GBO NEWS: PBS’s Next Avenue’s New Head; Bookmobile News—Marc Freedman’s How to Live Forever Top WSJ Choice, Plus Elizabeth White on Job Ageism, Mary Pipher on Women at 70, Bestseller Katy Butler on Dying Well; & Selected Story Links
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations – Celebrating 26 Years.
January 16, 2019 — Volume 26, Number 1
EDITOR’S NOTE: GBONews, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. Send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBONews Editor Paul Kleyman. To subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge, simply sending a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. For each issue, you’ll receive the table of contents in an e-mail, so just click through to the full issue at www.gbonews.org. GBONews does not provide its list to other entities.
In This Issue: Over the Wall, Through the Slats—Behind Bars?
- GEN BEATLES NEWS: ***GBONews.org Begins 2019 with a Small Change Marking Our 26th Year; *** Our Co-Founder John CutterGets Major Promotion at Orlando Sentinel; ***Colleen WilsonNew Head of PBS’s Next Avenue; ***Humorist Josh Kornbluth Releases Aging vs. Ageism Video for Global Brain Health Institute; ***Brian Kaskie, PhD, New Editor-in-Chief of GSA’s Public Policy & Aging Report; ***Samantha Diaz Roberts, a 2019 Journalists in Aging Fellow Departs MundoHispanico for Univison Atlanta 34.
*** Margaret Morganroth GulletteReceives Modern Language Association (MLA) Prize for Ending Ageism, or How Not to Shoot Old People;
*** Wall Street Journal Lists Marc Freedman’s New Book, How to Live Forever, Atop Its “Best Books of 2018 on Aging Well”;
*** NPR’s 1A Interviews Elizabeth White (55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal, new edition) and Mary Pipher(Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age);
*** Preview Galleys of The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life by Katy Butler, being published by Scribner in February.
3. EYES ON THE PRIZE: *** The Rosalyn Carter Journalist Fellowship in Mental Healthprogram is accepting applications, February 6-April 10.
*** “If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t be Yours,”by Peter Gosselin,”ProPublica;
*** “Age Discrimination Is More Common Than You Think. Why Aren’t We Doing Anything About It?”by Helaine Olen, Washington Post;
*** “Part of an Age-Friendly City: Advocacy Training for Elders,” by Sandra Larson, Bay State Banner (Boston’s leading African American paper);
*** “Christmas at the Covingtons” (in East Nashville), by Peter White, Tennessee Tribune;
*** “New Group Aims To Address Isolation Among LGBTQ Older Adults,”by Lisa Gillespie, WFPL Louisville Public Radio;
*** Elder Refugees in the Bluegrass State Face Challenge of Language Barriers,” by Rhonda J. Miller, WKU Western Kentucky Public Radio (audio and text story);
*** “Study: Differences in NYC’s Chinese, Mandarin Elders End-of-Life Care Preferences,” by April Xu, Sing Tao Daily;
*** “Secrets of Happiness from the Oldest of the Old,” (interview with New York Times reporter and best-selling author John Leland) by Mary Kane, Kiplinger’s Retirement Report;
*** “Aging-Related Sleep Problems and Memory Loss,”by Michael O. Schroeder, U.S. News & World Report.
1. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** This issue of GBONews.org begins 2019 with a change in our volume number to more accurately reflect our starting point in 1993, as Age Beat, the real-mailed paper version we published when our group was named the Journalists Exchange on Aging. So, GBONews.orgbegins 2019 with Volume 26, Number 1.
It was in 2000 that John Cutter, then covering aging at the St. Petersburg Times, launched this new-fangled blog edition. As John moved on and up – and e-news became older-fangled – this editor took on the e-mail version, keeping the numbering separate to differentiate it from the folded, stuffed and stamped issues of yesteryear. Age Beat Onlinewould morph a decade ago into Generations Beat Online (GBONews.org),but the numbering hasn’t reflected the actual organizational and publishing history of our group, the Journalists Network on Generations. So, here we are at the Millennial age of 26 with the same mix of news from the generations beat, fellowship deadlines, new books and story links, and a dollop or more of bloggy blather.
