GBO NEWS: BBB Bill’s Passage News for Elders; Britney Freed, But Seniors?; 11 Journalists in Aging Continuing Fellows Named; Fixing Racial Retirement Gap; Evictions Hit Seniors; & MORE
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations – Our 28th Year.
Nov. 19, 2021 — Volume 28, Number 12
EDITOR’S NOTE: GBONews, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. If you have difficulty getting to the full issue of GBONews with the links provided below, simply go to www.gbonews.org to read the latest or past editions. Send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. [pfkleyman@gmail.com]. 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: Black Friday Matters? What about Red, Blue & Purple? (More Gravy, Please.)
1. THE STORYBOARD
*** “House Passes Budget Bill That Could Improve Medicare,” AARP.org; Kaiser Health News;
*** “Why the Medicare Part B premium will soar next year,” by Mark Miller, Retirement Revised;
*** “Britney Spears Officially Freed from Conservatorship,” by Mandalit del Barco, NPR Weekend EditionSaturday;
*** “Why Eviction Hits Older Adults Harder, Making Them Vulnerable to Homelessness,” by Carly Stern and Mollie Bryant, Big If True;
*** “Is long-term care on the Build Back Better chopping block?” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living;
*** “The Bad Food Served in California Prisons is a Problem for Human Rights and Public Health,” by Beth Witrogen, Sacramento Bee;
2. EYES ON THE PRIZE: Journalists in Aging Program Returns 11 as Continuing Fellows.
3. BINGE ZOOMING FOR STORIES: *** Recordings of the Journalists in Aging Fellowship Zoom Sessions Available on: *Demographic Profile of US Longevity; *Positive and Creative Aging; *COVID’s Ripple Effects for Seniors; *Elder Abuse Prevention; and *Meaningful Work & Retirement Security.
4. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Jaya Padmanabhan Won Kudos for Fiction Writing in the international Page Turner Awards;
*** Rachel Roubein Departs Politico for Washington Post;
*** Gerontologist Helen Dennis to Post 1000th LA Daily News Column
5. THE BOOKMOBILE (Plus Webs & Pods)
*** Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap: How Black People Can Build Generational Wealth (August Press) by US News & World Report’s, Rodney A. Brooks;
*** MacArthur “Genius” Anne Basting’s Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care;
*** Taking Charge Volume 2: More Stories on Aging Boldly, by Herb Weiss;
*** Keeping it REAL Caregiving, new website by journalist Julia Yarbough;
*** “Older Generations Deserve Media Coverage, Too,” interview by Michael O’Connell with Paul Kleyman, on It’s All Journalism podcast.
1. THE STORYBOARD
*** “House Passes Budget Bill That Could Improve Medicare,” by Kenneth Terrell, AARP.org (Nov. 19): Dek: “The House voted 220-213 to pass President Biden’s Build Back Better (BBB) bill. AARP fought hard to make sure the legislation included key reforms to make Medicare more affordable and effective for older Americans as well as include financial support for America’s 48 million family caregivers.”
It quotes Nancy LeaMond, AARP executive VP for advocacy, “The bill that the House passed today includes meaningful reforms to bring down medication costs: finally allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, preventing prices from rising faster than inflation and adding a hard out-of-pocket cap to Part D.”
The website posting by the leading DC advocacy group on aging includes a useful sample of intergenerational elements of the BBB Bill, such as on Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, home and community-based care, technology access, and benefits for pre-schoolers and other children.
Another source outlines one specific example, $4.2 Billion remains in the package to bolster programs under the Elder Justice Act, according to the Elder Justice Coalition, the bipartisan advocacy group for elder abuse prevention. If passed by the Senate, it would include $1.7 billion for post-acute and long-term care worker recruitment and retention; $1.5 billion for Adult Protective Services; $183 million for long-term care ombudsman program grants and training; $530 million for supporting linkages to legal services and medical-legal partnerships (MLPs); and $265 million to address social isolation and loneliness.
*** “House Passes $2 Trillion Spending Bill With Big Health Measures” – More broadly, KHN Morning Briefing, by Kaiser Health News, provides links to a spectrum of reporting on the House bill from the AP, New York Times, Washington Post, Politico, Roll Call, and more.
