Dr. Bill Thomas

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September 10, 2007

Time Gets it Wrong

A report on national service by one of our national news magazines is a good thing but what message do Time's editors choose to emphasize with the cover art?

National Service is, or could be, a good thing. (Full disclosure, I never served in the military, Peace Corp, Vista or any other kind of National Service myself.) The problem is that the magazine slants its National Service coverage toward the issue of youth and service and away from what elders are already doing to advance the common good. This framing is consistent with the dominant cultural theme which says: "Old Age Equals Decline." If that was true (and it is not) then the only hope for our society would lie with the young. In fact, we live in a time when there is an unprecedented opportunity for young and old to be together, work together and make change together.

The model who sat as Rockwell's model is now an 83 year old grandmother. The iconic image of the original "Rosie the Riveter" remains powerful image because, even six decades after it was made, it retains the capacity to remind us that some things are worth struggling for and sometimes the struggle for the good can be found close to home-- in our own neighborhoods and communities.

So- in the spirit of Time's Rosie Remix, I have a challenge for UMBC's Visual Arts/Graphics Majors--- Make me a remix of the Time cover that gives that poor woman on the cover a mighty mane of Gray Hair and some wrinkles. Send your Remixes to me at wthomas@umbc.edu and be sure to put "Remix" in the Subject line. I will post the best of them on this blog.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 10, 2007 9:13 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

King Lear

The first ever Erickson School Masters of Aging Services class kicks into gear next week and I am team teaching the Aging 600 class with Judah Ronch. Our course looks at issues and controversies in aging and uses Shakespeare's tragedy "King Lear" as an central element of the course. I am going to be blogging on my experience with the class all semester and wanted to kick off the topic with a nice online illustrated story version of the play. You can also listen to me discuss Lear on NPR by clicking here.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 18, 2007 1:02 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 5, 2007

Sedated

ChangingAging reader/commenter Margie Buck writes:

Thanks for the update on the new blog site. I loved the youtube Ramones "sedated". Will share it with many. look forward to seeing you all in Columbus OHIO (The Eden Alternative International Conference will be held in Columbus in June of 2008-- WHT)

So without further ado, here is the thoroughly up-to-date remake of the Ramone's classic "I Wanna Be Sedated."

Enjoy.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 5, 2007 1:11 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 8, 2007

Smack Down

The Gimp Parade lays a smack down on private, for-profit investors who are, increasingly speculating in the nursing home real estate market. Blogger Kay Olsen highlights the following from the recent New York Times article that covered this issue.

"The typical nursing home acquired by a large investment company before 2006 scored worse than national rates in 12 of 14 indicators that regulators use to track ailments of long-term residents. Those ailments include bedsores and easily preventable infections, as well as the need to be restrained. Before they were acquired by private investors, many of those homes scored at or above national averages in similar measurements."

What does she want to do about this?

"One of the demands of ADAPT at the recent sit-in at the Chicago headquarters of the American Medical Association [see the AMA's policy on the use of restraints in nursing homes here-- WHT] was that doctors divest themselves of financial interest in the nursing homes they recommend to their clients."

I agree with and support ADAPT's position on the divestment issue.

"While there is a movement by aging Boomers gaining steam to make nursing and assisted living institutions into communities where people can go to live happily instead of going there to wither of neglect and die, a key factor in the injustices visited upon the people who end up in these homes is that continued institutionalization with minimal service and minimal care financially benefits someone else."

When you get down to it, the paragraph above is the core of a moral argument against health care as a purely profit-driven "marketplace" and for the enlargement and preservation of human dignity and freedom of choice as a fundamental human right.

When the profits of corporations in the medical-industrial sector come to take precedence over the life and death needs of ordinary citizens we have a prescription for disaster.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 8, 2007 2:40 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 9, 2007

The Blue Screen of Death

I am not sure how I feel about the makers of Windows TM becoming the holders of America's health information.* Here is a quick summary. The company toots its own horn here.