*** Meanwhile, the News on John Cutter, announced in December, is that after spending the past three years as the Orlando Sentinel’s Managing Editor, he has been promoted to the with the heady title of Content Director for Operations and Standards for the Sentinel and its sister paper, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. GBONews conveys our hearty congratulations to him for the new gig and very distinguished photo accompanying his column on the announcement. Still, those who know him then can see the earnest gaze and boyish grin he had back when he prompted us to found this group.
*** PBS’s Next Avenue Site Has a New Head, Colleen Wilson. Officially the Vice President of Digital Publishing at Twin Cities Public Television (TPT), Next Avenue’s producing station in St. Paul, Minn., Wilson will be the publisher/executive producer, that is the business brains, behind both the Next Avenue50-plus website and their Rewireyoung-adults digital platform.
According to a TPT release, “Wilson has spent 18 years at PBS and NPR affiliate KQED – San Francisco working her way up from Senior Producer to Executive Director of Digital Products where she oversaw strategy, user experience, distribution, [Key Performance Indicators], and revenue chains for KQED web properties including blogs, podcasts, mobile applications, and national sites. In 2015, Wilson co-founded KQED’s innovation lab which, using a design thinking approach, incubates new products and revenue opportunities across emerging platforms.” She took the dual reigns this past fall.
Which is to say, huh? She moved from the Bay Area to Minnesota (this editor’s hometown area)? Wilson, e-mailed GBONews, “Oh, how I miss the Bay Area right now (it’s zero degrees in Minneapolis).” She added, though, “I’m loving it here so far. It’s exceeded every expectation. When people ask me what I miss most about the Bay Area my quick response is – my community of friends and the produce. I’m learning to hold out for the summer when farmer’s markets seem to be on every corner.” Another major snowstorm on the way this coming weekend. What’s farm fresh will be flash frozen.
*** San Francisco-based Humorist Josh Kornbluth, known for his autobiographical monologues since the 1980s, was named last year by Atlantic Philanthropies as an Atlantic Fellow for Equity in Brain Health at the Global Brain Health Institute (GBHI). Working at the University of California, San Francisco, with GBHI Director Bruce Miller, MD, who also directs UCSF’s Center on Memory and Aging, Kornbluth is studying brain science and brain health. He’s working with groups of people with dementia and their caregivers, is developing a one-man show and a feature film based on his experiences there. In addition, he hosts the “Citizen Brain” online series of videos. In a new seven-minute video, Kornbluth unfurls his ungainly comic persona, arms akimbo and enthusiasm over the top, to explain the difference between aging and ageism – with a little help from some very distinguished scientific friends. We’ll be following some of his progress in coming issues.
*** Samantha Diaz Roberts, a 2019 Journalists in Aging Fellow Joins Univison Atlanta 34 Channel News after a stint at MundoHispanico, the Georgia’s major Spanish Language print and online platform. She told GBONews, “I will be multimedia journalist [and] cover the same as in Mundo: Immigration, politics, community. Kind of general, but always focusing on the Hispanic community. Aging will definitely be one of my proposals in the editorial meetings. Not quite sure if they will approve them for the day-to-day hard news typical stories’ (also depending on the story), but there are opportunities to work longer formats (3:50 minutes) for research stories during the ratings reviews (4 times on the year). So I will surely keep in mind ways to speak and report about aging.”
One of her fellowship video and written fellowship stories was “Los Abuelos: Baluarte en las Familias Hispanas” (“Latino Grandparents: Bulwark in Hispanic Families: Studies Show Culture plays Important in Raising Grandchildren). Read in Spanish. (English to be available.)
*** Brian Kaskie, PhD,was appointed last fall as the new editor-in-chief of Public Policy & Aging Report (PPAR) the highly informative quarterly from the policy institute of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA). He stepped into the position following the death of longtime editor Greg S. O’Neill, PhD,whose untimely passing from cancer GBONews reported in its last issue. Reporters who follow policy issues, or who may be looking for a published source of background and national experts, have long found the single-topic journal issues to be invaluable.
