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Writer Jane Mushabac has been following the enticing call of the Judeo-Spanish language known as Ladino throughout her life. 

The Sephardic Jews developed the language after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. As they traveled and formed communities around the globe, their Spanish language became enriched with influences from French, Italian, Arabic, Hebrew and Turkish. 

Mushabac's family came from Turkey and settled in New York. As with many immigrants, the adults wanted the children to be "American" and speak English, but the elders sometimes spoke in a language they didn't want the children to understand.

Jane Mushabac grew up hearing Ladino in "outbursts" and songs. As the years went by, her interest in the Judeo-Spanish language deepened and she  learned to speak, read and write in Ladino.

Jane created New York Ladino Day in 2018, hosted by the American Sephardi Foundation. Since 2020, she has been co-curator of the event with Bryan Kirschen, an associate professor of Spanish and linguistics at Binghamton University.

This episode of "The Age of Being Real" features audio recordings from the 8th annual New York Ladino Day in February 2025, where Jane's radio play "Mazal Bueno: A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews” was presented with narration by Broadway actor Julie Benko and Ladino songs performed by the Western Wind Vocal Ensemble.

The episode also includes recordings from April 2025 interviews at Mushabac's home in Manhattan and during her walk in the Riverside Park area of Manhattan that brings to life her short story,  "Song." That work of fiction is a love story set in the neighborhood during the pandemic. 

Mushabac, 81, has been honored with many awards, including fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Mellon Foundation, a 2024 Pushcart Prize nomination, and an international Leapfrog Press award for her novel, “His Hundred Years, A Tale.” Her radio play, “Mazal Bueno: A Portrait in Song of the Spanish Jews,” was commissioned for an NPR broadcast in 1992 to mark the 500th anniversary of the Jews’ expulsion from Spain. 

Mushabac is an emerita professor of English at New York City College of Technology. She earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University, a master's degree from Harvard and a PhD from the City University of New York.

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Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.

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Nashville native Lorenzo Washington is on a mission to reignite the musical and cultural spirit of Jefferson Street. In its golden days, Jefferson Street was lined with clubs that hosted luminaries like Ray Charles, Etta James, Little Richard and Jimi Hendrix.

Jefferson Street was the beating heart of North Nashville’s thriving Black music community from the 1940s to the early 1960s. The neighborhood had shops, hotels, restaurants, colleges, churches and all the businesses that support the daily lives of residents. 

That heart was broken when Interstate 40 cut through North Nashville in the late 1960s.

To begin to revive that broken heart, Lorenzo Washington built a state-of-the-art recording studio in a former boarding house in 2010. His goal is to give local musicians the resources to develop their talent and hopefully, break out into a larger audience. 

The community donated hundreds of photos and memorabilia, along with two pianos from well-known local musicians who had passed away.

The ground floor of building became a museum and then expanded to include a small performance space. 

Washington is determined to defy the devastation of Interstate 40 and its buzz of traffic that runs along the back parking lot of the building. 

The Jefferson Street Sound Museum is the foundation that’s intended to rebuild a culture of music in North Nashville, one open mic at a time on the first Monday of the month.

The recording studio on the second floor is the beacon that Washington hopes will give talented people the resoures to pursue their musical dreams. 

Eighty-two-year-old Lorenzo Washington is a lifelong entrepreneur who has been a partner in several recording studios in Nashville. 

Music is his most beloved venture, a path that began when he was teenager driving a musician friend to the clubs in North Nashville.

Washington started a cleaning business more than 30 years ago that’s helped finance the music projects. His first business with his brother was a barbecue pit. And this entrepreneur who keeps putting energy into varied ventures once helped manage a boxer who competed around the world.

Lorenzo Washington has been recognized for building on the musical roots of North Nashville that blossomed with jazz, blues and R&B during its golden era. He’s worked with partners to produce disco and other types of music and once owned a record store. 

The Blues Foundation in Memphis recently honored Lorenzo Washington with its “Keeping the Blues Alive” award for creating the Jefferson Street Sound Museum with its recording studio and events to showcase young musicians. 

Washington says he’s thankful that he’s blessed with physical and mental health. In his book, Rising Above: The Lorenzo Washington Story, published in 2021, he says, “This is where God has got me now. He blessed me with the duties of preserving a legacy, the legacy of all these great musicians and artists who have been a part of Jefferson Street in Nashville, Tennessee. That’s what God has assigned me to do, and I’m determined to do the best I can on this assignment.”

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Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.

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The Nashville cottage that houses the Family Barber Shop is constantly buzzing as 63-year-old Patty Stelmaszak adds the finishing touches for a continuous stream of customers. 

The barber’s cheerful energy keeps her stepping on and off a wooden wine crate she brought from her first shop in San Diego’s Ocean Beach.

Her business model is simple. Cash only. Affordable, quality haircuts delivered with lively conversation and compassion.

Word around Nashville is that she’s especially welcoming to those who may be undergoing treatment at nearby Vanderbilt University Medical Center or other area hospitals.

