Articles and Interviews and Profiles, Oh, My…

This link roundup has it all—even one (sort of) dating profile!

A version of this cartoon by Carolita Johnson was originally published in The New Yorker. Reprinted with permission.

I tend to read, watch, and listen to an awful lot of Oldster-adjacent content. Now and then I’ll pass some of it along to you in a link roundup like this one.

---

• “When I was younger, we really wanted to break new ground and create space for new generations. I feel that I somewhat accomplished my goals, but I don’t have those same goals now. That’s for new generations to do.” - On his podcast, The Active Voice, Substack co-founder Hamish McKenzie interviews 76-year old punk goddess Patti Smith at Electric Lady Studios (where my husband Brian was an audio tech in the 90s!)

  

• “…on Nov. 9 came another not-quite shock: Mr. McCourt had been kicked out of hospice for not dying quickly enough.” - My pal Laurie Gwen Shapiro wrote this moving New York Times profile of 91-year-old author Malachy McCourt.

• I enjoyed Elizabeth Fishel’s Next Avenue profile of 92-year-old mixed media artist Faith Ringgold and the quilts that made her famous.

  

  Faith Ringgold with Tar Beach   |  Credit: PBS/Photo by Mark Markley

• 🔥The libido issue of Dorothy Parker’s Ashes is hot stuff.

• “I think what's going to happen is that more of these anti-drag laws probably will be passed and will be sort of like the abortion situation, where some states will have very liberal laws and some will have very restrictive laws.” - I was excited to come across Terry Gross’s NPR Fresh Air interview with drag queen Linda Simpson, my former down-the-hall neighbor in the East Village. They talk about Tennessee’s new anti-drag law, Linda’s “Drag Explosion,” documenting the New York City drag scene in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and the hazards of aging in her profession:

  

• I just ordered the inaugural issue of Still Alive magazine. On the magazine’s website you’ll find profiles of Bob Newhart, Buzz Aldrin, Joan Baez, and Tippi Hedren, among others.

• “When not at bingo, Ms. Barry is usually knitting. Four of her sweaters appear in the Oscar-nominated film The Banshees of Inisherin…” In The New York Times, Lou Stoppard profiles 83-year-old Delia Barry, the Irish woman whose sweaters were worn by Colin Farrell and other actors in the film.

• I appreciated this 60 Minutes Australia segment on women aging in Hollywood, featuring Paulina Porizkova and Justine Bateman. (Although I don’t particularly like the title of it.):

• “Though it may come as a surprise to people who continue to use the term ‘millennial’ as a shorthand for ‘annoying youths,’ they — we — are no longer young. The oldest of us, in our early 40s, are standing on the cusp of the life stage known as middle age…” New York Times opinion columnist Jessica Grose writes about millennials’ experience of hitting life’s middle.

• “I’m 52, and as incongruous as it may seem, I’m a gymnast. In a sport for young girls, I have found an unlikely path to joy.” - In The Guardian, novelist Rae Meadows writes about the sport that “has given me back a relationship to my body I haven’t known since I was a child.”

Kyle Buchanan @kylebuchanan

𝕏

“Ladies, don’t let anybody ever tell you that you are past your prime,” says Michelle Yeoh, 60, as she accepts her Oscar.

• “In his 70s (he’s 76 now), Brian Cox has become a bonafide superstar. ‘I used to pride myself on my anonymity,’ he admits, ‘but it’s gone. Logan has taken over. I managed for 60-odd years to avoid that. Somebody once said, ‘It’s a long haul for you, Brian.’ I never knew it would be this long.’” - in Avenue Magazine, Oldster Magazine Questionnaire-taker Michael Musto profiles the Succession star. (I cannot wait for Season 4, starting Sunday night.)

• “The great benefit of grief is, you develop a kind of audacity toward life in general, where it just doesn’t fucking matter because the worst has happened.” - in The New Yorker, grieving Amanda Petrusich interviews grieving Nick Cave about…grief.

• “'Are you regular or goofy?' my love asked. T and I were standing in front of a row of rental surf boards in Nosara, a sleepy surf town on the coast of Costa Rica, where acai bowls and zinc-oxided bodies intermingled in equal measure and where we’d come to celebrate my 57th birthday." Ladyparts author Deborah Copaken on surfing her way into 57.

• Billy Crystal turns 75.

Billy Crystal @BillyCrystal

𝕏

Thank you all..

• Fun fact: Billy Crystal is from my home town of Long Beach, NY. He attended the synagogue where my dad was the cantor—and where he bar mitzvahed Billy. In this video he talks about my dad (starting around 2:55).

• Journalist Jennifer Senior appeared on WNYC’s The Takeaway with Dr. Melissa Harris Perry to talk about that excellent Atlantic article in which she linked to Oldster.

• At AARP’s The Ethel, Judith Ruskay Rabinor writes “Why I No Longer Dread Turning the Big 8-0”

• I’ve toyed with the idea of “Oldster Personals” but have neither the bandwidth nor the technology to make it happen. But allow me to play matchmaker (I’ve got kind of a knack for it) for just one special Oldster:

  Who out there has a dad (or grandfather or uncle or brother or friend) who might be a match for my lovely mom? She’s 82, beautiful, cultured, caring, “with-it,” active, engaged in Democratic politics, brilliant—a retired teacher and union leader—a voracious reader who loves to dance. She was widowed five years ago after my stepfather passed away, and feels ready for companionship again. She lives on Long Island, so best if you’ve got someone in Nassau County, or western Suffolk County, or somewhere not too far.

  Email me at eastvillageyenta@gmail.com if you’ve got someone likeminded and local-ish who you think she might enjoy going to movies, museums, and dinner with…

  

  My mom wants to meet someone! Who knows a nice fella for her?

  Alright, that’s probably enough Oldster-adjacent content to keep you busy you through the rest of the weekend. Have a good one…

  -Sari