Security in Later Life, Then and Now

By Flora Davis
In 1801 in West Greenwich, Rhode Island, a woman named Christiana Lampher was sold at a pauper auction. As was the custom, she went to the lowest bidder: Ishmael Nichols agreed that for $1 per year, paid by the taxpayers, he would feed, clothe and house her. In exchange, he had the right to put her to work in any way he saw fit. Pauper auctions were common, especially in New England, from colonial times until the middle of the 19th century. This was one way Americans dealt with the poor, including those well along in years.  Read more...
 

Don’t Deny Your Age, Celebrate It

By Susan W. Hoskins
Recently someone asked me if I would participate in a talk called "Don’t Let an Old Person Move into Your Body." I thought about it for several days, and then I declined.  Read more...
 

How to Keep Driving (Safely) in Your Later Years

By Flora Davis
Americans outlive their ability to drive by an average of six to ten years. If you’re like most people, you can’t imagine how you would manage without a car. Fortunately, there are ways to extend your time behind the wheel and simultaneously become safer on the road.  Read more...
 

Can Your Cherished Possessions Shorten Your Life?

By Dana DiFilippo

In a corner of Sarah’s living room, a decades-old phonograph sits ignored. Sarah doesn’t use it anymore, doesn’t even know if it still works. Only the housekeeper pays any attention to it or to the dozens of records stacked nearby, and that’s only to dust them. Sarah also has books, hundreds of books, in almost every room of her Princeton, NJ, home.  Read more...
 

Multitasking after 40

April 10, 2014 By Flora Davis
I’ve always prided myself on my ability to multitask—I hate to do just one thing if I can manage two at the same time. I never go anywhere without a book just in case I get a chance to read. If I have to walk a few blocks, I can often finish a chapter as I plod along. I usually do my driving with a news program or talk show on the radio.  Read more...
 

Fear of Falling

April 08, 2014 By Pepper Evans
My sister-in-law took a tumble down a few steps the other day, ending up in the ER with a badly sprained ankle. Claire is my age, mid-50s, and she is in good physical health. She even does Italian folk dancing for fun. She was doing some chores around the house, not in a rush, not dizzy, just a little preoccupied, and fell with her laundry basket. I don't often hear of 50-somethings losing their footing on the stairs, but I'm sure it could happen to anyone. In fact, I worry that it will happen to me!  Read more...