I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of work goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Subscribe now

• Mary Beth Hurt, Actress Acclaimed in ‘Interiors’ and ‘Garp,’ Dies at 79 - Clay Risen in The New York Times. In preparation for my interview with John Irving last December, I revisted The World According to Garp, in which Hurt was wonderful. RIP.

  

• Gloria Steinem on Her New Memoir, An Unexpected Life: “Not Sure I Saw Any of It Coming” - in Vanity Fair.

  

• Barry Manilow Details Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment, Says It ‘Made Me Take Stock of My Life’ at 82 - Jeff Nelson in People.

  

• Margaret Atwood on Dressing for Revenge: A wide-ranging chat with the author of The Handmaid’s Tale about style, vengeance, ghosts, and being a Scorpio - in .

  

• Lucinda Williams Has Had Enough: With her 2026 protest album, World’s Gone Wrong, the musician turns to Jesmyn Ward, Langston Hughes, and the Mississippi Sheiks. - in The Oxford American.

• Check out Williams’ new protest album, World’s Gone Wrong. Here’s the video for the title track:

• I finally got around to seeing The Testament of Ann Lee, and I really enjoyed it and Amanda Seyfried’s performance in the titular role. I also learned a lot about the Shakers.

• My Season of Ativan: Both of my parents were in hospice, on opposite coasts. Then I found out that I had breast cancer. - actress with an incredibly moving essay in The New Yorker.

• In case you missed it, last week I had the pleasure of talking with Robin Young on NPR’s Here & Now.

  

• And this week I spoke with ’s .

• Wishing a speedy recovery to “Radio Man,” the formerly homeless Vietnam veteran who for decades now has gotten consistent extra work in film and TV by showing up on sets. (In 1996 I profiled him for the New York Times in a piece titled “The Self-Made Extra: Radio Man.”)

• As parents age, their children face hard choices about when to take the car keys. - Joel Rose on NPR’s All Things Considered.

• The Grande Dame of Casa Dorinda: Lunch in Montecito with Betty Fussell, one of America’s great food writers - in Alta Journal. Fussell and her book, How to Cook a Coyote: The Joy of Old Age, were also included in the first installment of the Oldster Bookshelf.

• Check out Broadway performer and writer ’s new record, The Wizard and I: Liz Callaway Sings Stephen Schwartz.

  

• The sexual shadow of movements for change: Dolores Huerta and #MeToo - .

• Shoot Your Shot: An Interview with Alice Arnold - Oldster contributor in Asterix Journal’s This Woman’s Work: A Listening Session, an anthology edited by my former Longreads colleague Danielle Amir Jackson and .

• I’m excited for ’s new collection, That May Not Mean What You Think, out April 15th, which contains the short story, “Portrait of an Old Lady,” originally published in Oldster.

  

• Beyond the Noise—A Yoga + Writing Retreat in the Hudson Valley August 27-30 led by and Elizabeth Voetsch, at Spruceton Inn, is very enticing…

• Need fashion advice? is taking questions for her advice column in ’s The Strategist.

• On the 20th Anniversary of Eat, Pray Love - looks back, and considers the one sentence she’d change.

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)

Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Kacey Musgrave – Dry Spell - Kacey’s pristine voice and deft production disguise the fact that this so sweet sounding song is as lustful as it gets.

2. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Future Soul – Is this the best live rock band in the world? Could be, and they have a new album out that does justice to Susan’s bad-ass vocals and Derek’s otherworldly guitar playing.

3. Devon Gilfillian – Hold on – Devon accurately calls this his “psychedelic country western soul realization” and the remarkable build-up at the end that takes this tune over the top.

4. Noah Kahan – The Great Divide – He blew up during the pandemic, sells out stadiums, and lots of people still don’t know who he is. His new song is a good place to start.

5. Harry Styles – Aperture – We typically don’t recommend songs by superstars because they may already be on your radar. But in this balkanized world, there is a decent chance you haven’t heard this very groovy song by Mr. Styles. Rather than lean into his typical more retro-fare, he pushes forward with something buzzier and more contemporary.

6. The Last Dinner Party – Let’s Do It Again – The Last Dinner Party is one of the most exciting rock-ish bands to emerge in recent years and this irresistible single is taken from the new compilation “Help(2)” which features great new tracks from current indie rock luminaries and benefits global humanitarian relief. Amazing music for a vital cause.

7. Mon Rovia – Heavy Foot – Despite what you may have heard, there are good contemporary protest songs out there and here is one that fits the times.

8. Arc De Soleil – Sunchaser – Spacy, trippy, funky tune with lots of psychedelic surf guitar.

9. Raye – I Know You’re Hurting – The budding British superstar is about to conquer the USA.

10. Buffalo Traffic Jam – Fool’s Gold – New band from Montana that is breaking through with Mumford-era style songs crossed with far more edgy, raspy vocals.

Hopefully there’s enough Oldster-adjacent content here to keep us all occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading and commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

Welcome new Oldsters! FYI: I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Subscribe now

• Angelika Saleh, the Angelika of Angelika Film Center, Dies at 90 - Alex Traub in The New York Times. When I lived in the city, I saw sooooo many movies at Angelika Film Center. Like, every week. And Brian and I went on our fourth date there in October, 2003—a showing of The Station Agent.

• No plans tonight? Why not livestream Oldster Questionnaire-taker ’s show at Jimmy’s Jazz and Blues Club?

  

• Harrison Ford’s next big role? ‘Saving life on Earth, basically’ - Devin Gordon at National Geographic.

  

• Delroy Lindo on ‘Sinners,’ Speaking Up and the Power of Affirmation - in The New York Times. (A few weeks old but still good.)

  

• I’m gonna go with my mom and sister to see The Final Third, ’s one-woman show, which she’ll perform at New York Theater Workshop in the East Village in May and June.

  

• I also want to see You Got Older at The Cherry Lane Theater, starring Alia Shawkat and Peter Friedman.

  

• For , Oldster Questionnaire-taker interviewed 96-year-old actress June Squibb.

• Rocker Patti Smith tells sold-out crowd nourishing curiosity is what keeps her young - at WBEZ. Smith was interviewed by Wilco frontman .

  

• At Pangea on Saturday, March 28th at 9pm, check out ’s Eat, Drink, Laugh, a stand-up comedy show featuring performers in their 50s, 60s, and beyond.

  

• I’m looking forward for Season 2 of Your Friends and Neighbors, airing April 3rd. There’s nothing that isn’t made better by adding James Marsden to it.

• Condolences to Oldster contributor, Seinfeld and TikTok star , who in February lost Benni, her husband of 61 years.

  

  @akorzenSome sweet things happened right after Benni died. ##deathofaspouse##widow##heartfeltshare##rainbow##marriage

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• Read Annie Korzen’s Oldster eassay from 2024, Success in My Third Act:

• 93-year-old actress Ellen Burstyn has a book of poetry coming out in late April—Poetry Says it Better: Poems to Help You Wake Up—and I’m going to interview her about it for Oldster.

  

• Hey, Old Friend - Oldster columnist writes movingly on a friend’s death while they were estranged.

• My Big Mouth and My Aging Bones - Oldster contributor on her new osteoporosis drug, in .

• Speaking of aging bones (and joints)…remember when I wrote about having to part with my wooden-heeled clogs collection? For ’s Strategist section, I wrote about replacing them with orthopedic alternatives.

  

• Brain aging slowed by over 2 years with unique diet - at CNN.

• in the closets of my mother-the-model - on going through her late mother’s apartment.

• The surprising secret to long term intimacy - in .

• Eating With My Daughter and My Zepbound - in The Cut/NYMag.

• Old Friend: While visiting his father, a Tricycle editor considers dementia, memory, and impermanence. - Philip Ryan in . He also talks about this on Tricycle Talks, the magazine’s podcast

• Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years - Manny Fernandez and Sarah Hurtes in The New York Times. Ugh. Heartbreaking and infuriating on so many levels. I have so much respect and compassion for Dolores Huerta.

• Forget Florida. They Got Older and Moved to New York. - Winnie Hu in The New York Times. I love Kingston, but if I could swing it, I would go back to the city in a heartbeat.

• ‘Ageing is not a destructive force’: How defying ageism can help you live longer -Molly Gorman at the BBC.

• Happy 52nd birthday to A.J. Daulerio, editor and podcast host at , and my partner in the Sober Oldster series.

• 13 Years, 6 Doctors and a Lawsuit: The Road to an Endometriosis Diagnosis - Maggie Astor in The New York Times. This story mirrors some of my experience prior to my 2009 hysterectomy. I know a lot of other women suffer with this, too, and struggle to be taken seriously. Eventually I’ll do an open thread post on it here.

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

Well, all of this should keep us well occupied through the weekend. Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

Welcome new Oldsters! FYI: I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Subscribe now

• Neil Sedaka, Singing Craftsman of Memorable Pop Songs, Dies at 86 - Peter Applebome in The New York Times. I was a fan—love to sing “Laughter in the Rain” at karaoke. 🥲

• Actor Robert Carradine, famous for ‘Lizzie McGuire’ and ‘Revenge of the Nerds,’ dies at 71 - Patrick Smith at NBC News.

• I forgot to mention actor Bud Cort’s passing at 77 last time. Harold and Maude is one of my favorite movies. Time for a rewatch. - Jack Smart at People.

• Hey, look, it’s me and Oldster in The New York Times. - in the NY Times Style section.

• Bettye LaVette, 80 Is ‘Extremely Grateful and Extremely Pissed’ - in Ageist. Did you catch my recent interview with this soul legend/her Oldster Questionnaire from a few weeks ago?:

• ‘If I Can Laugh, I Can Get Through Anything’ - sits down with Liza Minnelli for People. I can’t wait to get my hands on Liza’s memoir, Kids, Wait Till You Hear This!, out March 10th.

• On her podcast, Good Hang, Amy Poehler interviews 92-year-old Carol Burnett. (h/t )

• I enjoyed Paul McCartney, Man on the Run—the new documentary by Morgan Neville focused on McCartney’s post-Beatles life and career.

• Vanity Fair has just published ’s dishy 2015 interview with Paul McCartney in two parts. Part I; Part II.

• “For now, I hope other people around me can tolerate my drooping jowls, because right now I don’t want to go under the knife.” - At Bustle, writes “Naomi Watts Doesn’t Care About Looking 25.”

• The Judy Blume Book That Scandalized a Nation: “I was wild. My fantasies were wild.” - in Vulture/NYMag, an excerpt of ’s new biography, Judy Blume: A Life, all about the drama around publishing her 1978 adult novel, Wifey.

• The Benevolent Landlord of St. Marks Place: For 60 years, Charles FitzGerald has helped make the East Village an emblem of New York City’s counterculture. - in The New York Times/Real Estate.

• When Do We Become Adults, Really? - in .

• “An injection that blocks the activity of a protein involved in aging reverses naturally occurring cartilage loss in the knee joints of old mice, a Stanford Medicine-led study has found.” - Krista Conger at Stanford Medicine News Center. Please sign me up for these injections when they are available for humans!

• Why Are So Many Women Getting ADHD Diagnoses in Midlife? - in The Cut/NYMag.

• Super-Agers’ Brains Have a Special Ability, New Study Suggests: The findings may help explain why this group has such exceptional memory. - Dana G. Smith in The New York Times/Well

• A Love Letter to Bridget, My Partner’s Wife - on cohabitating with her partner and his wife—who’s been deteriorating from Alzheimer’s for over a decade.

• What I learnt in 90 minutes with Elizabeth Gilbert: Radical honesty doesn’t begin to describe it - talks with Oldster Questionnaire-taker .

• Help Oldster Questionnaire-taker reach his Kickstarter goal for So Buttons: Who’s My Daddy & What Does He Do? the latest in his excellent comic book series.

• Ten Ways to Be a Rebel After 87 -

• “I tell my kids that before mobile phones and voicemail, we had huge, clunky answering machines.” - writes “After the Beep.”

