This is 2

It's Oldster Magazine's 2nd birthday!

Whoa—you guys, somehow it’s been two whole years since I dreamt I started a magazine called Oldster, joked about it on social media, and then…got out of bed and started a magazine called Oldster.

Here we are two years later, and this is a real magazine with a wonderful variety of contributors, and there are nearly 23,000 of you.

It’s been such a fun ride “Exploring what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life.” In other words, indulging my curiosity about other people’s experiences of getting older—the joys, the sorrows, the surprises, the aches and pains. Finding out from those who take The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire™, and those who contribute personal essays, what it feels like to be exactly the age they are right now. All while trying to normalize and destigmatize aging by showing that it’s happening to everyone all the time, and by fostering an inter-generational conversation about it.

I love the mix of notable and lesser-known voices. In a recent post I shared a list of some of Oldster’s better-known contributors, with links to their contributions under their names. Since so many of you recently came on board, I’ll share that list again here:

Neko Case, Hilma Wolitzer, Cheryl Strayed, Lucy Sante, Abigail Thomas, Joy Castro, Michael Imperioli, Deesha Philyaw, Laurie Stone, Celeste Lecesne, Elissa Altman, Jerry Saltz, Kimberly Harrington, Beverly Donofrio, Michael Musto, Marie Myung-Ok Lee, Kim France, Jennifer Romolini, Dante Stewart, Laura Lippman, A.J. Daulerio, Dani Shapiro, Michael Maren, Chloe Caldwell, Mari Naomi, Meredith Maran, Maggie Smith, Carolita Johnson, Ann Friedman, Dionne Ford, Martha Frankel, Mary Pipher, Michael A. Gonzales, Michelle Dowd…

If I may make one wish on that “2” candle up top:

I’d like it if the eldest in this growing community would remember that Oldster Magazine is not just for or about “old” people like other aging-related media, it’s about getting older throughout life. There is no age limit, top or bottom, to who can contribute, although very young contributors are rare. As far as I’m concerned, everyone’s an “oldster”—a former sort-of slur I’m reappropriating in a tongue-in-cheek way. I’m 57; I’m not going to make a magazine that’s only for and about people 70 and over. This is something different.

Everyone published here is the oldest they have ever been, and it’s a big deal to them no matter what the number is, because they are encountering new milestones, new challenges, new experiences of all kinds that they’ve never been through before, and they have interesting things to say about it.

Whether it’s 90something Holocaust survivor Tibor Spitz writing about how every new day he is given on this earth counts as his birthday, or author Chloe Caldwell writing about the subtle changes that occurred for her between 35 and 36—as both a fertility patient and as a woman becoming less visible to men on the street—these are perspectives I’m interested in. No, fascinated by.

So, please keep that in mind. And if something you read here doesn’t apply to your age group, or resonate with you, I hope you’ll hang in there and wait for another piece that does. Or, take note of the way in which a milestone you’ve already been through is hitting someone younger than you.

🎂🎂

In the next year, I hope to grow Oldster Magazine in some new directions—more audio and video, some interviews with celebrated musicians and artists, in addition to more authors. A print anthology, although that’s only in the proposal stage right now, so it will be a while. I’m excited about all the possibilities.

Extra thanks to those of you who sent me photos of yourselves in your Oldster tee shirts. And to the many more of you who recently ordered shirts. (If you’d like to order one, or a mug, visit the Oldster Etsy shop.)

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, 57.

Thank you all for being here, for supporting this work, and me, and my contributors. It means so much to me.

-Sari