Personal Improvement

Cleveland International Film Festival will unveil a hybrid of in-person and online offerings to mark its 46th year of showcasing provocative and entertaining movies. This year’s Festival will offer hundreds of feature and short films, plus filmmaker discussions and special events. ...

There are things we can do to intentionally practice focusing and building upon the positive. When we look for something good, we can always find it. Our brains are on a feedback loop. Small adjustments can keep our thoughts from spiraling down and help us feel happier. ...

Just like a virus in the real world, internet criminals capitalize on our bad habits. They want us to open unsolicited emails and text messages so they can steal our money and identities. They count on us to take scam bait because it’s written in such a way to make us fearful, angry or sympathetic to a situation. ...

Ohio, we’ve got a problem. To put it bluntly, we’re sicker and tend to not live as long as other Americans. When it comes to health indicators among Ohioans, we have a higher incidence of chronic disease than the national average. Accordingly, that negatively affects our longevity scores. Read on for your get-healthy game plan. ...

Part of the appeal of a Wine and Goldies performance is the initial thought that these are someone’s grandparents who found their way onto an NBA court. Many of them are grandparents, that’s true, but there’s nothing haphazard about their routine.  ...

Is 60 Elderly?
It is for Free Tax Help

We can debate if 60 is elderly, but don’t let that keep you from getting free help. We’re all about programs that save money, even those that sound a bit insulting.

That’s how we’re looking at the Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE) program that offers free tax and related pension and retirement help for folks 60 and older.

Another program, the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA), provides assistance to people who generally earn $57,000 or less, have disabilities or have limited English-speaking abilities.

The VITA/TCE sites are staffed by IRS-trained volunteers, many sponsored by local agencies. Find out where to go and what to bring by calling 800-906-9887 or visit irs.gov.

As an aside, AARP runs most of the region’s TCE sites for low- to moderate-income people through the AARP Foundation’s Tax Aide program. Learn more by calling 888-227-7669 or go to aarp.org and click the Tax Aide Locator link.

 

Dark Park,
Bright Skies

Some of the darkest skies in Ohio are at Geauga County’s Observatory Park, making it a terrific place to do wintertime stargazing.

The 1,100-acre park is an International Dark Sky Park, the only one in Ohio and one of about 100 worldwide. The Geauga Park District not only protects the park’s skies from light pollution, it also runs sky viewing programs there throughout the year.

Grab a coat and a pair of warm boots and see what’s up at Observatory Park. Even better, sign up for a park district program at geaugaparkdistrict.org.

For those of you keeping track, January’s Full Wolf Moon is the 17th. The Full Snow Moon is February 16.

 

Wheel-Ready
Roadies

Ohio’s newly launched older driver campaign is twofold: to keep us behind the wheel as long as it’s safe and to get us off the road when it isn’t.

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I have high hopes for 2022. This is the year of a better me — I’m going to invest time into myself, take care of myself, and feel better about myself. New year, new me. I started on New Year’s Eve by making a resolution that I was going to lose 20 pounds. I went to bed that night excited about my future, but I woke up the next morning and still weighed the same. What happened? ...

Change is good. But with us firmly settled into 2022, I’m all for ditching anything related to resolution-making. Just because it’s a new year doesn’t mean we were a hot mess in the old one. We’re doing the best we can right now, all things considered, and that’s good enough for today. ...