GBONEWS: Scientific Sources on Presidential Memory; Social Security Pros/Cons in Campaign; Ageism in Health Care; Health Journalism Conference Scholarships; Gwyneth Paltrow’s Surprising Longevity View; American Society on Aging’s 70th Meeting; Loving Midlife and With Poetry; 3 Decades at the NYT; Tevye’s Timely Words on, Oy!, the People; & MORE
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations.
March 18, 2024 — Volume 31, Number 3
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: To Spring Equinox – Let the Conferences Bloom!
1. GOOD SOURCES — UPDATING THE SAME “OLD” STORY: Expert Contacts on Aging Memory and Capability on the Campaign Trail
*** “As Biden faces questions about his age, researchers weigh in on working in your 80s,” Annie Nova, CNBC (March 10, 2024);
*** Fresh Air’s Terry Gross with neuroscientist Charan Ranganath, PhD, author, Why We Remember;
*** GBONews link to gero-biologist Steven N. Austad, PhD about old age and the presidency.
2. THE CONFERENCE BEAT: *** AHCJ’s Health Journalism 2024 in New York City, June 6-9; *** On Aging 2024Conference marking American Society on Aging’s 70th Anniversary, in San Francisco, March 25-28.
3. THE STORYBOARD: *** “Ageism in health care is more common than you might think, and it can harm people,” by Ashley Milne-Tyte, NPR News “Shots” (March 7, 2024);
*** “Both parties are returning to their roots on Social Security,” by Nancy Altman, JD, The Hill (March 16, 2024);
*** “A very Gwyneth Paltrow anti-aging routine,” by Rachel Hosie and Kashmira Gander, Business Insider(March 13, 2024);
4. THE BOOKMOBILE: *** Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better With Age, by Chip Conley, Little, Brown Spark; *** “In ‘Father Verses Sons,’ Author Herbert Gold Meets His Gen X Sons at Life’s Horizon,” by Paul Kleyman, PBS Next Avenue; *** Me and the [NY] Times by Robert W. Stock.
5. WORDS FROM THE WISE: In Tevye’s Daughters, Reb Tevye poses ultimate question of God versus (Oy, vey!) What’s Wrong with People?
1. GOOD SOURCES
UPDATING THE SAME “OLD” STORY
“They’re objectively old,” declared satirist Jon Stewart last month, a fact repeated variously throughout political news reporting about the presumptive 2024 presidential candidates and the “gerontocracy” of congressional leaders in the past two years. What is far from “objective,” though, but is decidedly prejudicial, is the presumption that old is necessarily bad news, a one-way ticket to decrepitude and dementia. Experience, maybe with a measure of wisdom, can make a difference.
Even in the annals of government scrutiny, fact-finding seems to go by the wayside when fear stared back at authorities in their mirrors. Take, f or instance, Attorney General Merrick Garland. Apparently he failed to question whether Special Prosecutor Robert Hur sought anything like gerontological expertise when he stated in his report in the Biden investigation that the president appeared in his deposition to be “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Although Hur is generally acknowledged for his meticulous attention to legal matters, even his sharpest congressional critics, much less national reporters, apparently haven’t asked for any scientific inquiry he made about medical and scientific evidence regarding memory.
As I’ve stressed before, this editor does not endorse candidates, but does strongly oppose prejudice of any kind. And my vote will always go against lazy journalism. (“But the polls say voters worry he’s too old.” Hmm, and who keeps telling them that without reporting on the science of longevity?)
Regarding honest coverage of aging and memory, some prime scientific sources on aging health and memory have popped up in the media. As the stereotypes of old age continue to underlie much presidential campaign reporting in the coming months, reporters may find it helpful to keep a keep the names of prominent experts in the contact lists.
*** “As Biden faces questions about his age, researchers weigh in on working in your 80s,” by Annie Nova, CNBC (March 10, 2024):
The Lede: “Should he prevail in the upcoming presidential election, President Joe Biden, 81, would become the nation’s first octogenarian elected commander in chief. Despite the misgivings that fact has sparked among some voters, Biden’s age is less of an anomaly than a sign of the times, experts say.
