TWO OLD WOMEN, by Velma Wallis

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PLEASE NOTE: TallMania is going on vacation. While I make the transition to my new teaching situation in Lebanon, this site will remain "frozen." This page is no longer being updated. TallMania will re-appear in a redesigned form sometime in the next year. Joel Tallman, 9 July 2003

Class Handouts & Projects: The Pre-Reading Questionnaire: your ideas and opinions about aging and older people The Tribute Project, where you design a tribute to an older person you're close to or admire The Tribute Project Interview Guide: How to interview someone, with sample questions to ask. That list of web pages that tell you what happened in a particular year. (Go to the site, and click on the "Day in History Web Pages".) A Survival Quiz: How well would you survive in the wild, compared to two old women? (The answers aren't here; you can only get them in class.)

Web Resources: Aging and Ageism One of the best places on the web to reflect on the relationship between yourself and aging is the student-designed award-winning Web Quest, LinkAge 2000. It takes some time, but it's worth it. [Note: This site was not online the last time I checked, but I'm leaving the link here in case it shows up again.] The next best site is one called Walk In My Shoes, which asks a lot of good questions, "reaches across generations and teaches young people about growing older and the physical changes that occur with age." You're probably too young to play The Longevity Game. But get your parents to play it, and see how long they might live, based on how they are living their lives right now. D.L. Ashliman has put together a list of incredible examples of "Aging and Death in Folklore"--all kinds of proverbs, stories, fairy tales, poems, and other things around the world that present negative, and positive, images of older people. Yeah, but what about discrimination against YOUNG people? Tired of curfews, censorship, and disrespect? Try ASFAR: Americans for a Society Free from Age Restrictions--"Dedicated to protecting and advancing the legal civil rights of youth. ASFAR fights the voting age, curfew laws, and other laws that limit the freedom of young people." They've got a nice e-zine, Youth Truth. (The site is geared toward young people in the US, however.) Or (another US-oriented site; sorry), try the National Youth Rights Association, engaged in "the last civil rights movement." Finally, check out the Pro-Youth Pages, a one-person crusade against youth ageism.

Learning About Your Own Elders & Family Memories

• Find out about your own ancestry at Geneology.com. Put in your name...your parents' names...and see where it leads. (Some of their services cost money, but the simple family tree maker is free.)


• Want to look further into doing a family tree? There's a good page of resources for you at the Geneology Home Page.


• Here is the original "Script for Audio or Video Interviews with Family Members" at RootsWeb.com.


• Many, many, many questions you can ask about when doing a biography of someone are at Geneology.com's Biography Assistant.


• The Center for Life Stories Preservation have this excellent list of sources on the Internet to help you get the best out of an interview with a family member.

Wilderness Survival

• Could you have survived in the Stone Age? There's a whole movement of people trying to do just that. Check out Primitive Ways, or the Society of Primitive Technology.


• Snow camping? Why would anyone do that?? The why's and how's are to be found in the Snow Camping Primer.


• How can I make a snow shelter using ski poles, skis, and a tarp? No skis or tarp? How about just using a pine tree to make a snow cave? Instructions and diagrams from Princeton University's Outdoor Action.


• Quick! Make a working compass using only a needle, a magnet, a bowl of water, and a piece of paper. Find out how.


• Make snow shoes, or an igloo, or learn how to travel in snow, using the guide at SurvivalX.com for arctic survival.

About Velma Wallis and the book Two Old Women:
The story behind the story--A girl who drops out of school at age 13 when her father dies, to help with her brothers and sisters...yet retains a love of reading, and writing...goes back to get her high school equivalancy diploma...and writes a novel that becomes a publishing phenomenon.

• Voices From The Gaps profiles Ms. Wallis, and her novel.
• Publishing Online calls Wallis a "Wise, Wise Woman" in this profile.

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