• “I’m the L.A. Doll in John Cougar Mellencamp’s ‘Small Town,’ and I Hate This Godforsaken Shithole” - Reliably hilarious satirist in McSweeney’s.

• When half of a couple that plans to live forever dies - a short documentary at Aeon.

• Granpods gets older adults dancing, defying isolation - Maria M. Silva in The Times-Union.

• Happy 75th birthday to Oldster Questionnaire-taker . 🎂 He and his wife, fellow art critic, Roberta Smith, will be the subjects of a Voyeur Films documentary that they’ve just finished shooting.

• Hooray for Daylight Saving’s Time, coming this sunday, March 8th. Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour…

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

This should keep us all well occupied through the weekend. Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

One more day to take advantage of the Valentine’s Day special of 25% off annual subscriptions for life. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Get 25% off forever

• The Grim Reaper is on a tear. In the space of just a few weeks we lost: comedic genius Catherine O’Hara at 71 (I somehow forgot to include her last time), actor Robert DuVall at 95, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson at 84, Cake guitarist and songwriter Greg Brown at 56, and Television bassist Fred Smith at 77—a Kingston area local whom I new.

  

• To cheer ourselves up after Catherine O’Hara’s untimely passing, my mom, Brian and I watched Christopher Guest’s A Mighty Wind and Best in Show back to back and it was an absolute joy to watch that whole ensemble alternately send up the worlds of folk music and competitive dog shows. Next up: community theater in Waiting for Guffman.

  

• I love this Instagram post from Jamie Lee Curtis (Christopher Guest’s wife) with Joe Pugliese’s fake album covers for “Mitch & Mickey,” the fictional duo played by Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara in A Mighty Wind.

• Why Stellan Skarsgard Wasn’t Sure He Could Handle ‘Sentimental Value’: After a stroke four years ago, the actor has changed how he approaches performances, including the one he’s become an awards favorite for. - Kyle Buchanan in The New York Times.

• Larry David Agreed to Interview His Daughter Cazzie. She Had Other Ideas. - Interview.

• Sandra Bernhard: The Mouth That Roared - at Town & Country, sits down with 70-year-old actress, who’ll be featured in the next season of White Lotus. (The very same Mike Albo who will perform at The Oldster Variety Hour at Joe’s Pub on March 4th!)

• Tom Junod Finally Reckons with What It Means to Be a Man - John Hendrickson in Esquire.

• How One Doctor Changed New York’s Right-to-Die Law: Jeremy Boal helped pass the bill. He may be one of the first to use it. - More from John Hendrickson, this time in NYMag/Intelligencer.

  

• 90 is Way Older than 89 - the latest from Oldster Questionnaire-taker .

• Congrats to on the publication of her moving memoir, This Incredible Longing about her near-cult experience! Blair’s had a lot of careers, and she wrote about it for . Maybe you can relate…

  

• Thanks to those who recommended Grantchester when I said I needed some new shows to watch. We are loving this “cozy” (per IMDB) British murder mystery series about a detective who gets help from local vicars with an uncanny knack for solving crimes. Good news: it’s getting an 11th season.

• Writers Read is currently seeking submissions for its next live event in Kingston, NY. “Our upcoming theme is ‘Inheritance’—and we aren't just looking for stories about the china or the wedding rings. We’re interested in the invisible gifts (and burdens) that pulse through our veins and shape our days. Whether it’s a grandmother’s laugh, a father’s temper, or a family legacy of resilience or anxiety, we want to hear about the tangible or intangible things that have profoundly shaped who we are.” Submit your 650 word piece by March 1. Contributors will perform their pieces live on April 25th at St. John’s Church.

• CoGenerate—an organization that fosters intergenerational collaboration for problem-solving—is accepting applications for the CoGen Voices Fellowship, which: “will bring together a multigenerational cohort of community change makers committed to honing their voices and elevating a much-needed vision of intergenerational collaboration.” Apply by March 12th.

• Can’t attend The Oldster Variety Hour at Joe’s Pub on March 4th in person? You can attend virtually from anywhere, in real time, or for up to a week afterward.

  

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

I hope this is enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all mentally occupied through the weekend.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of work goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Subscribe now

• Whoopi Goldberg Has Unfinished Business - in Interview.

• Belated happy birthday wishes to Neil Diamond, who turned 85 in late January. Here he is doing karaoke with Hugh Jackman, star of Song Sung Blue about a beloved Neil Diamond tribute act.

• How Laura Dern Became a ‘Fearless’ Health Advocate for Her Late Mother [Diane Ladd] - Sofia Lodato in Oprah Daily.

• Halle Berry Isn’t Backing Down - or how I learned that California governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the Menopause Care Act. in NYMag/The Cut.

• Hey, now you can watch The Oldster Variety Hour on March 4th at Joe’s Pub, OR from the comfort of your home, where ever that may be. Get yourself a remote video ticket for just $10, and watch it either live, or on your own time for up to a week later.

  

• The Fascinating Life and Music of Roland Hayes 1887-1977 - at the Beethoven Festival Orchestra site, a profile of the late “Black Caruso.”

• I’m so happy Shrinking is back on Apple TV. In Season 3 they really delve into Harrison Ford’s character’s progressive Parkinson’s Disease, with Parkinson’s sufferer Michael J. Fox joining the cast.

• When Bruce Springsteen (Hank Azaria) Met Michael Stipe (Michael Shannon): Both actors pay homage to rock ’n’ roll greats onstage. - Melena Ryzik in The New York Times/Arts.

• RIP Sly Dunbar. 60 songs -

• Keeping it 100: A century into celebrating Black History, we’re still here - Oldster Questionnaire taker .

• Why Patti Smith Matters author —who wrote “Patti Smith Only Cares About Doing the Work” for Oldster—has just published Three Chords and Blessed Noise, a chapbook about covering last year’s 50th anniversary tour for Smith’s seminal record, Horses.

  

• I’m 98 and I’ve Had 3 Facelifts. Here’s what I learned—and what I think about the current facelift discourse. - Joan Kron in Allure.

• Menopause, Writer’s Block, and Being a Late Bloomer: I’m supposed to believe my womanhood is ending but instead, I have been handed a new beginning - at Electric Literature, ’s contribution to The Big M: 13 Writers Take Back the Story of Menopause, a great new anthology edited by and .

  

• I Went to a Sleepaway Camp for Adult Women to Make Friends - Kayla Webley Adler in Elle. (h/t )

• The Menil Collection’s educational videos about art, architecture, philosphy and more. (hat tip )

• Letting the Old Woman In: Are you ready for your biggest challenge? - in .

• The Childfree Elders Project: “Help us celebrate the lives of folks aged 60 and over” - and on The Elders Project.

• Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About My Uterus But Were Afraid to Ask - had me on her wonderful podcast,

• The Murder of The Washington Post - in The Atlantic.

• Interesting new newsletter/podcast (and pun in title): : A weekly conversation between generations X, Y, and Z hosted by and .

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)

Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Sault – Good Things Will Come After The Pressure – Cool, groovy, soulful chill new song from the mysterious British collective.

2. Midlake – Eyes Full Of Animal – Timeless, captivating glimmering rock from a band who have never quite crossed over but have been making eminently listenable records since their almost breakthrough “Roscoe” in 2006.

3. Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Minneapolis – Get up, Stand up, Stand up for your right.

4. Brandi Carlile – Church and State – Another superstar weighing in with a rallying call to fight the power.

5. Railroad Earth with Daniel Donato – Keep Your Eyes Wide Open – Under-appreciated Americana band who are celebrating their 25^th anniversary team up with rising guitarist Donato for a powerful, cautionary tale.

6. Altin Gun - Neredesin Sun – The world’s best Turkish Psych Rock band radically reimagine an old, traditional Turkish song.

7. Arctic Monkeys – Opening Night – The most streamed indie rock band of all time on Spotify are back with an understated song featuring Alex Turner’s always distinctive vocals.

8. Durand Bernarr – Overqualified – The winner of the 2026 Grammy for Best Progressive R+B Album hasn’t received a lot of play but you can change that.

9. Leisure – Let It All Out – 21^st century Yacht Rock just keeps growing in popularity and these New Zealanders know how to deliver that glossy sheen.

10. Melody’s Echo Chamber – The House That Doesn’t Exist – Atmospheric evocative pop that creates a dreamy vibe.

Hopefully there’s enough Oldster-adjacent content here to keep you occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading and commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of work goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Subscribe now

**Click here to get more out of this post by reading it online rather than in your email.**

• Valentino Garavani, Legendary Italian Designer and Master Couturier, Dies at Age 93 - Sophie Dweck in Town & Country.

  

• Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95 - Mary Wadland at The Zebra.

  

• John Forté, Grammy-Nominated Fugees and Wyclef Jean Collaborator, Found Dead at 50. - Madarang in Rolling Stone.

• The Ultimate Neko Case Primer: Listen to 10 songs by the golden voiced, poetic singer-songwriter. - by Lindsay Zoladz in The New York Times. Published a year ago, but still a great playlist. Related: ’s Oldster Questionnaire from a couple of years ago.

• 🚨 has launched a Substack

• Holly Hunter Reaches for the Stars: In Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, she got to play a few things she never had in her varied career: a space captain and a woman over 400 years old. - Alexis Soloski in The New York Times/Arts.

  

• I really want to see Is This Thing On, featuring Will Arnett and Laura Dern, directed by Bradley Cooper.

• Why Young People Love The Grateful Dead - in The New York Times/Opinion.

• Belated happy 67th birthday wishes to Go-Go’s bassist and newsletter writer , who not too long ago took both The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire AND the Sober Oldster Q&A.

• “Is Falling a Rite of Passage Like Getting Your Period?” - on falling and hitting her head. Posted the same day I posted about my parents’ falls. It’s in the air—careful everyone!

• How Not to Fall - Joy Luck Club author Amy Tan’s annual Facebook post on the subject, filled with helpful pointers. (h/t )

• Back to Joyce Wadler: Did you know she is one of the performers in the next Oldster Variety Hour, at Joe’s Pub on March 4th? Along with , , Ross Rice, and me. Tickets are almost sold out! Grab yours before they’re gone.

  

• Anyone Can Be an Auntie. It’s a State of Mind.—My Desi family introduced me to the role. Now that I’m an auntie, I understand its full potential. - Maya L. Kapoor in The New York Times Magazine/Letter of Recommendation.

• Back Mice!? What fresh (female-associated) hell is this? - Oh, dear. Another condition to worry about. in Lady Parts.

• The ninetysomethings who revolutionized how we think about strength training. - in The Guardian.

• The New Old Age - Alice Park at Time. This is part of a larger package called “The Age of Longevity.”

  

• Is the Backlash to Facial Conformity Finally Upon Us?: Women’s real human faces are showing up on screen more often. I’d like to officially declare the dawn of a new era. - The always brilliant newsletter writer in Allure.

• Melani Sanders on the perimenopausal despair that formed the We Do Not Care Club - at .

• Diana Nyad is Wiser Than Me - in , the newsletter companion to her podcast by the same name.

• “I’ve Started Using a Cane” - 73-year-old pioneering writer on the topic of aging at This Chair Rocks.

  

• Me, My Mom, and ‘The Common’ Good: Literary magazine editor Jennifer Acker on her 80-year-old mother’s contributions—past and present—to her magazine, now celebrating fifteen years. - in .

• Here’s a link to that video I recently mentioned from ’s Third Act: Fighting Authoritarianism in Your Third Act.

• If you’re in the mid-Hudson Valley and looking for something to do next Tuesday evening, January 27th, come hear me in conversation with author , whose novel, No One You Know, I absolutely loved. The event is at 6:30pm at the Morton Library in Rhinecliff, via Oblong Books.

  

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

I hope this is enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all mentally occupied through a very snowy weekend in a lot of places. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of work goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Thanks to all who support my work here! 🙏

Subscribe now

• Holocaust survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of Anne Frank, dies at 96 - The Associated Press via NPR.

  

• Stella Soltowska, a fixture at Ray’s Candy Store since 1977, has died. - Stacie Joy at EV Grieve.

