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Contact: Despina Gakopoulos (617) 457-5502
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HELLO, MR. PRESIDENT! LEE HARLAN OF POMONA
MEETS THOMAS JEFFERSON ON A ‘JOURNEY’ TO MOUNT RUSHMORE
Via a live Webcast, the Mt. San Antonio Gardens resident watches the four presidents debate today’s American political issues during an educational adventure with Elderhostel
BOSTON (Dec. 4, 2008) — Lee Harlan has taken quite a liking to Thomas Jefferson, our nation’s third president.
“My favorite of the Mount Rushmore Presidents was President Jefferson, probably because he was so complex a person and because I've studied more about him than the others,” Harlan said.
Via a live Webcast from Mount Rushmore, Harlan listened and watched actors portraying Thomas Jefferson and fellow Mount Rushmore presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt during a recent series of programs at the Mt. San Antonio Gardens retirement community in Pomona. The “Rushmore Four” debated modern political issues from their own historical perspectives and fielded questions from the live audience as well as from participants in retirement communities across the country.
The revolutionary experience — Mount Rushmore: The Wisdom of Our Fathers — is a novel initiative to break down the walls of a traditional classroom. It was brought to Mt. San Antonio Gardens and Continuing Care Retirement Communities nationwide by Elderhostel, the not-for-profit world leader in lifelong learning, in partnership with these retirement communities.
Imagine Lee Harlan’s delight when each of the four presidents, seated side by side, rose and spoke in the cadence and manner of the real-life presidents.
“It was intriguing to see the four of them right before us in one place and time,” Harlan said. “It has always seemed to me that the best of our Presidents have always ‘talked’ with one another, and this just made that ‘talking’ real. The Jefferson impersonator seemed to be right on in his interpretation. Rather than overplay his role, he added to the many layers this President has exhibited to the world.”
During the Elderhostel series, Harlan and the other participants debated what constitutes presidential greatness, weighed the dangers of executive power, and discussed the legacies of our greatest presidents. The backdrop to the fascinating talks was the presidential race won by Barack Obama over John McCain.
“The living Constitution is given part of its life in the tensions revolving around executive power,” Harlan said. “One of the attributes defining the greatness of the Presidents is the use of that power, so searching around in the minds of the Presidents for the reasons they exercised more power, or decided to use less of it, is most rewarding. We face today another point at which the use executive power might define a President, and it is good to see our President-elect searching around Lincoln's and maybe Franklin Roosevelt's minds for the reasons they used it as they did.”
As Harlan and Mt. San Antonio Gardens participants viewed the live Webcast, the live audience at Mount Rushmore was made up of participants in an on-site Elderhostel program. The bonus for the Mount Rushmore audience was meeting 87-year-old Nick Clifford, one of the last living men to have worked on the Mount Rushmore carving that began in 1927 and ended in 1941.
Andrea Tyck, Wellness Coordinator at Mt. San Antonio Gardens, said the learning experience was remarkable for the retirement community.
“Residents of Mt. San Antonio Gardens reported that their discussions about the lectures flowed over into the dining room after each week's session concluded,” Tyck said. “Many people also commented on how much they liked having the program on campus. One resident told me that ‘after having traveled all over to go to Elderhostel programs for many years, it was nice to have one at home.’ ”
Elderhostel, founded in 1975, is the world’s largest not-for-profit educational travel organization for adults. The Elderhostel mission is to create learning opportunities for the broad range of adults who make up our aging society, including Elderhostel’s unique delivery of programming that brings learning adventures to Continuing Care Retirement Communities across the nation. For more information, call toll free at (877) 426-8056, or go to www.elderhostel.org.
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