A Quote: “’There are lots and lots of people who still work in their 80s,’ said Dr. Dennis Selkoe, a Harvard Medical School professor who has won awards for his advances in aging research. ‘It’s more common than ever.’”
A Stat: “Indeed, workers 75 and older are the fastest-growing age group in the labor market, more than quadrupling in size since 1964, according to the Pew Research Center. If former president Donald Trump wins in November, he’d be 78 at that point.”
The Doubts: “Almost two-thirds, 62%, of voters say they have major concerns that Biden does not have the necessary mental and physical health to be president for a second term, according to a national NBC News poll conducted in January.”
An Answer: “However, such ‘occasional gaffes’ do not indicate anything about an older person’s competence, said John Walsh, an associate professor of gerontology at the University of Southern California. ‘Fluid intelligence”’ slows with aging, Walsh said. That means people’s reaction times might not be as fast as when they were young, or they might need more time to remember a particular name or date, he said. That knowledge hasn’t been lost, though. Aging experts also refer to this as ‘benign forgetfulness,’ and say it’s a normal part of the aging process.”
Groupthink: “Ageism, or the discrimination of someone based on their age, may lead people to pay outsized attention to Biden’s missteps, Walsh said. Nearly 80% of older workers say they’ve seen or experienced age discrimination in the workplace, according to research by AARP.”
Alternatively: “’ Crystallized intelligence,’ considered wisdom, also grows throughout our life, experts say. ‘With that wisdom and experience, the older person may be able to sort through possible solutions and come up with an effective strategy for dealing with a situation faster and more successfully than a younger person,’ Walsh said.”
*** “When is forgetting normal — and when is it worrisome? A neuroscientist weighs in,” NPR Fresh Airinterview by Terry Gross with Charan Ranganath (Feb. 26, 2024, 36-minute listen):
Intro: “Cognitive neuroscientist Charan Ranganath meets someone for the first time, he’s often asked, ;Why am I so forgetful?’ But Ranganath says he’s more interested in what we remember, rather than the things we forget. ‘We’re not designed to carry tons and tons of junk with us. I don’t know that anyone would want to remember every temporary password that they’ve ever had,’ he says. ‘I think what [the human brain is] designed for is to carry what we need and to deploy it rapidly when we need it.’
Ranganath directs the Dynamic Memory Lab at the University of California, Davis, where he’s a professor of psychology and neuroscience. In the new book, Why We Remember, he writes about the fundamental mechanisms of memory — and why memories often change over time.”
A Quote: “Ranganath recently wrote an op-ed for The New York Times in which he reflected on President Biden’s memory gaffes — and the role that memory plays in the current election cycle. ‘I’m just not in the position to say anything about the specifics of [either Biden or Trump’s] memory problems,’ he says. ‘This is really more of an issue of people understanding what happens with aging. And, one of the nice things about writing this editorial is I got a lot of feedback from people who felt personally relieved by this because they’re worried about their own memories.’”
*** GBONews previously highlighted the observations of Steven N. Austad, PhD, author of Methuselah’s Zoo: What Nature Can Teach Us About Living Longer, Healthier Lives (MIT Press, 2022). Austad, a leading biologist on longevity at the University of Alabama was interviewed some months ago by NPR’s “On the Media” (10 minutes) about the unwarranted news attention to things such as Biden’s vocal gaffes and sometimes halting speech. Austad observed that Biden may have had “lapses in speech, but not lapses in reasoning.” He can be reached at steven.austad@gmail.com.