  

• Belated happy birthday 90th wishes to baseball legend Sandy Koufax, whose birthday was December 30th. - Major League Baseball (This one’s for you, Uncle )

• I’m so glad The Pitt Season 2 has launched. I loved Season 1.

• Do you remember my November interview with actor/director about D(e)ad, the movie she made with her daughter, ? (And pretty much her entire family?) It’s available now for streaming on Dynasty, AppleTV, Amazon, and YouTube. I really enjoyed it.

• My Family Fled Germany During the Holocaust. In 2025, I Became a Citizen. Would my ancestors have hated my decision? - in Intelligencer/NYMag.

• What I’ve learned over the years from Patti Smith about facing, and embracing, grief. - a beauty from at .

• Lessons from Decades of Marriage - James Estrin, The New York Times/Style

  

• It’s good to see that the GoFundMe campaign for the wife and children of Renee Nicole Good—the woman senselessly killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis on January 7th—has (as of this writing) reached over $1 million.

• On Renée Nicole Good’s prize-winning poem. - in LitHub.

• “Aging is a bitter pill to swallow for anyone – but perhaps runners feel it more keenly than our less active friends and family.” - writes “The Morning Run.”

• “It took my mother getting Alzheimer’s for my siblings and me to learn the truth about our family and childhood.” - in NYTimes/Styles Modern Love.

• I wrote yesterday about liking being in my 60s, and it turns out Jodie Foster does, too.

  

• Did you catch my Substack Live interview with about her NYTimes/T Magazine article, Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation?

• “Of all the things I will worry about, I don’t want my grays and wrinkles to be one of them.” - at , a moving essay by about aging and loss and grief.

• I’ve just preordered Good Writing: 36 Ways to Improve Your Sentences by husband-and-wife authors and , out in March.

  

• Vaccines Are Helping Older People More Than We Knew - in The New York Times.

• Want to study personal essay writing with me in Vermont in April? There are only 4 spots left in my workshop so sign up before they’re gone…

• Don’t wait too long to get tickets to The Oldster Magazine Variety Hour on March 4th at 7pm at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan, featuring Ophira Eisenberg, Mike Albo, Joyce Wadler, Ross Rice, Brian Macaluso, and me. It’s going to be great!

  

  How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

  Leave a comment

Well, I guess I’ve gone back in the direction of maximalist link roundups. It’s just how my brain works.

I hope this is enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all mentally occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Your paid subscriptions allow me to keep “Exploring what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life,” while paying essayists and interviewers. Thank you for all your support! 🙏 Through New Year’s Eve, save 20% off of annual subscriptions, for life.

Get 20% off forever

An experiment! Usually I take a maximalist approach to making my Oldster Friday Link Roundups, with lots of explanations and context and images. It’s almost as if I’m making a ‘zine, and I must admit, my slightly atypical brain enjoys doing it. (It might also be a hold-over from when I was an editor at Longreads, and each week had to aggregate a few essays from other publications and explain why I’d selected them.)

But this week—a hectic one with a major holiday in the middle of it, when I’ve had to pre-schedule all my posts—I thought I’d try going more minimalist. Like a normal person. Let’s see how this goes. Let me know which way you prefer it.

Leave a comment

• Rob Reiner: Scenes from a Life - CBS News on YouTube. (Like many of you, I’m still so distraught.)

• RIP: Betty Reid Soskin, Nation’s Oldest Park Ranger, Dies at 104

• I mentioned in yesterday’s letter that over Christmas I saw both Hell’s Kitchen and Marjorie Prime on Broadway. I recommend both, although Marjorie Prime—starring Danny Burstein, Christopher Lowell, Cynthia Nixon, and June Squibb—is definitely more Oldster-coded.

• Becoming a Centenarian - Calvin Tompkins on turning 100, in .

• 10 Great Vince Guaraldi Tracks NOT from Charlie Brown TV Shows - .

• “We Had No Idea What Was Coming: Caring for My Aging Father” - in The New York Times/Opinion.

• this is what 80 looks like - in .

• Older, wiser & over it – what women over 80 want you to know: 58 little nuggets you’re better off knowing - .

• Once a Rockette, Always a Rockette - in The New Yorker, on a gathering of the Rockette Alumnae Association.

• pushes back against Gen X exceptionalism.

• Speaking of which, tune in when I interview about her recent T Magazine Article “Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation?” next Monday, 12/29 at 4pm ET over Substack Live.

• “I Cashed Out My 401(k) to Build a Women-Only Retirement Community.” - NYTimes/The Modern Love Podcast on Robyn Yerian’s The Bird’s Nest tiny house and RV community.

• Lovers. And the Inevitable Age Thing. - “Glorious Broad”

• Cardiography: After Open Heart Surgery - Ben Lerner in .

• What my late mother-in-law still teaches me about holiday giving - Recent Oldster contributor in Motherwell.

• Girl To Country: A Memoir podcast - reads from her new memoir. (We’ll publish an excerpt here in the new year!)

• Could you use a new pair of eyeglasses? A reminder that Eyebobs is offering Oldster subscribers 20% off their funky frames.

  

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Only two or three of you suggested new songs for a crowd-sourced list this time, so we just went with Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld’s favorite songs of 2025:

2025 was challenging but fortunately there was plenty of wonderful music to inspire, entertain and touch us during this crazy year. Here is the year-end Oldster Top 10, songs specifically selected for the Oldster community that will hopefully lift your spirts and allow you to discover some terrific new and not so new artists. The list was compiled by music executive and Oldster contributor and you can find these songs and many many more from 2025 on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Best song to tell Trump you’ve had enough: Margo Price — Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down

2. Wait, jam bands can also write catchy, memorable songs?: Goose – Give It Time

3. When you need some irresistible Nigerian-infused rock that will take your party to the next level: Obongjayer — Not in Surrender

4. Some collaborations seem disposable; here is one that’s essential: Hermanos Gutierrez + Leon Bridges — Elegantly Wasted

5. Proof that new songwriters can be original, pristine and wise: Madison Cunningham — My Full Name

6. Proof that established songwriters can be original, pristine and impulsive: Wolf Alice — The Sofa

7. With all the retro-soul coming out right now, here’s a new song that sounds fresh: Curtis Harding — There She Goes

8. Hey, we are Oldster and we like positive songs about time: My Morning Jacket —Time Waiting

9. When you want a little funk around the house in the AM: Coco and Breezy — Sunday Best

10. You decide whether the most hyped rock band of the year deserves all the love they are getting: Geese — Taxes

Hopefully there’s enough Oldster-adjacent content here to keep you edu-tained through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading and commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

Oldster Magazine explores what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life. It’s a reader-supported publication that pays contributors. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. 🙏 Here’s a 20% discount on annual subscriptions for life, good through New Year’s Eve

Get 20% off forever

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of work goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Through December 31st, save 20% on annual subscriptions.

Get 20% off forever

Thanks to all of those who support my work here! 🙏 P.S. Typos happen. Please forgive me if you find any! - Sari Botton

• RIP avant-garde Canadian architect Frank Gehry, who died last week at 96 (Charles Jencks and Oliver Wainwright in The Guardian) and playwright Tom Stoppard, who died at 88, (Tom Vitale at NPR).

  

• Did you catch my interview with John Irving and his Oldster Questionnaire?

• Willy Nelson is 92 and Feeling Lucky - Grayson Haver Currin in GQ.

• I want to see Ella McCay, a new James L. Brooks comedy “about the people you love and how to survive them,” featuring a killer cast: Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, Ayo Edebiri, Julie Kavner, Albert Brooks, Woody Harrelson and many others.

• Martha Stewart Says She Wants to Be Composted on Her Farm When She Dies: ‘It’s Not Going to Hurt Anyone’ - Desiree Anello in People. I should invite her to take The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire, which has a question about this.

• After going through all the shows, on my dad’s recommendation Brian and I have been bingeing A Place to Call Home, a fairly soapy but absorbing Australian family saga that aired from 2013 through 2018, which you can stream on Amazon Prime/Acorn.

• Preserve Your Voice, Share Your Story: Record precious family memories with a simple phone call. No app needed, no smartphone required. Just your voice and your stories, preserved forever. - LifeEcho

• Writing my Grandmother into Being - in .

• Is Gen X Actually the Greatest Generation? - in NYTimes/T Magazine. I’ll be talking with Fortini about this article over Live next Thursday, 12/18 at 4pm ET. Tune in…

  

• Speaking of Gen X, I’m enjoying flipping through the first issue of new over-sized print magazine Geezer. I’ll make an appearance in the second issue, in March.

  

• I’m part of the triple-decker sandwich generation. You probably are as well - in The Guardian.

• I’m not invisible and neither are you, babe. - in Patient.

• My Mother’s Memory Loss and Mine - in The New Yorker.

• What Is Sex? Ask a Boomer, a Millennial, and a Gen Z and They’ll All Say Something Different - Cathrin Bradbury in The Walrus.

• Books of the Year 2025 - invited me to contribute to this great list. I can’t get over what good company I’m in!

• I’m a Woman in My 50s. Why Am I Obsessed with My 20s? - in Provoked Magazine. I’m quoted in here.

• An intimate portrait of aging, dementia, and devotion - a photo essay at Huck Magazine, with text by Miss Rosen and photography by Cheryle St. Onge

• The Best New Restaurants in America, 2025 - Jeff Gordinier, Joshua David Stein and Amethyst Ganaway in Esquire.

• The age you feel vs. the age you are: A reflection on the strange experience of getting older, and what science says about it - with a very Oldster-coded piece in .

• “I’ve become that person in the hospital—the demanding daughter who won’t just let them do their jobs.” - with “Stayin’ Alive,” a piece about caring for her hospitalized mom, which very much resonates.

• Remember when I used to put Oldster contributor ’s aging-related New Yorker cartoons at the top of link roundups? (Until I went through all the ones she had?) Now you can buy prints of some of her work, and her late husband Michael Crawford’s, either through Archie’s Press, or the New York Public Library. They make great holiday gifts!

  

• Another gift idea: How about an Oldster tee?

• Or a gift subscription?

  Give a gift subscription

• The Holidays Can Be Brutal When You’re Grieving - in Time. Did you catch her recent Oldster piece, I Didn’t Choose the Grief Life; The Grief Life Chose Me?

• Love, time, and the things we keep: My grandfather died last week in Delhi, at 101. This is my eulogy. - in .

• The Pleasure Lists Q&A: Sari Botton of Oldster Magazine & Memoir Land

• “It’s hard to be someone who lives off-script”: Oldster’s Sari Botton on the art of making magazines - at .

• A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs - My friend and Oldster contributor recommended this fun podcast.

  

  How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

  Leave a comment

  ---

• 🚨And now it’s time for YOU to help put some new music into old ears. 👂

  Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld—who each month contributes The Oldster Top 10, a playlist of new songs that are likely to appeal to Oldsters—would like to collect the Oldster community’s favorite new songs of 2025.

  

  Chenfeld will consider everyone’s suggestions, then make a special edition of The Oldster Top 10, which will be posted in another Link Roundup on Friday, December 26th. If you’re looking for some songs to choose from, you can go to Cliff’s Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify, which features hundreds of his favorite new songs of 2024.

  Leave a comment with the new songs released in 2025 that you loved the most.

  Leave a comment

This ought to be enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all entertained and otherwise occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of work goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions keep Oldster going, and allow me to keep paying essayists and interviewers. Through December 31st, save 20% on annual subscriptions.

Get 20% off forever

Thanks to all of those who support my work here! 🙏 P.S. Typos happen. Please forgive me if you find any! - Sari Botton

• RIP Jimmy Cliff, Reggae pioneer, who died this week at 81. - Isabella Gomez Sarmiento at NPR.

  

• 6 notable songs from Jimmy Cliff, the reggae star who has died at 81 - Hillel Italie at The Associated Press.

• Also RIP Viola Ford Fletcher, the oldest living survivor of the Tulsa Race Massacre, who died this week at 111. - Omar Jimenez at CNN.

