GBO NEWS: Pre-Roe Memories Spotlight Older Women; Columbia U’s Age Boom Fellowship Deadline; Indian Americans Reinventing Widowhood; Minnesota’s Ukrainians, Russians; Dems Win Over Older Rural Trump Voters; & MORE
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations – Our 29th Year.
May 19, 2022 — Volume 29, Number 6
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. NOTE ALSO: Some news links below hit paywalls and are inaccessible without subscriptions, although a number of those do allow free access to the first few stories.
In This Issue: Marvel’s Latest: KN95 in Return of the Superspreader.
1. ROE, ROE, ROE YOUR BEAT: Pre-Roe Memory Stories Spotlight Pros/Cons in a Generations Beat Story of the Year.
2. EYES ON THE PRIZE: *** Apply Until June 30 for Columbia U’s Age Boom Journalism Fellowships; ***National Press Foundation Award to Arizona Republic’s Debra Krol and Cheryl Evans for Indigenous Coverage; *** Eduardo Stanley Takes Sacramento Press Club Prize for Bilingual Story on Aging Farmworkers.
3. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Flying Solo: Reinventing Widowhood,” by Lavina Melwani, Khabar Magazine;
*** “Ukrainians and Russians in Minnesota Reflect on Their Home Countries,” by Abdi Mohamed, PBS Next Avenue;
*** “‘Whole new crisis’ for WA long-term care facilities, 2 years into COVID,” by Paige Cornwell, Seattle Times;
*** “What Democrats Don’t Understand About Rural America,” by Chloe Maxmin andCanyon Woodward, New York Times;
*** “A New Age for the Arts,” by Julie Fanselow, 3rd Act Magazine.
4. GEN BEATLES NEWS: *** San Francisco’s KALW Radio’s “80 Over 80” project Marks Older Americans Month; *** Roberto Mighty announced getting dot OLDER series now on PBS Passport.
1. ROE, ROE, ROE YOUR BEAT, SMARTLY ABOUT AGE
Anyone notice how quickly news reports on the Supreme Court’s leaked Roe v. Wade draft have been replete with older women’s accounts of their pre-Roe experiences? Aside from the pros and cons of abortion, it’s emerging as one of the major generations-beat stories of the year.
At news desks though, it’s one of those big topics, such as climate change, gun violence, immigration and the victims of war, in which the contrasting vulnerability and resilience of the old seldom generate expert reporting angled toward the country’s rapidly aging population. Although such coverage is not much reported by journalists with a background and sources on aging, it’s essential to see more comprehensive coverage of mass longevity in its effects on every aspect and angle of individual, family and community life. For one thing, however the final decision on Roe comes down, its Red vs. Blue shock waves will drive toward this fall’s mid-terms, not only from political podiums and pulpits, but very much from America’s memory banks.
One would hope that leading groups in aging, notably AARP with its huge-circulation consumer publications, would illuminate the human turmoil of abortion, mass shootings and other societal tsunamis. Doing so might underscore the goals that these organizations love to tout with the slogan, Reframing Aging. But if not to picture the longevity revolution like a Bruegel painting, showing our aging village in all aspects of life–and news–of what use is the usually narrow, and inoffensive frame that such organization’s display?
Understandably, though unfortunately, such groups tend to avoid controversies not immediately under their policy noses and presumptive areas of influence. Their missing the opportunity to depict the permeability of global aging in its life-span effects only underscores the value and responsibility of independent journalism to do the storytelling.
On the issue of abortion, following are links to some stories written from around the country. Mostly they amplify the complexities of this difficult decision through decades of reflection on the lived experience of choices made.
But other narratives remain for journalists to pursue. What about stories on unintended ripple effects for multigenerational families, such as even more grandparents potentially obligated to raise grandchildren and with inadequate support? What role might family or community elders play in assisting those making hard choices? GBONews wants to know what angles you’re pursuing. More reporting on this most intergenerational of stories can bring depth to debates so easily lost amid the conflicted messages and outraged cries of advocates on either side.
* “Memories of pre-Roe America, from people who were there,” by Anne Branigin and Rachel Hatzipanagos, Washington Post (May 5, 2022): The Dek: The period was defined by stigma around sex, as well as limited access to contraception and abortions for women.