On one breezy day with clear blue sky, Stelmaszak plugged in an extension cord and gave Jim Devillez, who was in a wheelchair due to a leg injury, a haircut just outside the door of her shop. That's just something she does sometimes to make life a little easier for those with mobility issues who might need a little extra dose of kindness.

She has a guiding ideal on what she offers college students, young professionals and older adults when they arrive for a haircut: “I want this to be the best 15 minutes of their day.” 

On the home front, Stelmaszak and her husband, Jerry, a teacher, have had a long line of dogs. 

“You can never go wrong with dogs,” says Stelmaszak. “I have a yellow lab and a blue tick coon hound. I’ve had two greyhounds from the racetracks, one from Birmingham, one from Florida. I’ve had a Weimaraner. I’ve had a boxer. I’ve had a black lab. I’ve had a Chesapeake Bay retriever. I’ve had a chocolate lab. Had a kind of a mixed thing. Dogs are the best thing ever.” 

Dogs are right up there with the enjoyment of working in her bustling little barber shop, which she says,  “…is the best job ever.”

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Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.

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Jerry Colpitts began acting as a child, when he and his sister created skits in the kitchen, singing, dancing and doing mime.

When the family moved to a new town their mother entered them in a talent contest - and they won. The thrill of the stage created a lifelong love of acting.

As Colpitts nears his 70th birthday, he’s finding continuing work and joy as an extra, or sometimes larger roles, in independent films.

These current roles come after 22 years as Spider-Man, from 1979 to 2001, making personal appearances around the globe as the superhero for Marvel Comics. 

Like anyone who has the good fortune to live through many decades, Colpitts has thrived in good times and survived dark times. 

Just before 8th grade he was diagnosed with Type 1 insulin dependent diabetes. He overheard the doctor tell his parents that by 19 or 20 he’d “probably have major challenges.” He discovered he was able to keep from thinking about diabetes when he was playing someone else on stage.  

In high school and college in Maine he found his place in theater, then headed for New York.

He got a job as a doorman at The Navarro, a hotel on Central Park South frequented by luminaries like Leonard Bernstein, Luciano  Pavarotti and Bruce Springsteen. 

Colpitts found occasional work on the soap operas, including “Ryan’s Hope” and “The Guiding Light.” 

After two years in the city, he landed the amazing gig as Spider-Man and says,
“I felt totally privileged to wear the webs. It was one adventure after  another.” 

After “hanging up the webs” in 2001, Colpitts spent 12 years working in business, earning six figures. But it never gave him a thrill equal to being on stage with a group of creative people.

In 2006 he met his “life partner,” Rita Hamilton, a dancer beloved by students in her Brooklyn studio. Dark times came when Hamilton was diagnosed with cancer. She died in 2020.

Colpitts had to face his own personal darkness. Alcohol. He went to  a rehab facility in South Florida and has been sober for nine years. 

Suffering the grief of losing his life partner, Colpitts took the advice of a friend to audition for “background” work. 

“Directors look over who could be in the background. I tend to get  picked because I’m tall and thin, six-two and 175 pounds,” he says. “And I  still have hair.” 

He's been on the set of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,”  “Succession,” the series “Evil,” and the Netflix comedy “Kinda  Pregnant” with Amy Schumer. 

He recently had a major role in an independent film as an “ornery and funny” retired New York Yankees pitcher who’s dying of cancer. 

“I’m still living my dream. I still have the energy and the ability to do that. I have more passion about it than I ever had,” says Colpitts.  

Does he feel like he was “destined” to be an actor?

“Opportunities kept appearing and if they seemed interesting and worthwhile I’d say ‘yes’ and go forth,” says Colpitts. “I do have a good deal of faith and courage and trust that a Higher Power is looking out for me. Angels have been flying beside me most of my life, I guess.”
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You can read more about Jerry Colpitts in "From Spider-Man to Indie Films, Actor Persists Through Decades" on Next Avenue, an online magazine produced by Twin Cities PBS.

https://www.nextavenue.org/actor-persists-spiderman-indie-films/

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Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.

