Gracefully Radio

Not very long ago, a child born to parents over 40 was a rarity.  That ship has sailed.  Still, practical matters are a consideration. Hollywood entertainment executive Norman Aladjem realized this when his first child, a daughter, was born.  He was 45.  What would he do, he thought, if something happened to him?

A New York Times reporter spends a year among the "oldest old," people over 85, and says it turned out to be the best year of his life. He writes about what he learned in a new book.

A new short film calls out Hollywood for perpetuating the last "acceptable" form of discrimination: Ageism.

Aliza feels that women over the age of 35 will provide the critical mass to steer cannabis to national legality and mainstream use.  After all, it's women who make the majority of the health-care decisions in the home.

Liz Dubelman has never been afraid of technology. Now, she finds herself explaining it to people who aren't "digital natives." We talk about her work as a Digital Daughter, and what she's learning from interacting with elders.

...in my dreams, my mother--after years of taking care of other people, including and especially my dad, who'd been ill for a decade--would reward herself at this stage and trounce off to Tahiti.  But I know better than that. And an expert on a crusade against ageism says good for me for not trying to tell her what to do.

This week in New York, the publishing industry hosted its annual convention, Book Expo.  Meet Claire Baldry and others who aren't part of the mainstream publishing business. They're working to introduce new voices to the world of literature by self publishing.

Actress Marcia Gay Harden waxes poetic about her mother, and laments the loss of her to Alzheimer's disease.

This week, in honor of my beloved mother and the fact that she's been cooking for a crowd since she was a little girl in Prospect Park helping her mother tend to a large brood, I'm proud to share Jane Napoli's philosophy of meatballs.  Try it at home-unless you're a vegetarian.

Anyone who has deigned to advise an older adult to “just get a smartphone” as they face the loss of their ability to drive knows how problematic this request can be. Many seniors are either reluctant or downright disinterested in adopting the new technology, and annoyed at the suggestion that purchasing a pricey new phone is the answer to this new diminished mobility.