The Lede: Growing up in the 1960s, Susan Shurin learned that not getting pregnant was a matter of access. Shurin, nowa 77-year-old retired physician and former head of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, attended high school and college in Massachusetts at a time when it was illegal to sell or dispense contraception in the state. She knew people who found ways around those restrictions — traveling to New York to get diaphragm contraceptives or, if they were already pregnant, abortions. But, she said, doing so required “money and know-how.”
A Quote: “Then, as a medical student at Johns Hopkins University, Shurin said, she saw what could happen to those without the means. ‘I saw septic abortions. I can’t even count how many I saw,’ said Shurin, referring to abortions complicated by infection.She recalled that one of her first patients was a 40-year-old mother of four who died of a septic abortion — which she had sought because‘her husband lost his job and they couldn’t afford another baby.’”
Memories: “Advocates on both sides of the issue have anticipated this moment — the undermining or complete overturning of Roe — for decades. But only a small share remember life pre-Roe, a period defined by deep stigma around sex and limited access to contraception and abortions for women.”
* “Opinion: 4 women remember Michigan before Roe v. Wade,” by Nancy Kaffer, Detroit Free Press (April 12, 2022)
* “‘A New Generation of Powerless Women’: On Life Before Roe, and Fears for the Future,” Letters, New York Times (May 14 and 15, 2022): The Dek: Readers, including those who had abortions, an “unwanted fetus” and an obstetrician, recall how girls and women dealt with unplanned pregnancies pre-Roe.
* “We Can’t Depend on the Supreme Court to be Our Conscience on Abortion,” by Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun Times (May 6, 2022): The Dek: We — I mean Black women of my age — keep our feelings on the subject buried. But the prospect Roe v. Wade might be overturned could bring back painful memories for many.
How about coverage by you or your news organization reflecting the live-span importance of the abortion choice issue? Send GBONews a link to what’s coming through your copy desk or website.
2. EYES ON THE PRIZE
*** Applications for Columbia U’s Age Boom Journalism Fellowships are now open with a June 30 closing deadline.: The 2022 Age Boom Academy of the Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center and Columbia Journalism School will be entirely online. The program will to train journalists in the complex health, social and economic issues facing an aging population. About 30 fellows from print, broadcast and online media may apply below will be selected. The expert Zoom-inars will be two-hour sessions on Oct. 13 and 14, and on Oct. 20-21. In addition, they will have roughly three additional hours of story clinics, meet-the-caregivers breakouts and one-on-one interviews with expert speakers. Funding this year’s program is the RRF Foundation for Aging.
The Age Boom website says, “Because the 2022 Academy will be similar in format, please review last year’s program to learn more. For questions or information, contact: Caitlin M. Hawke: Phone: (212) 342-4567; Email: ColumbiaAgingCenter@cumc.columbia.edu.
*** The Arizona Republic’s Debra Krol introduced herself as a “400th generation Californian,” as she and photographer/videographer Cheryl Evans accepted the National Press Foundation’s 2021 Feddie Reporting Award. Their winning story, “Sacred Spaces,” is a multimedia series on why Indigenous peoples face so much difficulty protecting sacred and culturally significant sites. The pair accepted the award at the National Press Foundation’s annual awards dinner in Washington, D.C. on May 4, 2022. The 2021 NPF Feddie Reporting Award carries a $5,000 cash prize.
Krol and Evans traveled to sites across Arizona and the Colorado River Valley to document the struggle by Apache, Havasupai, Mojave, Quechan and other Native peoples to access and protect important religious sites on land controlled by the federal government.
An AZ Republic Indigenous affairs reporter, Krol, a past Journalists in Aging Fellow, explained that she and Evans “had been covering Oak Flat, a site about 60 miles east of Phoenix that was scheduled to be obliterated by a copper mine operation. The site is held sacred by Apache peoples and other peoples in the Southwest, yet at the end of the day, they had no say over what would happen to a place where they had worshipped since time immemorial. . . if a site is not located on a reservation, the tribes have no legal way to stop damaging or destroying what amounts to a church. Rarely do tribal objections result in a federal agency denying a permit request.”