  

• One more—RIP psychiatrist Dr. Carrie Soloway, parent of Joey and Faith Soloway, ex-spouse of Oldster contributor Elaine Soloway, and inspiration for the “Moppa” character in Transparent, a show I absolutely loved. Soloway was 88. - Mitch Dudek, The Chicago Sun-Times.

  

• “She’s My Ex-Spouse: The True Story Behind Transparent” - Elaine Soloway on her late ex, in a piece originally published in 2015 in Harper’s Bazaar.

• Dick Van Dyke ‘Feels Pretty Good for 100.’ Here’s Why He’s Optimistic About His Centennial Birthday - Liz McNeil in People Magazine. He was one of my earliest crushes, beginning when he played “Caratacus Potts” in 1968’s Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

  

• Kurtis Blow, Still Blowing: After the rapper’s 1979 hit “Christmas Rappin’,” his song “The Breaks” was the first rap single to go gold. Now he’s embracing the good ole days with a “Legends of Hip-Hop” concert. - in The New Yorker

• At 95, David Amram Still Makes Music. And Nobody Can Put Him in a Box. - Jon Pareles in The New York Times.

• The Midlife Divorce - a new series in NYMag/The Cut.

• “Live so you don’t reach the end with regrets.” - Jane Fonda on “Aging & Wisdom: A Conversation on No Regrets | The Look,” a podcast episode with Michelle Obama, Jenna Lyons, and Bethann Hardison.

• I really enjoyed Mr. Scorsese, Rebecca Miller’s star-studded five-part documentary about award-winning 83-year-old director Martin Scorsese on Apple TV.

• A caregiver’s survival guide: Advice from people who’ve been there. - Kat McGowan and Connie Hanzhang Jin at NPR.

• Aging Out of Fucks: The Neuroscience of Why You Suddenly Can’t Pretend Anymore - at .

• A Battle with My Blood: When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family. - Journalist , Caroline Kennedy’s daughter, with a devastating essay in The New Yorker about her acute myeloid leukemia diagnosis—and how her cousin is instituting policies at the Department of Health and Human Services that directly hurt her chances of survival.

  

• Six women in their 70s, all married and all mothers and grandmothers, gather twice a month without fail. They credit their close-knit families to their longstanding friendships. - in The New Times, writes, “Marriages, Kids, Careers: For 44 Years, They’ve Been Talking It Out”

• Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody Enter an Elder Seinfeld Era: On their podcast about nothing, they argue, agree, cry, laugh, “and some people like it.” - in NYMag/Vulture. Check out their podcast, Don’t Listen to Us.

  

• Speaking of podcasts, has launched a newsletter here on .

• Shocking Herself Awake: Gail Rice on Reinvention, Risk and Radical Acceptance at 70 - Rice—who wrote “For My 70th Birthday I Hired an Escort” and “Happy Endings” for Oldster—makes an appearance on the We Ain’t Dead Yet podcast.

• As I mentioned in yesterday’s Letter from the Editor, next week I’ll interview author John Irving about his new novel, Queen Esther (and much more), for a post that will run on December 10th. If you’re a paid subscriber, you can suggest a question for me to ask him in the paid subscriber chat, at this link.

• The Sexting Seniors of Assisted Living: My mother was 83. Her boyfriend was 87. They were having the time of their lives. - in The New York Times/Modern Love.

• Remember listening to records with friends? “For over a decade, I’ve been involved in a devoted listening club with a group of brilliant friends who have great taste in music.” - Vanity Fair writer and Jann Wenner biographer .

• Did you catch my interview with about D(e)ad, the comedy she made with her daughter, Isabella Roland, that three generations of her family co-star in? Tomorrow night at 9pm you can catch its virtual red carpet premiere.

• Could you use some new glasses? Eyebobs is offering Oldster subscribers 20% off their fun frames.

• Want to study personal essay writing with me in Vermont in April? Registration is open for the Southern Vermont Writers’ Conference…

  

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

Hopefully this is enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all entertained and otherwise occupied through the holiday weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I’m grateful to all of you. Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep Oldster going without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

A tremendous amount of labor goes into publishing Oldster—mine, and that of my contributors. Paid subscriptions allow me to keep doing this, and to keep paying essayists and interviewers. I could use some more of them…

Subscribe now

Thanks to all of those who support my work here! 🙏 - Sari Botton

• RIP actor Diane Ladd, mother of Laura Dern, who died at 89 this week; actor Sally Kirkland, who died at 84 this week; Shirley Valentine actor Pauline Collins who died at 85; poet Hal Sirowitz, who died at 76.

• One more: The Penny Dies at 232. - Victor Mather in The New York Times. The U.S. Treasury minted the last batch of one-cent coins last Wednesday.

• Last week we watched Diane Ladd in a supporting role in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film, Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore starring Ellen Burstyn. (The precursor to the 1976-1985 television series, Alice, starring the late Linda Lavin.) And soon I’m going to do another rewatch of Enlightened, possibly my favorite television show ever, in which Ladd and Dern play mother and daughter.

• “David Byrne’s Career of Earnest Alienation: At seventy-three, the former front man of Talking Heads is still asking questions about what it means to be alive. But now he’s also offering ideas of hopefulness and service.” - in The New Yorker.

• 50 Over 50: Celebrating a Decade of Debut Excellence - The staff of Poets & Writers magazine celebrates ten years of its “5 Over 50” feature highlighting debut authors-of-a-certain age, of which I had the honor of being one in 2022 for my debut memoir And You May Find Yourself… (the title of which references “Once in a Lifetime,” a Talking Heads song David Byrne wrote).

  

• Congratulations to this year’s “5 Over 50,” Jennifer Eli Bowen, Princess Joy L. Perry, , Vishwas R. Gaitonde, and —who wrote an essay called “Heroics and Hysterics” for Oldster this summer.

• Related: “Where’s My 5 Over 65 Award?” Senior Writer Bingo - in Electric Literature, a humerous infographic by novelist “ The Elder” (who was featured in last week’s Oldster Magazine Questionnaire).

• Hilaria and Alec Baldwin Go to Therapy for Their Age Gap - Olivia Craghead in NYMag/The Cut, on how the couple, 26 years apart in age, make it work.

• I’ve watched every documentary made about the NXIVM sex cult, and honestly I’d watch ten more. Now I’m going to start listening to Allison after NXIVM a new podcast about Smallville actor Allison Mack’s complicity in harming cult members, and her new life post-prison.

• “Patti Smith opens the final door of her life story: In Bread of Angels, Smith reflects tenderly on her life with her late husband, transforming grief into art.” - At Salon, music critic writes about ’s new memoir, which I cannot wait to get ahold of.

  

• In case you missed it, a while back Caryn Rose wrote about Smith for Oldster.

• Let’s all join Patti Smith in wishing Neil Young a happy 80th birthday.

• It Happened to Me: I Asked Jane Pratt About Trad-Wife Confessional Essays, Conservative Media Queens, and Her Own Next Plans - At Vanity Fair, Erin Vanderhoof sits down with friend of Oldster , who I’m so excited to learn is busy writing her memoir.

• On Doing it Her Way in Her 60s - interviews the makeup artist, Substacker, and memoirist about her new book, Still Bobbi.

• Condolences to on the recent passing of her mother, Rita, whom she wrote about in an essay called “Age Hacker” for Oldster. ❤️‍🩹

• Award-winning author John Irving has just published a new novel, Queen Esther, and guess who is going to interview him about it next month for Oldster? (Okay, I’ll tell you: It’s me.)

  

• “Sarah Jessica Parker’s Year of Judging the Booker Prize” - Alex Marshall in The New York Times. As someone who’s had one of my books appear on screen in Parker’s show And Just Like That a couple of times, I appreciate her literary taste! Check out her newsletter, .

• Anderson Cooper on Armor, Guardrails, and the Hard Work of Feeling Everything - At , he talks with .

• The Surprise Milestone I Reached When I Turned 50 - in his column.

• Writer/performer just released a new must-hear audio memoir, Hologram Boyfriends. (Mike took both the Oldster Magazine Questionnaire and the Memoir Land Author Questionnaire. And you can check out an excerpt of Hologram Boyfriends in .)

  

• Had a nice chat with about my memoir, personal essays, Gen X, and more…

• “I often think about how fortunate I am to have this group in my life, especially when I read about men struggling to maintain friendships as they get older.” - at , writes “Let’s Sing some Leonard Cohen Songs Together.”

• Speaking of Leonard Cohen sing-alongs, if you’re in the mid-Hudson Valley, check out “I’m Your Man,” friend of Oldster ’s Cohen tribute night at The Colony in Woodstock tomorrow night, Friday, November 15th.

  

• At 104, Betty Reid Soskin has had the most extraordinary life, from protest singing to civil rights activism to meeting the Obamas. She reflects on what it takes to stay strong and keep going. - in The Guardian, writes “A new start after 60: I found my feet in midlife, became a park ranger at 85 – and retired happily at 100.”

  

• As a newly-minted 60-year-old, I really enjoy The Guardian’s whole “A New Start After 60” series.

• Lisa Murphy at 50 Forward Club kindly featured me on Instagram.

• Registration is open for the Southern Vermont Writers’ Conference, at which I am once again leading a personal essay workshop…

  

• Pension Talk – another taboo smashed! - talks retirement money at .

• Does an Entire Generation of Women Have a Fucked Up Relationship with Their Mothers? - in Jenny Magazine, on Gen X women and their moms. (I have my own theories about this.)

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

Well, this beast of a roundup cleaned out the entire Oldster Link Repository. Hopefully this is enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all entertained and otherwise occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm, and maybe consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep doing everything I do here without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…Since the advent of the internet, we’ve all been trained to never pay for content we consume. It was mostly paid for by corporate advertising—deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. But that model has turned out to be unsustainable. Advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of many legacy publications and outlets. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Your subscriptions allow me to keep “Exploring what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life,” while paying essayists and interviewers. Thank you for all your support! 🙏 Through tomorrow, save 20% for life.

Get 20% off forever

• Jack DeJohnette, Jazz Drumming’s Surround-Sound of Thunder, Dies at 83 - A.D. Amorosi in Jazz Times.

  

• Happy birthday this week to: Fran Lebowitz, 75; Henry Winkler, 80; and the New York City Subway system, 121.

  

• Oh, and also Oldster contributor . 🎂

• Hey, look what was an answer in the New York Times Sunday crossword on October 19th. (Is this Daniel Grinberg and Will Shortz fishing for an invitation to take the Oldster Magazine Questionnaire? Any time, guys.)

  

• I really enjoyed Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost, Ben Stiller’s documentary about his parents and whole family, on Apple TV.

• I also loved John Candy: I Like Me, another documentary, on Amazon Prime.

• “This is my John Candy story. I only have one, but it’s a pretty good one.” - And it is. By Oldster Questionnaire-taker .

• Wants to Make Everybody Laugh - in The New York Times/Style.

• A new Vince Gilligan show starring Better Call Saul’s Rhea Seehorn? Sign me right up for Apple TV’s Pluribus, launching Friday, November 7th.

  

• “When you’re 93, there are a dozen things wrong with you, and you can’t name them all.” The Last Literary Lion of New York, Gay Talese - at

  , and interview the New Journalism icon, now 93.

• Gen X is entering its grandparent era – and it’s hitting different - Louise Chunn in The Independent.

• ‘The Old Paul Was No Longer the New Paul’: McCartney looks back at how he found himself after the Beatles: “For the first time in years, I felt free.” - at Vulture/NYMag, an excerpt of Paul McCartney’s new book, Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run, out next Tuesday, November 4th.

  

• Uncle Hughie: Combat flashbacks, a stylish French girlfriend, and hot jazz were all part of living with my uncle. - Adventures in dementia, courtesy of in I-D’s Confessional Zine.

• “Why Are More Retirees Going Back to College?: At Arizona State University, residents pay about $500,000 in entrance fees to live on campus and take classes alongside undergraduates.” - Sarah Bahr in The New York Times.