* This blog is written on a Mac G5. I'm just sayin'.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 9, 2007 6:45 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Age Does Not Discriminate

New York Times reporter Jane Gross fronts a fascinating look at "the plight of the gay elderly:"

"[A] generation of gay men and lesbians, concerned about their own futures, have begun a national drive to educate care providers about the social isolation, even outright discrimination, that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender clients face."

[snip]

"In the Boston suburbs, the Chelsea Jewish Nursing Home will break ground in December for a complex that includes a unit for the gay and lesbian elderly. And Stonewall Communities in Boston has begun selling homes designed for older gay people with support services similar to assisted-living centers. There are also openly gay geriatric case managers who can guide clients to compassionate services."

Here is a nice article that explores the background of the issue.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 9, 2007 9:09 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 11, 2007

McArdle Care

Megan McArdle--currently blogging at the Atlantic-- continues to defend a post, which she initially posted at her previous bloggy home.

...as a class, the old and sick have some culpability in their ill health. They didn't eat right or excercise; they smoked; they didn't go to the doctor as often as they ought; they drank to much, or took drugs, or sped, or engaged in dangerous sports. Again, in individual cases this will not be true; but as a class, the old and sick bear some of the responsibility for their own ill health, while younger, healthier people have almost no causal role in the ill-health of others.
Perhaps they deserve it by virtue of suffering? But again, most of them are suffering because they have gotten old, often in high style. The young of today have two possible outcomes:

1) They will be old and sick too, in which case they are no less deserving of our concern than today's old and sick

2) They won't ever get to be old and sick, which is even worse than being old and sick.

As a class, the old and sick are already luckier than the young and healthy. Again, for individuals within that class--those with desperate congenital conditions, for example--this is not the case. But I'm not sure it's terribly compelling to argue that we should massively disadvantage a large group of people in order to massively advantage another, equally large group of people, all to help out the few who are needy, or deserving, or unlucky.

Emphasis added.

Translation: The old and sick are mostly to blame for their oldness and sickness so why should the young and healthy have to carry their burden when they are not to blame?

Left unasked (and unanswered) is the question, "Who helped the youth and healthy grow up young and healthy? Or did they simply spring from the Earth with no help from any other living beings?

Can anyone guess Ms. McArdle's age? Maybe this photo will help.

Will we still need her? Will we still feed her, when she's 64?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 11, 2007 8:12 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

October 12, 2007

Boundless Playgrounds

Re-careering is an important part of the the second half of life. So what about becoming the new CEO of Boundless Playgrounds?

Founding Executive Director of Boundless Playgrounds, Amy Jaffe Barzach writes...

With my encouragement and whole-hearted endorsement, Boundless Playgrounds' Board of Directors has contracted with a division of the National Executive Service Corps to begin a search for Boundless Playgrounds' first Chief Executive Officer. Once on board (ideally before February 2008), this person will provide leadership and direct oversight of the internal management of operations, staff and all fundraising and development activities that support the success and growth of Boundless Playgrounds. Your thoughts on this position and the search process are appreciated as are referrals related to specific people. Referrals will be forwarded to the search firm. Please send any you may have to Steve Shaw, a long time board trustee, chair/emcee of our 10th anniversary gala event featuring Bob Newhart and member of our search committee (sshaw@visualconceptsinc.com ).

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 12, 2007 7:37 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 13, 2007

Pro-Aging: Bare Skin Edition

YOUTH=BEAUTY
AGE= UGLY

These are the equations that drive ALMOST all of our media, advertising and (too often) art.

Dove deserves kudos for challenging these assumptions and doing so with flair and style.

How AdFormula sees it...

Six, over-50 gorgeous women do their best 'calender girl' homage in this controversial campaign titled pro age campaign ,designed and executed by their time tested agency O&M,posing buck naked in the ad, which was banned from airing( see the tvc here) and landed Dove in all the mess,because it "showed too much skin". The positive side as I see it, is that it was the first time, that a brand, that took on skin care, was talking to women about aging in a positive tone...Dove, the global beauty brand, boldly challenged the “only young-is-beautiful” stereotype with this Campaign which aimed to sell pro aging (and not anti aging) products . Designed to expose what our anti-aging society has been hiding, proage celebrates women of 50+ by showing their honest, real beauty.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 13, 2007 7:48 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

October 16, 2007

Brothers...

