to take care of anyone else. I was trying to take care of myself and keep myself going. Toni Guinyard>> But the following year, she became their legal guardian, following a pattern that an increasing number of grandparents have followed before, raising the children of their children. Wanda Keith>> The time has gone by so swiftly that it has, you know, really come to that. I didn't realize it was that long, you know, because I keep knowing that their mom is going to get them, but it seems like the years have passed and it's turned out that I've really raised them. [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> Every day is a challenge. The children maintain a relationship with their mother and father while being raised by their grandmother. Wanda Keith>> My life has been relegated to, you know, doing the same thing year after year after year and I've raised my children. [Film Clip] Wanda Keith>> And now I'm doing it again (laughter). So it seems like I don't really have an opportunity to venture out. [Film Clip] Wanda Keith>> You know, sometimes you just feel like what am I going to do? How am I going to win? How can the children win? How can I win? You get filled up with it. You work so hard and you give them so much and there's still this element that is working against us all. [Film Clip] Toni Guinyard>> It's a situation, a frustration, only those who experience it can fully understand. These women understand all too well. Each cares for a family member, a grandchild, a cousin, nieces, nephews, sisters and brothers. The California Department of Children and Family Services label them relative caregivers. It's a role they've tumbled into by choice or by chance. >> "We need a vacation from the children and the children need a vacation from us." Toni Guinyard>> And they've found a home away from home here at Grandma's House. It's a small room in a big building that's home to Children's Institute, Inc., a private nonprofit organization devoted to serving at-risk children and families in Los Angeles County. Frances Crawford>> Grandma's House is a support program for grandmas and relatives who are raising their kin. Toni Guinyard>> Frances Crawford has served as Program Director for Grandma's House since it opened its doors in 1997. She says most caregivers who find refuge here are women. Frances Crawford>> We have had them as young as thirty up to seventy. They represent every class, every culture. Toni Guinyard>> On this day, the room is filled with African-American women, but caregivers through all backgrounds find solace here. They are connected by a common thread. Frances Crawford>> For them, it's a loss of freedom. It's a loss of their children. It's a loss of their social lives. They lots of times lose friends, lose their support, because they're now raising grandchildren. Toni Guinyard>> And that's why Wanda Keith feels at home here. Wanda Keith>> It's a support system. It lets me know that there is somewhere where I can go. Frances Crawford>> They lose the feeling of, oh, my goodness, I'm in this by myself. You know, I'm the only person that has to deal with these issues. They become a part of another group that understands the issues that they have. Wanda Keith>> I come here and I dump. I literally just let it all hang out because I get overwhelmed. You know, I feel like my cup runneth over. Toni Guinyard>> She's not alone. At the weekly Grandma's House group support meeting, the women talk nonstop, bouncing from subject -- >> "We went bowling, what --" >> "Last week." >> "Last week, we went bowling and we had so much fun striking (laughter)." Toni Guinyard>> -- to subject. Wanda Keith>> Mariana has been asking me for a pottery class and I haven't been able to find one. Frances Crawford>> What I want you to do is think about how you problem-solve. >> "I just put myself on a time out and go in my room." Frances Crawford>> And what do you do when you go in that room? >> "I can meditate because we've been having a lot of classes in meditation and I find that that works for me." >> "Time out. That's what I'm going to try. I haven't been, but I'm going to try that." Toni Guinyard>> After sitting and listening to the conversation, you quickly come to realize the little things take on great importance. Most of all, these caregivers say they simply need a break. >> "I need respite when I'm going through a lot of things. I need time away from the kids." Toni Guinyard>> They get a little time away from the kids when they come to Grandma's House. The doors are open five days a week. Here, child care is provided. The program is free based on need, not income. Frances Crawford>> It's an awful struggle. They are faced with changes that have to be made. Toni Guinyard>> Complicated things like heath care, education, transportation and housing, issues caregivers are often forced to deal with when children are taken from their parents' home. Frances Crawford>> They are given the opportunity to take their grandchildren if they so desire. Lots of times, this is totally out of the blue, unexpected, and they have a choice to make right then and there on the spot. Toni Guinyard>> The situation is even more daunting for grandparents like Keith who've