Everyday Creation
This show has to do with different kinds of creation: human, divine, and a third kind that connects the two. Our human creativity is easy to talk about because clearly we're prolific creators. We make music, we write, we cook; we establish businesses, we design gardens, we invent things. The list goes on and on. Another kind of creation is divine. We feel its presence when, for example, we contemplate birth, death, our life purpose, or have a quiet realization that there's something bigger than us. The third kind is perhaps a little more difficult to grasp and yet, with a little practice, it's easy to put into action. This is the personal power each of us has to direct our thoughts, words and actions every day toward what we want in our life and world, rather than what we don't want.
This sounds heavier than it is. For me, this show is an acknowledgment that while we're all here to learn and grow and do our best, there's still plenty of opportunity to relax, laugh, love, and enjoy this playground we call life. So my hope is that you'll get some enjoyment and illumination out of these episodes. Here you'll find interviews with delightfully creative individuals; short stories about some who have passed away; and essays about personal power.
I'm Kate Jones, host and creator of Everyday Creation. Thank you for following my show.
Everyday Creation
Knitting to Help Others, Honoring Lady Liberty, and Leaving a Beneficial Legacy
This is the sixth and last excerpt from a longer conversation (Episode 121) with philanthropist and author Iris November and two of her daughters: the Rev. Rachel Hollander, also an author, and Anita Hollander, an actress, singer and songwriter who joined us on Zoom from New York City.
In previous excerpts, we talked about Iris' two books; Anita's long professional career as well as her activism on behalf of performers with disabilities; and Rachel's book about living (and thriving) with depression vs. suffering from it. We also talked about the death of Iris' husband when he was only 48 and how his sudden passing affected the family.
To honor the memory of Bernard (Bud) Hollander, a lawyer, Iris set up an award to be given to a law school student who exemplifies her husband's unwavering commitment to public service. It first was presented in May 2025 and thereafter will be an annual award.
In this episode, we start off with Iris' knitting group, Yarn Over Beachwood, and then we touch upon the Statue of Liberty Club, which she founded. From there, we move on to the thoughtful practice of leaving a legacy that benefits future generations. The public service award honoring Bud Hollander is an example of that.
The episode ends with Anita singing an original song, "Beyond," inspired by some words that her father had jotted down about the importance of leaving something beneficial behind. You'll find the lyrics to Anita's beautiful song at the end of this episode's transcript.
To hear a professionally recorded version of "Beyond," go here. And go here to learn about Rev. Rachel's online spiritual community, SpiritsHome. By the way, the Beachwood Library mentioned in this episode is in Ohio on Cleveland's East Side.
This is Kate Jones. Thank you for listening to Everyday Creation, available on YouTube and in podcast directories including Apple, Audible, iHeart and Spotify.
Kate:
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I want to end with two things. One
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is a little bit about knitting,
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and the other is Anita's song.
Iris:
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Oh, well, this is just real fast.
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Seventeen years ago, I founded a little knitting
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group at our local Beachwood Library,
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and wonderful women,
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people I never would have met otherwise,
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joined the group. So we have lots of
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fun and we do things, and what we're
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doing right now among all the knitting and
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crocheting
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and looming that we do, we make something
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that we call Get A Grip. It's made
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from plastic
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drawer liner, and you cut it into
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6-inch squares, and then you crochet around it.
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And you
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open jars, you open pop bottles, anything that
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has to be unscrewed
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you can unscrew it with this piece.
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And we've been giving it out to places
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like InMotion, which deals with Parkinson's disease,
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any place where people have trouble with their
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hands. We're called Yarn Over Beachwood,
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and we're located at the Beachwood Library.
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And if you ever need these, we'll make
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them for you for free. We donate,
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and then you can sell them and raise
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money for your group if you'd like.
Kate:
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And they're very attractive.
Iris:
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Yes, they are. We try our best.
Kate:
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Very, very nice. And I would be remiss
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in not mentioning the Statue of Liberty Club.
Iris:
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We don't have time for all that.
Kate:
Just a little bit.
Iris:
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Okay. In 1991,
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I decided I was a first-generation American
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because my mom was born in the Ukraine,
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in Odessa,
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and I was born here in the United
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States. So I was the first generation born
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in the United States of my family.
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And
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I became
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a collector
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of Statues
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of Liberty.
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I founded the club in 1991.
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It's called the Statue of Liberty Club dot
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org
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or dot com if you want to look it
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up.
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And I donated my entire collection of Statues
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of Liberty to the Strong National Museum of
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Play in Rochester, New York.
Rachel:
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Can I toss one quick thing into this?
