I’ve never lived more than thirteen miles away from Yankee Stadium. As I enter my “third act” I’m feeling psychologically ready to retire, which impels me to ask the question, “Where do I want to live?” I’ve spent parts of the last 16 summers in the Berkshires. The Berkshires is a highland region mostly located …
An article by Jill Smolowe in Next Avenue posed the question: “Do we slow down because we retire? Or do we retire because we slow down?” Ms. Smolowe described her life in “retirement” and it sounded like anything but retiring. She described her current life as consisting of volunteer work, exercise, meditation, getting together with …
In Next Avenue‘s most recent Vitality Arts Report, I came across an article championing the benefits of music making to older adults. To anyone who has read, “Ed Talks,” or spent any time on the Lifetime Arts website, this is not news. What I found more dramatic as I explored the report further, was the …
As I inch slowly to retirement or cutting back my time (I’ve been saying this for three years now) I am inundated with examples of how I “should” be spending my leisure time. Much of the propaganda about retirement extols the virtue of the removal of work related stress. I’m wondering if “stress” is getting …
It’s one thing to sit at my desk and write about arts and aging, or talk to people and help them envision and implement arts programs. It’s quite another thing to be a participant in the process of art making. In the many years that I’ve been an arts administrator I’ve tried to keep a …
One Is the Loneliest A New York Times article by Paula Span talked about the dangers of isolation and loneliness in older adults. Ms. Span cites research at the University of California, San Francisco which found that those who reported loneliness were more likely to develop difficulties with activities of daily living. Of those surveyed …
Why Work? We just celebrated Labor Day, and I’ve been thinking a lot about my relationship to work. Claudia Shear’s play, Blown Sideways Through Life, is a one person autobiographical tour through the litany of the sixty-six jobs she held up to that point in her life. It was an Off-Broadway hit in the early …
In my effort to have these monthly missives reflect days or months that are observed annually, I considered Nectarine Month, National Drive Thru Day, Barbie-in-a-Blender Day, Sports Cliché Day, and many others. I fall back, however, to the most obvious- Independence Day. It made me think about our individual independence. That enviable quality held in …
Father’s Day is this month. Two things come to mind: 1. Where are the men? In our Creative Aging workshops around the country, no matter where we look or what arts discipline is offered, the ratio of women to men is about 8.5:1. It’s too simple to say that women live longer than men, and so …
By Ed Friedman Old?…Yeah… So? May has been designated Older Americans Month (OAM) by the Administration on Aging since 1963. OAM acknowledges the contributions of older people in the U.S. led by the Administration for Community Living, and the annual observance offers the opportunity to learn about, support, and celebrate our nation’s older citizens. So… …
By Ed Friedman Shush! It’s National Library Week (April 10-16). But rather than whisper we’d like to loudly acknowledge all the great work that emanates from libraries throughout the country. Of course, at Lifetime Arts, we have long recognized the value of public libraries as community cultural centers. Additionally, they are safe havens, oases if …
