May 11, 2015 at 4:05 p.m.
Laughter and learning at Alive to Life
Laughter and learning at Alive to Life
By Kayla Thomason-
Participants enjoyed breakfast before making their way to one of theatres to hear the keynote speaker, Dr. Dale Anderson, who offered a healthy dose of laughter.
"I enjoyed (Alive to Life) and it was kind of a last-minute thing that they called me in and so a lot of it was kind of off-the-cuff of things that I had done before," Anderson said.
The original keynote speaker was unable to attend and Anderson had a week to prepare for the event.
He shared a story about a friend who was a method actress. She had a part that was negative and angry, and during that time she became ill.
After seeing a few doctors she met Anderson. She had a theory that her part was making her ill and she suggested it to him.
Once she landed the part of a happy character, her illness and pains went away.
Anderson then shared a trick for getting people to laugh, even if a joke isn't that funny, the actress had shared with him.
It involves stringing three simple steps together: "ha," "ha, ha," "ha, ha, ha."
It caused the crowd and Anderson to laugh.
"They took the laughter prescription," he said.
He also shared a story about his aunt. When he was a boy he'd visit his aunt Vera, who always started the morning by going into her "fix-up room" which was about the size of a closet. She'd laugh, and as she would exit she'd part the beads that hung in the doorway and exclaim "ta-da!"
Anderson said that he gravitated to her and her happy personality.
"She was a great actress and role model," he said. "Everyone in that room would like to leave a legacy and be a role model that is at least remembered for a generation or two."
The overall theme of Anderson's presentation was happiness. He shared tips for lifting people's moods.
"I hope that they will take away that being happy, even if they have to pretend it at first, it will become real and that happiness then spreads to other people," he said. "So the 'happydemic' is a nice word to have, it's contagious, it's infectious and it becomes real."
He hopes those in the audience will share what they learned.
"I would hope that when people leave they go with an upbeat chemistry, that they go home with a smile on their face, they say 'ha, ha, ha, did you know this?'" Anderson said. "You become the chemistry of the person you enact."
Fred Radtke, activities director for the St. Germain Prime Timers, a group totaling 400 members, came with 30 members.
"Your personality is happy if you're happy, it's sad if your sad," Radtke said. "(Dr. Anderson's) was a very good presentation, very appropriate for this group also."
Radtke has been coming to Alive for Life for the last 10 years or so.
"I think it's good, the first speaker, he was very good - Dr. Dale - got us laughing anyway," Patricia Bell said. She has attended the event for the last five or six years.
"(Dr. Anderson) was very entertaining, we even bought his book," William Kelly said with a laugh. He has attended for the past five or six years as well.
From the keynote speaker's presentation participants could branch out to other sessions and workshops.
In one of the theatres one was "Badger Boneyards" with Dennis McCann.
He told the audience about his book, which is a collection of stories that involve a cemetery in one way or another.
"(I shared) the fact that John Heisman is buried in Rhinelander - most of them knew that I'm assuming - but people in other towns are quite surprised to find that," McCann said. "(I) Talked about Frank Lloyd Wright who was buried in Spring Green (Cemetery) and later dug up and taken away quietly so people didn't know that he was gone."
He also shared the fact that Milwaukee Forest Home Cemetery has more than 100,000 people resting there, including all the beer barrons such as Pabst and Blatz.
"I think the things that people put on their headstones, different sayings or the way they are (were interesting)," Bell said.
McCann found some irony in his topic for the event.
"It was kind of curious that they were out here to talk about living and a long life and I'm here to talk about cemeteries, but I said that, for me, cemeteries are more fun for the living when they can walk through them than later on," he said.
Another workshop offered was "The Wild Mustangs of Pryor Mountain."
The Pryor Mountain Horse Range, located between Lovell, Wyo. and Billings, Mont. is adjacent to the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area.
Linda Dombeck, presenter, talked about the nature of the program that selects which horses are to be removed from the range.
Dombeck has visited the range six different times and knows the ages and names of some of the horses that call the beautiful, rugged and unforgiving landscape home.
"I do the presentation, not just for entertainment, and I use an educational DVD from the Pryor Mountain Mustang Center in my presentations because I consider these horses a living national treasure like old grove forests and I hope to help increase awareness and support for their protection," she said.
Dombeck shared photos she took of the majestic mustangs. Some of the photos showed horses running along the snow-covered hills, mares standing next to their foals, or stallions protecting their band from other stallions.
"It would be great if any of (the participants) decide to go out there because they would not regret it," Dombeck said.
Radtke went to the Pryor Mountain presentation.
"It's very interesting that wild mustangs are being protected now, in fact they are protected so well that many of the foals have to be called out because there are getting to be too many of them out there," he said.
The last of the morning workshops was "Garden Longer and Laugh Often," with Janie Samz.
There was humor and knowledge in her presentation about gardening.
"It's OK to cut back (on the amount of plants in your garden), it's OK to get rid of some stuff; switch to shrubs, get plants that are more easy to care for than the ones you might have even though you love them," Samz said.
She used her medical experience to provide safety tips when out in the garden. She advised people to hydrate, wear gloves, be careful when getting up and where they are walking to so they don't fall down.
Samz also covered coping with arthritis while gardening.
Stephanie Schroeder, activities and volunteer coordinator at the Oneida County Senior Center, said 210 people registered for Alive to Life.
"Everybody seems to be enjoying themselves and having a good time," she said.
Those in attendance seemed to enjoy their time at the event.
"It was very good so far," Kelly said. "We've enjoyed it every year we've been up here. The people who host it are very pleasant to work with and it's just a good day."
He went to the Mustangs of Pryor Mountain and found it interesting.
"It's a good thing to come to, good for anybody young or old," Bell said.
"We need more of these types of things," Radtke added.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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