• That reminded me of ’s Monday essay, except he went back to school for free.

• “Here’s why the shutdown has put food stamp benefits at risk” - Tami Luhby at CNN. The lingering U.S. Government shutdown means Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (S.N.A.P) benefits expire tomorrow for recipients who rely on them to eat, and to feed their families. This week I’ve made donations to the food pantry at People’s Place in Kingston, NY, the Kingston Farmer’s Market, and Hudson, NY’s Columbia Kitchen. If you want to help, too, search for your local food pantry at Feeding America, or donate directly to that organization.

• Robbing the Poor to Feed the Rich: Kicking 14.4 Million Children off of Food Assistance Should be a Crime - .

• “I read recently that once your children turn 18, you’ve already spent 80% of the time you’ll ever spend with them. Ever. Gone, just like their childhoods.” - at , writes “Walking With My Daughter.”

• The Perimenopause Whisper Network: For some women, it feels like the only way to get medical care is to know someone who knows someone who can Whatsapp your book club group chat. - in The New York Times/Style.

• Related: ‘I’m on Fire’: Testosterone Is Giving Women Back Their Sex Drive — and Then Some: There is no F.D.A.-approved testosterone product for women. Insurance won’t cover it. Many doctors won’t prescribe it. It’s become a cultural phenomenon. - in The New York Times Magazine.

• I’m digging Lily Allen’s new breakup record, West End Girl, not too secretly inspired by the bitter ending of her marriage to Stranger Things actor David Harbour. - Carly Thomas, The Hollywood Reporter.

• Got $8 mil? You can buy Lily Allen and David Harbour’s Cobble Hill home. - Adriane Quinlan at Curbed/NYMag.

• “Does ‘Nebraska ’82’ Solve a Springsteen Mystery? Yes and No” - at Rolling Stone, friend of Oldster reviews Springsteen’s new five-disk set.

• Congrats to , this week’s Oldster Magazine Questionnaire subject, whose latest novel, Wreck, is the November pick for Good Morning America’s book club. In case you missed it:

• “Let’s talk about ageism (and sexism) at work” - wants to hear from you.

• Could you use a new pair of eyeglasses? A reminder that Eyebobs is offering Oldster subscribers 20% off their funky frames.

  

• “But Who’s Going to Take Care of Me?” The Big, Unspoken Fear of Child-Free Aging - at Since You Asked.

• 🚨Election Day is next Tuesday, November 4th. Find your polling place, learn about your local candidates, and make a voting plan.- Vote.org

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)

Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Kashus Culpepper – Believe – Rising new countryish soul singer nails this heartfelt tune that already sounds like a classic.

2. Brandi Carlile – Returning To Myself – After spending the last few years helping Joni Mitchell return to the public, Brandi is back with her own new music and reminds us why she is so special.

3. Parcels – Yougotmefeeling – Ethereal singing, tight playing, Nile Rodgers sounding guitars and a touch of yacht rock has helped this Australian indie/electro pop group reach a larger audience.Lamont Landers – Lotta Love –Unashamedly retro Motown-ish soul that is hard to resist.

4. Tamino, Mitski – Sanctuary – Rich, hypnotic, intense duet from Tamino, a mesmerizing Belgian-Egyptian singer-songwriter and Mitski, one of the outstanding artists of recent years.

5. Madison Cunningham – My Full Name – She won the Grammy for Best Folk Album in 2023 and I wouldn’t be surprised if she wins again this year for her elegant new album “Ace.”

6. Alabama Shakes – Another Life – Brittany Howard sings like no one else, and she is in stellar form in her reunion with the Shakes.

7. Jeff Tweedy – Caught Up In The Past – New sprawling three-album solo project from the Wilco leader has lots of familiar sounding tracks including this one that may resonate with plenty of Oldsters.

8. Tame Impala – Dracula – Some of the songs on the new record are impressionistic dance exercises but “Dracula” connects more to the work that has made then so influential over the last 15 years.

9. Leon Thomas – Mutt – Leon Thomas is one of the breakout R+B stars of the last few years and “Mutt” is the song that has made him a star.

10. Izzy Escobar – Vendetta – Brand new artist taps into Adele, Amy Winehouse and Elle King with lot of attitude and chops.

Hopefully all of this is enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us from doom-scrolling through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

Oldster Magazine explores what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life. It’s a reader-supported publication that pays contributors. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. 🙏 Here’s a discount good through Saturday 11/1…

Get 20% off forever

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive. - Sari Botton

“Oldster is excellent reading for anyone interested in the business of getting older and just being human.”

- , co-editor of Nothing Compares to You: What Sinéad O'Connor Means to Us, author of the newsletter, and Oldster contributor.

Subscribe now

• Diane Keaton, a Star of ‘Annie Hall’ and ‘First Wives Club,’ Dies at 79 - by Anita Gates in The New York Times. OUCH. Of course, Keaton was not a person I actually knew, but like so many, I felt as if I did. Her unvarnished, vulnerable, effervescent humanity came through in every performance. And how many of us adopted (or adapted) her unique personal style? How many of us wanted to be her? Brian and I rewatched Annie Hall the other night and I cried and cried (and laughed, and lurved every second of it).

• Celebrities Remember Diane Keaton - Elizabeth Gulino in The Cut/NYMag.

• Diane Keaton’s Shadows and Light: The actress’s nuanced ambivalence. - Hilton Als in The New Yorker.

• Inside Diane Keaton - ’s 1986 Vanity Fair profile, in advance of Keaton’s 1987 documentary, Heaven.

  

• D’Angelo, R&B’s reluctant icon, has died at 51. - Sheldon Pearce at NPR.

  

• “When it comes to songwriting, I modeled myself after Stevie Wonder.” - revisiting a 2020 profile of D’Angelo in Wax Poetics by Oldster contributor .

• Speaking of Oldster Contributor Michael A. Gonzales, here he is on the Rock’s Backpages Podcast, talking about his career as a culture writer (and mentioning Oldster).

• Oh, and here I am on podcast.

• Tim Curry Isn’t Done Yet: A 2012 stroke has largely kept him from acting, but not from writing — and recording — a new memoir. Just in time for Rocky Horror Picture Show season, 79-year-old Tim Curry—who starred as “sweet transvestite” Dr. Frank N. Furter in the 1975 film—has published his memoir, Vagabond. At The New York Times, he talks with Laura Collins-Hughes.

  

• Also not done yet: Michael J. Fox, who’s just published Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum. - Eric Andersson in People.

  

• Helen Mirren on Aging: “F*ck It, I’m Alive.” The Dame—who just turned 80—would like to offer a little perspective. - Sometime Oldster collaborator in Allure.

• Does Installing a Grab Bar Mean You’ll Never Get Laid Again? - the always hilarious and spot on .

• Gen X women don’t have the bandwidth to figure out why they feel so terrible - Andi Zeisler in Salon.

• How Gen X Broke Open the Menopause Conversation - in Flow Space.

• Okay, but has had enough of the (peri-)menopause conversation.

• Gen X Men on TV Are Really Going Through It. Just don’t call it ‘man-opause.’ - and at .

• I saw Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another at Upstate Films’ new midtown Kingston outpost (I can walk to the movies now!), and it scared the crap out of me, but I also thought it was really good.

• Saul Zabar, Smoked Fish Czar of Upper West Side, Dies at 97 He led his parents’ appetizing store, Zabar’s, for more than 70 years, turning it into an institution synonymous with New York. - Clyde Haberman in The New York Times.

• What Is Zabar’s Without Saul? He insisted his family’s store was bigger than one person. We’re about to find out if that’s true. - Recent Oldster Questionnaire taker in Grub Street/NYMag.

• What [Chistopher] Isherwood’s novels about 1930s Berlin tell us about America today - in The Globe and Mail.

• 🚨 is on Substack.

• The Original Brooklyn Selfie King: In the nineteen-thirties and forties, my grandfather constantly, carefully photographed himself. What was he trying to see? - in The New Yorker.

• “Songwriter, memoirist, and resident of the world Amy Rigby returns with a new book” - Bill Meyer in the Chicago Reader, with a bit about ’s wonderful new memoir, Girl to Country, in advance of her performance tonight at Chicago’s Friendly Coffee Lounge.

  

• Speaking of Amy Rigby, Brian and I were so thrilled when she invited us to open for her next Friday, October 24th, at Chromatic Studios at 71 Oneil Street here in Kingston, NY. If you’re local, come out…

• “A photograph freezes a moment in time, but some images stay with us long after the moment has passed, evolving as we do, sparking memories and emotions that grow deeper with time.” - More to do in Kingston! Check out Writers Read, a true storytelling series, at The Center for Photography on Saturday, October 25, 2025, 2:00 -- 4:00 PM Subject: The Photograph.

• “The stories are as unique and varied as they are representative of this inevitably shared phase of life.” - In Hippocampus, a wonderful review of Midlife Private Parts, ’s and ’s anthology, in which I have an essay (that reviewer notes particularly enjoying. 🙏)

  

• “Growing older isn’t a final act—it can be life’s most exquisite chapter if you allow yourself to bloom once more.” - So many people have shared this Substack note with me about the indefatigable Patricia Routledge, who just died at 96.

• “‘Every single morning, I decide if I’m going to be 15 years old, or a lady near death,’ said Miuccia Prada after her show in 2024.” -

• What to Say (and What Not to Say) to Your Grieving Friends - , who a few months ago let me reprint an excerpt of her new memoir, Rehearsals for Dying: Digressions on Love and Cancer in Oldster.

• A senior housing request from : “In search of a continuum care (independent -> memory care) facility in or near Portland, Oregon, with a great reputation, good food, and ideally with green space on its campus or nearby. I’ve got a spreadsheet with some good options but maybe there’s something I’ve overlooked?” Drop me a line if you know of anything.

• Earlybird Registration has begun for the Southern Vermont Writers’ Conference, at which I am once again leading a workshop…

  

• There are some scholarships available for the Southern Vermont Writers’ Conference, too, including The Third Act Scholarship for a writer 65+ which covers the conference fee. Deadline to appy: November 1st.

• Did you see last week’s post about eyewear and eye care as we age? Did you catch the part where Oldster readers save 20% off Eyebobs eyewear?

• The Ultimate Pilgrimage for the Middle-Aged Skateboarder: One of America’s most iconic ’90s skate spots has now been rebuilt in — of all places — Malmo, Sweden. - in The New York Times Magazine.

• The New Age of Entrepreneurship: 70 to 79. Septuagenarians starting new businesses leverage technology, experience and decades worth of contacts. - Clare Ansberry in The Wall Street Journal. (h/t )

• Find a No Kings rally near you tomorrow.

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

Whew. This is quite the list—hopefully enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all from completely losing our minds occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep doing everything I do here without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Your subscriptions allow me to keep doing “Exploring what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life,” while paying essayists and interviewers. Thank you for all your support! 🙏

Subscribe now

• Jane Goodall Dies at 91 While on Speaking Tour: She Was a ‘Tireless Advocate’ for Nature. The famed ethologist and conservationist did groundbreaking research on chimpanzees. - K.C. Baker in People.

• Lally Weymouth, journalist of The Washington Post’s Graham family, has died. - Audrey McAvoy in The Associated Press.

• Henry Jaglom, Orson Welles’s Longtime Lunch Date, Dead at 87. - Bethy Squires in Vulture/NYMag. I’ve long been obsessed with his thought-provoking

  1990 mockumentary, Eating: A Very Serious Comedy about Women and Food.

  

• Bruce Springsteen’s Long Journey Home - at Time, Eric Cortellessa sits down with the 76-year-old rock icon.

• Carol Burnett Plays On - In The New Yorker, profiles the 92-year-old comedy legend and star of Palm Royale, the second season of which launches November 12th.

• What a thrill to hear Rice on The New York Times’ Modern Love podcast, talking about her Oldster essay, “For My 70th Birthday, I Hired an Escort.”