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Nancy Barker took piano lessons as young girl and says, "I absolutely hated it. But I could sing." She discovered her path in music when a high school boyfriend gave her a guitar for her birthday. She loved guitar and taught herself to play. For her next birthday that boyfriend gave her a dulcimer. That was her next heartfelt connection to music, one that continues to carry her through decades of bringing traditional music to people of all ages.
For a few years,  Barker took a conventional path for girls of the time. She went to business school and worked as a secretary. The money she earned in the office gave her freedom to buy a VW camper and hit the road with a friend, playing guitar and dulcimer across the country. 
Barker created her own unique musical path over decades. In addition to performing and writing music, she was Kentucky's first artist-in-residence hired by a public school system, a job she held for 15 years. She's also been an adjunct professor, without a college degree, because she says, "They don't make degrees in what I do." She describes what she taught as "music traditions of Kentucky."
Barker has been launching and guiding festivals of traditional music in Kentucky for several decades. She's been the guiding force for Louisville Dulcimer Society, Kentucky Music Weekend, which continued for 40 years, and Kentucky Music Week, which marks its 39th year in June 2024.
Her musical talent and organizational skills are complemented by her generous welcome to share in Kentucky's musical traditions. Kentucky Music Week is a camp and community gathering that offers small group classes in a wide range of offerings, including guitar, dulcimer, mandolin, ukulele, banjo, fiddle, autoharp, penny whistle and vocal performance.
Seventy-eight-year-old Barker has launched a new project with her daughter, Jaeni Barker, who applies her graphic design talent and production skills to their online music school, Kentucky Music Institute.
Nancy Barker describes the generational development of her projects. Kentucky Music Weekend is the grandparent. Kentucky Music Week is the child and Kentucky Music Institute is the grandchild. Nancy and Jaeni Barker are dedicated to keeping Kentucky's traditional music alive.
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You can read more about Nancy Barker in "Making the Planet Better With Traditional Kentucky Music" on Next Avenue, an online magazine produced by Twin Cities PBS.
https://www.nextavenue.org/traditional-kentucky-music/

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Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.

Send us a text

Sally Hindman was expected to be a debutante. She nixed that idea when she was a junior in high school. She told her mother she didn't want to be presented to society. Her chosen path veered dramatically away from her childhood in a wealthy Chicago suburb. One defining experience was when Hindman was six years old and the family cleaning lady listened with her to Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech. As she grew, Hindman became aware of dramatic differences in people's lives and discovered her calling to encourage the homeless and those on the margins through art and social justice. She grew up in a Methodist family, but found her path with the Quakers. She founded Young Spirit Artworks in Berkeley, California. Working with young people evolved into guiding the creation of the first tiny house village for young adults in Oakland. The second project is the Richmond Tiny House Village, Farm and Garden in Richmond, California where young adults will have the opportunity to learn culinary skills. The tiny house villages are created through a wide financial and volunteer support network of churches, synagogues, businesses, schools and local organizations.
An essential element of Hindman's work is encouraging and guiding young people to
take major roles in envisioning and building the tiny house villages.

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You can read more about Sally Hindman on Next Avenue, a digital publication of PBS, based at Twin Cities PBS, in the article titled "Quaker minister creating tiny house village for homeless young adults."
https://www.nextavenue.org/creating-tiny-house-village-for-homeless/

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Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.

Send us a text

It's bringing joy day-by-day that keeps Nick Wilkins thriving as a professional clown 51 years into living his dream.
The 67-year-old entertainer, balloon artist and entrepreneur based in Bowling Green, Kentucky got his early training in the family magic show. Then he  trained and worked at Ringling Bros. Barnum  & Bailey Circus in Florida.
Returning to Kentucky, he grew his business by entertaining children, adults and corporate clients as a clown and through his Balloon-A-Gram company.
Clowns are not immune to the trials and tribulations faced by humans everywhere.  Sickness, loss of loved ones, broken relationships.
Wilkins found the skills, or natural instincts, he uses in being a clown can help get through the difficult times. Once, while driving his mother to a chemotherapy appointment at Vanderbilt Hospital an hour away in Nashville, a gust of wind from a passing truck pulled her wig off her head and deposited it in the middle of the road.
"We laughed and just laughed and laughed," Wilkins recalls. "I went out there and picked it up like it was an animal and gave it back to her. You take tough times and try to live through them with some type of humor."
When he teaches young people the skills of clowning like stilt walking, makeup, juggling and responding to a "scene" with humor, it's also about a positive attitude. Students are not allowed to use the word "can't."
Wilkins has seen creativity in young people fade over the past 10 or 15 years, as more students in his workshops seem to struggle to find their own sense of humor. He suspects that's from too much time on social media.
He guides them in understanding the priority of connecting directly with people. That means no phones during a two-week summer camp, except to call home occasionally, and no TV.
In student workshops, parades, birthday parties, corporate gatherings or just greeting the mailman, Wilkins loves to drop a dose of humor. So in response to a question about when he's going to retire Wilkins says, "Yeah, I retired last week. I put a new set of Michelin tires on my van."
Sprinkling humor at every opportunity is just how lives.
"I'm definitely a jovial individual. I enjoy cutting up with everybody," he says. "In this world today there's so much negativity, I just want to give 'em a chance to stop their brain for enough time to just laugh and smile."
And he plans to keep doing that because being a clown is not a job he can retire from.
"It's more than a job. It's a passion. I mean, clowning is right here," he says, putting his hand on his chest, ". . . from your heart."
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You can read more about Nick Wilkins on Next Avenue, a digital publication of PBS, based at Twin Cities PBS.
https://www.nextavenue.org/a-clown-about-town/

Support the show

Music for The Age of Being Real is "Kites Over the Ocean" by the Kentucky Standard Band from their album "Angels of Mercy."
The Age of Being Real is created by writer and audio producer Rhonda J. Miller.