Krol, a citizen of the Xolon Salinan Tribe from the Central California coast, emphasized in her acceptance speech, “This and other stories like it are why legacy media are well-served to attract and retain journalists of color. We offer the perspective of our cultures and histories which lead to stories that don’t usually get covered in the mainstream. We also serve as sounding boards and help our non-Native fellow journalists to better understand our communities and best practices in covering them.”
She added, “Inviting more Indigenous journalists like myself into newsrooms – and giving us the freedom to explore stories that non-Native reporters may not consider – also helps correct the tropes and stereotypes that plague tribal coverage while also providing a more balanced picture of Indian Country.”
*** The Sacramento Press Club Presented Eduardo Stanley its 2022 Award for “Cómo Envejecen Nuestros Jornaleros?” (English: “Farmworkers Work Hard: How Do They Age?”). Stanley, editor of the progressive Community Alliance in the Central San Joaquin Valley, wrote that older farmworkers “confront two problems: If they are undocumented, they can’t cash in on Social Security even though they paid into it.”
He continued, “Because jobs in the fields are classified as ‘unskilled work,’ farmworker income is low” prohibiting most from saving for retirement or buying property. Stanley stressed that many age prematurely from years of dangerous work from injuries and pesticide exposure done in extreme heat. Also, “This work produces ‘invisible’ long-term injuries, such as arthritis and chronic back pain. And exhaustion.”
The Sacramento Press Club, which presents the awards for “California politics and policy reporting,” said in a statement, “Stanley made good use of detail and personal experiences in his description of elderly immigrant workersand brought to life the challenges facing a population that doesn’t get enough attention.”
He reported the bilingual story with support from a 2020-2021 Journalists in Aging Fellowship. Also, the host-producer of “Nuestro Foro,” on KFCF 88.1FM, Stanley collaborated with Ethnic Media Services and the California Department of Aging on a half-hour Spanish-language round table, in February, with retired farmworkers regarding Covid 19.
3. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Flying Solo: Reinventing Widowhood,” by Lavina Melwani, Khabar Magazine(“Your Passport to the Indian-American Community” May 2022):
The Lede: “’Widow’ is a dismal word that pigeonholes a woman as someone who is left behind, someone frail and unable to fight life’s battles because her main player, her man, is gone. Even when wives have held families together and shaped the next generation, they have generally been subordinate to the husband— to the extent of cluelessness of survival skills if they were to find themselves widowed. A ‘widower,’ on the other hand, does not have the same connotation of being a weakling.”
The Nutshell: “In traditional South Asian culture, the curse of widowhood has been even more pronounced. Case in point is the horrific practice of sati in which the widow was immolated along with her dead husband in certain regions of India on the premise that her life was not worth anything on its own. Over centuries, this practice has been banned but, in many cases, especially in rural India, widows continue to lead a dysfunctional life. In many cities there are old-age homes just for abandoned widows who are often ostracized by the family.”
Case in Point: “Aparna Bhattacharya, director of Raksha, an Atlanta-based nonprofit organization, which supports South Asian victims of violence, has seen how the trauma of widowhood affects women in the community who, due to cultural conditioning, depend on the male head of the family for key decisions. She recalls how her own mother Shumitra, a widow at 54, was totally adrift when it came to financial decisions. . . . How Shumitra eventually found strength and independence in widowhood speaks of the change that is in the air. . . Here, the Indian-American community is a thriving one, but many thought processes and rituals are carried over in suitcases along with the spices and folklore.”
*** “Ukrainians and Russians in Minnesota Reflect on Their Home Countries,” by Abdi Mohamed, PBS Next Avenue (May 10, 2022): The Dek: Remembering the experiences of their youth as they observe the current war from afar.
The Lede: “Elena Kallevig was stunned, alongside the rest of the world, when she saw news reports of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The following day she and the board members of the Russian Cultural Center (RCC) in Minneapolis gathered for a meeting to discuss the next steps for the organization in light of the impending war. ‘We couldn’t believe this would happen, we couldn’t believe that he would actually move the troops to Ukraine,’ Kallevig, 70, said of President Vladimir Putin. ‘For me, it would be like if Texas announced war against Minnesota.’”
