The Oldster Magazine Holiday Gift Guide (*To Be Written Partly By You*)

An 80s-style infomercial/interview featuring Rebecca Wolff...a few recommendations from our "store"...and an open thread where *you* can recommend your favorite presents for oldsters of any age...

Glow Juice, the updated edition of Goodbye to All That, and Oldster merch.

Looking for holiday gift ideas? Here, Oldster Magazine offers some *recommendations (*most but not all of which I profit from, but hey, a girl’s gotta eat).

We also want suggestions from you. Let us know in the comments what thoughtful, clever, creative presents you’ll be giving (or already gave for Chanukah) to people on your list—whether the gifts are age-related or not…

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In a few different posts I’ve recommended Glow Juice, the silky moisture spray made by poet, novelist, Fence magazine founder, and out-going City of Hudson, NY alderperson Rebecca Wolff. I’m so obsessed with this stuff that I made an “infomercial” about it with with Rebecca (scroll down)—even though it is not my own product, nor something I earn any money from. I just want Rebecca to have strong enough sales to stay in business for…well, basically the rest of my days.

Here’s the “infomercial”—equal parts sales pitch and personal interview, shot earlier this week on Rebecca’s 54th birthday. We touch on what it’s like to be in our 50s, living upstate after leaving New York City, Rebecca’s mid-life pivot to public service, followed by a sabbatical from Fence magazine so she can take some time to write her next novel, and more.

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In 2019, Seal Press invited me to update my bestselling 2013 essay anthology, Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving & Leaving NY. In April it was reissued with seven incredible new essays by: Leslie Jamison, Emily Raboteau, Lisa Ko, Ada Limón, Carolita Johnson, Rosie Schaap, and Danielle Jackson.

Order here.

I’m really proud of this new edition, a great collection of essays by 30 wonderful women writers. Even if you have the original, this new edition will give you plenty of fresh essays to read. And it makes a great gift for anyone who has lived in NYC…or left…or stayed…or thought about leaving… (Also, Glow Juice proprietrix Rebecca Wolff happens to have a deliciously irreverent essay in the book called “So Long, Suckers.”) I hope you’ll consider buying it as a holiday gift—or for any occasion!

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Many of you have been asking how you, too, can get Oldster Magazine tee shirts like the ones Brian and I have, er, modeled here and there on social media, plus other merch, like…well, other than shirts, I only have mugs to offer you. Finally I have an answer: You can order them from new Oldster Magazine Merch store on Etsy!

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My last gift recommendation is, well, this very newsletter. Why not give a subscription to a friend or family member as a holiday present?

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Or maybe give yourself the gift of a paid subscription now, since I’ll be raising prices in January? Paid subscriptions help me to pay contributors—and myself a little—for producing everything you read here each week—questionnaires, essays, songs, and soon, fiction, cartoons, and reported features. I hope to keep Oldster Magazine paywall-free, but that might need to change if I don’t garner enough paid subscriptions without a paywall…

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Okay, now it’s your turn. What holiday gifts do you recommend, for friends and family of particular ages—or any age at all?

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Wishing you all happy holidays! And better times ahead…