  

• In case you missed Gail’s essay, here it is, plus the follow up:

• As I mentioned yesterday, I forgot to get photos from Wednesday night’s Oldster event, but here are two from my friend Ryan Chapman.

  

• Hey, look, it’s me in Hudson Valley One. Thanks for the thoughtful interview, .

• Oldster friend is on tour with a new record she released last week, Neon Gray Midnight Green. Here’s a sweet track from it called “Rusty Mountain”:

• The Plot to Free the Nuns: The last of their order, they are now known for a dispute with the church they gave their lives to over where to live in retirement. And they wanted to stay home. - Christopher F. Schuetze and Jim Tankersley in The New York Times. I can only imagine the bidding war for the movie rights to this incredible story.

  

• “Numbering roughly 11 million today, the older workforce has nearly quadrupled in size since the mid-1980s. The increase is driven in part by the growth of the 65-and-older population.” - A new Pew Research study on the growth of the older workforce by Richard Fry and Dana Braga.

• Nothing Looks Cooler than Not Caring You’re Balding - comedian and author in GQ.

• Gondelman’s piece reminded me of this recent Oldster open thread:

• “I found that question, ‘Why are you still doing this?’ Like, well, why wouldn’t I? I have much to say.” - 67-year-old singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter in conversation with my friend on her wonderful Sheroes podcast.

• Anatomy of an It Girl: How a British woman named Jane became the French bag named Birkin. - in Airmail, on ’s new book, It Girl: The Life and Legacy of Jane Birkin.

  

• The Queen of 90s Fashion: A conversation with designer Anna Sui on the occasion of her new Rizzoli book. - in Ssense.

• “How would life change if, whenever you found a free moment, you reached for a sketchbook instead of your phone? Make (Sneaky) Art is a way to actively engage with our world and reclaim our attention spans.” I just ordered my friend ’s book and can’t wait to get to work drawing things instead of scrolling on my phone!

  

• I just love ’s photos of “Chic Older Women in Paris.” - in .

• ‘What Everyone Gets Wrong About Our Generation’—According to 21 College Kids - ’s in GQ.

• The Thursday Murder Club Author Wants Us to Rethink Aging: Richard Osman, the author of a beloved murder mystery series, discusses the revolutionary act of growing old. - Michelle Cottle and Richard Osman in The New York Times/Opinion.

• The Philadelphia Inquirer gave friend of Oldster a rave review for her one-woman show, The Unexpected Third, playing through October 26th at the People’s Light Theater in Malverne, PA.

• “Step into Nona’s Supper Club—NYC’s premier interactive musical serving up a delicious dinner, electrifying original songs, and a feast of love, hilarity, and just the right amount of family dysfunction. Four performances only at Chelsea Table + Stage: 10/18, 11/2, 11/9, 11/15 @ 6:30 PM” - Written and directed by my pal .

• Why I Wrote a TV Show about a Menopausal Rock Band. - Sally Wainwright in British Vogue.

• My Landline Keeps My Friendships Alive - Cat Zhang in The Cut/NYMag.

• “At 95, My Grandmother Is My Mirror – and I Don’t Know How to Feel About It” - in .

• 45 Things I Learned by Age 45 - .

• A Ruth Bader Ginsburg Monument Is Officially Coming to Brooklyn Bridge Park - Adriane Quinlan in Curbed/NYMag.

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)

Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Wolf Alice – The Sofa – Wolf Alice is a fabulous British rock band led by the very compelling Ellie Roswell. Their new single is a little quieter than most of their work but Ellie’s declaration of freedom and agency couldn’t be louder.

2. Dar Williams – Hummingbird Highway – One of the most literate and original singer-songwriters is back with a splendid new album.

3. Nation Of Language – Inept Apollo – This Brooklyn band makes no bones about their love for 80s synth pop like New Order and OMD and write catchy earworms that linger.

4. Lamont Landers – Lotta Love –Unashamedly retro Motown-ish soul that is hard to resist.

5. Riva Starr, Soul Speech, Harry Stone – House Of Mirrors – I’m so grateful to live in a world where a repeating seductive acoustic guitar lick, mysterious vocal and familiar chord pattern can transport you.

6. Woods – It Ain’t Easy – Perhaps not, but this song goes down about as easy as pie with its hummable chorus and wistful lyric.

7. Portugal The Man/Neiked – Glide –You probably remember Portugal The Man from their huge hit “Feel it Still” from 2017. They may be a one hit wonder in the pop world but they have been making smart, infectious music for years and this feel-good anthem should help keep you warm when it gets cold.

8. Raye – Where Is My Husband? – Brit Raye broke through in 2023 with her debut album that fused soul, hip hop, star power and virtuosic vocals. This is the first single from her very anticipated second album.

9. Greg Freeman – Salesman – Freeman works some of the same territory as MJ Lenderman – a slacker but expressive voice, great twangy guitar work and sly, smart observations on his world.

10. Steve Lacy – Nice Shoes – Lacy won the Grammy for best Progressive R+B album with his second album in 2022 and the first single from his new album is fresh, explicit and a thrill.

Hopefully all of this is enough to keep us from doom-scrolling through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive. - Sari Botton

“Oldster is excellent reading for anyone interested in the business of getting older and just being human.”

- , co-editor of Nothing Compares to You: What Sinéad O'Connor Means to Us, author of the newsletter, and Oldster contributor.

Get 10% off forever

• RIP Robert Redford, who died this week at 89. - Tricia Escobedo at CNN.

• Jane Fonda Jane Fonda Remembers ‘Beautiful’ Co-star Robert Redford. And Barbra Streisand, Meryl Streep and other eulogize him, too. - Jennifer Zhan in NYMag/Vulture.

• Congrats to Keanu Reaves and his wife Alexandra Grant, who’ve revealed they had a secret wedding this summer, at 60 and 52 respectively. (He had a birthday earlier this month, so he’s 61 now.) - Matthew Acton at Radar Online.

• Jeff Bridges Finds Gratitude and Love After Lymphoma - Future of Personal Health.

• Gloria Steinem, now 91, is still at the center of vital conversations. On Tuesday, she gathered a circle of nearly 30 women at her home to talk about women’s health. - At The New York Times/Style, Alexis Benveniste writes: “The Living Room Where History Still Happens”

• Tickets are selling briskly for the first Oldster Magazine in-person event in Kingston, October 1st at Unicorn Bar! Are you coming? I had fun rehearsing for it with pianist Paul Leschen.

• More about the event here in case you missed it:

• Bobbi Brown Tells Her Beauty Comeback Story: The cosmetics mogul reveals how she started all over again, with Jones Road, after leaving Estée Lauder. - Ruth LaFerla in The New York Times/Style, on the occasion of the imminent publication of ’s memoir, out next Tuesday, 9/23.

• I’ve got to see Spinal Tap II: The End Continues.

• “Two new songs show that [Lou] Reed, the late songwriting engine of the Velvet Underground, remains alive and kicking in our cultural conversation…” - at Lou Reed biographer ’ newsletter, word of two new songs dedicated to the icon, one by Wilco’s , the other by Wand frontman Cory Hanson. Here’s Tweedy’s:

• Long May They Rock: Nine Trailblazing Women Who Rewrote the Rules of Music - This is the W Magazine piece from May that Kate Pierson mentioned being featured in, in her Oldster Magazine Questionnaire that I published on Wednesday. It’s by Alex Hagwood and it’s great.

• Why June Squibb, 95, Has No Plans to Retire Anytime Soon - Hayley Santaflorentina in E! News.

• Nice to see Jean Smart, 74, and Katherine LaNasa, 58, win Emmy awards this week, for their brilliant performances in Hacks and The Pitt. - Television Academy.

• Did you read Jean Garnett’s July New York Times Magazine essay on heterofatalism? Over at , my other magazine, responds, with a smart, moving graphic essay about the realities of dating in her 40s after getting divorced, and getting sober.

• Aging for Two: How a longtime husband copes with his changing appearance. Humor helps. - shared a link to his Next Avenue essay in response to last week’s open thread on men, hair, and aging:

• The immortal influence of Little Edie Beale: "Grey Gardens" turns 50, but Edith Bouvier Beale's inspiration on fashion and queer culture never ages. - Andi Zeisler in Salon.

• Are wellness supplements the new 'anti-ageing' con? - in .

• I’m excited for my friend ’s new newsletter, : “Essays and musings of a queer Gen-Xer about the way music triggers memories.”

• Your Social Media Feed Is Full of Plastic Surgery Photos. What Does That Do to Your Brain? "Mindf*ck" might not do it justice. -How Not to F*ck Up Your Face writer and occasional Oldster collaborator in Oprah Daily.

• Speaking of Val Monroe, she and I will do a Substack Live on October 14th about hair issues, and hair care, as we get older…)

• When I'm 64 by in , PLUS: Editing Christina Kelly by .

• Last week saw the release of two podcast episodes I was interviewed on: The Uplifters with , which you can listen to here, and Freelance Writing Direct with , which you can listen to here.

• Congrats to Girls of a Certain Age writer (and Oldster contributor)

  on her forthcoming advice column for women over 40, to be published in NYMag/Strategist.

• An early-in-life milestone for half the population: getting your period…then dealing with it for the next 35 (or more) years. Check out nonprofit TMI Project’s new Period Power video podcast series, a collaboration with a club at Kingston High School and HudsyTV.

• The psychic who healed me: It was just like her – my bold, dead mother – to show up in my life again. Or was grief playing tricks on me? -

  in Psyche.

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

Okay, that should be enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep us all from completely losing our minds occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep doing everything I do here without you. 🙏 💝 -Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Now through my 60th birthday on October 2nd, save 10% off Oldster’s already low subscription rates of $55/year and $6/month. After that, prices go up to (the still pretty reasonable rate of) $60/year and $7/month. Thanks to all who already support my work here! 🙏 I’m grateful. - Sari Botton

Get 10% off forever

Hey, Gang. Just a quick note to say that I’m back from my week in Portugal, and back to my normal posting schedule.

I traveled there for a wedding in Brian’s family. It was in the rural Montouro/Ihavo area, which was just lovely. The wedding was 13 hours long! From 2pm until 3am, including four meals—apparently just how they do it. In between festivities, we had some fun with the extended family on the beach.

After the wedding, we spent an afternoon in bustling Aveiro, then three days in even more bustling Porto, a city I loved and could see retiring to someday, assuming, you know, that Social Security is still a thing ten years from now.🤞🏼

While I was gone I really enjoyed everyone’s reports on their summer vacations. Thanks to all of you who chimed on last Friday’s Open Thread. I also really enjoyed your responses to question #2 of The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire, about your internal age.

I love how vocal and responsive the Oldster community is, and how many of you enjoy conversing with one another in the comments. I feel very fortunate to have such a thoughtful cohort of all ages reading and interacting with this magazine. Thanks for being here, and for all your support. 🙏 -

*By the way, you’ll get more out of this post if you read it online, rather than in your email. Click here.

And now for some links…

• “My only regret in life was spending too many hours working and not enough time with friends and family.” - RIP Italian designer Giorgio Armani, who died this week at 91. Shortly before he died he spoke with Alexander Fury at The Financial Times.

  

• Bruce Springsteen Unvaults Yet Another Mythic Album, Electric Nebraska… - at Pitchfork, Jazz Monroe (what a great name for a music writer) has the scoop on another box set coming from the prolific artist, due on 10/17, a week before Deliver Me from Nowhere,—the biopic about his life and the recording of Nebraska, starring Jeremy Allen White—hits movie theaters.

• Gonna try to get to People’s Light theater in Malvern, PA sometime between September 17th and October 19th, when friend of Oldster performs her one-woman show, The Unexpected 3rd, “a radical, rollicking rumination on the optimism of staying alive.”

• Inside ’s Creative Journey - the groundbreaking filmmaker,

  whom I had the great pleasure of interviewing last month, talks about her legacy, her creative process, her persistence, and resistance with actor/screenwriter/producer Lena Waithe for an episode of Waithe’s series, Legacy Talk. DuVernay wrote about the conversation for her newsletter, .

