Health scare derailed his plans, but Savannah man is a tai chi teacher again

Once a teacher, always a teacher.

Al Garbagnati was a college psychology professor and hospital psychologist in Arizona before he and his wife, Susan, moved to Florida four years ago to care for a relative. Two years later, they decided to move closer to family in Kansas.

Their hunt for the right place to put down roots brought them to St. Joseph, which they found comfortable. A real estate agent suggested they might look at Savannah, too.

Savannah turned out to be just the place for them. And a place where he is now teaching Wednesday evening tai chi classes for the foreseeable future that begin at 5:30 p.m. at the Savannah Branch.

Garbagnati, who also teaches sitting tai chi at the Savannah Senior Center, started teaching weekly classes at the library last June but had to cancel after two weeks when he needed heart surgery.

“I’m well and back on my feet and ready to rock and roll again,” he declared.

Garbagnati has practiced martial arts for 52 years. Karate was his form for 25 years until suffering a ruptured disc. He then turned to tai chi and its easier methods.

The form of tai chi he first practiced included 86 postures, that took about 15 minutes to work through. Learning and memorizing that many moves was challenging, but he mastered the method.

Four years ago, he learned about Tai Chi for Health, an Australian non-profit organization that promotes a compact version of tai chi with only eight postures for people with arthritis. The program was created by a physician who used tai chi to treat his own arthritis.

When Dr. Paul Lam came to Kansas City to present a two-day seminar in 2023, Garbagnati attended to learn more about Lam’s arthritis tai chi. By the end, he had become a certified instructor.

“It’s a very abbreviated form, but you really get the experience of tai chi,” he said. “For people who aren’t that athletic, this is great for them.”

Tai Chi for Arthritis improves balance, flexibility, posture, strength and mobility. It also helps reduce blood pressure, stress, falls and fear of falling. Adults who don’t have arthritis are welcome to join Garbagnati’s free classes, which last 50 minutes.

Young at Heart Resources, the not-for-profit service organization for seniors, is sponsoring the classes.

Adults can join our 2025 Winter Reading Challenge

Cold weather doesn’t stop readers from reading. They just put on more clothes or blankets and hunker down.

That’s the idea behind the 2025 Adult Winter Reading Challenge that runs from Jan. 1 to Feb. 28. Participants who read four books will win a pair of custom RHCL winter gloves, a free book or a Books Revisited coupon, entry into grand prize drawings for cozy-themed gift baskets and an invite to an End of Winter Party.

Record your books using the bingo cards available at both library branches and the Bookmobile or go online and use the Beanstack reading challenge platform at rhcl.beanstack.org/reader365.

Stay warm and turn those pages. Let us know when you finish your fourth book!

Reading helps build empathy for others in a time that it's needed

 By Michelle Mears, Rolling Hills Library Director

Those of us who read regularly, both for information and for enjoyment, have a sense that it has opened our eyes to the world in ways we can’t always explain. It’s hard to articulate how reading murder mysteries or celebrity biographies makes us better people, but it does. It puts us in the shoes of other people and helps us develop a greater understanding of life.

There isn’t a great deal of research on this because it is not easily studied. Empathy in general is a fuzzy concept, the ability to feel what others are feeling and understand the way that they experience the world is not like riding a bicycle. It doesn’t just “click” one day and then you never fall down again. It has been shown that people who read stories, both fictional narratives and historical or biographical texts, tend to exhibit more empathy towards others and report that they feel transported into the story, that they are emotionally involved, and that they identify with the characters. The result is what they call a “sleeper effect,” something that manifests over time without the conscious knowledge of the person experiencing it.

We are certainly in a time when we need to encourage people to have a greater understanding of each other. Unfortunately, people are moving away from spending extended time with narrative stories in favor of short reads and online videos of less than a minute. Reading comprehension was in decline long before the pandemic, but time out of school and a lack of support at home has made it worse.

So how do we get people, and especially kids, to be readers again? Parents need to understand they are their children’s first teacher. They cannot wait until kindergarten to start. They should be sending kids to school with some basic pre-literacy skills and recognition of letters and numbers. Reading books aloud with children and letting them use devices for educational games (not mindless videos) helps build reading skills. And kids need to see adults reading to show reading is valued in your home.

Will reading save the world? It won’t happen overnight, and we need to stay vigilant against the forces that want to stop people from reading or only let them read certain things. The solutions to the world’s problems will always involve reading more and not less. Fighting bigotry, racism, and sexism is helped by experiencing stories from people of all races and genders. Help your kids develop the connections they need to the communities they live in by reading. It doesn’t need to be award-winning literature. Fluency, comprehension, and understanding will grow no matter what you read as long as you read — and read a lot.

Construction of new library is set to begin in January

By Michelle Mears, Rolling Hills Library Director

Looking back, I can’t believe it has been two whole years since we began the design process for our new building. But we’ve made progress, and now it’s time to share an update about this project.

We’ve purchased a plot of land, a little under four acres, near the intersection of Faraon Street and Riverside Road, in the new development south of the Mosaic Life Care complex. The lot gives us enough room to build on with plenty of parking and outdoor spaces for programs, a drive-up window, and a walking path around a retaining pond for exercise and relaxation.

Our floor plan is set, and the layout includes space all on one level for the library branch, administrative offices, Bookmobile garage, and the Friends of the Library bookstore. The exterior is similar to the original renderings, but we had to make a few choices to keep costs down, so new images will be shared soon in addition to the ones in the Winter 2025 newsletter.

Other features of our new space will include four public meeting rooms, four study rooms, a patio for outdoor programming, and a technology space for both one-on-one assistance and classes. Our interior theme is designed around bringing the outdoors inside, making a connection to nature and the world around us. There will be a play area for children focused on early literacy, and plenty of natural light throughout the building.

Our construction manager has put the project out for bid, and we are committing about 35% of the construction costs to local contractors. In some categories we did not receive any local bids, sometimes because the job was too big and sometimes because firms were too busy to include us in their schedules.

Construction is planned to begin in January 2025 and be completed by March 2026. While winter is not a good time for a groundbreaking ceremony, we will do something fun in the spring to celebrate the project. We will have a job-site camera so we can watch online the building growing from afar, and our 2025 Summer Reading Program theme will include building and construction components to keep us connected to the project.

We plan to keep the Belt Branch open as long as we can, reopening in the new building once the collection and staff are moved. It seems like this project has taken longer than expected, but we are right on track and look forward to serving you in our new spaces. Follow our progress as construction begins at rhcl.org/building-project.