Life is short, and fragile. It is a good thing when art plucks the chord of our mortality..

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 16, 2007 3:46 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

October 17, 2007

Child Free

The Child Free blog passes this along...

NY Times: Increasing Childlessness and the Backlash Against "Family Friendly" Workplaces.

The Revolt of the Childless

HR magazine recently published a cover story entitled “Are You Too Family Friendly?”

It’s an issue because of the changing nature of the population in the United States.

“Slightly more than one in four households, 26 percent, consisted of a person living alone in 2006, up from 17 percent in 1970,” Susan J. Wells writes. “Unmarried and single U.S. residents numbered 92 million in 2006, making up 42 percent of all people 18 and older.” That’s up from 89 million in 2005.
. . .

Above, the cover of a book that describes the no kids lifestyle Down Under...

Millions of people are going "child free" and that will, in time, change the landscape of aging. I'm not saying it is better or worse, just different. Not mentioned, but also a major factor, are those who have biological children but do not have a care-giving relationship with them and have no expectation of such a relationship ever forming. This functional childlessness in the context of late life.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 17, 2007 3:17 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

October 18, 2007

Pop-culture Bonanza

So media mega-giant Viacom is allowing Comedy Central to launch a new web site for The Daily Show With Jon Stewart that will provide free access to video clips covering the entire output of the show since it began in 1999.

Our good friends at the UMBC ebiquity blog make some keen observations on this development, notably that this is a "response to the presence of many Stewart clips on Youtube and the related $1B copyright-infringement suit." Both the lawsuit and Viacom's bold move to provide this content free-of-charge (apparently confident they can support the web site through advertisements) are a testament to the impact "fake news" shows such as the Daily Show are having on our popular culture.

The LA Times reports:

“The database is searchable by both date and topic, making it a potential bonanza for students of American pop culture. If you want to see what host Jon Stewart has had to say about former First Lady Barbara Bush or ill-fated Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, you can find the clips and put them in context by seeing what else was featured on the same day.

…

Going forward, however, Comedy Central plans to tap into the collective intelligence of its fans by allowing them to contribute to the process, a la Wikipedia, the user-created Internet encyclopedia.”

Check out the culture bonanza here: The Daily Show Videos 1999 to Now.

John Stewart explains Social (In)Security:

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 18, 2007 5:17 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 26, 2007

Endless Tales of Woe

nursing%20home.jpg
Those who know me and my work know I'm an insufferable optimist and am whole-heartedly dedicated to reversing the most intractably pessimistic aspect of our culture -- how we feel about AGING.

But, even my cheerful demeanor blanches every morning when I open my Google-New-Alerts for the two most unfortunate words in the LTC lexicon -- "Nursing Home."

Here is a sample of today's news:

Man Dies Trying To Escape Nursing Home CHICAGO -- A 66-year-old man died after falling from a second-story window at a Northwest Side nursing home Wednesday morning.
Kiril Kirilov, who may have suffered from mental disabilities, attempted to exit Harmony Nursing and Rehabilitation Center from a second floor window via bedsheets he tied together, according to an Albany Park District police officer.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

But wait -- it gets worse:

Seniors Fear Losing Independence, Moving Into Nursing Home More Than DEATH
Senior citizens fear moving into a nursing home and losing their independence more than death, according to a new research study, “Aging in Place in America,” commissioned by Clarity and The EAR Foundation.

Tragic, and painfully true. I will write more about this terrible reality soon. Click here to read the full study posted at MyHearingHealth.com.

However, there was one gem out of more than a dozen articles today on abuse, neglect and fraud:

'Home Again' will aid seniors who wish to move out of nursing home
TERRE HAUTE — A new program called “Home Again” will provide rental assistance to seniors on Medicaid who desire to move from a nursing home back into a more independent and affordable community setting.

