This is 67: Award-Winning Journalist Tom Junod Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I’m 67 years old and I just finished my first book. It’s a dream come true and it taught me so many things about my life, my talent, and my endurance…

Mar 11 • Sari Botton

136

29

10

This is 66: Hester Kaplan Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I wish I’d taken more risks when I was younger and said yes to things more often just to see where they might lead me. I regret that fear and…

Mar 4 • Sari Botton

152

36

11

February 2026

This is 75: 'Happy Grownup' Hal Rubenstein Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I don’t approach age as if I’m supposed to feel good or bad about it. Since it’s inevitable, why waste time fighting it?"

Feb 25 • Sari Botton

125

44

14

This is 59: Mary Elizabeth Williams Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I grew up in a home with grandparents, raised as an only child, so part of me has been an old woman my whole life. Now I just look more the part."

Feb 18 • Sari Botton

251

94

34

Ask a Sober Oldster #31: Sydney Lea

"I am 83 and if I don’t get drunk or otherwise wasted for the next few months, I will have been clean and sober for 26 years."

Feb 17 • Sari Botton and The Small Bow

126

16

6

This is 81: Denise Nicholas Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"My favorite age—amazingly—is right now. I’m in good health, I’m in my own beautiful home, I’m writing (and getting very fine reviews), I’m still…

Feb 4 • Sari Botton

164

40

19

January 2026

This is 52: Emma Tourtelot Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I’m a middle school librarian, and my students are horrifically bad at guessing my age—sometimes they’ll say 25, sometimes 65."

Jan 28 • Sari Botton

163

37

13

This is 60: Lambda Literary Award Winner Lauren Sanders Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I was a bit of a rebel youngster. Sex and drugs and rock and roll. I thought that was freedom, then realized it was its own kind of conformity."

Jan 21 • Sari Botton

92

24

8

Ask a Sober Oldster #30: Tommy Swerdlow

"I used to be a bit of a cocky jerk and judgmental asshole, but there’s nothing like a twenty-year heroin habit to knock some of the snot nose out of…

Jan 20 • Sari Botton and The Small Bow

101

22

6

This is 68: Makeup Icon and Memoirist Bobbi Brown Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"Sometimes I look in the mirror and think ‘Oh my gosh, who is that?’ and other days I’m like ‘Wow, I look good’. Every day has its own surprises."

Jan 14 • Sari Botton

149

52

9

This is 81: Poet Judith Barrington Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"I had always bought into the cliches about old people being sad and lonely. These last dozen years have been the happiest of my life."

Jan 7 • Sari Botton

121

38

7

December 2025

This is 75: Museum Designer, Artist, Author John Sunderland Responds to The Oldster Magazine Questionnaire

"Another life began for me at 70 when I realized that I felt just as alive as I did 30 years before."

Dec 31, 2025 • Sari Botton

66

7

6