Personal Stories

It’s been said that a picture is worth a thousand words. In that case, what’s the story being told by photos of older adults in the media or advertising that seem to only portray the aging as sad, lonely, confused or even silly? Such portraits only work to perpetuate out-of-date…

Back in the early 1960s, if you were a young mother with a young child, and you needed a flexible job with flexible hours to allow you to continue nursing your child, your options were limited. For the now 96-year-old Frieda Caplan, necessity became the mother of invention: in her…

Perhaps you’re still in the job you’ve held for decades and fantasizing about what else you could be doing at this point in your life. Or, maybe you’ve already “retired” but are ready for a new career. Wherever you are or whatever you’re thinking, you’re not alone if you’re contemplating…

It’s not uncommon for today’s movies to present stereotypical images and experiences of older adults on screen: Characters easy to ignore, or portraying faulty memories or cognitive decline, or even seniors dismissed as caricatures of real people. It’s the rare film that provides a real picture of the complex and…

Food writer Craig Claiborne once said, “Cooking is at once child’s play and adult joy. And cooking done with care is an act of love.” For many older adults, cooking is their connection to family traditions, to social engagement and to sharing love and affection with those in their lives….

By the time you reach a certain age, you may think you have it figured out: what you need to do to keep your skin clean, clear and fresh, if not exactly “youthful.” But in fact, technology seems to be one step ahead of us all, and now, with the…