Mind Series

Cast Your Vote!! (Neuro Film Fest)

Emily — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:58:51 +0000

We submitted a video titled “The Music in Hugh: A Look at Young Onset Dementia” to the Neuro Film Festival. There’s a contest for audience favorite, and we’d love your vote! Please see below for details.

Voting Has Begun! Cast Your Vote for Fan Favorite

The entries for the 2010 Neuro Film Festival are in and public voting for “Fan Favorite” begins February 17, 2010. The Neuro Film Festival is a contest by the American Academy of Neurology Foundation to help raise awareness through video about brain disorders and the need to support research into preventions, treatments and cures. The entries highlight compelling videos from patients and their families and caregivers about living with a neurologic condition. Voting closes on March 17, 2010.

Voting is easy:

Step 1: Visit youtube.com/neurofilmfest and log in using your YouTube username and password to view entries. If you don’t have an account yet, sign up now, it’s quick and easy! Gmail users can sign in using their Google username and password as well.
Step 2: Once logged in, rate each video in the playlist using the star system in the lower left corner, near the play button. Comments have been turned off to allow each video to stand alone and ensure fairness in judging.

The winner of the Fan Favorite award will receive a $500 prize. Two other winners will also be awarded for their filmmaking skills and creativity, as decided by the festival’s jury. A selection of the top videos will be screened at the Neuro Film Festival in Toronto during Stop Brain Disorders Week beginning Sunday, April 11, 2010, in conjunction with the Academy’s 62nd Annual Meeting, the world’s largest meeting of neurologists.

A Reason to Hope Breakfast Video

Emily — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:17:05 +0000

Spoke Your Mind has been collaborating with the local Alzheimer’s Association chapter over the past three months to help with a short documentary project they’re screening at Benaroya Hall in Seattle next month. The event is called “A Reason to Hope”, and this video will highlight four stories (including the Larkin family) to spotlight the humanistic and hopeful side of Alzheimer’s disease.

This process has been rewarding because it’s helped keep up the momentum for our own documentary, and I’ve gotten to know some incredible people. Elise Ricci is the main force behind the documentary segment, and the two of us have been meeting regularly to discuss the purpose and feel for this piece. Aside from filming our own story, Max and I filmed the Nornes family and through that befriended another local COYOD named Arlene. Arlene’s father Pete is a retired commercial fisherman and is now living with Young Onset Alzheimer’s.

Me, Arlene and Pete Nornes eating smoked crab

Elise and I met up with Arlene and Pete down at the Fisherman’s terminal in Ballard back in December to film the “Annual Holiday Smoked Crab” event. I felt a strange sense of belonging down at that terminal- hanging with a bunch of Norwegians (I’m part Norwegian myself) and eating seafood that I thought, “I love how filming can carry people to so many random and beautiful situations…” I am confident this documentary piece will indeed be hopeful.

For more information on the breakfast, visit this link.

New Blog Focus

Emily — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:41:38 +0000

We originally set up this blog for the “Spoke Your Mind Bicycle Tour” to share stories from the road. And so with the end of our tour last September, also came an end to our active blog posts.

However, despite our stagnant blog, we have been very active offline here in Seattle. And now with a new place and name for this blog, we will share all things relating to Young Onset Dementia from here on out.

We encourage those who are curious what we’ve been doing the past few months to watch our latest SpokeTube video “Spoke Your Mind: In a Nutshell”.

Updates to come…

-Emily and Max (pictured below with our dads)

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month

Emily — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 21:29:32 +0000

A local UPS grad made this short clip that shines light on Young Onset Alzheimer’s.

Check it out: “My name is Lisa”.

Thanks

Maxim — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:07:38 +0000

We want to thank everyone who helped Spoke Your Mind be a success. With your help we have captured over 30 COYOD interviews and have met personally with over 70 COYOD during our travel though 10 different states.

We are humbled by the support we received on the road and the continual backing we have working on Spoke Your Mind from home.

Thank you to all and stay tuned for an update from Spoke Your Mind.

Stay tuned…

Emily — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:04:27 +0000

It’s been a month since our last posting on the blog. In that month Max and I quickly found paying jobs and a place to live, and finally feel bit organized in West Seattle. We’re now able to upload our footage and begin sorting through some of the COYOD stories we collected.

We’re currently working on a video update that will explain Spoke Your Mind’s past, present and future. So stay tuned for that sometime in November…

World Alzheimer’s Day

Emily — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:09:51 +0000

Yesterday was World Alzheimer’s Day.

I encourage everyone to watch this simple and powerful clip by Alzheimer’s Disease International.