If you're looking for another ray of hope, go to www.edenalt.org

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 26, 2007 10:24 AM |Permalink |Comments (6)

October 31, 2007

Turtle Lodge

Picking up on the theme of "elder influence" it si good to remember that there is nothing new under the sun. The idea that elders form a kind of human bridge that spans both time and the human generations is well known to the people of many cultures.

The Turtle Lodge represents this bridge of influence in action, it's worth a look. Excerpts below.

The protocol of elder influence was reflected in the gathering, as it had been in the old days. As the elders led the gathering, we felt at ease, knowing and feeling that things would run the way they were meant to be. To the elders, the beginning of the day was always most important and that was giving thanks and gratitude to the Great Spirit and the Grandfathers.

During the four days, little baby turtles kept appearing; this would happen on each day. Each day they would be taken to the river, and released. This one day, a little turtle was found and it seemed that it was not alive, so it was decided it would be taken back to the shore of the river. This was when the evening healing ceremony was about to begin. As the little turtle was about to be laid on the shore, the sound of the drums beating began in the Elder's Lodge. Suddenly, one eye of the turtle opened. It was alive, but it seemed barely alive. As it was laid on the ground, and the drums were beating in the lodge, the baby turtle immediately came alive and ran towards the sound of the drums. This again offered a sign to the people. The little turtle represented the child, and we were all being shown that somehow we are destroying the spirit of our children. When the little turtle came alive and went towards the sound of the drum, what this meant, the elders said, was that the drum represented the awakening to a way of life that could nurture and help build the spirit of the children. The drum was calling for everyone to return to the sacred lodges, and sacred sites of our people.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 31, 2007 6:19 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 1, 2007

"They Die First..."

Last week I blogged about the incredibly stupid and racist comments of the Department of Justice's Voting rights section chief John Tanner. ("minorities don't become elderly the way white people do: They die first.") I thought at the time that this insult would be lost in the fog of information that surrounds us all.

I was wrong.

First off, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) publicly called for Tanner to be sacked based on those remarks.

Now comes the "please don't fire me!" Mea Sorta Culpa...

I want to apologize for the comments I made at the recent meeting of the National Latino Congreso about the impact of voter identification laws on elderly and minority voters. I understand that my explanation of the data came across in a hurtful way which I deeply regret. The reports of my comments do not in any way accurately reflect my career of devotion to enforcing federal laws designed to assure fair and equal access to the ballot. I am honored to have the opportunity to do this work, and I am honored to serve with the dedicated employees of the Voting Section who, day in and day out, work hard to protect the rights of all Americans under the Voting Rights Act.

It's worth noting that Tanner does not actually retract his conclusion that voter ID laws discriminate against whites, he just sort of wishes people had not gotten so worked up about it-- that's all.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 1, 2007 10:28 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 15, 2007

Would You Believe?

It's getting crazy out there. For a completely random look at the puzzle of unintended coincidence. Look at this blog post.

Trust me. I don't understand it either.

UPDATE: Aha! This is Ian Power the (semi) adult son of the legendary Al Power, author of the "Power Up Friday" series of ChangingAging posts.

Father

Son

Way to go Ian!

I wouldn't mention this to your dad if I were you...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 15, 2007 3:35 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 16, 2007

Co-Housing

Zev and Naomi know from Co-Housing. Take a look at their website ELDERCOHOUSING.ORG here.

Any co-housers out there?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 1:56 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Ripple

This is how I spent my Friday night.

The song, not the wine...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 16, 2007 7:20 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 26, 2007

Thought Crime Bill

Ronni at Time Goes By nails this issue with a definitive post

Please go read it.

This snip is good, the whole thing is great...

When I attended the first Blogher conference in the summer of 2005, Jay Rosen, who runs the excellent media blog, PressThink, spoke to the 300 of us gathered for the final session. I don’t remember what else he said - only these six words:

“Blogs are little First Amendment machines.”

As soon as I got home, I posted a little badge linking to the Electronic Frontier Foundation with Jay’s quote. It’s been sitting at the bottom of the left sidebar, but I’ve promoted it today to the top and linked it to the Thought Crime Index page listing all posts on this topic. It will remain there until this bill is defeated. If you copy and save the image, you can post it on your blog too.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 2:11 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 3, 2007

The Bickersons

This reminds me of the old radio serial--- "The Bickersons" the whole deal was that they were a married couple who argued all the time and the show consisted almost entirely of their arguments...

