Janie Williams took her place in the front row at her weekly Balance Challenge class, beaming as if she couldn't wait for the huffing and puffing to begin.
Nearly an hour later, after milling around and around with two dozen other exercisers at the Culver City Senior Center, Williams approached me and explained why he was smiling.
“I want to tell you that I'm 94 years old and we can still do it,” she said, proud and justifiably so that she and her classmates, including an 83-year-old woman with a Parkinson's-related disorder, had nimbly exercised every joint and muscle in their bodies.
It was impressive, as was the adrenaline-pumping soundtrack, which included “Mambo Italiano” and “Love Potion No. 9.”
California is about to be hit by a wave of aging, and Steve Lopez is taking advantage of it. His column focuses on the advantages and disadvantages of advancing age, and how some people are challenging the stigma associated with older adults.
But my question was this:
Could President Biden, 81, and former President Trump, 78, have done what this group just did?
“Well, I know my candidate absolutely needs to be here,” Judith Kendall said.
He was referring to Biden, whose stride has hardened somewhat. The president’s mental fitness for office has become a central issue after his shaky performance in the June 27 debate, even as Trump and truth remain as far apart as ever.
Homi Gandhi is a regular at the Culver City Senior Center attending Maribeth Dougherty's MindBody Dance class.
(Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Times)
“What Biden should have said is, ‘I don’t debate a criminal.’ And that would have been the headline news,” Kendall said.
That's good advice, no doubt. And what better place to ask for advice on how to cope with the passage of time than at a senior center?
I doubt Biden or Trump are doing much cooking, but if they get hungry in the middle of the night, they could learn a thing or two from balance class instructor Teri Lemoine. She would be on her way to Paris if fall-prevention moves were an Olympic event. At one point, in blue tights and sneakers, she led her class through a fox trot of sorts in the kitchen.
“I go to the sink, the kitchen,” Lemoine said, as he taught his patients how to properly step, turn and shift their weight to avoid ending up calling 911 while lying on the floor. He received plenty of instruction on how to safely get up and back down from a chair, swing their arms and do push-ups and squats to leverage their weight.
“I was already falling before I started this class,” said Laura Clines, who recently traveled to London and France and took advantage of much of what she learned. “I was dragging my little suitcase around, getting on and off the trains… and it was fabulous.”
And without falls.
Judith Kendall, right, participates in the Balance Challenge class at the Culver City Senior Center.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Carolynn Middleton said Biden appears to go “from his desk to a plane to his desk again” and that routine is not physically challenging enough to help develop agility and mobility.
“He needs to do something like what we’re doing,” Middleton said.
“Some of us know we’re getting older,” she continued. “But it’s not until we hit our heads that we realize how vulnerable that is. I fell a month ago. My son said to me, ‘That’s the third time you’ve fallen in two years.’ After that last fall… I got up off the ground and I said, ‘I’m not going to lie here for four hours. ’”
Middleton didn't just get up off the ground. She started taking balance classes and “I feel like I'm getting more agile.”
Sally Schlosstein told me that physical and mental health are connected, so it wouldn't hurt for an older politician to get some exercise from time to time.
“We all work with our mind and our body,” Schlosstein said. “You can’t manage one without the other.”
Phyllis Juster was progressing slowly in class but still working.
“I can’t keep up with everything, but I do the best I can and I’m very careful not to fall,” said Juster, who told me he first knew something was wrong when he had trouble getting his key into a door lock. He also suffered numerous falls and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a brain disease that can cause slow movement, stiffness and tremors.
She said she has already voted for Trump and will probably do so again, though she is not very happy with him and said he seems to be suffering from what she calls “mania” and “narcissism.” She is also not a fan of Biden and believes he is not being honest about his health, or perhaps is not able to see his own decline.
“At least I know what I can’t do, and he doesn’t seem to know that,” Juster said. “I think that’s extremely dangerous.”
There has been a lot of talk about how Biden's performances seem to vary. Sometimes he gets tongue-tied or loses his thread, and people say he's having trouble. At other times he seems much sharper, such as when he talks about foreign policy in detail, and people say he's fine.
Juster had an explanation for what might happen, based on his own neurological condition.
“How do I put it? It’s intermittent,” Juster said. “I want to talk as much as I can and be able to get information out of my brain and into my mouth. I can keep talking when I know what I’m talking about, but if I’m trying to describe something that’s not at the forefront of my brain, I seem to have to hesitate.”
And so, as soon as the balance class was over, Juster walked down the hall and into an improv class. I peeked in and watched as two dozen students created a story from scratch, starting with a line about someone who comes across a box of fireworks. Each student had to come up with a line to keep the story moving, followed by another, and another, improvising as they went.
Note to candidates: If you're in the neighborhood, it might be a good idea to stop by and talk to Juster and some of the others, but be aware that they tend, as older people tend to do, to offer direct, unfiltered criticism.
Carolynn Middleton, left, shares her thoughts and concerns about President Biden as Sally Schlosstein, Judy Goar, Laura Clines and Teri Lemoine listen at the Culver City Senior Center.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Take Shiela Dean, 86, who didn't take the balance class but moderates a Saturday current affairs session with nearly 30 regular attendees. The topic of presidential politics, as you might have suspected, has been coming up lately.
“The whole group loves Biden,” Dean said. “But almost 90% believe he is not capable of continuing for another four years… We are very concerned that he has early-onset dementia or at least mild cognitive impairment.”
And what do people say about the other boy?
“It’s not very flattering stuff,” Dean said. “They think he’s mentally… um… unwell.”
This is as good a diagnosis as any.
Dean said he couldn't remember a sadder presidential election and wants the next generation to step up and take the reins.
Back in the balance class, Kendall seconded the motion.
If Biden drops out or wins reelection but then resigns, “I have confidence in Kamala,” Kendall said of Vice President Harris. “We simply cannot vote for a felon.”