According to the GSA announcement, “Kaskie is an associate professor in the Department of Health Management and Policy at the University of Iowa College of Public Health. His research involves analyzing Medicare and Medicaid policies, empirically testing models of state policy formation and implementation, and translating integrated approaches to providing geriatric care in a variety of health care settings. Most recently, Kaskie has examined the increasing use of cannabis among older persons, evaluating the implications for opioid abuse and end-of-life care.” Also, from 2016 to 2017, he was an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, assigned to the majority staff of the Senate Special Committee on Aging by Sen. Susan M. Collins.
2. THE BOOKMOBILE
***Margaret Morganroth Gullette received the prestigious Modern Language Association (MLA) Prize for Independent Scholars for her mischievously titled book, Ending Ageism; or, How Not to Shoot Old People(Rutgers University Press). Gullette, a resident scholar at Brandeis University, she was honored at the association’s annual convention in Chicago, on Jan. 5.
In its citation, the awards panel wrote that Gullette, in Ending Ageism“not only documents the ways in which what she calls ‘the wars against the midlife and age’ degrade our social world but also projects a cultural turn toward developing a moral imagination and honoring the emotional wisdom of old age. . . . This is an outstanding and innovative contribution to the study of ageism as a symptom of contemporary culture and serves as a road map for redressing the humiliation and injustice that afflict us all as we age.” Her commentaries have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian, Ms., and Atlantic Monthly online, among others.
*** The Wall Street Journal listed Marc Freedman’s New Book No. 1 on its “Best Books of 2018 on Aging Well.” Published in November by Public Affairs,this fifth volume by Freedman, president and CEO of Encore.org, has the tongue-in-cheek title, How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the Generations.
Not much interested in bioengineered immortality, Freedman, creator of the $100,000 Purpose Prize, writes, “Not much interested in adding purpose to life and not content to add mere years (or even decades) to life, a handful of tech titans are on a crusade to radically extend longevity. Forget 150. That’s early adolescence if the Silicon Valley set gets its way.” That is no exaggeration. He quotes Oracle founder, Larry Ellison: “Death has never made sense to me.” Freedman, also includes Michael Kinsley’s retort asking “whether Larry Ellison makes sense to death.”
GBONews wonders, as well, whether Ellison, now 74, can at least make it to 94. He’s just shelled out a bundle to the San Francisco Giants for 20-year naming rights to replace “AT&T Park” with “Oracle Park.” Whether or not Ellison manages to go extra innings, this editor will continue to call that grassy diamond by its aspirational name – Willie Mays Field. Willie Mays has already made it to 87, and whether or not will make it to forever, the “Say, Hey Kid” has earned his status as a genuine immortal, in bronze, even, at the stadium’s gate.
But I digress. In How to Live Forever, Freedman reflects on turning 60 and his three-decade quest to enhance the lives of Americans in this aging population. He acknowledged the mortal fears that have spawned the pervasive narrative of intergenerational conflict—the kind of “Greedy Geezers” attack contending that older people take too much for themselves in entitlements. Then Freedman sets out to “help us avoid conflict, solve problems from literacy to loneliness, reweave the social fabric in communities, and reconnect us to our fundamental humanity.”
Reporters can request a review copy and press kit from publicist Elizabeth Shreve at: elizabeth@shrevewilliams.com; or the head of publicity at Public Affairs, Jaime Leifer: Jaime.Leifer@hbgusa.com. They can also help arrange interviews as Freedman tours the United States in the coming months. For his where-and-when, link to his events schedule.
*** “Gray and Resilient,” on NPR’s 1Awith Joshua Johnsonbookended its Jan. 7 hour with the authors of two new volumes on our singular topic, Elizabeth White and Mary Pipher.