• “Before she was my grandmother, she too was a young girl, with a life very different from my own.” - congrats to my friend, illustrator and author Giselle Potter on her new children’s book, Before She Was My Grandmother. Seems like a great intergenerational gift for a grandchild.

  

• Sarah Paulson Lives for the Drama - in NYMag/The Cut’s fall fashion issue, profiles the actress, who this fall will appear in All’s Fair, Ryan Murphy’s star-studded Hulu drama about a team of women divorce lawyers.

• In the meantime, I’ve got no new shows to watch, so I’m re-binging Pamela Adlon’s delightful and funny Better Things, also on Hulu.

• Joyce Wadler on Barbie’s updated anatomy. - Characteristic hilarity from an esteemed Oldster Questionnaire-taker.

• PHOTO ESSAY: Unlearning the quiet performance of “graceful” aging -

  in .

• I just got ahold of The God of Small Things author ’s new memoir, Mother Mary Comes to Me, and can’t wait to start it.

  

• “On hospice and decluttering: Mom was dying. So I sorted her skincare products.” - early Oldster Questionnaire-taker .

• Speaking of caring for elderly parents, I’m always moved by Oldster contributor ’s .

• No “Oldster Top 10” this week, but there’s this from David Byrne (thanks for the intel, ):

• Four Best Friends Made an Album as Kids. 25 Years Later, It’s a Cult Classic - at Rolling Stone, talks with Y2K-era band X-Cetra about the belated popularity of it’s album, Summer 2000.

• More from The Department of It’s Never Too Late…my husband ’s 1990s band Purple Moon Giants has just released Escape Velocity, the album it recorded more than 30 years ago.

  

• Who will we be if we give up the guns? - From singer-songwriter and author ’s new newsletter, launched last week. I couldn’t sign up fast enough.

• The Forever-35 Face - In The Cut/NYMag, Bridget Read reports on the current facelift craze and the latest “deep plane” surgical advances.

• Neurologists are exploring medications that would help the brain recover after a stroke or traumatic injury. - in The New York Times, Rachel E. Gross writes “A Pill to Heal the Brain Could Revolutionize Neuroscience”

• How Did the Latchkey Kids of Gen X Become the Helicopter Parents of Gen Z? - David French in The New York Times/Opinion.

• What Labor Day Sales Say About the American Dream - in Time.

• More details to come, but here’s Chronogram’s Brian Mahoney on the debut Oldster in-person event (there will be more!) in Kingston, Weds., 10/1:

  

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

Okay, that should be enough links to keep us all occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t keep doing this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Now through my 60th birthday on October 2nd, save 10% off Oldster’s already low subscription rates of $55/year and $6/month. After that, prices go up to (the still pretty reasonable rate of) $60/year and $7/month. Thanks to all who already support my work there! 🙏 I’m grateful.

Get 10% off forever

• RIP: 1. British actor Terrence Stamp, who died last week at 87 (Ronald Bergan, The Guardian); 2. What’s Happening star Danielle Spencer, who died at 60 (Sopan Deb, The New York Times); WKRP in Cincinnati star Loni Anderson, who died “days before her 80th birthday.” (Christopher Weber, AP News)

• “For people over a certain age, it is hard to imagine pop culture without [Steve] Buscemi…” - the actor—now starring in Season 2 of Wednesday, launching on Netflix September 3rd—sits down with Austin Considine at The New York Times.

  

• I’m looking forward to watching My Mom, Jayne, Mariska Hargitay’s HBO Max documentary about her mom, Hollywood pinup Jayne Mansfield, who died when Hargitay was three.

• At Sixtysomething, Mel Harris Is Enjoying a New Phase - Julie Pfitzinger at NextAvenue. As a Thirtysomething superfan, I’ve been keeping up with the actress, (who played Hope Steadman) on Instagram. Hoping this classic late ‘80s/early ‘90s show will be streaming soon!

• That time in December 2023 when I got to interview another Thirtysomething star, Melanie Mayron (who played Melissa Steadman):

• The Secret to Aging Stronger (Not Smaller) - at Gentle Lifts, talks with “about friendship, body-like, and strength training as a strategy for aging.”

• Lectures on Tap - "Trump and the Fall of Republican Leadership" - my smart political scientist cousin, Dr. will be giving a talk at Caveat on Manhattan’s Lower East Side Monday, September 1 · 6:30 - 8:30pm EDT as part of this fun edutainment-at-a-bar series.

  

• John Fogerty on the Best and Most Misunderstood Music of His Career - in Vulture/NYMAg, the Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman, who today releases Legacy: The Creedence Clearwater Revival years (John’s Version) breaks down some of his songs.

• Singer-songwriter, memoirist, newsletterer, and Oldster Questionnaire-taker on Marc Maron’s wonderful (and waning) podcast:

• Aging Looks a Lot Like Living: Your face tells a story -

• "At My Big Age, Why Do I Care What Someone Thinks?" - at , takes ’s Style Questionnaire.

• What I Stopped Buying When I Stopped Buying Into Anti-Aging - .

• The Look Book Goes to Senior Splash: Swimmers ages 62 and up did leg raises and flexed pool noodles during water-aerobics class in Spanish Harlem. - Jeremy Rellosa in Curbed/NYMag.

• My Guitars - in The Bitter Southerner.

• How I Got Famous…and discovered the secret to success, fifty years later. - .

• Ron Howard has worked with everyone from Bette Davis to J.D. Vance. He has stories about all of them. - at Vulture/NYMag Bilge Ebiri profiles the 71-year-old actor/director.

• I’m 64, He’s 23 - .

• Many people pointed me to Griffin’s piece ^^^ after reading this one of mine:

• It Happened To Me: Oldster's Sari Botton Tried To Have A Fling. (An Update To Her Wildly Popular xoJane Experiment.) - Hey, look, it’s me, in ’s newsletter, . More on me and a younger dude.

• My Check Engine Light Came On - at.

• Belated congratulations to my friend on the publication, and rave reviews, of her biography, The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage that Made an American Icon. Brian already read and loved it. I’m next…

  

• With her photobook, Midlife, art photographer Elinor Carucci presents a searingly personal view on aging and relationships. - Elizabeth Smith at Personal Work Journal.

• Incidentally, took The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire last year:

• What my top 5 pieces tell us about midlife women right now. -

• RIP AJLT: How Much Was Our Internalized Ageism To Blame? -

• A new start after 60: I read out my old diaries online – and my youthful secrets went viral - author and agent in The Guardian, on going viral on TikTok.

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)

Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Drugdealer w/Weyes Blood – Real Thing – Weyes Blood makes sublime music, she channels Carole King and other 70s stalwarts and has teamed with Drugdealer, another AM 70s aficionado to make this elegant, expressive track.

2. S.G. Goodman – Fire Sign – Emerging Americana fave has a touch of Lucinda Williams’ direct delivery and no-nonsense lyrics.

3. Role Model – Sally, When the Wine Runs Out – This tune has caught fire in part because of the many celebs who have danced to the song on stage with Role Model including Natalie Portman, Bowen Yang and Kate Hudson. The song itself is irresistible and a bit old school pop-rock a la Fountains of Wayne.

4. Hermanos Gutierrez w/Leon Bridges – Elegantly Wasted – Swiss Latin instrumental group known for its dramatic cinematic sound teams up with the always reliable and memorable Leon Bridges for one of the tastiest tracks of the summer.

5. Obongjayar – Not In Surrender – Nigerian singer based in UK brings the funk in this irresistible track.

6. Jon Batiste – Big Money – First track from his upcoming album is a rootsy, joyous romp that taps into his New Orleans core.

7. Barry Can’t Swim – Childhood – The breakout DJ who is now headlining festivals makes eclectic albums that go way beyond the 4 on the 4 floor beatfests that you might expect.

8. Phillip-Michael Scales – Something About You – It’s hard to keep track of all of the artists who are making sweet soul inspired music and Scales’ new song is one of the best.

9. Del Water Gap – How To Live – Vulnerable, searching, melodic track from indie pop artist who is assembling an impressive catalog.

10. Tame Impala – End Of Summer – Their 2015 album Currents is one of the best of the 21^st century and they are set to return with a new album and tour later this year. This sprawling first single suggests they are moving beyond traditional song structures.

Hopefully all this will keep you occupied through the weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

I’ve got a full slate of great new pieces for you next week, too…even though I’m about to go away. (That’s right, I wrote/edited/scheduled a bunch of stuff for you ahead of time.) Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Your paid subscriptions help me keep publishing Oldster Magazine, and paying contributors. Your support is greatly appreciated! - Sari Botton

Subscribe now

• Liza Minnelli Talks Her Life in Parties & Why She’ll Never Stop Dancing - at W Magazine, Jensen Davis writes about the 79-year-old icon (and one of my idols).

• As a fan of Leslie Nielsen’s delightfully silly slapstick movies, I’m looking forward watching the remake of The Naked Gun.

• How Pamela Anderson and Liam Neeson Slowly Fell for Each Other: He Was ‘Smitten’ From the Start - Alyssa Bailey in Elle. I’ll confess I became even more interested in The Naked Gun after I learned co-stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson are now dating. I totally “ship” this pairing, as the kids say.

  

• Amy Sherald’s “Trans Forming Liberty”: The art and politics of representation - in The New Yorker, Françoise Mouly writes about the artist’s show, “American Sublime,” now on view at The Whitney, and Sherald’s decision to withdraw the show from The Smithsonian after being asked to remove her portrait of a Black trans woman.

• Dr. Kitty Oliver's personal account of The Beatles' Gator Bowl appearance in 1964, where they refused to play to a segregated audience. - Beatles Story.

• Julia Louis-Dreyfus on Saying Yes to Community and Why "No" is Her Favorite Word- the 64-year-old actress and Wiser Than Me podcast host joins Michelle Obama and her brother Craig Robinson on their IMO podcast.

• My Mother, the Artist, Discovered at 90 - in The New York Times/Opinion.

• Confessions of a Birthdayzilla - in . Happy birthday, Ali! 🎂

• Dementia First Dates - in .

• Musical Satirist Tom Lehrer Dead at 97 - RIP. Bethy Squires in Vulture/NYMag.

• After 50 Years of Writing, Jamaica Kincaid Insists She’s Still an Amateur - In The New York Times Magazine, Niela Orr sits down with the 76-year-old author, on the occasion of her new essay collection, Putting Myself Together, Writing 1974-.

  

• Ultimate Influencer Martha Stewart, 84, Announces Skincare Brand After Low-Key Testing the Products for 5 Years - Starr Bowenbank in People.

• No One Parties Like Jacques Pépin, Even at 90 - for The New York Times/Dining, Melena Ryzik attends the trendsetting French chef’s birthday party.

• “Old people are capable of more”: meet the female weightlifters in their 70s and 80s - Madeleine Aggeler in The Guardian’s excellent “Well, Actually” section.

• The Seven Habits That Lead to Happiness in Old Age - Arthur C. Brooks in The Atlantic.

• 27 Notes on Growing Old(er) - in .

• Forty bits of advice from , who just turned 40, in .

• “Turning 54 is deeply inconceivable to me since I still feel fifteen.” - at , writes “Confessions of a Birthdayzilla.” Happy birthday, Ali! 🎂

• “On turning 40 but still being 12 inside.” - in .

• Read the first chapter of ’s new memoir, All the Way to the River: Love, Loss, and Liberation, out in September.

  

• “After complaining about the Grateful Dead for decades, outing myself as a midlife Deadhead wasn’t easy.” - in The Globe & Mail.

• This ⬆️ brought to mind this 2022 Oldster essay by :

• I’ve contributed to this fundraiser for Standing Together. (Thank you .)

• The headline on this post is a reference to “Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off” by George and Ira Gershwin. Here’s my favorite version, featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Amrstrong.

• Did you watch my interview this week with the incredible /read her Oldster Questionnaire?