taken grandchildren without involvement of the courts. There is little to no financial help. Wanda Keith>> My mother lives with us. She's eighty-eight. I have them and we live in a three-bedroom apartment. I would love to have a house where their mom could be on the scene because they want their mother and they make that very clear to me. Toni Guinyard>> Keith admits her life is not exactly how she imagined it would be, but in many ways, Malique and Mariana have made it better. Wanda Keith>> When they did come to me, it gave me a zap of energy that I didn't have before. It gave me a reason to stay alive. It gave me a future, something to do besides just be sick. Toni Guinyard>> So she focuses on her grandchildren, determined to make life better for them while getting a break from time to time at Grandma's House. I'm Toni Guinyard for Life and Times. Val Zavala>> If you'd like more information on Grandma's House, you can go to their website at childrensinstitute.org. Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> We all know that one of the best ways to stave off the ravages of age is to keep our minds active and healthy and no one does that better than members of The Plato Society of UCLA. It's a learning in retirement program, but this one is unique because every student is a teacher and every teacher is a student. On the second floor above El Pollo Loco in Westwood is a group whose intellectual vitality rivals that of nearby UCLA. It's called The Plato Society and, on any given day in a half a dozen classrooms, you'll find retired seniors exercising their minds. >> "There were many, many small inventions." >> "I don't understand how important Kabala was to Spain." >> "You go into a classroom in Watts and you find. . ." Val Zavala>> This class is on the conservative movement in American history. The topic today? School vouchers. >> "Americans like private enterprise and choice. Now is it in fact foreign to the American tradition as far as schools are concerned?" >> "Yes, and will you explain the American tradition?" >> "I've got a counter-argument to this man. It seems to me that the truth -- >> -- "I'm shocked incidentally (laughter)." >> "(Laughter). It seems to me that the real truth of education, that is people teaching and children learning, lies in the community. What our people in Sacramento have to do is to sit down with the best brains among us and figure out what the best approach is for each of the local areas." Val Zavala>> And this one supports Islam in medieval Spain, which leads to a lively discussion about God. >> "Man has always wanted knowledge of the creator." >> "Why? Why does man want to know everything about his creator?" >> "Because in every single culture from the most primitive people, there are things that they cannot explain -- >> -- "that's right." >> -- "and they absolutely must get an explanation." >> "Now we know why there is lightning, we know why there's thunder, we know why there's earthquakes in California, so why do we have to have another outside source to give us answers?" Val Zavala>> Plato, the fourth century B.C. Athenian philosopher, would be proud to be associated with this group. Robert Lapiner>> Originally, I thought this was a perpetual learning and teaching organization. Then it became partners in learning and actively teaching themselves. Val Zavala>> The Plato Society is part of UCLA Extension. Robert Lapiner is Dean. Robert Lapiner>> There's no question that keeping active intellectually is a guarantor against some form -- I'm not a physician -- but against some form of mental decline. What I know from many families of Plato members of the past, they would say that the experience of Plato kept their beloved parents going. >> "Oh, Sufism. Now we're going to have to touch on North Africa. I don't know if we're going to have problems with that." Val Zavala>> The Plato Society is run by the students. They choose and vote on which classes will be offered. There are fourteen class sessions and fourteen students per class, so each student researches and presents one session of the course. Naidu Permaul>> "I want to say something about Gelernter. Many of us have seen his article in the Los Angeles Times." Val Zavala>> This is Naidu Permaul. For thirty-five years, he worked in insurance for Los Angeles County. Today he's leading the discussion on school vouchers. Now is this something that you knew about or have studied before? Naidu Permaul>> No, it is not something I knew about or studied before. It's something that I had to prepare myself for. I've had about a month to prepare myself. Val Zavala>> How many hours? Naidu Permaul>> Oh, I would say I put in over forty hours of study to prepare myself. Naidu Permaul>> "I wonder if you know much about Gelernter as I have been able to find out. He is a Professor of Information Technology at Yale where he received his Bachelors degree and he received his PhD at the State University of New York at Stonybrook. What's fascinating about him is that he was one of the victims of the Unabomber. He has a damaged right hand and has lost the sight in one of his eyes." Val Zavala>> This is a celebratory twenty-fifth year for The Plato Society. It's gotten national