The Beethoven symphony is what makes it...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:59 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Wealth and Age: Notes

Dorothea hits the ground running...

I just finished reading the msnbc.com article posted on the 12-2-07 blog comment about preparing for retirement. The website had a calculator where you can plug in certain numbers (some requiring an incredible amount of foresight, i.e., "how long do you project to live?")and calculate the amount of money you need to retire comfortably. Well, I was thinking, what would this same calculator look like if we find the answer to Dr. Bill's question? The universal truth about wealth and aging and retirement? Would the calculator ask you questions like "are you happy today?", "whose life have you touched this year?", "how many new friendships have you made this month?", "were you able to vote this year?". OK, maybe I am getting ahead of myself. But as I read this blog, I feel so excited to be a part of the team who will be searching for these answers and creating a meaning out of them.

I am excited too. The point she makes here is that the "retirement calculator" has a built in and unacknowledged bias. It assumes that the needs of older people can be reduced, in their entirety, to financial needs and that the prudent investor must salt away enough financial capital to meet all of those needs. This is the essence of retirement planning, as it is known today.

Dorothea's hypothesis is that planning for late life should embrace explicit strategies for building both financial and social capital. I think this is very wise.

Of course the people who publish "retirement calculators" make nothing on accrued social capital and, in a bizarre way, suffer when ordinary people (investors) find that they social capital can often function effectively as a replacement for financial capital.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 11:29 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

Time Goes By Goes Bye Bye

Man this is sad.

I accept it. I honor it and, in some ways I understand it. But still, it's a sad day for the elder blogosphere.

As of this post, Time Goes By is over.
The decision to do so has been building for the reasons below and other related ones, but response to today’s post – and it’s only 11AM here - tipped me over the edge. Isn’t it odd how often decisions are made on small events.

I can’t tell you which of half a dozen emails telling me that 60 isn’t old or you’re only as old as you feel or age is relative or whatever other excuse did it. It’s all bullshit. Old is old. The Crabby Old Lady in me is finished arguing that, along with all her versions of old-is-as-worthy-as-every-other-age.

Too many people want to slice and dice the language and proclaim their youthfulness in other ways unto the grave and if that is your position, this or any blog is unlikely to change your mind.

But all this age denial (the negative ones never publish publicly; they just rant in emails to me) before noon has made the decision for me. I’m out of energy to move forward with this.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:28 PM |Permalink |Comments (3)

Fashion Statement

And really did love this post ...

This one too...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 3, 2007 8:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 4, 2007

Small Houses

Very cool...

Take a look.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 4, 2007 6:01 AM |Permalink |Comments (4)

December 7, 2007

Power Up Friday: Moon River Edition

Dr. Al Power offers the quote of the week:

"People, more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived,
reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone."
- Audrey Hepburn

Had she lived, Audrey Hepburn would be approaching her 80th year. I think she would have become a fine elder.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 7, 2007 6:22 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 10, 2007

The Blogosphere Gets Better

Judith Shapiro has entered the blogosphere with Remembering Matters and it looks and reads great. She runs with Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska's poem on the joy of writing. I am in the final stages of writing a new novel so I found the following lines to be an inspiration....

Is there then a world
where I rule absolutely on fate?
A time I bind with chains of signs?
An existence become endless at my bidding?

The joy of writing.
The power of preserving.
Revenge of a mortal hand.

By Wislawa Szymborska
From "No End of Fun", 1967
Translated by S. Baranczak & C. Cavanagh

This is the poet, not the blogger--- just so you know...

Amazon adds some perspective here.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:39 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 11, 2007

Fear of Witches?

Help is on the way...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 11, 2007 8:33 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

Malleus Maleficarum

Real Witchhunts...