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It's a shameless plug,
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but I've recently started my own spiritual center,
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and it's online on Zoom, second Sunday of
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every month.
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SpiritsHome, a simple spiritual community.
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And if you'd like information, go to my
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website, revrachelhollander.com,
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and there's all the information there. And you
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can also click the contact tab
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to check in with me and get on the
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mailing list. Our service, it's like 45
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minutes. I sing. I talk a little. It's
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not oppressive. It's not scary.
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It's open to everybody. Everybody's welcome.
Anita:
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It's great.
Kate:
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Yes. Definitely.
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So would you tell us about the song
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a little bit before you get into it?
Anita:
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First of all, Mom, I need
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one of those things.
Iris:
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Oh, okay. I'll send them to you, honey.
Anita:
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Alright. Good. Also, this hat that I'm wearing is one of my
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mom's hats. I've got one in every color,
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and everywhere I go, "Where can I get
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one of those?" Because my mom makes those.
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She makes dolls and scarves and things for
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children in other countries who don't have
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the things they need. She doesn't just make
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things that help you open
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and unscrew jars.
Iris:
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We make them with love, sweetheart. Everything is with love.
Kate:
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And you make people happy too.
Iris:
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I hope so.
Anita:
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She does. She does. So this song I
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wrote for my dad 15 years ago. Fifteen
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years ago, Mom and Mort dedicated
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a theater
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on the grounds of Case Western Reserve out
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in the country,
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a barn
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into something called, I think, the Silo Theater.
Iris:
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Right. That's right.
Anita:
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And they turned it into a theater, and it was dedicated
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to both my dad and to Phyllis November.
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And it was a dedication
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that we did for the theater. So I
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thought, well, I should write a song for
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it. My sisters sang it with me, and
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it was based on something that I have
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up on the wall that my dad,
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after he died
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in 1975,
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we found this piece of paper amongst his
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many, many pieces of paper as a lawyer
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and it said this thing. It said
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"Beyond the welfare of family and friends,
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it is the enhancement of the lives of
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those yet to come that must be the
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real
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object of life." It was in his handwriting.
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We don't know if he was quoting somebody
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else. We don't know if he ever said
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it in a speech. But my thought was
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maybe he
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thought it, wrote it down, put it in
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the desk, thinking "I'll use that in a speech"
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because he made a lot of speeches in
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his life. At any rate,
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it became the last song of "Spectacular
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Falls."
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And,
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that's right, isn't it, Rachel?
Rachel:
Yes.
Anita:
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The last song of the show because I said "it
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falls to us
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to help the next generation."
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It's about the idea that the responsibility
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falls on our shoulders
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to take the legacy from others and move
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it forward.
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And I feel that this award Mom
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spent years putting together
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to honor my dad 50 years after his
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death,
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to give an award to a law student
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who has shown outstanding
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public service.
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It's a public service
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award.
Iris:
Yes.
Anita:
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So I adjusted the song a bit to
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be about how we all
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hand that legacy
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to others. And that person winning that award
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will hand that legacy on and that my
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mom made sure that this is something that
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will be in perpetuity,
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that will keep going. My mom's favorite song
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is from the show "Baby." It's called "The
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Story Goes On" and that is her favorite
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song. Well, this is not as good as
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"The Story Goes On," but I will try
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to at least do my mom and my
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dad proud.
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It's called "Beyond."
Who is my father to me?
I'm looking back 50 years and I see
a man in the wings I still see today
who gave others their wings
and showed them how to fly.
He said beyond the welfare
of family and friends,
beyond the welfare of family and friends,
beyond the welfare of family and friends,
it is the work we do for those
yet to come that really matters.
How do you measure someone?
Do you chart them by inches
or size of a shoe
or things they say or what they will
do to make the world a better place
for you and me.
He said beyond the welfare of family and friends,
beyond the welfare of family and friends,
beyond the welfare of family and friends,
it is the work we do for those yet to come
that lasts forever.
Whether it's picnics or looking at art,
music and laughter will stay in our heart,
sharing it all with our children to come
links us from one generation to another.
So why are we gathered today?
As we celebrate lives of present and past,
building something they hoped that would last
so that their voices would ring out
long after they are gone.
Because beyond the welfare of family and friends,
beyond the welfare family and friends,
beyond the welfare of family and friends,
it is the work we do for those yet to come
that really matters,
that lasts forever.
And the enhancement of those lives yet to come
must be the real object
of life.
Anita:
Thank you.
Kate:
Thank you. You all are beautiful.
Thank you so very much.
Iris and Rachel:
Thank you. Thank you, Kate.
