COMPUTERS FOR SENIORS
by Shirley Camper Soman, ACSW

Old, Sharp and Still Working

She is 91 years old and very distinguished. This doesn't say that much anymore since there are thousands of nano-generians these days. But not so many who are world famous and very up on the latest. I'm talking about Bel Kaufman, one of whose books, the funny and touching, Up The Down Staircase, created a huge stir about the school system in New York City, and in other areas of the United States. The book has been continuously in print in sixteen languages since it first came out in 1964 and has sold 7 million copies in countries all over the world. Bel has other claims to fame. She is the granddaughter of the beloved Yiddish humorist Sholom Aleichem whose stories of Tevye were the basis for the play and movie "Fiddler On The Roof." The relationship enabled Bel's mother, her three-year-old brother and twelve-year-old Bel to get out of Russia when it was impossible to get out of Russia.

Bel has been using a computer for over 13 years, and works on it every day in her office in a palatial Park Avenue apartment. Her husband is Sidney J. Gluck, 85, a photographer, textile consultant and designer, a lecturer, and television programmer and chairman of the New Energy Policy Association. He is devoting much time and know-how to conservation and has written and published a booklet on "The Necessity for a New Energy Policy." Sidney is also president of the Sholom Aleichem Memorial Foundation which holds festivals all over the world.

She began her computer life with a "darling" Apple, but after 10 years it gave out and she has been using a Mac for three years. When I visited them last summer, Bel was packing boxes with her books to give to a library and Sidney, whose eyesight is not good, was struggling to train his large pc computer with Dragon's voice technology.

Bel is very happy with her Mac and would not think of changing. She regards it as a tool of everyday life. But she is not totally devoted to the computer. She thinks email is handy and the computer is faster than a typewriter. But she loves looking at manuscripts of great writers and seeing how Keats, for instance, crossed out certain words and substituted others - something that can't be done easily on a computer -- yet.

Bel's latest and, in some ways, her most complicated project, is writing her autobiography. Complicated because of the richness of background and detail, but not due to age. Her memory, just like her appearance, is that of a much younger woman. And so is her approach to the "new" technology of computerization.
Maybe her habit of going dancing with professionals twice a week for an hour and a half (the tango, the cha-cha, the passé doble) has kept her mind open as well as strengthening her body.

The same can be said of Roy Neuberger, who is almost 99 years old and working every day. Swimming every afternoon, and walking to and from his office have been his methods of keeping fit until very recently when his legs began to bother him. Now, he has a trainer coming in to his apartment three times a week. Roy is the founder of the world famous brokerage firm, Neuberger Berman. He uses his desktop computer to follow the stock market and his own securities.

When Roy was 12 years old, both his parents died, leaving him with $35,000. His older sister took care of him until he was old enough to go to Paris on his own. He wanted to become an artist, but found out that this was not his talent. However, he fell in love with the gorgeous art all around him (this was in the 1920's) in that city of beauty and wanted to buy the paintings that he could not afford. Therefore, in early 1929, he returned to the United States to use his money to make more money. He foresaw the collapse of the stock market, and shorted his position in the market. In other words, he bet that the market and his stocks would go down in value. When this happened, Roy made a fortune and enough money to buy original art, paintings and sculptures. And, of course, to start his firm with a partner.

Therefore, his other claim to fame is as an art collector and aficionado of every kind of art. This has been a major motivating force in his life. He is a very long-time trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. A little out of the city in Purchase, New York there is an entire museum named after him which contains many of the works of art that he had bought. Roy no longer buys art, but both floors of his large office are filled with art to the point that no wall is left unadorned! It is quite a sight as is the museum, since Roy has a very eclectic taste in art.

Every money manager and every secretary at Neuberger Berman has a computer, most of them Gateways. And Roy considers his own old computer, a Gateway too, as just a tool that he has used for years. His youthfulness of spirit is evident not only in his use of the computer, but also in his appreciation of good-looking women! And, wonder of wonders, his current girl-friend (Roy is widowed) is the famous actress and beauty, Kitty Carlisle Hart now 91 and they get together regularly for dinner or whatever!

Roy is the author of So Far, So Good - The First 94 Years and at the present time he is writing another book, this time on art. And once a year in February, he goes down to the Safety Harbor Spa in Florida for five or six weeks. Members of his family accompany him.

Sondra's use of the computer also involves answering the extensive requests for copies of songs her husband wrote. Her late husband was Jay Gorney who wrote the famous song "Brother, Can You Spare A Dime." He also left a collection of over 200 songs, many of which are out of print or have never been printed. As a result, people who know the popular song field, or his work, are frequently in touch with Sondra for lyrics or copies of songs. She uses her IBM machine for a lot of other functions, such as typing scripts and monologues for acting classes or auditions. Also she has been using the Internet to find information about plays and roles performed by professional actors. Now she is preparing to push her professional mailing list into the computer so that she can do mailings whenever she is in a performance.

As the executor of her husband's music estate, she corresponds with individuals who are interested in his catalogues. She is a member of the New York Sheet Music Society and has won an award from that society for "appearing as a guest and contributing unselfishly to furtherance of the aims of the organization."

Sondra was a dancer for a couple of years in her teens, and she finds it necessary to keep fit. As you can see from the picture, she looks very young. She goes to a health club three times a week. There she spends a half hour on a bike and 20 minutes on the treadmill and 10 or 15 minutes on a rowing machine. Then she takes an hour calisthenics class which includes light aerobics, stretching and weight lifting. She also walks a lot, going from the upper West Side of New York to midtown for appointments and if she has the time walks back but seldom does both in one day. This walk involves thirty blocks downtown once or twice a week. Walking in New York is very common.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ITEMS I LOVE

Every technical person in the computer field I know has a very negative reaction to America On Line, one of the programs that gives you entrée to the Internet and provides many other services. If you have never tried AOL, and ask a tutor or technician about trying it, he or she is likely to discourage you strongly.. And I fully understand their position, since I have had problems with AOL. Right now, for instance, you are flooded with ads when you start the program. This is somewhat annoying, but easily handled by just clicking on a button provided in the ad. Practically every other program has occasional problems too - with the exception of an old DOS data base and another old rhyming program I have.

But despite my own sometimes problems with AOL, basically, I love it! I've tried MSN and Netscape and all of them have problems, but mostly these programs do not have the ease of use that AOL provides, and the wealth of functions and files. For a long time, everyone was relying on Compuserve, but that too had and has its limitations. And one of the best things about AOL is that they have 24-hour, 7-day a week telephone support. Not all of their technical people are that swift and that knowledgeable. But many are, and save me time and effort. So, a little reluctantly, put in my vote for AOL.

A few days ago, a friend who is an expert on the computer told me she had to hang up in a hurry. Hours later, she called to tell me that she had discovered a virus in her computer! It is a particularly vicious virus- in this case, the Klez Virus-- that gets into your email and invades your entire address book - infecting every one in the address book. I got very upset, but suddenly found out that this virus gets into the email of Outlook Express and Outlook but does not get into AOL email or its address books. Hallelujah! Another plus for AOL.

Some of the features that I particularly like are an up-to-date weather report for your local area, an extensive Market Report for both stocks and bonds, a Personals section with pictures, a usually interesting Parenting section, and on and on! But probably the biggest advantage of this program is the number of other members who use it - worldwide!

ANOTHER DEPARTMENT ABOUT OTHER MATTERS

This department is not ready yet, but I thought it would be good to alert you to possible issues and events that concern seniors, whether they are computer related or not. So I must do some research, some digging and thinking, and then write a brief first piece of information. Hope you will give me some feedback.