2. THE CONFERENCE BEAT
*** The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) Health Journalism 2024 is set for New York City, June 6-9.
AHCJ offers multiple Fellowships with an application deadline on April 5. The association offers the grants in various categories, including those for AHCJ-Equity in Health Journalism (writers for media “serving under-resourced and/or underrepresented communities), freelancers, and regional and state reporters in such locations as California, New York, Kansas-Missouri, New Orleans and others. For information about Fellowships, contact Andrea Waner at: andrea@healthjournalism.org.
GBONews Tip: When you get to this Fellowship page, be sure to scroll down a bit. The top line of Fellowships say “Applications are close,” but you’ll see those for the conference show they are open until April 5.
Although the conference fare is much broader than health and aging, they always have important expert sessions on prime gerontological topics. For instance, the editor of AHCJ’s blog on aging, our own Journalists Network on Aging’s Liz Seegert will moderate two sessions. She describes one, titled “Improving diagnosis among aging people”: “Diagnostic errors affect 12 million Americans each year and account for roughly 80,000 deaths annually. Diagnosis is particularly challenging among older adults, who may have cognitive or hearing impairment affecting communication and multiple complex conditions. Ageism on the part of providers also impedes effective diagnosis.”
Liz emailed us, “The second panel is based off of Reed Abelson and Jordan Rau’s series in The New York Times/KFF Health News, “Dying Broke: The growing crisis of long-term care,” which GBONews highlighted in December. Among the speakers will be Rau and one of the caregivers he interviewed for the series.
In part, the session blurb says, “The United States has no coherent system of long-term care and spends far less than most wealthy countries. The cost of a spot in an assisted-living facility has soared to an unaffordable level for most middle-class Americans.
The private market where a minuscule portion of families buy long-term care insurance has shriveled, reduced over years of giant rate hikes by insurers that had underestimated how much care people would actually use. Labor shortages have left families searching for workers willing to care for their elders in the home.
Assisted living and nursing homes [in the US] are overwhelmingly owned by for-profit entities that drain the lifetime savings of the elderly as rapidly as possible, shouldering Medicaid and families with paying for their care for the duration of their lives. This panel will examine the extent of the problem . . . and examine what policy solutions exist.”
Other sessions will be on patient safety and, Liz says, “the always popular and important how to read and analyze medical studies.” This year’s gathering will include the 20th annual Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism.
*** The On Aging 2024 Conference will mark the American Society on Aging’s 70th Anniversary, in San Francisco, March 25-28, 2024. One of the two largest conclaves on aging, along with the Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) fall program, ASA’s event will present hundreds of lectures, panels and papers.
Topics will range from technology (“. . . Virtual Caregiving Intervention ‘Through Alzheimer’ Eyes’; panels and papers on AI; and “Bridging Beyond Broadband”) to economic challenges (“It’s Never Too Late for Economic Justice”). Those wishing to apply for a press pass need to contact ASA Editorial Director Alison Biggar (Email: abiggar@asaging.org).
GBONews’ Editor would enjoy hearing from reporters planning to attend the On Aging 2024 conference. If you’d like to connect in person, drop me a note at pfkleyman@gmail.com.
3. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Ageism in health care is more common than you might think, and it can harm people,” by Ashley Milne-Tyte, NPR News “Shots” (March 7, 2024, article and 3-minute audio):
The Lede: “[Kathleen] Hayes lives in Chicago and has spent a lot of time lately taking her parents, who are both in their 80s, to doctor’s appointments. Her dad has Parkinson’s, and her mom has had a difficult recovery from a bad bout of Covid-19. As she’s sat in, Hayes has noticed some health care workers talk to her parents at top volume, to the point, she says, “that my father said to one, ‘I’m not deaf, you don’t have to yell.'”
A Quote: “Researchers and geriatricians say that instances like these constitute ageism – discrimination based on a person’s age – and it is surprisingly common in health care settings.
It can lead to both overtreatment and undertreatment of older adults, says Dr. Louise Aronson, a geriatrician and professor of geriatrics at the University of California, San Francisco. ‘We all see older people differently. Ageism is a cross-cultural reality,’ Aronson says. Ageism creeps in, even when the intent is benign, says Aronson, who wrote the [2020 Pulitzer Prize Finalist], Elderhood. “We all start young, and you think of yourself as young, but older people from the very beginning are other.”