*** “Why the Medicare Part B premium will soar next year,” by Mark Miller, Retirement Revised (Nov. 18, 2021): “Medicare announced a whopping 14.5% increase in the standard Medicare Part B premium for 2022 — the biggest since 2010. That will reduce the net amount of Social Security COLAs next year by varying amounts, depending on your benefit level (more on that in a minute).” Miller, a contributor to Reuters, the New York Times and others, explains two reasons for the huge jump. First, Congress limited last year’s increase, by only $3.90, to $148.50 per month, although it was on track to be much higher. “So, this year’s premium plays catch-up on the foregone increase for 2021,” he writes.
“The other major driver of the 2022 premium increase is Aduhelm, the controversial drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in June for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The FDA approved the drug despite objections from its own scientific advisory panel, which voted nearly unanimously that clinical trials did not demonstrate its effectiveness. Medicare typically covers FDA-approved drugs – but this one comes with an eye-popping price tag set by its maker — $56,000 per patient annually.”
For many it will offset most of the previously announced 5.9% boost in the Social Security cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2022 – “the largest since 1982,” Miller writes, due to the higher rate of inflation.
*** “Britney Spears officially freed from conservatorship,” by Mandalit del Barco, NPR Weekend Edition, Saturday (Nov. 13, 2021): Intergenerational issues take many forms. From the start of the Spears case, GBO’s editor has noted very little media coverage dipping farther into what should be regarded as a significant civil rights issue with conservatorships (also called guardianships) mostly, often egregiously, affecting older adults.
Of course, the story first explains, if you missed it, “After a highly publicized legal battle, Britney Spears has been given back control over her finances, and medical and personal decisions.” That was a Los Angeles judge’s ruling on Nov. 12. Although Del Barco’s three-minute news report (with brief transcript) allows scant room for expansions, kudos to her for including an interview that cracks open the door on the potential for elder abuse through the conservatorship process.
In speaking with a Britney supporter, who was celebrating the decision outside of the court house, Del Barco squeezed in this element of context: “There are more than a million adults in this country estimated to be under the kind of legal arrangement Britney Spears had — people with far less wealth, fame and connections.” Ah, we’ll add, many more years. Says the Britney activist: “Thank God, you know, there’s a celebrity involved and it has brought attention to it.”
Del Barco introduced the owner of that voice: “Outside the courthouse, Poppy Helgren, a registered nurse, said she wasn’t allowed to care for her father when he was put into a conservatorship. During that time, she says, the Korean War veteran lost his four homes and his fortune.”
Helgren: “There’s a lot of us that are activists against crooked conservatorships. It needs to be stopped. It needs to be changed. My father was abused by estate trafficking under a California conservatorship, and he died this year, and it has still not been resolved.
To be clear, Britney’s father and former conservator, Jamie Spears, has not been charged with any illegal activity. Other reporting says the court has retained jurisdiction her Britney’s case, at least partly to investigate his handling of her considerable funds and business arrangements. But where older Americans are concerned, the onus of responsibility for going beyond news-cycle celebrity news, falls on – newsrooms.
*** “Why Eviction Hits Older Adults Harder, Making Them Vulnerable to Homelessness,” by Carly Stern and Mollie Bryant, Big If True (Nov. 3, 2021): Intriguing website name, Big If True. I’ve thought that, especially while listening to Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me. But as a news-site logo, it is very 2020s, and out of Oklahoma City of all places. The original OC (not the one of So. Calif.) is popping up with unexpectedly strong editorial. This site’s board of directors comes from all over the Western US and Vancouver, BC, too.
According to the Big If True site, Bryant, the site’s editor, has over a decade of professional journalism stored in her keyboard for the news nonprofit, Oklahoma Watch, and previously as an investigative reporter for The Clarion-Ledger, Mississippi’s largest newspaper, and education and enterprise reporter for the Amarillo Globe-News in Texas. Stern is freelancing out of San Francisco for the Washington Post, New York Times and others. She’s currently a Journalists in Aging Fellow, writing a project for the Post.
The eviction story’s lead identifies Oliver, age 65, who “had lived in his two-bedroom San Francisco apartment for nearly 30 years when his back gave out during the fall of 2019. He was diagnosed with spinal arthritis, and it became too painful for the self-employed carpenter to continue working on projects around California’s Bay Area. As Oliver’s income dried up, he began to fall behind on rent.”
The article continues, “Older adults are uniquely vulnerable to eviction and the damages it causes, housing advocates and homeless service providers said. The financial costs, health consequences and cascading psychological effects of an eviction are more severe for older adults. Since the pandemic, older adults have struggled to find new housing after an eviction, and homeless service providers in some communities have seen more people 65 and older who are unsheltered and living outdoors.”