• Thrillingly, this week a friend spotted someone in the wild—in Provincetown, MA—wearing an Oldster tee! Perhaps you’d like one of your own… Find them in the Oldster Magazine Merch store on Etsy.:

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

That’s a lot of Oldster-adjacent content! If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a Link Roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. They got all of us accustomed to never paying for content we consume, while deep-pocketed corporations and investors bought the power to determine what was presented to us. It turned out that wasn’t sustainable. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Your paid subscriptions help me keep publishing Oldster Magazine, and paying contributors. Your support is greatly appreciated!

Now’s an especially good time to become a paid subscriber because on my 60th birthday in October, I’ll be raising my rates from the current price of $6/month and $55/year to $7/month and $60/year. (Still a pretty great deal, if you ask me!)

Subscribe now

• RIP: 1. Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath singer and godfather of heavy metal, dead at 76 - Hillary Clarke at CNN; 2. Remembering actor Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who has died at age 54. The actor was best known for playing Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show. - Aisha Harris and Steve Inskeep at NPR; 3. Andrea Gibson, poetic explorer of life, death and identity, dies at 49. - Hanna Schoenbaum and Hillel Italie at the Associated Press, via PBS.

• The Osbournes rocked so the Kardashians could keep up. - Ashley Lee at NBC.

• Why Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s death has hit the Black community so deeply. - Lisa Respers France at CNN.

• The Poet Who Advocated Radical Tenderness - in The New York Times.

• I didn’t know personally, but I became an instant fan of their work after invited me to contribute to her series , and she sent Andrea’s moving letter as an example.

• I absolutely LOVED Part I of And So It Goes, the Billy Joel documentary on HBO/Max, and can’t wait to see Part II, which drops today.

• I cracked up when I learned about one of Billy Joel’s first bands: a hard rock group called Attila. I mean…the outfits, the carcasses:

  

• Last weekend I got to see perform here in Kingston, N.Y. at a great new/old venue called Assembly. (Old because it’s in the assembly room of a former Catholic school.) If you can catch her on her current tour, running through early October, I highly recommend it.

  A song I love from Rosanne Cash’s 2014 album The River & The Thread. ^^^

• What Sunday music sessions with nonagenarians taught Lauren Aliza about cherishing ordinary moments. - Lauren Aliza at Beyond.

• Judas Priest, Rick Springfield, John Oates and Bob Geldof reflect on 40 years of Live Aid - Maria Sherman in the Associated Press. (Reminds me I want to watch CNN’s Live Aid documentary.)

• I Went to Live Aid -

• Why Mr. Bauer Didn’t Like Me - in .

• I need to get my hands on the book everyone in my field is talking about, Empire of the Elite: Inside Condé Nast, the Media Dynasty That Reshaped America, by Michael Gyrnbaum.

• I wrote about brushing up against Condé Nast’s wasteful excess in the aughts for my personal newsletter, Adventures in *Journalism*. (Yeah, I’ve got a third one…I know…).

• Christine Baranski Fears a New York City Death—But she hopes to play Lawrence of Arabia before that happens. - In Vulture/NYMag, the prolific actress—currently starring in The Gilded Age—takes The Maria Bamford Questionnaire.

• The Grody-Patinkin Family Is a Mess. People Love It. - in The New York Times, David Marchese talks with Mandy Patinkin and Kathryn Grody about their viral videos, their upcoming podcast, the TV series they’re shopping, and more. (In this video below Patinkin says he’s doing the interview so that he can get onto the cover of AARP. I hope that in the meantime, an Oldster link roundup will do!)

• Your Hip Surgery, My Headache - In The New Yorker, David Sedaris writes about enduring…his partner Hugh’s surgery and its aftermath.

• What Happened to the Idea of “Middle Age”? It now seems to run from 35 to the year before you die. At 74, I’m okay with that. - collaborator in Allure.

• Val’s piece brought to mind this Oldster open thread from about two years ago:

• The Final Lap, or What it’s Like to be 89 - recent Oldster Questionnaire-taker and newly minted nonagenarian .

• Let's talk about women's libido and atrophy - at

• The Pandemic Aged Everyone’s Brain—Even in Healthy People - Gemma Conroy at Scientific American/Nature.

• “Learning I was HIV-positive 37 years ago changed everything. But lying to the man who I’d trusted turned out to be my biggest act of compassion.” - at , writes “My Life Sentence.”

• Happy 99th birthday to ’s dad, subject of his 2022 Oldster essay:

• Grayson’s essay had been inspired by this exellent one by :

• “As I watch my mom's mind give way to Alzheimer's, I've started writing letters to my future self. Scientists say it could reduce my risk of dementia by half.” - at Good Housekeeping, Mae Hanna writes “Dementia Cases Are Rising in the U.S. — This Simple Act Could Be One Way to Reduce Your Risk”

• Sandra Oh Knows What’s Great About Middle Age - Lulu Garcia-Navarro in The New York Times.

• I’m so excited that director, producer, and writer extraordinaire will be joining me on my “show,” The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire Live, on Tuesday, August 5th at 12:30pm ET/9:30am PT. Tune in!

  

• Yesterday for the first time I used the chat function in the app, and I’ll probably start using it more. It’s for paid subscribers exclusively. I broached a Very Important Topic: What’s the Worst Show Tune (or Any Kind of Tune) Ever Written? (The correct answer, of course: “This Was a Real Nice Clambake” from Carousel.)

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? Remedies? What’s good?

Leave a comment

🚨And now it’s time to put some new music into old ears. 👂 Here’s the monthly Oldster Top 10 by Modern Sounds radio host Cliff Chenfeld: (PS Last August, at Oldster’s 3rd birthday party I played the Modern Sounds playlist and everyone loved it. Several guests asked me to share the Spotify link.)

Welcome to the Oldster Top 10, where we listen to hundreds of new songs each month to find some wonderful new tracks from noteworthy artists who may not have caught your attention. It’s hard to find the great new music amongst the tonnage, but we are here to make music discovery much easier for you. You can find all of these songs on the Modern Sounds playlist on Spotify. Enjoy!

1. Jensen McRae – Massachusetts – Time moves so quickly that we now have a new generation of singer-songwriters who see Taylor Swift’s more indie albums as formative influences. Jensen is in that camp and covers contemporary topics with a bit of a throwback sound.

2. Alex G – Afterlife – Alex G toggles between beautiful acoustic bliss and noisy rock, much like Neil Young, and he is in a sweet, mellow mode here.

3. Bruce Springsteen – Sunday Love – Bruce released 7 previously unreleased albums in one drop last month and many are finding it too unwieldy to explore. Located amongst the overflow is a beautiful album, “Twilight Hours,” which features romantic new songs in the Sinatra mode, including this beauty.

4. Mt. Joy – Coyote – Festival headlining Americana-ish band branches out with a (slightly) louder and edgier song.

5. Mark Ronson/Raye – Suzanne – Raye is one of the most special and talented artists to emerge in recent years (check her out on her own) and she is having a blast here with legendary producer Ronson.

6. Tanner Usrey – These Days – Male singer songwriters with who straddle the lines between country, Americana and roots rock are blowing up and this guy may be the next one to break.

7. Above and Beyond – Quicksand (Don’t Go) – Shimmering beautiful electronica from veteran European DJs

8. Annahstasia – Believer – 6 minutes of building intensity and longing from this folk-soul artist who makes you believe every word and note.

9. Sasami w/Clario – In Love With A Memory – Evocative, nostalgic, layered tune from the very versatile Sasami and Clairo, whose quiet, lovely solo songs are a treat.

10. Chaparelle, Zella Day, Jesse Woods – Inside The Lines – Fun throwback duet that might remind you of Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra, if you can remember that long ago…

Sooooo much good stuff to read, watch, and listen to this weekend. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

I’ve got a full slate of great new pieces for you next week, too. (And the week after that, and…) Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I really couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari

I tend to read, watch, and listen to a lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Every other Friday I’ll pass some of it along to you in a link roundup like this one. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

While I have you…The advertiser- and venture-capital-funded approaches to media have failed and contributed to the demise of most legacy publications and outlets. Fortunately, the reader-supported approach is working. Support with your dollars the publications you’d like to see survive.

Your paid subscriptions help me keep publishing Oldster Magazine, and paying contributors. Your support is greatly appreciated! - Sari Botton

Subscribe now

First:

• Well, now I’ve really made it: Physician on FIRE, a blog about retirement for doctors, has linked to my June 20th interview with my uncle: 🩺

• In case you missed it, that interview is here:

• Also: “Go ahead and hire an escort for your 70th birthday!” - Exciting to see Rice’s essay from Monday get a shout out in ’s Dinner Party newsletter—one of my favorites. Thank you, .

• In case you missed it, Gail’s essay is here:

And now for some links to Oldster-adjacent content…

• A Look at Mel Brooks' Illustrious Life and Career in Photos As the Legendary Actor Turns 99 Years Old - Alex Apatoff and Alexandra Schonfeld in People. Happy 99th, Mel Brooks.

  

• “Debbie Harry on Creative Highlights, Her Risqué Run-In With David Bowie, and Why She Didn’t Have Children” - Lisa Robinson in Vanity Fair. Happy 80th, Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry. Here she is in a 2020 photo from one of my alma maters, W Magazine:

• Here Harry is quoted in Interview a few years ago, echoing what many have to say in The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire:

  

• And happy birthday 69th, Tom Hanks, too. - Emy Lacroix at Parade.

• Speaking of Hanks, I enjoyed seeing him him (and the rest of the great cast) in Wes Anderson’s latest, The Phoenician Scheme. (I saw it at Upstate Films’ old school Orpheum Theatre.)

• How Suzanne Vega Spends Her Day Off Tour - in The New York Times/Styles.

• Speaking of , did you see Allyson McCabe’s “Late Nite Radio” Oldster interview with her from April?

• Mr. Big Is Alive and Well and Married in Vermont. - in The New York Times, Jacob Bernstein interviews Ron Galotti, the (now-happily married) inspiration for Sex and the City’s recurring “toxic bachelor.”

• Chin Hair, Laundry, Your Opinion: Women in Menopause Don’t Care - in The New York Times, Chloe W. Shakin writes about the “We Do Not Care” founded by .

• “For some women of a certain age, erectile-dysfunction prescriptions are redefining sex — and not always for the best.” - in The Cut/NYMag, Hannah Pittard writes “The Little Blue Pill Problem.”

• The bad news: Marc Maron ends iconic podcast after 16 years: 'We're burnt out' - Mandalit del Barco at NPR.

• The Good news: Maron’s WTF podcast will continue with new episodes through “some time in the fall,” and you can listen to the entire archive of this excellent show in the meantime.

• Also, Maron is great in Stick on Apple TV.

• All About Anna: 13 Minutes on Anna Wintour - I enjoyed the first episode of The Nasty, a podcast made by my friend , aka “Uncle Karen”, about Conde Nast’s heyday.

• Remembering Bill Moyers - in Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

• “The thing about ‘aging gracefully’: whatever you call it, I’ll do it my way” - in The Guardian.

• Lost in Translation | Thoughts on Poetry After My Stroke - Barbara Huntington in Vox Populi.

• “Our closest friends are our chosen family, and their loss can be devastating.” - in Psychology Today, Gina Frangello writes, “The Death of (Not "Just") a Friend”

• “Upstate Art Weekend 2025 Expands to Include Over 155 Participants” - Becky Eaton at Cool Hunting. I’m looking forward to ’s annual Upstate Art Weekend, which is now much more than just a weekend—it’s five days, from 7/17-21.

• The headline on this post is a reference to “32 Flavors,” an Ani DiFranco song.

• Tee shirt, anyone? Find them in the Oldster Magazine Merch store on Etsy.:

How about you? Got any recs? Books? Shows? Movies? Music? Plays? Podcasts? Art shows? Places to travel to? Restaurants? What’s good?

Leave a comment

That’s a lot of links. If you like what you’re reading here, please hit the ❤️ button to give Oldster a boost in the algorithm.

Thanks as always for reading, for commenting thoughtfully, and for all your support! I absolutely couldn’t do this without you. 🙏 💝

-Sari