The Stats: “Kris Geerken is co-director of Changing the Narrative, an organization that wants to end ageism. She says research shows that negative beliefs about aging – our own or other people’s – are detrimental to our health. ‘It actually can accelerate cognitive decline, increase anxiety, it increases depression. It can shorten our lifespans by up to seven-and-a-half years,’ she says, adding that a 2020 study showed that discrimination against older people, negative age stereotypes, and negative perceptions around one’s own age, cost the health care system $63 billion a year.”
*** “Both parties are returning to their roots on Social Security,” by Nancy Altman, JD, The Hill (March 16, 2024): In this opinion piece, Altman, president of the progressive Social Security Works and chair of its Strengthen Social Security coalition, provides an overview of the liberal position, as the likely GOP nominees has rocketed entitlements into the presidential campaign. Her story also includes a number of useful background links on the Social Security and Medicare debates. She is member of the federal, bipartisan Social Security Advisory Board.
The Lede: “Social Security’s future is on the ballot this November. Donald Trump’s recent comment to CNBC that “there is a lot you can do…in terms of cutting” Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid has appropriately gotten a lot of attention. . . Along with planning to cut Social Security, Trump wants to extend his 2017 tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit the uber-wealthy.
“In stark contrast, President Biden’s recently released 2025 budget calls for expanding Social Security while requiring those same uber-wealthy to pay their fair share. Biden vows to veto any and all cuts. . . . Importantly, congressional Democrats have several plans that implement Biden’s ideas. Those plans include the Social Security 2100 Act . . . and the Social Security Expansion Act (sponsored by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). . . Biden’s budget goes even further, proposing paid family and medical leave.”
Trump v. Reagan: “Donald Trump and the Republican Party have a very different vision and plan. While massively exploding the deficit with tax handouts to their wealthy donors, Republicans insist that Social Security is unaffordable — despite the fact that, as even Ronald Reagan acknowledged, Social Security doesn’t contribute a single penny to the deficit. . . . Congressional Republicans are trying to force a so-called ‘fiscal commission,’ which they included in their own 2025 budget, . . . This commission is designed to fast-track cuts to Social Security and Medicare behind closed doors.”
Altman was Alan Greenspan’s Assistant in his position as Chairman of the bipartisan commission that developed the 1983 Social Security amendments. Since then she has Altman authored The Battle for Social Security, (Wiley, 2012) and The Truth About Social Security (Strong Arm Press, 2018), as well as co-author of Social Security Works! Why Social Security Isn’t Going Broke and How Expanding It Will Help Us All.
*** “A very Gwyneth Paltrow anti-aging routine,” by Rachel Hosie and Kashmira Gander, Business Insider(March 13, 2024):
The Lede: “Gwyneth Paltrow has something on her mind. She’s nearly the same age her dad was when he learned he had cancer. ‘My father was diagnosed with cancer at 54, which is only three years away for me. . . Bruce Paltrow, a director-producer, died suddenly of throat cancer complications . . . in October 2002, at the age of 58.”
Goop: An Oscar winning actor, Gwyneth is “the ultimate symbol of aspirational living or a snake oil saleswoman with her $250 million dollar business Goop — depending on who you ask.”
Longevity: “Some might wonder where she fits on a longevity spectrum compared to Bryan Johnson, the multimillionaire tech exec whose extensive longevity routine costs $2 million a year and involves taking 111 supplements a day in a bid to live out his motto ‘Don’t die.’ But Paltrow doesn’t share the same desire as longevity bros to halt or even reverse aging. Hers is a refreshingly balanced and relaxed approach to longevity.