attention from the Wall Street Journal. Maria Kornet>> We have been selected among the top three learning in retirement programs in the country. Val Zavala>> Maria Kornet is the President of this four hundred member organization. It's a rigorous program and she says you have to apply to get in. Maria Kornet>> And you have to be interviewed. You're interviewed by three Plato members in the office and approved and you are then invited, you know, to join the Society. >> "Because remember you have these explosions inside the engine. They're noisy." Val Zavala>> Classes range from the Twelve Caesars to astrobiology, from the nature of love to Los Angeles architecture, and students are encouraged to take courses out of their area of expertise. Henry Minami>> I think you've got to say that it's probably not working. On the other hand, . . ." Val Zavala>> Henry Minami was an aerospace engineer. Henry Minami>> I finally had a chance to learn a little bit about some of the Humanities that I really didn't get in my engineering and technical education. So since I've retired, I've had courses in architecture, in the orchestra, in the modern art movement. Sybil Jaffy>> It's an opportunity to, number one, not forget what I already know. Sybil Jaffy>> "We had wealthy people who reproduced themselves and gave all the advantages of their offspring."[Film Clip] Sybil Jaffy>> And the great thing about Plato is that nobody is teaching us. Val Zavala>> And although it's a lifelong learning program for retirees, there are some exceptions Maria Kornet>> We have honor students from UCLA, one per class. It's wonderful for us because we have a youthful point of view on any particular subject and it's wonderful for them too because they get a different perspective. Val Zavala>> Lauren Barella is a political science honor student at UCLA. What's it like to be taking a class that looks like an AARP meeting? Lauren Barella>> It's very fast-paced. You know, the people obviously know what they're talking about, so it's very quick. Sometimes it's a little hard for me to tell because obviously I don't know nearly as much as they do about what we're talking about, so they just have so many experiences to draw on and so many things to talk about. Robert Lapiner>> We do have so much to learn from. These people, not only as an organization, but as individuals. They also embody a form of, if I could say, intellectual generosity. Sybil Jaffy>> It's constant intellectual interaction and stimulation. You know, how they say, if you don't use it, you lose it. So we're using it. >> "We each have our own path, our own destiny. If you choose that path, then that's your path." Henry Minami>> And we are always looking for new members too because I'm on the membership committee. We're particularly looking for more diverse members. As you can see, we kind of tend to be west side liberals here, so we're looking for some more conservative type people, some people maybe of different ethnicities. Val Zavala>> So do you think that you will live longer for having this (laughter)? Naidu Permaul>> Oh, absolutely. There is no question about it. The mental stimulation has to be good for your overall health. Robert Lapiner>> They represent the design for living well. They really model what it is to be alive. Sybil Jaffy>> I find great joy in continuing to learn, so that keeps our noses in our books which is probably better than our noses poking into somebody else's business (laughter). So we have a lot of very happy daughters-in-law, as an example. Val Zavala>> If you'd like to find out more about The Plato Society of UCLA, you can go to their website at uclaextension.edu and put in the keyword "Plato". To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> The Cold War stretched over fifty years. It was a tense and frightening time and no one is sorry it's over. But that doesn't mean it has to be forgotten. Now in a nondescript building in Culver City, one of the largest collections of Cold War artifacts is coming together. It's at a museum called Wende. Wende in German means change, as in the fall of Communism. Saul Gonzalez takes us inside. Saul Gonzalez>> For much of the twentieth century, a divided Berlin was a city synonymous with Cold War tensions, a place that was both a flash point and prize in the struggle between east and west. However, contemporary Berlin, now the capital of the united Germany, is putting those Iron Curtain memories behind it. What little that still stands of the Berlin Wall, once so feared and formidable, is now largely ignored. Its sorry state a testament to just how quickly Cold War history is fading away across eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Yet six thousand miles away from Berlin in this nondescript office complex in Culver City, that history is being saved. [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> This is the Wende Museum, home to one of the world's largest collections of Cold War artifacts and archives, all from countries that once made up the former East Bloc. How big is this collection, Justin? Justin Jampol>> There are approximately thirty thousand items. Saul Gonzalez>> Justin Jampol has had a passion for Cold War history since