It adds, “In a US Census Bureau survey from early October, about 30% of adults 65 and older said it was very or somewhat likely that they would be evicted in the next two months.” The piece goes on to quote elderlaw advocates in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and other sources.
Also, “Older renters are more likely to be rent burdened, meaning they spend more than 30% of their income on housing. To prioritize paying their rent, older adults on fixed incomes may be unable to cover other necessities, like health care, food or their utilities.”
*** “Is Long-term Care on the Build Back Better Chopping Block?” by Lois A. Bowers, McKnight’s Senior Living (Oct. 25, 2021): With House passage of the BBB bill, much related to eldercare seems to remain intact. But Bowers’ piece and related sources we include below a suggest that reporters need to keep their eye on the BBBball on an issue like compelling nursing homes to maintain safe numbers of nursing staff. Gee, what mother’s child wouldn’t want that? Read on.
Bowers writes, “If you’ve ever felt that older adults and programs that serve them have been missing from conversations in Congress and the lay media about Build Back Better plan negotiations, LeadingAge has the depressing stats to validate your feelings.”
She reports, “An analysis shared by the organization . . . found that from March 31 to Oct. 20: “Only 232 of 19,108 press releases from Congress — 1.21% — included older Americans in the context of Build Back Better plans. *Out of 265,279 tweets from members of Congress, only 139, or 0.05%, included older adults in the context of Build Back Better. *On the floor of the House and Senate, only 31 members of Congress out of 535, or 5.8%, have mentioned older Americans in the context of Build Back Better.”
And, “Only 5.85% of lay media coverage of Build Back Better has included a reference to older Americans — even though the proposal includes historic new investments to help meet older adults’ needs. Why does this matter? ‘When older Americans were treated as invisible during COVID, the effects were catastrophic,’ LeadingAge [https://leadingage.org ] President and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said. ‘We cannot let them be invisible again.’”
LeadingAge, the main lobbying group for the roughly one-third of US long-term care facilities that are nonprofits, isn’t the only on raising concerns about congressional elder negligence in the BBB negotiations.
On Nov. 18, National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care blasted an “Action Alert” to public advocates stating, “The nursing home industry is lobbying hard to remove important protections for nursing home residents in the Build Back Better Act. They are particularly focused on gutting staffing provisions that would require facilities to have a registered nurse on staff 24 hours per day and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to conduct a study and promulgate regulations for a minimum staffing standard.”
The group notes, “Despite ample evidence that inadequate staffing contributed to over 186,000 deaths in long-term care facilities, the industry is pulling out all the stops to prevent these and other provisions from being implemented.”
A study in the health-policy journal Health Affairs (May 2021) determined that nursing home staffing levels remained level in the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Not good, the authors concluded: “These findings raise concerns that although the number of staff hours in nursing homes did not decline, the perception of shortages has been driven by increased stresses and demands on staff time due to the pandemic, which are harder to quantify.”
One recent academic source on the need for better nursing staff ratios to serve patients in the pandemic is a New York Times “Guest Essay” by Linda H. Aiken, founding director of the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. The article is “Nurses Deserve Better. So Do Their Patients.” Aiken begins, “The Covid-19 pandemic exposed strengths in the nation’s health care system — one of the greatest being our awesome nurses. But it also exposed many weaknesses, foremost among them being chronic nurse understaffing in hospitals, nursing homes and schools.” (Note her “nursing homes” link, a July CNN story, “Covid-19 exposed the devastating consequences of staff shortages in nursing homes. But the problem isn’t new,” by Christina Maxouris.)
As the BBB bill makes its way to the Senate and maybe conference committee negotiations, the fate of protections for older and other vulnerable Americans will be an especially compelling story to follow. It will be important for reporters to get behind the presumed tax billions “saved” to the human toll of those unkindest budget cuts.
*** “The Bad Food Served in California Prisons is a Problem for Human Rights and Public Health,” op-ed by Beth Witrogen, Sacramento Bee (Nov. 10, 2021). Warning: Read this after you eat lunch, not before, unless, of course, you’re on a diet and don’t mind an appetite suppressant. The long-time writer/editor on aging, also has become involved in the inmate justice movement. This commentary isn’t about older prisoners, per se, but is certainly relevant to their mistreatment.