A Quote: “‘Everybody’s obsessed with longevity medicine right now, and there seems to be some really consistent common denominators. Sleep is super important. Managing your thoughts, your mind, I think, is very important for managing stress response. Stress can cause your immune system to not function as highly, that’s well-documented. Also, I think the quality of relationships, and then, of course, not having too much alcohol, sugar, all that kind of stuff. . . .’”
Research: “Paltrow’s evidenced-backed response . . . would make a longevity academic’s heart swell. . . For example, a recent study was the latest to link social interactions with living longer. Her nutrient-dense diet that limits processed foods shares similarities with the Mediterranean diet, which is widely considered the healthiest way to eat. And Paltrow also says she walks, which plenty of evidence has linked to a long, healthy life. Chronic stress, meanwhile, is widely known to be an enemy of good health. Paltrow also name-drops last year’s Netflix documentary on Blue Zones, which are regions with the most centenarians, as a source of inspiration.”
4. THE BOOKMOBILE
*** Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better With Age, by Chip Conley, Little, Brown Spark (2024): A bestselling author and motivational speaker, who has embraced the self-actualization teachings of the late psychologist, Abraham Maslow, Conley also comes with the caché of a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He has drawn life lessons from his downs and ups in the hospitality business, notably the Joie de Vivre chain of boutique hotels and Airbnb.
Although this slim volume reads with the familiar breeziness of self-improvement fare, Conley’s story of facing his middle-aging is also grounded by his confrontation with cancer during the past four years. That harsh reality, though important to the book, is secondary to the insights the experience brought him in the book’s many other stories and reflections.
Conley writes, “I wrote this book to help people clear the fog; to help them see midlife not as a source of dread or shame, but as the opportunity for reawakening.” In the parlance of a business founder, he states, “Midlife has a colossal branding problem.” The book, though, divides its dozen chapters in five stations along the journey of his own and his middle-aged and middle-class readers’ physical, emotional, mental, vocational and spiritual life.
The book also includes some generational contrasts Conley has gleaned from observing clients for his current company, the Modern Elder Academy (MEA), which offers workshops on “Navigating Transitions,” “Cultivating Purpose,” and “Owning Wisdom.”
In the book, Conley notes, “It’s surprising how many MEA alums are Millennials, given that this is a program with Elder in the title. Some of them are elders in their industries (e.g., a 38‐year‐old engineer in Silicon Valley); others are simply reconceiving the concept of midlife not as a time of crisis, but as a time of calling. Many have disavowed the three‐stage life and have become experts in thinking of their lives as a series of every‐ten‐year sabbaticals stitched together with work in between. Others see no need for a midlife crisis because they never submitted to norms, but they also feel rocked by a less stable world.”
He goes on, “These Millennials didn’t learn the linear ‘Game of Life’ board game that I did when I was a kid, back when it seemed as if there was just one path to American success. They’re constantly reassessing and iterating; they march to the beat of their own drummer. Many are marrying later, having kids later, rethinking monogamy, and integrating work and life in ways we Boomers never imagined. They are the carpe diem generation. Today, many Millennials are just entering midlife — and they’re doing it differently.” Well, those who can afford it, at least. Still, he offers valuable insights for the Malcolms and Madelines in the middle.
As a Boomer, who has closely followed generational issues, though, this editor has viewed how each generation is touted or tainted for its differences from their predecessors, usual getting the brunt of both praise and opprobrium. That also has come with only cursory attention to actual past narratives and historical drivers. Go back through recent generations, say, to those of World War II, and you’ll find that in later live political and media sorts variously labeled them “Greedy Geezers,” then, miraculously (thank you Tom Brokaw), the “Greatest Generation.” At younger or older ages, the criticism or praise brands remarkably alike.
Regarding we Boomers, all one need do to reframe our example for social innovation is rebranding our identity: We “Children of the Sixties” started marrying later, rethought monogamy, questioned work-life balance and more. Generational generalities get quickly shrouded by political and economic factors. Those Millennials may be marching to their own drum beats in larger numbers, but that has as much or more to do with the corporate shift to mass layoffs and declining wage gains since about 1980, testing old concepts of company loyalty and employment longevity.
