Elder Law Prof Blog

Pop Culture in Your Classroom?

Professor Cynthia Bond at John Marshall Law is doing a survey on how law profs use pop culture in their classrooms. Here is her email providing more info and requesting responses to her survey:

Greetings Law Teacher Colleagues:  

I am working on an article this summer on uses of popular culture in the law school classroom.  I am defining popular culture broadly to include mass culture texts like movies, TV shows, popular music, images which circulate on the internet, etc, and also any current events that you may reference in the classroom which are not purely legal in nature (i.e. not simply a recent court decision). 

To support this article, I am doing a rather unscientific survey to get a sense of what law professors are doing in this area.  If you are a law professor and you use popular culture in your class, I would be most grateful if you could answer this quick, anonymous survey I have put together: 

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QH3GBZK 

Thanks in advance for your time and have a wonderful rest of summer!

Cynthia Bond

The John Marshall Law School

Chicago, IL

Ohio Successfully Uses Local Property Tax Levies to Supplement Senior Services

In the PBS documentary airing in May and June, Caring for Mom & Dad, the second half of the program focuses on policy initiatives to support services for older adults. One interesting highlight is Ohio's use of local property tax levies that directly supplement senior services.  Begun in the early 1980s as a referendum initiative in just one county, similar programs have been adopted by voters in counties or municipalities in more than 70 of Ohio's 88 counties. That is an amazing history, especially given the usual hostilities about "new" taxes. Voters appear to recognize that the levies permit unique flexibility to design programs that meet the needs of their community's seniors, whether in rural or urban areas, such as transportation services or home care subsidies.  The revenue now generated in Ohio, more than $125  million per year, exceeds federal grant funding under the Older Americans Act nationally. 

Ohio's inspiring "Lady of the Levy," Lois Dale Brown, is mentioned in the PBS documentary, and she's profiled, along with additional details about the senior service levies, on the Ohio Department of Aging's website. 

As a reminder, WPSU-TV is airing Caring for Mom & Dad at 8 p.m. this evening in Pennsylvania, followed by a one hour "Conversations Live" open to incoming calls, texts and emails.  Details available here. 

During Month of May on PBS: "Caring for Mom & Dad"

PBS is premiering a powerful documentary special, Caring for Mom & Dad, during the month of May, with Meryl Streep as the narrator.  A sample? Many of us might find resonance with one adult's "bad daughter" (or "bad son") feelings of guilt, candidly admitted here. 

Even more important than the video itself will be the conversations that follow viewing. Check your local public t.v. schedule to see when the program will air in your area.  (You can check here, to see if the documentary is scheduled yet in your viewing area -- go to the drop down menu for "Schedule.") Plus, in some markets, the documentary will be combined with a live call-in opportunity for individuals and families to explore health care, social care, financial topics and legal issues with a panel of experts.

My own university, Penn State, is hosting the special on Thursday, May 28, 2015  at 8:00 p.m. (Eastern time), followed by Conversations Live at 9:00 p.m. That is two weeks from today on WPSU-TV, a station that reaches a viewing area of 29 counties in central Pennsylvania. In addition, the Conversations Live program will be broadcast on WPSU-FM radio and can be viewed "on-line" at WPSU.org. 

As a result of an invitation to be part of the WPSU studio panel, I've had the opportunity to watch the documentary -- several times (it's that interesting!) -- in preparation to help in responding to audience comments, emails and call-in questions.  Additional Conversations Live guests include:

    Ai-jen Poo, co-director of Caring Across Generations and director of National Domestic Workers Alliance, will be joining via satellite from D.C.  Ai-jen Poo is featured in the documentary, and she also has a particular interest in enactment of a Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights, to deal realistically and fairly with the work force that will be necessary to meet the boomer generation's care needs.

    Dr. Gwen McGhan, Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State, with a research background on informal family caregiving.

    Jane McDowell, Hartford Center for Geriatric Nursing Excellence at Penn State, and a geriatric nurse practitioner.

The documentary was produced by WGBH-Boston, with funding assistance from AARP and Pfizer.

Please join us and share your stories and observations. The documentary starts with personal stories, but the public policy messages that emerge are ones that need to be heard at state and federal levels -- and heard clearly -- for there to be hope for realistic, necessary and timely solutions.

"Woman in Gold" was also a Woman with a "Will" (Or Maybe Not)

Have you seen the movie Woman in Gold?  Lots here for lawyers, law professors, and students to discuss -- which may be why reviewers often seem to mention the movie is, hmm, a tad slow moving.  There is nothing like watching a lawyer research in dusty libraries to frustrate a significant percentage of the viewing public waiting for the next explosion or car crash.