"At Baldshut, on the Rhine, in the diocese of Constance, a witch confessed, that offended at not having been invited to the wedding of an acquaintance, she had caused herself to be carried through the air in open daylight to the top of a neighbouring mountain, and there, having made a hole with her hands and filled it with water, she had, by stirring the water with certain incantations caused a heavy storm to burst forth on the heads of the wedding-party; and there were witnesses at the trial who swore they had seen her carried through the air.

"The inquisitors, however, confess that the witches were sometimes carried away, as they term it, in the spirit; and they give the instance of one woman who was watched by her husband; she appeared as if asleep, and was insensible, but he perceived a kind of cloudy vapour arise out of her mouth, and vanish from the room in which she lay—this after a time returned, and she then awoke, and gave an account of her adventures, as though she had been carried bodily to the assembly….

"The witches of the Malleus Maleficarum appear to have been more injurious to horses and cattle than to mankind. A witch at Ravenspurg confessed that she had killed twenty-three horses by sorcery. We are led to wonder most at the ease with which people are brought to bear witness to things utterly beyond the limits of belief. A man of the name of Stauff in the territory of Berne, declared that when pursued by the agents of justice, he escaped by taking the form of a mouse; and persons were found to testify that they had seen him perform this trans-mutation.

"The latter part of the work of the two inquisitors gives minute directions for the mode in which the prisoners are to be treated, the means to be used to force them to a confession, the degree of evidence required for conviction of those who would not confess, and the whole process of the trials. These show sufficiently that the unfortunate wretch who was once brought before the inquisitors of the holy see on the suspicion of sorcery, however slight might be the grounds of the charge, had very small chance of escaping out of their claws.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 6:50 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Serenbe

People often ask me what I think the new old age is going to be like.

The first and best answer is---- diverse.

Here is one example of the creativity that is beginning to illuminate this new diversity of community and built environment.

Serenbe

The most common answer I get is an insistence, always politely phrased, that there must be some single best way to encounter aging in the 21st Century.

There isn't.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 11:04 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Time Goes By Comes Back

Ronni is in the house!

Wooooo. Hooooooo!!!

Love the Elderish Wisdom that permeates her return to the blogosphere post.

She is one of the greats.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 11:25 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 13, 2007

Senior Theater

The 2008 Senior Theatre USA Festival will be held in Baltimore on the UMBC Campus from June 10 - 15.

Like the previous festivals, it will bring together hundreds of performers, professionals and other Senior Theatre lovers. There will be shows from many different types of Senior Theatre companies from across the nation, plus workshops and social events.

There will be a couple celebrity highlights this year: John%20Astin.jpg Keynote speaker John Astin (who currently teaches at Johns Hopkins but is perhaps best-known as the mustachioed comedic actor Gomez Adams) will appear as Baltimore’s own Edgar Allen Poe, performing excerpts from the one-man show Once Upon a Midnight.

Stuart%20Harris.jpg New York playwright Stuart Harris will premiere his comedic one-act play Spindrift Way.

For more information.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 13, 2007 6:16 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 16, 2007

Free Rice

Here's another creative way to lend a helping hand--- and you might even learn something in the process.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 16, 2007 9:57 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 18, 2007

Bloggy Goodness

I suspect that some portion of the ChangingAging readership is new to the blogosphere. I know that we have some veteran blogospherians out there as well but, in the holiday spirit and just for the plain old bloggy goodness of it all, I declare this to be ChangingAging's first ever "Let's Visit the Blogosphere Week."

Here is how it works. I will start with the blog roll on the left-hand side of the page, I'll follow that link and then use what I find there to follow another link etc. and so forth until I get tired or whatever.

Ready for something new?

Buckle up Intrepid Bloggonauts, here we go!

First stop...

Ageless Marketing

Marketeer David Wolfe's journal about ideas, people and events in the Marketing Revolution.

I'm guessing that this is a snapshot of David with his Trusty Horse Named Dusty

Anyway David pops off on "Lessons for Prospering When the Economy Isn’t" so we take a gander at his "blogroll" we find...

Boomers which is the creation of Brent Green who weighs in on the tragic death of Boomer Acoustic Music Legend Dan Fogelberg

Brent%20Thin%20Ice%204.jpg

But hey, what's this?? He links to Dr. Bill Thomas so here we are right back home again.

