Mind Series

A Tasteful Evening

Maxim — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 03:01:40 +0000

Hello Everyone,

Emily and I have a very exciting opportunity coming up this next Thursday, June 10th. We were asked by the Alzheimer’s Association to be the keynote speakers at a fundraising event called A Tasteful Evening. The gist of the event is that 15 local chefs donate their skills, food and serving staff for the night. These chefs each pair up with a winery to create a lavish feast for the attendees. There is an auction and so forth. It brings in big bucks for the Association and is an excellent opportunity for us to network.

Wish us luck on the speech!

Check out the link:

http://www.alzwa.org/cms/te/default.htm

Thanks and love to you all,

Max

Storyteller Winner for Neuro Film Fest

Emily — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 21:12:33 +0000

This is a very touching story told by a husband who recently lost his wife to Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), commonly misknown as “Mad Cow’s Disease”.

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.