Still, midlife pep talks, such as Conley’s, have a place, especially in helping to reverse the prevailing negative reflex of American society toward its own aging. As branding goes, “aging” is not “selling” so well right now in American discourse. That’s not to say that self-help books don’t have important influence on the topic of aging, as so strikingly shown by the negative reaction to older political figures, regardless of their continued capability or lack of it. In the context of the gerontological quest to “reframe aging,” this seems a good moment to value the arrival of more empathic literature for our age-anxious culture.
For a review copy of Learning to Love Midlife, contact Sabrina.Callahan@hbgusa.com, or Gemma Korus at gemmakorus@gmail.com.
*** “In ‘Father Verses Sons,’ Author Herbert Gold Meets His Gen X Sons at Life’s Horizon,” by Paul Kleyman, PBS Next Avenue (March 7, 2024): “This unique poetry collaboration between a prime author of the Beat era and his Gen X sons is a ‘volley of voices’ that began as an exchange of letters.”
Yup, That’s Me: Your GBONews.org editor is taking the liberty of touting my PBS Next Avenue article about this new co-generational poetry volume, a correspondence in verse, by the late author Herbert Gold and his sons, filmmaker Ari and musician Ethan Gold. Herb, whose death I wrote about last November, would have reached his 100thbirthday on March 9.
As my piece notes, “This decidedly unique poetry collaboration between a prime author of the Beat era and his Gen X sons was germinated in the loam of letters they began to ward off the isolation of the pandemic.” Based in Los Angeles, Ari worried about his Dad’s isolation in the COVID-19 lock-down. He explains in the book’s introduction, “He could no longer see the keys of his typewriter. He could barely hear me on the phone. He was severed from the things that sustained his spirits: the human carnival, and his own creativity.”
One of Herb’s three children from Herb’s second marriage, Ari snail-mailed an invitation to his computer-averse father with a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Ari urged, “Scribble me a poem, dad, / but it must be me I’m commanding, dreaming of the Baltics, / facing a palm tree, / waiting for hummingbirds / to meditate along with me.” To Ari’s delight, “My dad complied with the vigor of a young poet.” Later, Ari’s twin brother, Ethan joined the conversation with his own poems.
The Crux: The article explains, “An intriguing difference for me, though, was that for Herb, as a World War II veteran, his Gen X kids came in midlife with his second marriage. That was a full generation later for him than my daughter’s arrival was for my twentysomething baby boomer self. Those additional two decades strikingly alter the parental dialogue. In Father Verses Sons, boomer parents will likely notice a more urgent and candid conversation between the Golds than they are having with their own middle-aged kids. So much to say, so little time.”
The piece adds, “The Golds’ aching honesty offers a glimpse of father-son conflict and reconciliation that rarely finds renewal so directly in contemporary literature.” That is to say, this book is not a self-help manual with Hallmark tips for better parent-child relations.
For an electronic review copy of Father Verses Sons and press kit, contact Gretchen Crary, gretchen@februarymedia.net; Phone (646)883-6648, Cell (917)378-8689 .
*** Me and the Times by Robert W. Stock, Gatekeeper Press, 2024: Bob Stock, who will turn 95 on June 22, had a storied career with 29 years at the New York Times as a reporter and editor. His staff position culminated when, “in June 1995, I was thrilled. Somehow, in the sunset of my career at the paper, I had become—gasp! —a New York Times columnist.” That was when GBONews’ editor first met him at an American Society on Aging conference, which attended for his column on aging, “Senior Class.”
Prior to that column, though, Stock’s memoir documents more iconic moments in journalism — and American history — such as when Stock was the editor of the Sunday magazine. For instance, he recalls, “On July 22, 1973, The New York Times Magazine was totally devoted to a single, massive article titled, ‘Watergate: The Story So Far.’ It was written by a single author, J. Anthony Lukas, and edited by a single editor, me.
