Tag: RuthK

  • Crime Wave Hits Charlottesville! – Virginia Festival of the Book starts next week

    As I have mentioned before, I really look forward to the Book Festival every year. My favorite event is the annual Book Fair at the Omni. In previous years I have found the perfect books for my young friends at Jackson-Via Elementary School as I wandered through the exhibits during breaks between the Crime Wave…

  • Serving Your Community Benefits Your Brain – from Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter

    As a JABA FISH volunteer at Jackson-Via Elementary School in Charlottesville, I can agree with the “cobweb removal” statement!  Helping an ESL student with math is certainly a brain fitness exercise  — and I have to say that I am learning “strategies” for solving word problems that I had never thought of before. I encourage…

  • Internet use ‘good for the brain’

    I have been an enthusiastic web proponent since my first webmaster job in 1996.   I had expected that the web would look like TV, and  it was a surprise to see that it was really just a lot of text files with just an occasional picture thrown in.  But what access to information!  I was…

  • In Search of the Lost Symbol

    Yesterday was a beautiful day for the Charlottesville Senior Center “Washington On Your Own” trip! Having received the new Dan Brown novel, The Lost Symbol on my Kindle (at 12:01 am!) on Tuesday morning, I was really eager to start looking for the clues mentioned in the book.  Walt and I started at the new…

  • Book Buddies- a wonderful way to pass on the gift of lifelong learning

    Yesterday I attended the annual Book Buddies Fall Tutor Training at Greenbrier Elementary  in preparation for my becoming a  Book Buddy this year as a JABA FISH volunteer at Jackson -Via Elementary. The presentation by Jeanette Rosenberg, Book Buddies Coordinator, together with reading coordinators from the  participating schools was an excellent introduction to the program…

  • Volunteering Can Improve Your Health

    More good news about the benefits of volunteering: Ever wonder how some people manage to stay healthy and happy even in old age? It’s no secret. Valerie Ulene, M.D., a weekly guest writer for the LA Times, says that putting in time to help others not only benefits the community but also the giver’s mental…