See all you blogonauts tomorrow when we take "A Little Red Hen" out for a spin!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 6:22 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

News You Can Use...

It doesn't take much time traveling outside of these United States to realize that the world has it's own, highly variable, take on this great nation of ours.

In a global village it pays to pay attention to what the other villagers have to say...

Watching America offers a news and opinion roundup that gives readers a unique outside looking in perspective...

(H/T* Cab Drollery)

H/T is short for Hat Tip which is an expression of polite thanks for leading me to something good and useful.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 1:38 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

We Owe Money

America is sitting on a pile of debt of almost unimaginable proportions.

That matters for young and old alike. It matters, even more, for those yet to be born.

The dead--- they really don't care.

Andy Sullivan has more...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 18, 2007 4:38 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 24, 2007

Shaka Santa

I love me some Shaka Santa

Merry Christmas to all of my friends in the Island Paradise...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 24, 2007 2:17 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 28, 2007

Boomer Elders

A couple of thoughts...

As Boomers creep toward old age, some peer into the future, seeking to understand, what comes next. They sense the possibility of a new life, freed from youth’s fevered illusions. They are our Elders-in-the-Making, seeds of the last, and greatest, counter-cultural movement the Boomers will ever know.

Elderhood awaits them like an undiscovered continent. This new old age lies beyond adulthood, beyond the boundaries of the world we know today. Soon, there will be crones and sages among us, much more than half a million strong.

Joni Mitchell said…

But you know life is for learning
We are stardust
We are golden
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden

Old age is not failure. It grows within us, the last frontier of human possibility. The Boomer’s greatest journey is just beginning.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 28, 2007 3:05 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 29, 2007

The Onion's Year in Review

The Onion is satire, fake news, very funny and worth a look.

Here is the 2007 Year-End Update

Often more truth than fiction...

Secretary Of Defense Humiliated As U.S. Credit Card Rejected

ST. LOUIS—An attempt to build international goodwill backfired horribly for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld Monday, when he was unable to pick up the tab for Australian Defense Minister Sen. Robert Hill's order of 11 Apache AH-64 helicopters using the U.S.'s credit card.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 29, 2007 9:52 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 31, 2007

2008

It is going to be a good year....

I'm glad I'm going to get to share it with ChangingAging readers!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 31, 2007 11:47 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

January 3, 2008

Things Change: And That's OK

John Dawson is one of the founders of "The New Riders of the Purple Sage."

Here he is in Central Park...

Jown%20Dawson%20Young.jpg

Here he is in Albuquerque...

John%20Dawson%20Old.jpg

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 3, 2008 6:19 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 4, 2008

The Savvy Boomer Likes...

Here is the Savvy Boomer's take on the new movie, "The Bucket List."

I definitely recommend stopping by the blog, it's a great fusion of techno-generational savvy and news you can use.

I watched the new movie, The Bucket List, last night. I won't give you any spoilers but I'm sure you know how a flick about 2 guys dying from cancer is going to turn out eventually. The story is somewhat contrived as it is about 2 men who would never associate in their normal lives, that are brought together in a hospital by their common denominator of cancer. One of them is mega-rich and finances their no-limits last fling at life comprised of a list they made of things to do before they kick the bucket. Nicholson and Freeman are 2 pros that could hold your attention watching grass grow so needless to say, their performances live up to expectations.
I get the feeling that "Bucket List" is going to become one of those coined phrases like "at the end of the day" that you are going to hear people using over and over. I think most of us have a kind of mental bucket list that we started thinking about when we reached a birthday that had a zero in it. After all, every time we change a decade, there are a number of stereotyped variables that go along with that decade. I think I started my mental bucket list when I hit 40 but I keep modifying it as I age. That's not necessarily because I have completed some items on the list but because as my values change, some things lose importance and others gain.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 4, 2008 6:47 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 7, 2008

In What Year Was This Man Born?

How old was he in---- say 1970?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 7, 2008 5:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

January 9, 2008

Age Changes Us All

Plenty of people are aware of, think about and talk about religious, ethnic, and racial diversity in American society.