The lead: “Lunch was the usual brown bag: two slimy pieces of bologna between stale white bread, some chips and dry cookies. That, after a breakfast of egg substance poured from a bucket that gave off a pungent aroma, followed by a dinner of colorless chunks swimming in a bed of undefined runniness that announced its presence long before being served. Prison fare not only violates [California] state law requiring inmates be provided sufficient, healthful food, but even California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Secretary Kathleen Allison has said she wouldn’t eat it. So why should our offenders? Why are standard-issue prison meals still of such degrading quality despite budget requests for healthier menus?”
She goes on, “The study by the nonprofit Impact Justice found that food scarcity contributes to violence, substance abuse and mental health problems that often lead to desperate behaviors. By contrast, when inmates receive decent meals prepared in sanitary kitchens and served in positive environments, violence is reduced, mental health improves and the capacity for rehabilitation increases.”
2. EYES ON THE PRIZE
*** 11 Reporters Tapped as Journalists in Aging Fellows: Last month’s GBONews listed 17* New Fellows named for this year’s 12th program from mainstream and ethnic or community media. In addition, each year, the program invites former participants to return as Continuing Fellows, a booster shot for journalists interested in generational issues to keep the copy flowing.
The Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, a collaboration between the Journalists Network on Generations, publisher of GBONews.org, and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), concluded the initial training program with – please excuse this bit of editorialization – a fabulous series of Zoom-inars that included two former US Assistant Secretaries of Aging, a McArthur “genius,” the head of the National Indian Council on Aging, and other leading authorities on a range of topics.
What’s more, links to recordings of those five sessions – on emerging demographics, positive and creative aging, the pandemic’s ripple effects for seniors, elder justice and late-life economics – are included below. The program will also host several more online workshops in the coming months.
The program has now included 201 reporters, who have generated about 750 articles in English, with many translated from their original versions in Spanish, Chinese and other languages. A continuously updated list of published fellowship stories since the program began is available at www.geron.org/journalistfellows.
The 2021-2022 “class” of New Fellows includes reporters from the Washington Post, CNBC, The Guardian, Seattle Times, Khabar Magazine, Telemundo Oklahoma and Planet Detroit. Fellows’ story proposals cover a spectrum of issues in aging, such as environmental threats to Detroit’s seniors, homeless seniors in the nation’s capital, creative programs for older adults in the pandemic, and America’s flimsy arc into retirement.
The 11 Continuing Fellows, who will produced at least one story on any topic in aging, include: Mayra Acevedo, Senior Reporter/News Anchor, WIPR TV (Puerto Rico Public Broadcasting); Lola Butcher, independent journalist (Undark, TheAtlantic.com, Salon); Melody (Xuanlu) Cao, Producer/Editor, SinoVision; Dawn Davis, Caribbean Today; Jeanne Erdmann, independent health/science journalist (Science News, Family Circle, Washington Post); John Ferrannini, Assistant News Editor, Bay Area Reporter, San Francisco.
Also on board are Carolyn Denise Guniss, Orlando Sentinel; Joanne Laucius, Senior Reporter, Post Media’s Ottawa Citizen; Jaya Padmanabhan, San Francisco Examiner columnist and Ethnic Media Services program director; Nargis Hakim Rahman, WDET public broadcasting, Detroit; and Verónica Zaragovia, Health Care Reporter, WLRN (South Florida NPR)
This year’s program is supported by funding from The Silver Century Foundation, The RRF Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, The John A. Hartford Foundation, and the Archstone Foundation.
* One of the previously listed New Fellows, freelancer Rukiya Colvin, writing for Planet Detroit, dropped out of the program for personal reasons.
3. BINGE ZOOMING FOR STORIES
*** Recordings of the Journalists in Aging Fellowship Zoom Sessions are now available. Each runs 90 minutes. So you don’t have brain stamina for 7.5 hours’ Zooming to binge watch, just look at the subjects and first-rate list of speakers and hang on to these links. Gen-beat reporters may well find one or more of these pertinent, and we can help with speaker contacts for any of those you’d like to interview. Drop this editor a note. Also, we can provide speakers PPT slides for speakers who used them, if you drop me an email request.
