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Leisure at Wright Hall & in Chicago: |
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“Good company divides sorrow and multiplies joy.” That aphorism is so true at Wright Hall where among the 60 retired sisters it’s easy to find others who like the same activities. There are bridge foursomes who play on the same night each week and Scrabble players. A book club meets monthly. Always at least one jigsaw puzzle is in process on the tenth floor. The Sunday crossword puzzles are copied and distributed to aficionados who compare results all week. Sports fans find each other and shout over the same games on TV. The Rothschild Foundation regularly sends live entertainment—music, dance, drama. Wright Hall gets a bit more than its share of such programs, because when they are cancelled at other retirement homes the performers generally can find an audience here on short notice. Musicians who’ve come more than once say it’s their favorite place because the sisters are so receptive and so willing to join in singing. BVM music teachers arrange other concerts. Loyola University right across the street has concerts and recitals, lectures and discussions, movies and plays. The monthly “chapel series” of talks by distinguished Catholic intellectuals has been popular, but perhaps even more sisters attend the Loyola concerts and recitals. Wright Hall sisters attend the events sponsored by the Center for Women in Leadership at Loyola. The lakeshore campus is a beautiful and safe place to stroll. Physical Exercise Walking is a favorite exercise, but Wright Hall also has a room with exercise machines facing a TV so the sisters can watch CNN while bicycling or whatever. The administration has made a cooperative arrangement with a health club two blocks down the street for sisters to use the facilities. A group goes for aquacise on Wednesday afternoons and for supervised exercise on Fridays, but some use the swimming pool and gym more often. An instructor comes from there to Wright Hall for balance improvement sessions. Another instructor from St. Joseph Hospital began leading a weight training group when she had a grant some years ago and continued when the grant ended because she enjoys the class. Another group meets for t’ai chi sessions with videotaped instructions.
Chicago Attractions The bus at the front door takes Sisters directly to the Lincoln Park Zoo and Conservatory, Water Tower Place (a big shopping center), the Art Institute, Cultural Center, Symphony Center, Millennium Park, the Loop, and many theaters. Wright Hall has an Art Institute membership and free tickets for other city museums can be checked out from the public library. Symphony Center also has free concerts, but mostly in the evening. (Many Wright Hall sisters with failing eyesight don’t go out at night, or at least not out very far.) The Chicago Cultural Center offers afternoon and evening concerts as well as lectures and art displays. Transferring to another bus will take them to more museums, theaters and Navy Pier. The stained glass museum at Navy Pier is a favorite spot, and many boat tours are based at the pier. Bus travel is difficult for some, but with advance planning, drivers will take Sisters to these places. Spirituality coordinator Mary Ellen O’Dea, OP plans weekly trips for small groups. Light lunch at a sidewalk café and a movie matinee is a refreshing change; pleasant conversation makes it even better. The Block Museum at Northwestern University, the Oriental Institute and Smart Museum at the University of Chicago, and the immense Garfield Park Conservatory which has four flower shows each year are easily accessible by car. Warmer weather brings added opportunities. The house has a membership at the Chicago Botanic Gardens and Mary Ellen takes groups there and to the Chicago Arboretum to see seasonal changes. Summer in Chicago is a time of ethnic and neighborhood festivals, outdoor art shows and concerts, boat tours on the lake or river, and visits to landmarks like the Bahai Temple.
In-house Opportunities Some sisters seldom go out. Into the house come three newspapers, a big selection of magazines, and about 40 TV channels. Wright Hall’s excellent little first floor library is supplemented by a collection of paperbacks, a collection of spiritual reading books and another of women’s issues literature. Other Chicago area BVMs come to use these resources. On the other hand, BVMs who graduated from Mundelein or Loyola may use the university library a block away. One Chicago Public Library branch is walking distance and another is on the bus line at the front door. Both are patronized. Volunteering All play and no work is not the BVM way of life. A recent SALT issue told of the musicians and an article in this one tells about crafts. Those who are able have responsibilities within the house, but a lot go out also. A few do substitute teaching or tutoring. Some have part-time jobs at Loyola. From primary grades to postgraduate and in all sorts of subjects, the sisters tutor. Others do a variety of paid or volunteer jobs at parishes or hospitals, in religious education for developmentally disabled adults, at archdiocesan offices, ushering at plays and concerts. Those who stay home are stimulated often by the many BVM and other groups who meet at Wright Hall—sometimes three on a weekend. The sisters study the list of participants for old friends. They love good company and it never is lacking. About the author: Mary Healey, BVM lives at Wright Hall. She describes herself a part-time worker and volunteer who does a lot of things for fun; a “dilettante in history, journalism and the fine arts, a perpetual student and chronic proofreader.” Return
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