“While teaching English at a local college in St. Petersburg, Russia, Kallevig heard about the death of one of her students who had been recently drafted. . . At the time, Kallevig’s son was notified of his eligibility to register for the draft, but the death of her student motivated Kallevig to leave her home country. . . She was able to secure a visa to the U.S. and applied for asylum after arriving in 1990.”
A Historical Note: “Although Russian and Ukrainian Americans have often interacted with one another and share a history, the relationship between the two communities has been strained in recent years since the invasion of Crimea in 2014. . . Kallevig also believes the lack of conversation between the local communities makes people more susceptible to misinformation campaigns from the Russian government.”
*** “‘Whole New Crisis’ for WA Long-Term Care Facilities, 2 Years into COVID,” by Paige Cornwell, Seattle Times (May 16, 2022):
The Lede: Inside a Bellingham nursing home, life feels a bit closer to normal compared to the past two years, even as workers at the 122-bed facility still feel like they’re in crisis mode. North Cascades Health and Rehabilitation Center is no longer on lockdown, so visitors can come inside and see their loved ones. . . But there is still a frantic energy in the building, said Shelly Hughes, a certified nursing assistant. She wonders: What if there’s another COVID-19 outbreak.”
The Nutshell: “Few environments in Washington witnessed the devastation of the pandemic quite as severely as the state’s 4,760 long-term care facilities. Washington’s nursing homes, assisted-living facilities and adult family homes account for 30% of all COVID deaths over two years, but just 3% of total cases, according to the Washington State Department of Health.
“Because of visitor restrictions, even residents who survived the virus were still susceptible to the mental and physical effects of isolation. Workers experienced high rates of burnout amid low pay and an ongoing threat of illness. Now . . . COVID cases and deaths are comparatively low, and vaccination rates are steady, though booster shot rates lag among nursing home workers.”
Meanwhile: “The number of nursing homes reporting short staffing has increased considerably since the start of the pandemic, according to a Seattle Times analysis of data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which doesn’t track other types of long-term care facilities. As of mid-April, 3,779 people associated with a long-term care facility — a vast majority of them residents — had died of COVID complications, according to the DOH. There has been a total of 40,774 cases. Both cases and deaths plummeted beginning in January 2021, in large part because of widespread vaccinations. For nearly a year, there were 40 or fewer verified COVID deaths per week.” (See data graphs in story’s online display.)
*** “What Democrats Don’t Understand About Rural America,” by Chloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward, New York Times (May 2, 2022): Maxmin, 29, is the youngest female state senator in Maine’s history. Woodward ran her two campaigns. They are the authors of the forthcoming book Dirt Road Revival, from which this essay is adapted.
The Lede: NOBLEBORO, “Maine— “We say this with love to our fellow Democrats: Over the past decade, you willfully abandoned rural communities. As the party turned its focus to the cities and suburbs, its outreach became out of touch and impersonal. To rural voters, the message was clear: You don’t matter. Now, Republicans control dozens of state legislatures, and Democrats have only tenuous majorities in Congress at a time in history when we simply can’t afford to cede an inch.”
And: “As two young progressives raised in the country, we were dismayed as small towns like ours swung to the right. But we believed that Democrats could still win conservative rural districts if they took the time to drive down the long dirt roads where we grew up, have face-to-face conversations with moderate Republicans and independent voters and speak a different language, one rooted in values rather than policy. . . It worked for us. As a 25-year-old climate activist, . . . in 2018, [Chloe] won a State House seat . . . Two years later, she ran for State Senate,” defeating the GOP’s Senate minority leader.
Age Relevant? “Despite the many doors shut in [our volunteers’] faces, they largely succeeded. . . . When Covid hit in March 2020, we tried a new way of fostering these connections, pausing the campaign and pivoting all our resources to supporting seniors struggling with the isolation and upheaval of the pandemic.
“With some 200 volunteers, we made more than 13,500 calls to seniors in the district — regardless of their political affiliation — and offered them rides, pharmacy pickups, connections to food banks, and a buddy to call them every day or week to check in. A volunteer spoke with an elderly woman who depended on the library for large-print books, but the libraries were closed. We found a bookstore that delivered some. Another volunteer talked with a gentleman who had no internet and therefore no access to the news. She bought him a subscription to The New York Times.’”
