Skip to content
Skip to main menu
What Not to Say to Someone Who’s Grieving October 23, 2013 by Flora Davis - A few months after my husband died, a friend said to me, “I’m glad you’re feeling better and moving on with your life.” She meant well, but her remark made me acutely uncomfortable because grief still washed over me in…
Passion Is Contagious, Part 1 October 9, 2013 by Margaret Morganroth Gullette - The sex scene in the film Still Mine (2013) made me want to get in the sack with my husband. We haven’t been married as long as the fictional couple in question, who have racked up over 60 years together.- Passion Is Contagious, Part 2 October 7, 2013 by Margaret Morganroth Gullette - I try to see current movies featuring old actors whenever the actors are famous for their art, or the writing and direction promise to offer us real news about later life. Sometimes—often—I am disappointed. Producers choose sentimental, implausible or burlesque…
Stalked September 25, 2013 by Pepper Evans - News reports alleging that the NSA has been collecting mobile-phone data have brought to mind a creepy feeling I sometimes get when I am online. Someone is “reading” my mail and likely yours too. Email, that is, as well as…
Emily, You Remind Me of Someone September 16, 2013 by Pepper Evans - Sometimes fiction is so spot-on believable, I am convinced the author must have walked in the shoes of a particular character. I recently read Emily, Alone (2011) by Stewart O'Nan and have come to believe that he was once an 80-year-old widow.
Fifty Shades of I Know Not What September 12, 2013 by Pepper Evans - It's been in the headlines of weekly magazines, on the television talk shows, in the book clubs. I am talking about E.L. James's best-selling novel, Fifty Shades of Grey (2012). And just when I thought we were so over that, the movie casting calls, and the speculation and hype that go with that, seem to be never ending, putting the provocative book in the news again. 
Are Men an Endangered Species? September 12, 2013 by Flora Davis - Why is it that almost everywhere on the planet women outlive men? And how come that’s been true for centuries, at least in Europe, even though childbirth used to be a really risky proposition? These questions grabbed me while I…
Good News for Those with Chronic Conditions May 16, 2013 by Flora Davis - In 2008, my husband pitched backward down a flight of stairs and suffered a brain injury that cost him his sense of balance. Despite the walker he reluctantly used after that, he often fell, and I was told that if…
Pain in the Bag December 10, 2012 by Pepper Evans - Ok, we can have it all—but must we carry it all? Noticing that I use a very small purse, my daughter’s chiropractor commented that I wasn’t likely to need her services for the many aches and pains caused by women’s…
Characters I Almost Missed September 28, 2012 by Pepper Evans - “You will get paid to read and review current fiction if it has a compelling story with an aging protagonist.” Sounds like a good news-bad news joke, right?
Watch Your Language! September 24, 2012 by Flora Davis - Never use the word old. That’s the advice everyone gives us, but it’s hard to follow on a website devoted to the subject of aging. Most Americans in their middle and later years are turned off by terms like old people and old age and by most of the euphemisms that stand in for them.
How to Navigate Our Fragmented Medical System - For three years, Lil Banchero’s 86-year-old mother struggled with pain due to advanced arthritis. She tried yoga. Doctors prescribed medications and tried injections. Nothing worked. The pain got worse, and her mother became depressed. “Months passed,” said Banchero. “Nobody was…
‘Othering’ Other People - My friend Jack called me a few weeks ago to share an experience. He’d been at a public meeting at the library, seated at a table with three forward-facing chairs. He was sitting in the chair on the left, a…