The sessions include:
* “The Changing Face of Aging: A Demographic Profile of American Longevity” — Speakers: Nadereh Pourat, PhD, Professor and Director, Health Economics and Evaluation Research Program, UCLA Fielding School of Public Health; Co-Director, Coordinating Center for the NIA-funded Resource Centers on Minority Aging Research; Tracey Gronniger, JD, Directing Attorney for Economic Security at Justice in Aging, Washington, DC; Jeanette Takamura, PhD, Dean Emerita, Columbia University School of Social Work, former US Assistant Secretary for Aging (1997-2001). Moderator: Rich Eisenberg, Managing Editor, PBS Next Avenue.
Theme: As the American map fills in with many colors, the gray that comes with the longevity revolution adds an important wrinkle to diversity, not only with a growing number of ethnic elders at the coasts, but throughout the nation.
* “The Aging Bonus: The Positive and Creative Core of the New Demographics” — Speakers: Harry “Rick” Moody, PhD, Editor, Human Values in Aging; Fernando Torres-Gil, MSW, PhD, Director, Center for Policy Research on Aging, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, former US Assistant Secretary of Aging (1993-97); Anne Basting, PhD, Director, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s Center for 21st Century Studies, Founder, TimeSlips, author, Creative Care, 2016 MacArthur Fellow. Moderator: Paul Kleyman, National Coordinator, Journalists Network on Generations, Editor, GBONews.org; Senior Advisor and co-founder, Journalists in Aging Fellows Program.
Theme: The rapid aging of America should signal an era of unprecedented bounty in productivity, creative fervor, and collective wisdom to find solutions to pressing problems, from poverty to climate change, yet the public continues to hear mainly about the “burdens” of population aging. Speakers addressed a more balanced view for reporting.
* “The Ripple Effects of COVID-19 on Aging” — Speakers: Preeti Malani, MD, Chief Health Officer, Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Michigan; Sarah L. Szanton, PhD, MSN, FAAN, ANP, Dean and Professor, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing; Peggye Dilworth-Anderson, PhD, Research Professor, Health Policy & Management, Gillings School of Global Public, Health, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Moderator:Liz Seegert, Co-Director, Journalists in Aging Fellows Program; Program Coordinator, Journalists Network on Generations; Editor, Core Topic section on Aging, Association of Health Care Journalists.
Theme: Not only have the majority of hospitalizations and deaths been among those 65-plus, especially among underserved populations, but social isolation, exacerbation of chronic conditions, and the burden on family caregivers has taken a tremendous toll on physical and mental health.
* “Elder Justice: Stopping Scams and Abuse in a Time of COVID and Crisis” – Speakers: Robert M. “Bob” Blancato, President, Matz, Blancato and Associates and National Coordinator of the bipartisan 3,000-member Elder Justice Coalition; Lisa Nerenberg, Executive Director, California Elder Justice Coalition; author, Elder Justice, Ageism & Elder Abuse; Sarah Galvan, Directing Attorney, Justice in Aging’s Elder Rights Team. Moderator: Jaya Padmanabhan, Columnist, San Francisco Examiner; Consultant, Ethnic Media Services; Contributor, India Currents, others.
Theme: The pandemic has alerted the public to many weaknesses in the U.S. eldercare system, especially for protecting older people from fraud and abuse.
* “The Purpose Predicament: Build Meaningful Work and Sustainable Ways to Contribute in Later Life” —Speakers: Teresa Ghilarducci, PhD, Director, Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis, The New School; New York; Karyne Jones, President & CEO, National Caucus and Center for Black Aging, Washington, DC; Larry Curley, Executive Director, National Indian Council on Aging, member Navajo Nation. Moderator: Rodney A. Brooks, retirement finance columnist, US News & Worlds Report and SeniorPlanet.com; author, Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap: How Black People Can Build Generational Wealth (2021, August Press).
Theme: Speakers will examine policy changes needed to curtail the looming retirement crisis by improving the ability of workers to save, strengthening social insurance, increasing age-diverse work options and fighting poverty, especially for marginalized communities.
4. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Jaya Padmanabhan Won Kudos for Fiction Writing in the international Page Turner Awards for her short story titled, “Bloom of a Drunken Coconut.” Padmanabhan, who writes the San Francisco Examiner’s “In Brown Type” column, adds to her résumé this seventh award for fiction writing, along with her 22 honors as a journalist. Her byline has appeared in PBS Next Avenue, Forbes, and India Currents among others. She’s also a current Journalists in Aging Continuing Fellow.