The Party Line: “The Democratic campaign leadership was eager to replicate our success but also fundamentally unequipped to understand what we were doing. . . We told the Senate Democratic Campaign Committee about our approach. Almost immediately the committee’s staff was instructed to tell Democratic candidates to make similar calls, but only to seniors within their ‘persuasion universe’ — people whose votes they thought they could win. Specifically, people over 60 who were likely Democratic voters. We read this in horror and immediately wrote back, imploring the leaders to not limit the scope of the calls. They brushed us off.”
*** “A New Age for the Arts,” by Julie Fanselow, 3rd Act Magazine (May, 2022): The Dek: How creativity and community have flourished in spite of—perhaps because of—the pandemic.
The Lede: “No one who was alive in 2020 will forget how creativity flowered during the pandemic’s early weeks, even as we dwelled in some of the deepest uncertainty any of us will ever face. Families gathered rocks to paint with messages of hope. Opera singers began serenading their neighbors. . . . Many of us thought we might learn to draw or write or play an instrument, perhaps via tutorials on YouTube. . . . More than two years later, with COVID-19’s path still unfolding, . . . here are several stories of how the arts have helped us navigate the unexpected challenges and opportunities of this historic era.
A Quote: Jennifer Kulik is the founder of SilverKite Community Arts, a Seattle-based organization with a big portfolio of projects that bring active arts experiences to older adults. In March 2020 . . , ‘It felt like the bottom completely dropped out,’ Kulik recalled. The pandemic’s arrival came less than a year after Kulik was diagnosed with breast cancer, so she was already primed for a fight. SilverKite was quickly able to begin online programs with libraries, and did more than 400 of those during the first two years of the pandemic.”
And: Fanselow describes Zoom improv innovations at Taproot Theatre, and the
Window to the Arts series of open-air pop-up concerts by the Edmonds Center for the Arts at assisted living facilities and similar locations where isolated residents could sit outside or listen from their windows.
4. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** San Francisco’s KALW Public Radio launched “80 Over 80” Project to mark May as Older Americans Month. The series, profiling 80 Bay Area octogenarians, began May 3 with Anna Chodos, MD, the University of California, San Francisco geriatrician who started . According the stations website, “She started a project to celebrate 80 San Francisco residents of 80s+ and older by sharing their stories.” What prodded her to pursue the series was receiving magazines celebrating “30 Over 30” and “40 Over 40” on the same day. (Then there’s the excellent “70 Over 70” podcast series: Why stop there? This editor’s former publisher turns 100 in August.) Chodos explains that she was struck by “how few older adults are celebrated and represented in the media.”
To yield the 80 people, she said, there were four-to-five who wouldn’t participate. Outreach was done though numerous community organizations she works with. Many included in the 5-minute KALW interviews (edited from hour-long conversations) speak of their lives in San Francisco, sometimes with historical perspectives, such one woman who was incarcerated with her family at an internment camp for hJapanese Americans in World War II.
Among other interviews, most conducted by Ozzy Llinas Goodman, have been talks with the late celebrated activist, Glenda Hope, and SF Senior Beat reporter, Judy Goddess. (It’s her family name, not a nom-de-hippie). Goddess, 83, came late in life to reporting through the local nonprofit news service on aging. She said, “There is no one word about aging. The thing I keep saying to myself, is: Attention must be paid to older people who are not leading dramatic lives.” She writes for sfseniorbeat.com, with stories sometimes appearing in neighborhood newsprint. Full disclosure, Goddess profiled GBONews’s undramatic editor, a mere 70-something, for a neighborhood newspaper in 2020. Kudos to Dr. Chodos for inspiring the series.
*** Roberto Mighty announced that his getting dot OLDER series is now streaming 24/7 on PBS Passport for the next two years, while continuing to air on public television stations across the country. GBONews profiled the program earlier this year. PBS Passport members can view the 13 current episodes anytime along with programs such as Masterpiece and PBS’s ultimate toast to vintage, the Antiques Roadshow. Getting dot OLDER is a series of vignettes featuring a diverse range of boomers. Interviews by the Boston-based Mighty (yup, another family name) focus on personal older Boomers’ revelations, with commentary by experts on aging-related issues.
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 2022 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