Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow...
A link round-up.
I tend to read, watch, and listen to an awful lot of Oldsterish content. Now and then I’ll pass some of it along to you in a link roundup like this one.
Oh, my god, I think I have “time blindness.” via Insider.
Also from Insider: When will Gen X produce a U.S. president already? (We did have one from “Generation Jones.”)
Are you the same person you were as a child? In the New Yorker, Joshua Rothman reports.
Remember iconic Our Bodies, Ourselves, first published in 1970? There’s a new, more inclusive website for “women, girls, and gender-expansive people.”
Check out “After David,” a short story by Oldster contributor Catherine Texier in Airlight magazine.
I was so moved by this incredible Rachel Handler essay in The Cut on her grandfather-in-law’s voluntary assisted death .
Older authors have long lamented the proliferation of Under 30 + Under 40 lists without many Over [age] lists. Makes me grateful for Poets & Writers Magazine’s "5 Over 50" debut authors list—not only because they included me for my debut memoir, And You May Find Yourself... I’m in good very company, with Oldster Questionnaire-taker Madhushree Ghosh, David Santos Donaldson, Shareen K. Murayama, and Jane Campbell.
A podcast to perhaps check out: The Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause.
Remember when my husband Brian and I chatted about how he’d mustered the courage to grow out his gray beard? Well, recently he shaved it off. (In case you were wondering.)
Oh, and remember how I was growing out my bangs? Recently I had a little mishap while “shaping” them and now they’re short again, and I… kind of like them? I’m not sure what I’m going to do from here.
In other hair news…
I was just kibbitzing in the bullet above, but the age discrimination that gray hair can trigger, especially for women, is no joke. I’m a little late to this news, but can you believe Canadian news anchor Lisa LaFlamme was fired for growing out her gray???
In this post-Roe dystopia, it’s nice to learn about organizations like Jews for Abortion Access.
Are you all registered to vote? If not, register now! We’ve got a hell of a fight head of us in November’s mid-term elections.
You can inspire others to hit the ballot box with tee shirts and other merch from Vote Wear.
I just listened to The New Yorker article by Joshua Rothman, "Are You the Same Person You Used to Be?," and wanted to thank you for recommending it. (Online, it's available as an audio by Audm, so like the old guy I am, I could lie down with my eyes closed while "reading" it.)
At 71, I feel I'm exactly the person I've always been in terms of basic temperament. He asks if the reader remembers anything from being 4 years old, and frankly, I could remember only the day my br,other was born, and of that, all I could recall was pacing the floor waiting to hear from the hospital (my grandmothers and great-grandmother were with me) in the morning because from watching "I Love Lucy" and other sitcoms of 1955, I thought pacing was what you were supposed to do when women went into labor.
I've kept a detailed daily diary since I was 18, and while a lot in my life has changed over the years due to experiences, aging, the culture, my education and different careers and interests and changes in my feelings -- plus a total of a lot of psychotherapy at various points from age 15 to age 55 -- I read old diary entries and still feel exactly like myself.
The writer of the article seems to be only in his 40s or so, with a 4-year-old son. I'd love to hear from other people whether they are still the same people they used to be.
From Rachel's essay in the Cut: “The wise man is he who knows there are no answers, only questions.” So wonderfully true. Thanks for sharing!