Ever seen an 86-year-old pole vault? How about a 100-year-old tennis player?

“Age of Champions” is a documentary film about five competitors who sprint, leap, and swim for gold at the National Senior Olympics. In addition to the 100-year-old tennis champion and 86-year-old pole vaulter, you’ll meet the rough-and-tumble basketball grandmothers as they discover the power of the human spirit and triumph over the limitations of age.

On Thursday, Nov. 15, at 7:15 p.m. at the Washington Duke Inn, AARP North Carolina is hosting a free screening of “Age of Champions” for the Durham community. This event is part of AARP’s “You’ve Earned a Say” campaign, aimed at helping North Carolinians have their say on the future of Medicare and Social Security.

The event will feature a Q & A with me, the filmmaker behind Age of Champions, and a presentation by local senior athletes. I hope to see you there because it’s time for us all – both young and old – to get inspired and active!

Doors open at 7:15 p.m., and the event begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Washington Duke Inn, 3001 Cameron Blvd. RSVP to reserve seats: 1-877-926-8300 or www.ageofchampions.org/NC.

Keith Ochwat

“Age of Champions”

Kids like Obama

Eight thousand of Durham’s students voiced their vote at Kids Voting Elections at early voting, in schools and at precincts on Election Day.

The young people overwhelmingly re-elected President Barack Obama, giving him 85 percent of their votes, 10 percent more than adults in Durham and in marked contrast to the adult vote in North Carolina. Students were also three times more likely than Durham adults to vote for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. The students, like their adult counterparts in Durham, also strongly favored Walter Dalton for governor, though Pat McCrory did win the adult vote in the state.

Students mirrored the Durham adult vote also in the county commissioner races and the state cabinet races.

Asked why she thought it was important for kids to vote, one fifth grade student said, “I think adults should know who kids choose and want to run things. I like that they get to listen to us.”

On Election Day many of the polls were run by other youth from groups including Yo!Durham, Shepard Middle School, TEAS, 4-H, and the Girls Scouts. Overall, nearly 75 volunteers helped to run polls.

Ballots were tallied on Election Night by Measurement Inc. which has generously donated staff time and scanning technology for the last decade to ensure the students’ votes are counted as quickly as the adult vote.

Full results of Durham youth voting is available at www.kidsvotingdurham.org. Kids Voting Durham is a program of the Durham County Cooperative Extension and is an affiliate of Kids Voting USA and Kids Voting NC.

Carolyn Kreuger

Kids Voting Durham

Come to the

conversation

Often, I find that followers of a religious way do not consider themselves to be worthy conversation partners with the foundational sources of their religious traditions.

But it is the conversation between ancient sources and lived experiences that best enables rich and relevant religious life.

It was precisely to energize such conversations across the generations in the Jewish community that I founded Sicha.

Sicha, Hebrew for “conversation,” helps individuals, communities and their leaders to bring their own experiences into dialogue with ancient sources. In such conversations, the timely and the timeless meet. At that intersection, voices of the past and the present conspire toward a creative future. Contemporary participants learn to respectfully listen and speak with the assurance that their voices matter.

Throughout the Carolinas and beyond, Sicha prompts conversations about living with loss, about the morality of speech, and about religious language in households with multiple religious traditions. Thanks to Sicha, topics like “blessing,” “hospitality,” “prayer,” and “holy space” bring together the voices of ancient and contemporary fellow traveler towards the goal of enriching religious life.

On Sunday, Nov. 18, 4:30 p.m. at the Levin Jewish Community Center, 1937 W. Cornwallis Road, in Durham, Sicha will celebrate two years of enabling conversations that strengthen Jewish community life in the southeastern United States. Our celebration will feature a conversation on “The State of Faith” featuring Frank Stasio, (host of WUNC’s “The State of Things.”) and myself. By sharing and comparing our own faith journeys, we will offer some insights into how a life of faith develops from an ongoing conversation between a religious tradition and one’s own personal experiences.

Through our faith journeys along different religious paths, we hope to celebrate the conversation that engages us all. The program is free and all are welcome.

Rabbi Steven Sager

Director of Sicha