White is out with a new Simon & Schuster edition of 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal, (first self-published in 2016). A former executive the World Bank, White had been chief operating officer of a nonprofit for improving economic conditions in Africa. Then she found herself not only blindsided by the Great Recession and forced to shut the burgeoning home-decoration chain of shops she co-founded in D.C., Philly and New York. Despite her experience and holding multiple degrees, including a Harvard Business School MBA and a masters in International Studies from Johns Hopkins University, she was over 55 and couldn’t get a callback after sending out innumerable résumés. The book, far from a mere tale of woe, is loaded with advice for other older Americans swimming up the nation’s employment stream. White was also featured in a Dec. 31, 2018, Marketplace segment on NPR.
Joining White on the 1A interview was clinical psychologist Mary Pipher, whose newest and 10th title is Women Rowing North: Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing As We Age. The book revisits the topic of aging, now 20 years after she published Another Country: Navigating the Emotional Terrain of Our Elders.
Pipher contributed an essay headed, “The Joy of Being a Woman in Her 70s,” to the “Sunday Review” section of the New York Times(Jan. 13, 2019). It begins, “When I told my friends I was writing a book on older women like us, they immediately protested, ‘I am not old.’ What they meant was that they didn’t act or feel like the cultural stereotypes of women their age. Old meant bossy, useless, unhappy and in the way. Our country’s ideas about old women are so toxic that almost no one, no matter her age, will admit she is old. In America, ageism is a bigger problem for women than aging. Our bodies and our sexuality are devalued, we are denigrated by mother-in-law jokes, and we’re rendered invisible in the media. Yet, most of the women I know describe themselves as being in a vibrant and happy life stage. We are resilient and know how to thrive in the margins.”
Pipher goes on, “Yet, in this developmental stage, we are confronted by great challenges. We are unlikely to escape great sorrow for long. We all suffer, but not all of us grow. Those of us who grow do so by developing our moral imaginations and expanding our carrying capacities for pain and bliss. In fact, this pendulum between joy and despair is what makes old age catalytic for spiritual and emotional growth.”
***Preview Galleys of The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life by Katy Butler are now available to journalists. The book is slated for release in mid-February. Butler, author of the New York Times bestseller Knocking on Heaven’s Door, says the Scribner’s release, “seeks to restore an element of the sacred to the process of dying, and provides the tools to navigate a modern medical system that is inadequately designed to meet the needs of the elderly and patients managing prolonged illnesses. This crucial guide prepares readers for seven phases of late life, from vigorous old age to the final breath.” GBONews will have more about this book in a later issue. Meanwhile, check out her website: Katybutler.com. Writers can request galleys from Abigail Novak, abigail.novak@simonandschuster.com, 212-698-1296.
*** The Rosalyn Carter Journalist Fellowship in Mental Health program is accepting applications starting on Feb. 6 and closing on April 10: “Every year, eight U.S. fellows are awarded stipends of $10,000 each. (International fellows are awarded a comparable stipend.) Stipends cover expenses during the fellowship project, including travel, materials and incidental expenses. If reporters apply as a team, the total stipend will be divided evenly among the team members,” says the website.
3. EYES ON THE PRIZE
Fellows make two expense-paid visits to The Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga., first in September and then one year later, at the end of the fellowship year when fellows present their completed projects. Each visit lasts three days. Projects do not require fellows to leave their jobs. It also notes that fellows get to meet and interact with former First Lady Rosalynn Carter and members of the Carter Center Mental Health Task Force.
4. THE STORYBOARD
*** “If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t Be Yours,”by Peter Gosselin,”ProPublica(Dec. 28, 2018, updated Jan. 4, 2019): Summary quote: “A new data analysis by ProPublicaand the Urban Institute shows more than half of older U.S. workers are pushed out of longtime jobs before they choose to retire, suffering financial damage that is often irreversible.” Gosselin wrote, “Many Americans assume that by the time they reach their 50s they’ll have steady work, time to save and the right to make their own decisions about when to retire. But . . . that’s no longer the reality for many — indeed, most — people.”
