This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism author Ashton Applewhite rocks, ever since I read her April 2015 post about starting
a campaign for Letting Our Hair Go Gray, and coloring her naturally brown hair a shade
of gray. During this experiment, she
concluded “gray hair + confidence is an empowering and liberating combo. I hope to see more people rocking the look ...”
"Love means never
having to say you’re sorry" about gray hair … At age 75 (in 2014), actress and style icon Ali MacGraw finally embraced gray hair (to match her natural eyebrows!), after being surrounded by “grown-up women” in
her hometown of Santa Fe—away from the superficiality of la-la land. Glamour magazine reported celebrities of all
ages who also rocked the granny hair vogue.
Esquire featured “The Men Who Rock Silver Hair Right." According to San Francisco Chronicle, it’s never too young to go gray. The New York Times noted, “For Millennial Men, Gray Hair is Welcome” in the tradition of artist Andy Warhol who dyed his hair gray in his early 20s.
Instead
of being trendy, I prefer low-maintenance so I just let nature take its course
with my graying head of hair (plus wrinkles). Going gray is a natural process,
starting at age 30 for men and age 35 for women, though years later for Asians
and African-Americans. However, I don’t
know about going out in public with lady whiskers,
sported by a few of my shut-in clients, and high-maintenance removal techniques ... I suppose it depends on whether lady whiskers draw unwanted attention or
allow one to pass as a man with privileges?
Ashton
showed up with mostly brown hair for her presentation, This Chair Rocks: An Evening with Activist Author Ashton Applewhite,
at Institute on Aging (IOA). She stated
her age 64, because ageism is reinforced by hiding one’s age. However, I prefer to be person-first and age-less, like comedian
Jerry Seinfeld’s remark about his former teenage girlfriend “is a person, not an age."
Ashton
was preaching to the choir of primarily older adults, mostly women, reminding
us that all aging is successful until we’re dead; the sum of our experiences make us rich; losses are real, so we need
friends of all ages and social connections, etc. Her call to action was to start a
consciousness-raising group, inviting us to check out her how-to booklet, “Who me, ageist?”
Fortunately,
aging anxiety drops with maturity as priorities change with age so older women
focus more on function than appearance of their bodies.
“I’ve spent an awful lot of time
worrying about looking old, and I’m ready to give it a rest. … I want the world
to recognize the beauty of time on a woman’s face, and if the world never will,
I want, at least, to make peace with it in my own life. I want to be like one
of those confident older women…wrinkles, gray hair, and all. …
Lately I’ve been thinking more about how to avoid
the things I’m actually scared of about getting old: becoming set in my ways,
stuck in my thinking or narrow in my influences. I want to keep my mind-set
open, my life full of voices that are vibrant and diverse. That takes a lot of
work too, but I’m confident it will have a greater return on investment than
all the creams in the world. That was always the case, it just took me getting
older to recognize it.” --Stella Bugbee, “Can Age-Shaming Be the Next Fat-Shaming?”, New York magazine
According
to Global GfK study (October 2016),
the top 5 physical concerns around aging
are:
- eyesight
getting poorer
- not
being as mentally alert /memory loss
- lacking
energy
- having
trouble taking care of themselves physically
- losing
mobility / being unable to walk or drive
But there are key differences by country: Russia is the only country surveyed where
“losing your teeth” is a top 5 concern, while China South Korea included “gaining weight” (as did USA
Timeless fashion
Timeless fashion
Kimono: Shades of IOA fashion
show featured IOA staff modeling the work of 18 On Lok Lifeways participants who hand painted garments created as part of their care plans.
Model shows kimono
print of dragon in front, clock in back symbolizing late bloomer. Expressive art therapist Tandrika Mayweather discussed
value and benefits of the project: strengthening hand and eye coordination, gross and fine motor skills, use of imagery and symbolism (right brain) until
language regained (left brain goes offline in trauma), and restoration as time
slips away while in the zone of creative expression.
Understanding Alzheimer’s disease
Understanding Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) celebrated its 15th year with AFA Educating America
AFA President
Charles Fuschillo shared the stage with Dillon Campbell, son of musician Glen Campbell, who was commended for going public with diagnosis of AD to create more awareness
and understanding towards a cure. Dillon mentioned that his father treated AD with CBD from marijuana while living
in Malibu , now “checked out” but physically
strong in assisted living facility in Nashville
Moira O’Neill,
Director of Interpretation and Senior Researcher at FrameWorks Institute,
discussed challenges in framing (how to communicate about) aging and how to advance understanding:
- fatalistic (incurable) à
ingenuity (serious problem, but resourceful in providing solution)
- paternalistic (objects of care, charity response) à justice (collective responsibility, systemic change)
- private trouble (individual choice, family
responsibility) à support structures (everyone safe inside)
AFA conference also included The Hardest Crossword exercise, caregiver panel, free memory screenings, Quilt to Remember displays and resource tables. Conference ended
with The Beatles song, “In My Life,” which made me think about Life Story Work to enhance person-centered care for people with dementia.
Lifelong advocacy
“Refreshments
served” was more like a complete dinner at Rhoda Goldman Plaza , host site for this
month’s At Home With Growing Older (AHWGO) forum, Advocate!
Candiece
Milford, Managing Director of Marketing at Rhoda Goldman
Plaza Rhoda
Goldman Plaza
Speaker Barbara Kate Repa shared her 30 years of lifelong advocacy starting as a Nolo Press
author of books on estate planning and end-of-life, member of Bay Area Funeral
Society, and then volunteer with San Francisco Long-Term Care (LTC) Ombudsman (advocating for residents in LTC facilities; see this month’s CNN nursing home sex abuse investigative report)
and IOA Friendship Line (10-minute phone calls). She mentioned reverse
ageism when older callers might question the credibility of younger volunteers,
who are often students. After all, book
learning is no substitute for real world experiences to impart perspective, wisdom
and perhaps peer support.
