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Poetry in Motion

 

Author Cynthia Bix

Photographer Nancy Rubin

 

Ashby Village member Betty Roszak is a poet (a very good one), while volunteer Valerie Yeakel never thinks of herself as someone who likes poetry. Betty is comfortable reading subjects such as politics and the social sciences; Valerie prefers American and northern European detective novels. Yet these two women have formed a strong bond that has endured for five years and is still going strong...

 

This particular afternoon we sit in Betty’s sunny Berkeley living room looking out at a panoramic view of San Francisco Bay and sipping ginger tea. Everywhere the walls are hung with paintings and drawings acquired over many years, and all around the room are shelves lined with a lifetime’s collection of books.

 

Betty herself is a writer and editor. With her husband (author and educator Ted Roszak), she co-edited Masculine/Feminine, Readings in Sexual Mythology and the Liberation of Women. But she is also a poet.  She recently published a poetry collection, For Want of the Golden City, which includes translations of poems by Pablo Neruda.

 

Keeping company with the books in Betty's home are her clusters of cylinders, large and small, set on end, their curved surfaces alive with myriad patterns in colors ranging from earthy tones to vibrant hues. Gradually, you notice they’re tucked in everywhere—tall ones grouped in corners, smaller ones set on shelves or tables. Betty creates these unique Tubes, as she calls them, by using a combination of acrylic paint and collage. The Tubes display remarkable detail when viewed up close. The ultra-heavy cardboard tubes themselves come from carpet companies. “I believe in recycling,” says Betty, with her characteristic twinkling smile.

 

Creating art through recycling isn’t the only progressive idea Betty has put into action.

 

Betty explains that she and her husband, prominent Berkeley academic, thinker, and author Ted Roszak, were involved in Ashby Village right from the beginning. “We were in discussions with the founders,” she recalls. “We had learned about the original organization in Boston, and we thought—what a great idea. We found out that people were starting an organization here, and we got involved, went to meetings, and so forth.” She and Ted became a vital part of catapulting Ashby Village from a small neighborhood organization to one that included all of Berkeley and many surrounding communities.

 

Author of the seminal 1969 work, The Making of a Counter Culture, Ted was also a pioneer of the concept of redesigning our lives as we age. His later works include Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders, and The Making of an Elder Culture: Reflections on the Future of America's Most Audacious Generation. To learn about the important role the Roszaks played in the early days of Ashby Village, READ MORE.

 

Betty continues her Ashby Village story. “Ted and I knew that we would need these services ourselves in the not-too-distant future.” (Sadly, Ted passed away in 2011.) Sure enough, about a year ago Betty found that she needed help with transportation to doctors’ appointments and other places, as well as for grocery shopping.

 
Which leads to the story of how Betty and Valerie met. Five years ago, Valerie—then a recent volunteer at Ashby Village—responded to Betty’s request for a driver to take her grocery shopping. Now they have a regular weekly “date” to shop at Trader Joe’s, which has offered them a chance over the years to come to know each other and enjoy their differences and similarities.hem a chance over the years to come to know each other and enjoy their differences and similarities.

 

Valerie was surprised and fascinated when she first learned that Betty was a poet. She confesses, “I have never been one for poetry. But I went to one of Betty’s readings, and I was quite simply amazed by her writing. I went because I wanted to be polite and supportive; I had never been to a reading. But as soon as she began to read, I thought—Wow! This is poetry, and I like it!”

 

Indeed, Betty’s way of reading her poetry adds immeasurably to its appeal. Although she is a quiet person, Betty says, “I love reading aloud and getting the words and the meaning across that way. I really like doing that.”

 

One of their favorite ways to spend time together is simply doing routine errands. On these jaunts, they enjoy just being together and chatting. “We just seem to get along even though in many ways we’re very different,” says Betty. “We talk about a lot of things—current events, politics, everything.”

 

“And our families—we talk about our families,” smiles Valerie. Now retired, Valerie previously worked in customer service for 20-plus years, including as office manager at a condominium building.  She originally volunteered at Ashby Village because of her strong views about senior living. “I have a lot of concern for seniors,” she says. “It’s so important for older people who live in their homes to be able to stay there. Assisted living is changing, but it’s slow. That’s part of why the concept of Ashby Village is so good. The organization promotes and sustains the idea of senior independence and continued participation in an active, vital life.”

 
Valerie adds, “That reminds me that one of the things I appreciate about Betty. I have a tendency to rant and rave about politics—I get on my soapbox, and off I go! So, one day I realized that I was getting a little out of control. I said, ‘Oh, gee, I’m really sorry.’ And Betty said, ‘No—you’re so passionate!’ And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s a nice compliment.’”

 

Betty smiles. “You didn’t realize you were so passionate.” And Valerie laughs, “Yes, I just thought, I’m going off the deep end!”

 

“We just have a lot of good back-and-forth conversation. I like the way it goes. We do talk about politics a lot, and we tend to have similar views on that,” observes Betty.

 

Another thing the two women have in common—perhaps not unusual in this university town of Berkeley—is a love of books. “We do share a passion for reading,” says Betty. “We’re both book junkies. I think we read different things. We don’t really discuss the books we read, but I think I know what she likes.”

 

”Yes—mysteries!” chimes in Valerie.  “We’ve gone to the Albany Library Book Sale, which is great.”

 

“I introduced Valerie to that—she loves it!” says Betty. “She comes out of the sale with an armload of books. She’s definitely a reader.”

 

Betty and Valerie obviously appreciate one another on many levels. Betty appreciates Valerie’s considerate nature as well as her practical help.  She says, “Valerie always calls me before she’s going to come and pick me up, and we just have a little patter that we follow with every call. Once in a while we miss a day, but mostly it’s pretty much every week—and I really depend on her.”

 

In turn, Valerie says, “I got very lucky! Betty always thanks me –she lets me know that she really appreciates what I do. And that goes a long way to make you feel that you’re really helping somebody else.”

As we end our talk and prepare to say goodbye, Valerie suddenly realizes it’s Friday.

 

“Hey, you know what, Betty?” she says happily, “Tomorrow is shopping day!”



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