ProPublicacollaborated with the Washington think tank, the Urban Institute, to analyze data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), the premier source of quantitative information about aging in America. Gosselin wrote, “Through 2016, our analysis found that between the time older workers enter the study and when they leave paid employment, 56 percent are laid off at least once or leave jobs under such financially damaging circumstances that it’s likely they were pushed out rather than choosing to go voluntarily. Only one in 10 of these workers ever again earns as much as they did before their employment setbacks, our analysis showed. Even years afterward, the household incomes of over half of those who experience such work disruptions remain substantially below those of workers who don’t.”
He quotes Urban Institute economist Richard W. Johnson, “This isn’t how most people think they’re going to finish out their work lives. For the majority of older Americans , working after 50 is considerably riskier and more turbulent than we previously thought.”
Brookings Institution labor economist Gary Burtless, told Gosselin, “We’ve known that some workers get a nudge from their employers to exit the work force and some get a great big kick. What these results suggest is that a whole lot more are getting the great big kick.” He stressed added,“Yes, workers can find jobs after a career job comes to an early, unexpected end. But way too often, the replacement job is a whole lot worse than the career job. This leaves little room for the worker to rebuild.”
The article follows up on Gosselin’s 2018 story with Ariana Tobinof Mother Jones, which describes “how IBM has forced out more than 20,000 U.S. workers aged 40 and over in just the past five years.’”
In his latest piece, Gosselin notes, “Much public discussion of aging focuses on Social Security, Medicare and how to boost private retirement savings. But our analysis shows that many, perhaps most, older workers encounter trouble well before they’re eligible for these benefits and that their biggest economic challenge may be hanging onto a job that allows for any kind of savings at all. ‘We’re talking about the wrong issues,’ said Anne Colamosca, an economic commentator who co-authored one of the earliest critiques of tax-advantaged savings plans, The Great 401(k) Hoax. ‘Having a stable job with good wages is more important to most people than what’s in their 401(k).”
*** “Age discrimination is more common than you think. Why aren’t we doing anything about it?” by Helaine Olen, Washington PostOpinions (Jan. 3): Olen picked up on Peter Gosselin’s ProPublica story noted above, placing it in the critical context of ongoing retirement finance coverage: “When you dive into popular literature on retirement, you could be forgiven for thinking there are hordes of Americans in their late 50s or early 60s desperate to leave the paid workforce as soon as they can. Blog posts and academic studies beg people to hold off on collecting Social Security until the age of 70, so they can maximize their benefits. There is Bloomberg Businessweek’sarticle Not prepared for retirement? Here’s a solution. Don’t retire and Inc.’s Want to Retire Early? Here are 3 Reasons You Probably Shouldn’t.Few listen. The most common age to file for Social Security is 62.” She goes on, “Why? Well, many of these people are not downscaling their professional lives or exiting the workforce entirely because they want to do so. They are likely victims of age discrimination. That’s the searing conclusion” of the ProPublica-Urban Institute study.
We proudly note the following article links from the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, a project of GBONews.org’s parent organization, the Journalists Network on Generations, in partnership with the Gerontological Society of America. This year’s 36 reporters from both mainstream and ethnic media in the United States is supported by grants from AARP, the Silver Century Foundation, the Commonwealth Fund, the Retirement Research Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation. Here are a few of the latest stories
*** “Part of an Age-Friendly City: Advocacy Training for Elders,” by Sandra Larson, Bay State Banner(Boston, Jan. 10, 2019): Drop head: “Elderly Commission’s Boston Senior Civic Academy helps seniors learn how to navigate city bureaucracy.” The story, for Boston’s leading African American newspaper, begins, “For five weeks last spring, a group of 25 older adults from 10 of Boston’s neighborhoods gathered in daylong sessions to learn how to navigate government bureaucracies and advocate for aging-related issues.”