*** Rachel Roubein recently left Politico for the Washington Post, where she is now a national health-care reporter and author of the daily “Health 202,” which the WaPo website describes as “a morning newsletter bringing readers inside everything from the health policy battles dominating Capitol Hill to the White House’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Previous, she was a health writer for Maryland’s Carroll County Times, a local newspaper in Maryland, and then covered health policy at National Journal and The Hill. A 2020-21 Journalists in Aging Fellows, she has more recently covered such issues as the failure to monitor nursing homes during the pandemic; the national vaccination effort; and the rising opioid epidemic.
*** As Gerontologist Helen Dennis Approaches Her 1000th “Successful Aging” Column for the Los Angeles Daily News and other Southern California News Group papers, they honored her with two pieces. An Oct. 24 story included reader appreciations of her stories, and an in Oct. 31, 2021 Q&A, she “shares memorable advice about growing older.”
In introducing the latter article, the editor wrote, “Through 20 years and nearly 1,000 columns, Helen Dennis has demonstrated a commitment to education, understanding and service as she’s explored the processes and challenges of getting older. As we celebrate Helen and her two decades of writing Successful Aging, we want to honor her dedication, passion and research.”
The column grew from her faculty position at the USC Davis School of Gerontology. “I always felt it important to connect research, knowledge and experience to people’s lives. The column gave me that opportunity,” she said.
Asked what concerns she regularly hears as a writer and lecturer, Dennis observed, “The overall three top issues typically are financial security, health (including the fear of dementia) and having a sense of purpose.” Also,, “We need to keep focused and optimistic as we leverage the strengths and opportunities of this new life stage while having a commitment to address the challenges of an aging society through public policy, enhanced services, research and providing equitable health care that will guarantee equal opportunities for economic stability, health, purpose and dignity for all ages.”
5. THE BOOKMOBILE (Plus PODS)
*** Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap: How Black People Can Build Generational Wealth (August Press) is the new book by US News & World Report economics columnist, Rodney A. Brooks. He covers the usual personal finance advice fare in this tidy volume (214 pages), buttoning down the mechanics and practicalities of building assets and wealth protection (understanding annuities or the “4 percent rule” for pension withdrawals). But, in a rare departure from such self-help fare, the book openly and extensively couches retirement finance for Black workers and retirees in terms of the socio-political impacts of historical racism and discrimination on the retirement security of African Americans.
Brooks states, “As helpful as a financial planning guide for Black Americans would be, it would be remise on my point to offer financial advice without some significant discussion about why we are in such a dire economic condition.” He adds, “Since slavery the federal government, state governments, banks and other institutions maintained a system of racism and discrimination that has prevented us from developing generational wealth.”
In her Foreword to the book, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, CEO of Global Policy Solutions and widow of Rep. Elijah Cummings, writes, “African American households have been devastated by the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has had a gross and disproportionately negative impact on employment, business ownership, and the health and life expectancies of people of color.”
As well as covering such essentials as the benefits of estate planning and when to take Social Security retirement benefits, chapters also expose how credit scores have worsened the wealth gap for many, and the relevance of reparations to fixing the wealth disparity for Black Americans. That section covers the debates, including among black experts and activists, over the best approaches for compensating African Americans. That’s not only for slavery, but also for assaults ranging from substandard education, to the retirement security of Black women, to home ownership redlining, to the mass incarceration of black men. Brooks offers clear and concise reading, including for journalists, such as one I know who dismissed any consideration of reparations out of hand, declaring, “I was trained as a social historian; I know.” Brooks’ tutorial is must reading on the subject.
Journalists may request a review copy and tour or other information from Christine Queally: cqueally@srbcommunications.com; (202) 775-7721. Thanks, also to, Brooks for moderating the Journalists in Aging Fellows Nov. 17, Zoom panel on economic security for older Americans.
*** Also speaking to the Journalists in Aging Fellows was MacArthur “Genius” Anne Basting, founder of TimeSlips, [https://www.timeslips.org] and author of Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care (HarperOne, 2020). The book came out in Spring 2020, just as the pandemic hit. (And this book should go, ahem, viral.) It’s Basting’s combo of memoir and fascinatingly detailed accounts of her use of theater and other arts to engage older people, often those who are isolated, in intergenerational community activities. Basting recently became the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee’s director of the Center for 21st Century Studies. Because of the pandemic issue, HarperOne’s Courtney Nobile agreed to provide a PDF of Creative Care to requesting reporters. Say you saw it in GBONews.org’s “Bookmobile” column: Courtney.Nobile@harpercollins.com
*** Taking Charge Volume 2: More Stories on Aging Boldly is the second compilation of columns by veteran age-beat writer, Herb Weiss. The Rhode Island-based age beat writer included 72 of his articles (2016-2021) in this 317-page quality paperback from his nearly 800 columns in RINewsToday, the Pawtucket Times, and the Woonsocket Call.
