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Living Library in the Library

In Conversation With...

Appropriate for adults and seniors.
Hosted at Main Branch.
Advanced registration required.

Check out the Age-Friendly Ajax Living Library! At the Living Library, people are the books. Each Living Book shares a personal story - about identity, life challenges, culture or a unique experience.

The Library is "checking out" one of these books every month. You are invited to enjoy your morning cup of tea or coffee while listening to the 'book's' story, enjoying a casual conversation, asking questions and learning about experiences different from our own. Light refreshments will be served.

September 24: Catherine Johnston

Politics, Rock & Roll and High Tech: The lessons I learned 

I always wondered how my life might have turned out if I had learned specific lessons earlier. It’s not that people didn’t try to tell me; they just didn’t explain the benefits of listening and learning. I’ve had a
marvelous life and an unusual career path that took me backstage in the world of rock and roll and into the back rooms of politics. I’d like to offer my insights, because regardless of your age or career, these
lessons could impact your life. Join me and find out how Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, and Pierre Elliot Trudeau helped me learn the lessons that I took to the C-Suite in the business of high tech.

October 29: Ray Smith

A Ray of Sunshine

In 1986, I suffered a workplace accident that left me legally blind. This incident had the capacity to send me to a negative place, but with some tough love, and support from family and friends, I chose to look on the bright side. I am a strong advocate for building accessible and age-friendly communities. In my professional career, I worked for Sun Life Financial as an ambassador for workers with a disability, WSIB promoting the importance of health and safety, and was a Union Steward and co-chair for the CUPE National Accessibility Committee.

November 19: Madhav Kochunni

60 Years to Understand My Childhood

I was raised by a loving, older couple. Though different from my friends’ younger parents, I cared for them deeply in my quiet way. As a child, I didn’t grasp what “parents” meant. At seven, my grandmother took me on a long train ride. After two days, we arrived at the station and a young couple approached us through the steam and noise. My grandmother introduced them as my parents. I felt nothing, then or since. That moment began a quiet search for meaning, for stories, feelings, or their absence. When I turned sixty, both my parents died within a year. Emotions I thought I never had surged like a torrent. It took sixty years to begin understanding my childhood. Have I come to peace with it?