The Oldster Magazine (Crowd-Sourced) Holiday Gift Guide

What are you giving loved ones this year? What gifts would you like to receive? An open thread. Plus, introducing the Oldster nameplate necklace, and other suggestions from the Ye Olde storefront...

Photo by micheile henderson on Unsplash

Readers,

First of all, a word of gratitude. Thank you all for subscribing, reading, commenting, and sharing. I love the diverse and wonderful community that has cropped up around this magazine. I’m so grateful for all your support. 🙏

Second…it’s that time again. The holidays are upon us, starting with the utterly bananas capitalist tradition of risking your life at big box stores for deep discounts on things you probably don’t really even want or need, aka Black Friday.

Oldster Magazine is here to spare everyone from the stampedes! And you can help with this mission. In the comments, tell us:

1. Something you’re going to give this holiday season, which you suggest others might consider giving as well.

2. Something you’d like to receive.

Include links if you’d like.

Me, I will be ordering lots of these nifty new Oldster nameplate necklaces that John + Patti are producing through their jewelry brand, Waxing Poetic, which also produces pieces in collaboration with Cheryl Strayed, Patti Smith, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Jennifer Pastiloff, among others.

Order a necklace.

Waxing Poetic co-owner Patti Pagliei interviewed me on their site. I loved talking all things Oldster with her, and about the fortuitous genesis of our collaboration:

PP: We’ve had a lot of fun creating the iconic Oldster nameplate necklace with you—pure serendipity! What was the impetus behind the design? And what are your hopes for this collaboration with Waxing Poetic?

SB: It’s been fun for me, too. It was also a stroke of great synchronicity; I had been thinking about looking for a company that could make Oldster nameplate necklaces when you contacted me out of the blue. It felt meant-to-be. As a Gen Xer like (the fictional) Carrie Bradshaw, I love a nameplate necklace. This one was made using the same font I use for the magazine, Bauhaus 93, which I chose because it was retro, but also kind of eternally hip—old and new all at once, like all of us. What’s more, this is me encouraging people to own a word that was once a borderline slur. I’m reclaiming “oldster,” using it subversively, and a little tongue-in-cheek. In my mind, everyone who is alive and moving through the milestones of life is an oldster, and I’m inviting all of us to wear this term proudly, and with a little humor.

Of course, there are also Oldster tee shirts.

Clockwise from top left: Beverly Donofrio, 72; Roberta McDonald, 55; Andy Romanoff, 81; Sue Repko, 60, Judy Bolton-Fasman, 62; Jacinta Bunnell, 51; Susan Weis-Bohlen, 60; Sari Botton, 58. Order a shirt!

You can also give the gift of Oldster Magazine. Now through December 31st, save 10% on annual subscriptions. Paid subscriptions help me to pay contributors for their work—and me, for mine! Writing/editing/publishing Oldster and Memoir Land are labors of love, but they are labor. I don’t think I’ve ever worked harder. I’m also going to add some paywalled content soon.

Books…always great gifts. Even better if you can get them from your local indie bookseller, or order them from Bookshop.org, which supports indie booksellers. Perhaps you’d also like to give my books as gifts.

Order some books.

What would I like to receive? (Paging Brian Macaluso.) A free craigslist piano (which will cost a fair amount to move and tune). I think I’m ready to return to piano-owning (and playing) now that I live in a house, not a 350-square foot East Village tenement. A massage at Birch in Kingston. The internet really wants me to get these Aerosoles tall boots with an arthritis-friendly low wedge heel, but I’m not sure about the synthetic material. Then again, a leather alternative is nearly $500 and I don’t leave my house often enough to justify that kind of a splurge. (Also, whew, they’re out of my size, so I can’t be tempted.) An evening at Sid Gold’s Request Room, my favorite piano karaoke bar. Oh, and last week when I said I was getting myself the audiobook version of Barbra Streisand’s memoir, My Name Is Barbra? I haven’t gotten it yet, so that’s on the list. Oh, I know—a weighted blanket, supposedly an antidote for anxiety and insomnia. I’d love one of those.

Your turn. What will you be giving others this holiday season? What would you like to receive? Tell me in the comments…

Thank you all again for being a part of this community. I couldn’t do this without your support. 🙏

-Sari