At the heart of the movie version of the tale  is a document, relied on by Viennese authorities as their provenance for a renowned painting's "rightful" place in Austria.  Is it or isn't it a "will" executed by Adele Bloch-Bauer? She was the subject of Gustav Klimt's shimmering painting, and the question is whether the document controls the ultimate fate of the painting. Helen Mirren is her usual marvelous self, portraying the 80+ year-old niece of Adele and a member of a Jewish family targeted by Nazi hatred.

Here's a nice follow-up to the movie story, courtesy of the New York Times, Patricia Cohen's The Story Behind ‘Woman in Gold’: Nazi Art Thieves and One Painting’s Return.

Asking Questions re What It Means to Have "The Talk" about Long-Term Care Planning

There is an interesting new YouTube video available, with charismatic, high-profile actors encouraging all of us to initiate "The Talk" about how we -- or our loved ones -- want to handle the possibility, indeed probability, that someday we will need long-term care.  Rob Lowe, Maria Shriver, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Angela Bassett, Zachary Quinto and Jim Nantz admit the difficulties of talking about growing old, often using vivid tidbits from their own lives or families to emphasize the importance of breaking past the barriers of denial. 

I like the video. It is simple, direct.  But, at the same time, I find the initial video, while interesting, to be a lacking in specifics about what it means to "talk" about long-term-care planning. The 2-minute video is actually part of a series created by Genworth, the major seller of long-term care insurance, and if you hit the right (wrong?) buttons you are directed to Genworth websites that offer more details, especially about  -- surprise, surprise -- buying long-term care insurance. 

I suspect that many people will panic if they hear "pay some money now" in order to buy LTC insurance, as even a part of the  "solution."  See what you think:

 

Another Movie for Our List

The movie, Still Alice, has been released.  Starring Julianne Moore in the role of the lead character, the movie is based on the book by the same name written by Lisa Genova. The book and movie are about a professor who has early onset Alzheimer's. The synopsis from the movie's website describes the movie this way:

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children, is a renowned linguistics professor who starts to forget words. When she receives a diagnosis of Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease, Alice and her family find their bonds thoroughly tested. Her struggle to stay connected to who she once was is frightening, heartbreaking, and inspiring.

 

"Still Alice" As Springboard For Family Conversation

My colleague and great friend, Professor Laurel Terry, shared Paul Sullivan's Wealth Matters column from the New York Times, that uses the new movie Still Alice as a reminder of the importance of family conversation:

"For anyone who has ever watched a family member disappear into Alzheimer’s, Ms. Moore’s performance is gripping, particularly as her tricks to stall her decline inevitably fail and the later stages of the disease consume her. Yet the movie is also a great vessel to explore many of the financial issues that families need to address when someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or any other disease that causes cognitive impairment."

The column continues with thoughts from financial professionals, who sometimes observe the early signs of a long-time client's decline:

"Thomas Mingone, managing partner at Capital Management Group of New York, said he had clients whose mental slide had been apparent to the advisers, accountants and lawyers in the room but not to the client. Since advisers are bound by a fiduciary duty to protect their clients’ privacy, Mr. Mingone said he can’t simply call up their children to let them know. With a client who seems to be slipping but lives alone and sees family members infrequently, Mr. Mingone said he suggests a family meeting, which allows him to connect with his client’s children. Other times, he said, just asking clients how they are doing brings the problem out.

 

'Sometimes when you bring this up with clients, it’s a relief to them,' he said."

For additional realities, including the problem of end-of-life decision-making and care choices, read "In Alzheimer's Cases, Financial Ruin and Abuse Are Always Lurking." 

Photographer Vivian Maier: A Search for Her Heir Began with Law School Studies...

One of the challenges of teaching a course called Wills, Trusts, and Estates, is drawing diagrams to chart intestate succession in an effort to explain what happens when you don't create an estate plan (or your written estate plan has gaps or defects).   I'm always looking for good stories to incentivize my students.

That's one reason why I found "The Heir's Not Apparent" by Randy Kennedy so interesting, as the New York Times writer describes the search for missing heirs of American photographer Vivian Maier, who died in 2009, apparently without a will.   According to the article, a suit to establish the rights of a previously unknown heir, a first cousin in France,  has been filed by Virginia attorney David Deal (himself a photographer), "who said he became fascinated with Maier's life in law school and took it upon himself to try to track down an heir." 

Maier's post-death fame as a "street photographer" has created a market for her huge cache of mostly unpublished photos, part of which was purchased by an individual for $380 in a thrift auction in Chicago.  However, the suit rests on the premise that "[u]nder federal copyright law, owning a photographer's negative or a print is distinct from owning the copyright itself.  The copyright owner controls whether images can be reproduced and sold."

A 2014 documentary, Finding Vivian Maier, helps to give "color" to her interesting story of a life quietly filled with black and white photographs.

 

 

Related articles

A Legal Battle Over Vivian Maier's Work

Vivian Maier: the nanny with a secret life as a photographer

"Finding Vivian Maier": The Discovery of a Master Street Photographer

Saturday movie review: 'Finding Vivian Maier'