“Over thousands of insightful, compelling words, Tony Lukas told the whole story of the break-in and cover-up as of that date. My role was twofold. I had the traditional editorial task of helping him improve the text—finding better phrasing, asking for another sentence to support a position, spotting logical lapses. I also had to shepherd the manuscript through a gauntlet of intrusive senior editors.”
Journalists may well appreciate that much of Stock’s careering up and down the Times tower, in its own refreshing way, as fraught with disappointments – clashes with this or that editor or “perfectionist” writers – as one might encounter in any news organization. As a biography of news at top, this book could well serve as a J-School supplemental textbook on the life of a newsroom staffer.
Stock, writes, “Most journalists’ memoirs are written by daily beat reporters and foreign correspondents and boast tales of war and government scandals. I had different kinds of tales on offer. As an editor at the Bridgeport Sunday Post, I inspired a crime wave and appeared half naked on the front page. I coped with corporate daffiness and malfeasance during my pre-Times career in the aviation and oil industries.
“At The Times, I managed to get the paper sued for a million dollars. I printed stories that broke new ground, one of which almost got me fired. And over a seventy-year career, I spent time with such bold-faced names as Jerry Orbach, Herb Shriner, Ahmet Ertegun, Rod Laver, and Jacqueline Kennedy.”
The topic of aging came with Stock’s approaching retirement at 65. He explains, “With an eye to my post-Times future, I put together an elaborate proposal for a new column called ‘The New Old.’
In the fall of 1994, I presented it to Joe Lelyveld, who was now the executive editor. I pointed out that the elderly, ‘once virtually invisible and ignored,’ were now becoming a serious force in politics, commerce, and lifestyle. I noted that the paper paid little attention to elders’ emerging role in society or to their needs, even though they represented a substantial chunk of The Times’ readers. My column would not be ‘soft features or profiles,’ I promised, but would focus on news developments and trends, putting The Times in the journalistic forefront.”
Lelyveld did approve the idea, “renaming the column ‘Senior Class.’ There was, however, a complication. He said there was no room for the column in the run of the paper. The only spot he could find for it was in the ‘Home’ section. Filled with stories about furnishings and the like, the section was not a natural fit for a column whose topics would range from hair transplants to alcoholism to suicide.”
Starting in June 1995, “My first Senior Class column looked at the American attitude toward the elderly—in other words, ageism.” It profiled gerontologist and industrial designer Patricia Moore, who “turned herself into an old woman. She wore clouded contact lenses and used makeup to mimic wrinkles; splints on her knees forced her to walk haltingly.” She told Stock, “I wanted to see firsthand how older people are treated.” Moore, who would later survive being violently mugged in her elder guise, would become a pioneer in universal design. She told him, “Ageism is a learned behavior, . . . and we’re not being taught better.”
Others of his “Senior Class” columns explored themes from elders’ own ageism to the under-diagnosed rise in HIV/AIDS among older people. GBONews readers may also note that his original title later found longevity. The standing head, “New Old Age,” now written by Paula Span, has topped the paper’s column on aging now for about two decades.
Me and the Times, while self-published, is engagingly written and well produced. Stock will provide an e-book edition or hard copy to reviewers who contact him at robertwstock@gmail.com. For consumers, it’s available at: Me and The Times on Amazon or Me and The Times on Barnes & Noble .
5. WORDS FROM THE WISE
In Tevye’s Daughters, by Sholom Aleichem (the source for Fiddler on the Roof), Reb Tevye reflects on our misbegotten world, “I wasn’t worried about God so much. I could come to terms with Him one way or the other. What bothered me was people. Why would people be so cruel when they could be so kind? Why should human being bring suffering to others and to themselves when they could all life together in peace and goodwill?’
— From The Collected Stories of Sholom Aleichem: Tevye’s Daughters, translated by Frances Butwin, Crown Publishing, 1949.
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 2024 Paul Kleyman. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
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