*** “Christmas at the Covingtons,” by Peter White, Tennessee Tribune(Jan. 3, 2019): “Rose and George Covington live in a four-bedroom, two-bath brick house on Meridian St in East Nashville. They are still doing what they started doing 45 years ago: raising children. Their own two, Tim an d Jessica, are grown and out of the house.” The story continues that Rose and George, located in the largely African American East Nashville, adopted their grandkids with modest help from Family & Children’s Service (FCS), a nonprofit social service agency. The extended-family portrait presents the struggles of a proud working-class family headed by a couple in their Golden Years, loving, but far busier than they’d hoped for in their retirement.
*** “New Group Aims To Address Isolation Among LGBTQ Older Adults” by Lisa Gillespie, WFPL Louisville Public Radio:
“New preliminary survey research from the University of Kentucky shows that many older LGBTQ adults feel isolated and aren’t tapped into senior services. And that research is shaping programming of a new group geared toward these adults out of Lexington and Louisville. Researcher Aaron Guest recently surveyed around 700 LGBTQ adults over age 50 in the state. He asked them about issues related to health care, long-term care and other issues that could impact the lifespan of these adults. “There may not be many family units to provide care, or friendship networks may have shrunk, so there’s not individuals to step into the caregiver status,” Guest said. “There’s also a fear of going into long-term care because of this idea that when you go into a nursing home or assisted living facility, you have to go back into the closet.”
*** “Elder Refugees in the Bluegrass State Face Challenge of Language Barriers,” by Rhonda J. Miller, WKU Western Kentucky Public Radio (3:50 min. audio with photo slide show, Jan. 8, 2019): “One of the biggest barriers refugees face when they arrive in America is learning English. A program in Louisville, Kentucky helps refugees who are 60 and older cross the language barrier . . . Interpreter Patrick Bagazaspeaks with 90-year-old Therese Nyamubyeyiduring a trip with the Louisville Refugee Elder Program to the Speed Art Museum. The language is Kinyarwanda and they’re talking about how Nyamubyeyi fled from the violence in her home country, the Democratic Republic of Congo.‘She was a refugee to a neighbor country Rwanda almost 20 years,’ said Bagaza.The museum trip is one of the many ways the Louisville Refugee Elder Program encourages better English language skills. The program is sponsored by Kentucky Refugee Ministries and funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement.”
*** “Study: Differences in NYC’s Chinese, Mandarin Elders End-of-Life Care Preferences,” by April Xu, Sing Tao Daily(Nov. 17, 2018): The story explains research by scholars at Fordham University in New York on Chinese seniors’ perspectives about advance directives and end-of-life (EOL) preferences. Because most studies on this subject “treat Asians as one group,” the researchers differentiated Mandarin and Cantonese speakers to discern any differences in their knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors toward end-of-life care.”
*** “Secrets of Happiness from the Oldest of the Old,” by Mary Kane, Kiplinger’s Retirement Report (Dec. 31, 2018): “Many of us worry about what our lives will be like in our final years. But after spending a year following six people ages 85 and older, The New York Times reporter John Leland came to some surprising conclusions about old age and contentment later in life. His work inspired his book, Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons From a Year Among the Oldest Old (Sarah Crichton Books/FSG) . . . , out in paperback.” In the edited Q&A, “Leland talks about applying the wisdom of the oldest old to our lives at any age.”
*** “Aging-Related Sleep Problems and Memory Loss,” by Michael O. Schroeder, U.S. News & World Report(Dec. 20, 2018): [subhead] “Older adults’ sleep difficulties can hurt cognitive function and may raise risk for Alzheimer’s disease.” The story begins, “EVEN IN THE SHORT TERM, not getting enough sleep or poor quality zzz’s can keep people from performing at their mental best, whether it be more complex executive functioning or problem-solving or memory.”
The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online News (GBONews.org). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. Copyright 2019 JNG. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
To subscribe of unsubscribe, or if you have technical problems receiving issues of GBO or if you’d like to be removed from the list, e-mail me at paul.kleyman@earthlink.net, or pfkleyman@gmail.com or phone me at 415-821-2801.