Scott E. Page, a professor of complex systems, political science and economics at the University of Michigan, is suggesting that diversity is one of the mainsprings of productivity in the business world. NY Times article here.

I'm good with that but what bothers me is that the VALUE of aging as a source of diversity is routinely discounted.

The myth is that "all old people are alike."

Not.

My hero, T. Franklin Williams tells doctors in training...

"When you've seen one old person, you've seen one old person..."

In other words, age is the most distinctive, diverse, part of the entire life cycle.

Put another way...

Infants are the group of people in America who are the most like each other. Despite what their mothers might believe, any given newborn is very very like all other newborns.

People in their 80's, however, are very very different from each other.

So if diversity is good and contributes in a healthy way to the overall diversity of our society...

We need to make sure that a diversity of ages is a part of the mix.

This is why I am generally opposed to the standard and unthinking practice of segregating older people from people of other generations.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 9, 2008 5:41 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

January 10, 2008

Embodied Aging: Gets the Call

Embodied Aging shares the people, images and ideas which add meaning and joy to my life. Thanks for visiting. ~ Sharry Teague

Here is a taste...

At Costco I flipped through The Daring Book for Girls parked right there beside The Dangerous Book for Boys. These books are all about knowing how to do stuff - using a compass, sewing on buttons - things like that. They invite kids to an acoustic life. Hands on. And they must have got me thinking.

I made the SoulCollage card (pictured below) just before the Winter Solstice. It’s entitled The Call. "Called to what?" I’ve wondered. This morning I woke with the sense that I was called to a year of living dangerously*, but I doubt I’ll be heading off to Indonesia. I think my dangerous life includes a component described in the books above, a willingness to engage with life, not as a consumer, but as a learner, with all the floundering and failure learning implies.

Failure makes me very nervous. I was never angrier with my sister, Barrie, than when she entered a swim meet at The Club and came in dead last. Buying a book and reading it is safe. Working on a project that matters could be a real mess. A friend once hurt my feelings. I told him I was scared to write, and he said, “You are afraid to find out you aren’t as good as you think you are.” Blunt, maybe, but accurate.

So I’m ready to live dangerously. Just being myself (in whatever floundering way that can happen). Risking that I will be accepted and loved anyway. Risking that wobbling and a few falls are worth it to learn to write a story or bake bread or whatever else Life calls me to. The Velveteen Rabbit had it right, being Real is not for sissies.

The%20call.jpg

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 10, 2008 5:12 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 11, 2008

Which Witch Again?

Some ChangingAging readers remember when I went on a witch rampage a couple of months ago.

See here, and here and here...

Well I now confess that I omitted the key historical document which (smile) explains the whole fear of witches thing fully, responsibly and with the utmost accuracy.

Enjoy...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 11, 2008 2:54 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Like Medieval Peasants, Boomers Will Demand Choices

[Guest post from Kavan at UMBC]

That last post about witches was silly, absolutely silly. I'd like to elevate the discourse on this blog with a real discussion about age, ageism, sexism, classism, feudalism, communism, marxism, imperialism and anarchocommunalsyndicalism.

Posted by Kavan Peterson on January 11, 2008 3:22 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 13, 2008

The Number One Movie in the Land?

Cancer comedy "Bucket List" rules movie box office...

Comedies mining the unlikely topics of terminal cancer and a church robbery led the North American box office on Sunday, sending ticket sales higher for a fifth consecutive weekend.

"The Bucket List," starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as patients boldly facing their demise, sold $19.5 million worth of tickets during the three days beginning on Friday. The Warner Bros. release, which had played in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto the prior two weekends, drew an older audience, the Time Warner Inc-owned studio said.

Gotta admit, I did not see that coming. But I do like the fact that the top movie appeals to GROWN-UPS...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 13, 2008 7:10 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 24, 2008

January 28, 2008

Role of the Next Generation of Culture Change Advocates

[Note from Dr. Bill] Best part of my new job as a university professor is, hands down, the students. Below is a guest post from one of UMBC's best and brightest grad students. I'd like to extend an open invitation to