Looking at the title of Living in Shaw- As a Senior Citizen, which I discovered via DCist’s more click-baity title of What’s it like to live in Shaw as a senior citizen on a fixed income? I geared up for another paint by the numbers article on gentrification in Shaw. But as I read the piece by Susannah Herrada, I was most pleasantly surprised. The gentleman at the focus of it, Hodge resident, Bernard Johnson, reminded me of my late Uncle Jimmy.
My Uncle Jimmy was a retiree who lived in Queens. He had a saying, “If you don’t use it, you lose it.” He said it like a motivational speaker, and talked about how he would try to get other retirees to make use of all the great senior citizen and NYC city programs available to them. Men like Mr. Johnson and my late Uncle Jimmy have a certain love of life that we should only be so lucky to have a smidge of.
Mr. Johnson is going to the free wine tastings and is knowledgeable of the happy hours around the neighborhood. Sounds a heck of a lot better than my parent’s regular treks to the Golden Corral. And he’s aware of the free activities available to him in walking distance. He makes use of the wonderful Shaw Library and I suspect he’s going to openings at the Longview Gallery.
Last year the Help and I got a crash course in eldercare with moving his mom to the DC area. I had looked into the Hodge. My pot-headed Korean sister-in-law had a better chance of getting into Harvard than my mother in law into the Hodge. The Hodge is one of several senior citizen residences around. Not as modern is Asbury Dwellings in the old Shaw Junior High School. They never got back to me when I asked about a unit for her. I did not consider House of Lebanon in Truxton Circle because there are ‘issues’ (*cough *S.O.M.E.* cough) in that area. Maybe Chapman Stables might help. Have a senior special at Republic Cantina?
In writing this I was looking for a picture of my Uncle Jimmy and well I don’t have one. But I did manage to find on-line pix of his son, my 2nd cousin Jarvis. Cousin Jarvis is a working actor in New York. If you are looking for a 40-ish bald brown man of medium build with a beautiful smile, hire him. He’s a member of whatever stage and screen guild-union-whatever in NYC, Jarvis Smith (IMDb) (Stage32). Speaking roles, non-speaking roles in the the New York area.