Back to Seattle

Maxim — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 20:46:28 +0000

Spoke Your Mind is moving on to its next phase.

As Emily and I pedaled the 20 miles to Mt. Vernon from DC, we had a long discussion. We talked about Spoke Your Mind, its progress to date and where it is heading. After speaking for some time the realization came to us that it is best to head home. We are extremely happy with what Spoke Your Mind has accomplished to date and we are excited about where it is heading in the future.

Though our bicycle tour is stopped for now, our commitment to Spoke Your Mind and the Young Onset Alzheimer’s/Dementia movement will not end here. We are heading home to Seattle to place our feet, continue to build on the relationships we have developed during this project, and prepare for our next step forward to bring understand to this cruel disease and help to those who are feeling it’s effects.

The compassion we have felt and the help we have received during Spoke Your Mind exemplifies the goodness of the human spirit. We thank everyone who has crossed our path and helped bring Spoke Your Mind to fruition.

We will keep this blog moving forward so stay tuned to see where and how Spoke Your Mind continues.

Leaving DC

Maxim — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:52:22 +0000

Today we are packing up, putting on our raingear and pedaling out of Washington D.C. After spending 5 weeks in the Northeast, it is time to venture into the South. Our destination is Richmond, Virginia. Previously, my Northwest mind would never had considered Virginia a southern state, but upon realizing that Richmond was the capital of the Confederate States our Southern adventure is upon us quicker.

DC has treated us very well. We have met very wonderful and powerful people within the Alzheimer’s movement. We have captured a number of diverse stories including, a woman with Young Onset Alzheimer’s, an 11 year old daughter of a man with Young Onset Dementia and two Music and Art therapists.

Us, our pigs and the monument

We owe a huge thanks to Brett, Nina, James, Sonya, and Vito for letting us house and Vito sit while they were on vacation. It was a tremendous help in giving us a base to move around the city. I have bonded with Vito and he will be in my heart forever. It is hard to say goodbye, but I have memories to get me through the longing.

Max and Vito

Thank you to the Alzheimer’s Association here in the capital area for connecting us to the right places and to everyone else who has helped us so far.

Katie, George and Em

P.S. Here is a photo of Katie, a high school friend who let us stay with her for a couple of days. Next to her is George, who is a fellow cyclist who we met on a bike path. He recently got back from a 400okm tour from Athens to London. He gave us a cycling tour of the city.

The Sparks family

Emily — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:50:00 +0000

We once again have been graced by an active Alzheimer’s Association here in the greater DC area. Max and I went to the National Capitol Area Chapter last Thursday to meet with Tammy Reardon, who immediately began scheduling us interviews during our stay. We also learned that we were in town for the welcome home party for Kendal Sparks from The Unforgettable Journey, a project that involved a cross-country bicycle tour to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Association. I heard about Kendal from Keri Pollock with the Western Washington Alz. Assoc. chapter just as we arrived into Portland during Leg 1. I talked to Kendal on the phone back in May, and we were hoping our trips would overlap. Turns out our timing was right and we went to his party and met his wonderful family and friends. Kendal, along with his cousin Amelia who joined him for part of the tour, told many stories of meeting friendly people along the way and what life was like on the road. There were many parallels between their experience and ours, especially how refreshing it is to be greeted by Americans in all parts of the country who are genuinely willing to help. Kendal also has an American flag on the back of his bike like Max, and we both felt that through our experiences we felt a strange sense of patriotism that we never had before touring. So often you hear and read about the terrible things that happen between people, and the acts of kindness rarely make the headlines. It was a real treat having the opportunity to relate to so many things with Kendal and celebrating his completion of an “Unforgettable Journey”.

Max, Kendal, Me and Amelia

The two influences for Kendal’s trip were his grandmother who died from Alzheimer’s and his uncle in Alabama who is living with Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD). Kendal’s cousin and cousin-in-law flew in from Alabama for his party, so we got to meet these “COYOD” briefly. They told us they saw our video on The Wedekings, and that it was a very difficult to watch considering their dad is still in the earlier stages of FTD- whereas Vaughn Wedeking was much further along. However, they also said that as hard as it was to see the progression of FTD in Vaughn, it began conversation around planning within the family. As Max and I listened to their situation, we were amazed that a family in Alabama was using our video in some capacity to learn more about their own father. But it was tough to stand there and know that the video also created negative emotions because of course it’s not easy to watch later stages of a disease when you’re not yet there with your own parent. We just hope the videos, and the videos that we will make post-tour, will encourage action and bring understanding. All-in-all it was an incredible evening and we were thankful we were in town for it.