The 16 chapters cover the far ranging spectrum of stories to be told about longevity, such as caregiving, employment, finance, culture, travel, spirituality and “Sage Advice.” For instance, his June 2019, story, “Some Tips for Graduation for Graduating Seniors” from the tiny state’s 11 institutions of higher learning. Instead of assembling quotes from big-cheese commencement speakers, Weiss included “commencement tips” from nine members of the Association of Rhode Island Authors (ARIA). The column, not a bad way to call attention to local scribes, is just one of the many implicit story ideas for other writers around the country.
GBONews’ editor is nicely quoted about wider age-beat issues in Weiss’s preface, but more aptly, in her foreword, Sarah Lenz Lock, AARP’s Senior VP for Policy and Brain Health, writes, “. . . Despite our culture’s worship of youth, Herb’s ‘age-beat’ is a place that celebrates the increasing wisdom and experience that comes with longer lives.”
The book is self-published, as are so many today, making it of particular interest in that volume 1 did well enough to warrant his investing in this sequel. Journalists wishing a review copy may drop him a request at: hweissri@aol.com.
*** Keeping it REAL Caregiving is the new website by Julia Yarbough. The winner of multiple local Emmys for TV news reporting, most recently at KHSL-TV-Action News Anchor/Producer in Chico, Calif., she decided to focus some of her substantial energies on helping other caregivers, especially, but not only, in the African America community, after losing her 90-year old mother in September 2020. Yarbough devoted almost two decades to managing her mother’s affairs, safety and well-being.
Yarbough, who was a 2020 Journalists in Aging Fellow, emailed GBONews that she’s had a “whirlwind year” since leaving KHSL last winter and also becoming a media coach for on-camera talent. For caregivers, she wrote, “There is only so much you can learn without knowing what there is to learn. Keeping it REAL Caregiving is my way of lending a helping hand. My journey of caring for my elderly mother in the last years of her life opened my eyes to the need for a more coordinated, holistic, supportive and healthy way for all of us to ensure our loved ones have the best care possible in their final chapters.”
One of her recent blogs on the site, “Congratulations! You Have Become a Family Historian,” asks, “So what does any of this have to do with caregiving and aging? Well, consider this: if you are a family caregiver you may find yourself becoming an historian and archeologist for your family. And it is your elder(s) who become(s) the subject matter(s).” The piece offers suggestions, noting, “It is easier than ever to have photos, video, audio recordings and more. (We truly are spoiled in that way) and I encourage all of you to take as many pictures and videos as you possibly can! You’ll be thankful you did and you will quickly realize that yes, you have become a family historian.”
*** “Older Generations Deserve Media Coverage, Too” — “Paul Kleyman, national coordinator of the Journalists Network on Generations and editor of Generations Beat Online, specializes in covering the issues of importance to older Americans. He talks with It’s All Journalism producer Michael O’Connell about why these issues are often missing in mainstream media and how young journalists can find help in the form of fellowships and resources to correct this shortfall.” (Nov. 11, 2021).
Thanks to Mike for including us in his eclectic mix of interviews in the far reaches of our profession, such as James Fahn, executive director of the Earth Journalism Network; and LeBron Hill, on “the report he wrote for the American Press Institute’s Better News Initiative about how [Nashville] The Tennessean is successfully engaging Black audiences with its Black Tennessee Voices project. (Oct. 5, 2021). Other interviews delve into concerns ranging from stringer data use to “how reporters can develop situational awareness and be safe when covering potentially dangerous stories,” by a video journalist who spent years as an emergency medical technician.
Minor factcheck: The introductory story accompanying the audio podcast erroneously states that my first encounter with issues in aging was through “a group of seniors living on the second floor of an apartment in city’s Tenderloin district.” Actually, they were organizing out of an office at San Francisco’s Glide Memorial United Methodist Church, still a center for social change programs. That led to my writing Senior Power: Growing Old Rebelliously (1974).
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 2021 JNG. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
To subscribe for free or 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
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https://www.facebook.com/app_scoped_user_id/100000973913260/ Ruth Migdal Taber