he was a child. He's the founder and Director of the museum which he established in 2002. Justin Jampol>> The mission of the museum is to investigate something we know little about, which is during the Cold War which affected the whole world, how people lived on the other side of the wall. Saul Gonzalez>> The Wende Museum's collection goes beyond monuments, the dauntless Communist heroes and heroic proletarian workers. Jampol and his colleagues have also filled this repository with artifacts that detail ordinary life in the former East Bloc from a display of children's toys and school books to this re-creation of a Communist official's office. What's on display, though, pales in comparison to what's in storage. Justin Jampol>> This is the warehouse. This is the vault. This is where we keep all of our artifacts. When they first come here, this is when they are first unpacked and then processed. Saul Gonzalez>> This warehouse is a treasure chest of Cold War memorabilia from signs and placards to uniforms to consumer goods. Some of the most extraordinary items are some of the humblest, like these stamps. Justin Jampol>> These are Berlin Wall stamps. These were stamps that were used at the various checkpoints throughout the East. This is specific here to East Germany. These are very, very important items. Saul Gonzalez>> Why? Justin Jampol>> During that time, they controlled who got in and who got out. Saul Gonzalez>> The keys to the kingdom, so to speak? Justin Jampol>> The keys to the kingdom. This reflects something we've been trying hard to do, which is revealing the human cost of the Cold War. This is not an abstraction, but really has real effect on the daily lives of those who lived through this period. Saul Gonzalez>> The Wende Museum's small staff receives thirty to seventy new items a week which are all carefully examined and recorded before they're inserted into the permanent collection. Many of the items are given to the museum by individuals in Europe and the former Soviet Union who want to ensure that the world they lived in is not forgotten. Chief curator, Kelly Ann Kolar, is most struck by what people give from their youth. Kelly Ann Kolar>> I really like the children's items. I love the toys and a lot of that stuff. It's interesting because so much of it is even reminiscent of toys I had as a child here growing up in Los Angeles, but sometimes they'll be just a little bit different. It is important sometimes to see the personal side and the fact that, you know, these people were just like us. They had, you know, normal lives. There might have been all the politics in the way and there was, you know, other problems, but it's kind of good to learn about other cultures and how similar they might have been and how they might have been different, but how it's just still people. Saul Gonzalez>> This museum's mission goes beyond simply collecting and cataloging the icons, symbols and products of long-dead Communist regimes. It's also trying to explore the distinctive culture created by totalitarian societies, a culture that's often used by the state to stay in power and silence dissent. Justin Jampol>> This was a culture that depended heavily on symbolism and iconography. These were integrated into all different aspects of daily life, into everything that was produced which, of course, was all produced by the state. Saul Gonzalez>> Art was one powerful instrument of propaganda in state control with many works filled with Marxist-Leninist symbolism. That is clear in this 1967 Soviet painting titled "In the Meadows". Striding forward, the walk forward, plays a big role in Soviet era art and art of Eastern Europe. Justin Jampol>> Right, and what's also very important is not only striding forward, but striding forward to what? And you'll see over here that they're striding forward towards what looks like the land, but also if you look at the shapes of the clouds, they are in the shapes of Europe, Asia and Africa. This is really what their idea of what their mission was, not only to cultivate the lands within the country, but beyond the borders. They wanted to push the agenda, the ideology, of socialism and bring it really around the world. Saul Gonzalez>> Years after the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, this museum's stance is now in a race against time and neglect to save Cold War history. Justin Jampol>> Each time I go back to Berlin, there is something else. There is another building, another collection, that's gone, that's disappeared. We want to teach people about this and it's crucial for us to preserve these items to make sure that these items - not only items, but the archival collections -- are around so that people will never forget. [Film Clip] Saul Gonzalez>> This museum not only wants to create an invaluable historical record, it also wants to honor the memory of those who endured the hardships of the Cold War. For Life and Times, I'm Saul Gonzalez. Val Zavala>> If you'd like more information on the Wende Museum, you can go to their website at wendemuseum.org -- that's W-e-n-d-e -- or give them a call. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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