Sheila
Malkind mentioned her advocacy work with Legacy Film Festival on Aging (showcasing more honest representations of the aging experience) and Older Women’s League.
AHWGO
Board member Cathy Spensley’s advocacy work includes Aging and Disability Friendly SF and geriatric mental health at Felton Institute. Cathy recommended signing up for Marie Jobling's monthly Community Living Campaign e-newsletter packed with aging and disability advocacy opportunities!
Seated behind Cathy is Odile Lavault, Jewish Home recreational therapist and advocate of Naomi Feil’s Validation Method.
Seated behind Cathy is Odile Lavault, Jewish Home recreational therapist and advocate of Naomi Feil’s Validation Method.
“Gray hair is a crown of beauty when it is found in
the way of righteousness.”--Proverbs 16:31
March 08, 2017
ReplyDeleteBy Dr. Mercola
For the first time in 20 years, life expectancy has actually declined in the U.S., …76.3 in 2015 for men, …81.2 for women….according to Dr. Peter Muennig, a professor of health policy and management at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, this decline in life expectancy is a “uniquely American phenomenon.” No other developed countries experienced this decline.
Dr. Jiaquan Xu, the report’s lead author, noted the decline in life expectancy is primarily caused by a rise in several categories of preventable deaths, again highlighting the failure of the American health care system to properly address the root causes of chronic disease.
Meanwhile, both dietary patterns and health care availability in South Korea — which has made some of the greatest life expectancy gains — offer valuable hints at what Americans need to do to change course.
Analysis Suggests South Koreans May Soon Outlive the Rest of the World
Another extensive analysis of longevity patterns in 35 industrialized nations projects life expectancy at birth in the U.S. will continue to lag, such that by 2030, it will be on par with the Czech Republic, Croatia and Mexico.
Meanwhile, South Koreans of both sexes and Hungarian men and have made the greatest life expectancy gains. By 2030, South Korean women are projected to have an average lifespan of 90.8, making it the first nation to break the 90-year life expectancy barrier.
…As for the cause of the U.S.’ failure to keep pace, The Washington Post notes:
“The reasons for the United States' lag are well known. It has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates of any of the countries in the study, and the highest obesity rate.
It is the only one without universal health insurance coverage and has the ‘largest share of unmet health care needs due to financial costs,’ the researchers wrote …
In contrast to the United States, South Korea ‘has a remarkable investment in early childhood nutrition,’ has been taking advantage of medical advances and technology across its population and has some of the world's lowest obesity and hypertension rates …
‘They seem to be getting a lot of things right at the same time, and getting them right for almost everyone,’ [lead author Majid Ezzati] said.”
Differences in Diet Offer Valuable Clues
Japan has long been noted for its longevity, but that’s starting to change as Western dietary influences have crept in. Again and again, we see health outcomes decline when countries adopt a Western style diet with processed foods as a staple.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s use of nutritional supplements, especially probiotics for both adults and infants has risen, and their fermented food and omega-3 intake is among the highest in the world. …
Considering that most Americans eat a primarily processed food diet, high in sugars and low in healthy fats, fiber and fermented foods, it shouldn’t come as a major shock that life expectancy might suffer….
Chronic Illness and Opioid Addiction Take Toll on Americans…
More Than Half of the American Diet is Ultra Junk Food…
Clearly, the Affordable Health Care Act did not have a positive influence. This makes sense when you consider that American health care is grossly lacking in common sense disease prevention. Making health care available to more low-income individuals makes no difference when treatment strategies are primarily focused on costly pharmacological interventions rather than low- or no-cost lifestyle recommendations.
For starters, if you seek wellness, you’d be wise to ignore any and all food commercials and most conventional dietary advice, which still to this day promote dangerous low-fat myths and condone the use of artificial sweeteners…
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2017/03/08/us-life-expectancy-declines.aspx
The Therapeutic Nature of Art for Older Adults: IOA’s Kimono Fashion Show Demonstrates the Creativity Behind Vulnerability
ReplyDeletePosted on March 24, 2017 by Institute on Aging
Where does creative power come from?…we tend to imagine the ability as being innate. Creativity, though, doesn’t just come from temperament. It can come from life experience, from challenges, from joys and failures, from a spirit of adventure, and from embracing the vulnerability that comes along with trying something new and knowing that it may be imperfect.
That’s what older adults at Institute on Aging discovered while designing unique, personality-driven kimonos for an art and fashion event last month. The act of designing…allowed seniors to try something new, to exercise their minds and their bodies, and to take on an unusual adventure. They were putting themselves, and their inner lives, out there in a very real and public way that brought the community together and reinforced the importance of art and therapy—or, perhaps, art as therapy.
…it’s the idea that there is beauty inside of us, like a constant sunrise, even as dusk tempers other aspects of our lives. If we can tap into that, and pull out the light within, we will always have something to contribute. Perfection isn’t the goal of art; art itself is…
Kelly, the ADHC Manager and Curator at IOA with a background in screen printing and visual art, happened to have reams of extra fabric lying around. Knowing the importance of art for both physical and mental health, she intended to provide a large canvas for participants that have issues with fine motor skills to experiment with different printmaking techniques.
…inspiration to design kimonos was born.
…very easy to sew…straightforward pattern,… large canvas …the most wearable of art and the most art-ready outfit. They’re the best of both worlds.
The process of turning this fabric into art was a three week one. Staffers Tandrika Mayweather and Kelly Harris turned a kernel of an idea into a tangible thing, organizing clients who wanted to participate into groups where they could create and voice their visions for several hours a day.
It was there that the real work of art and healing began.
…The heart of this project was to try something new, to find an unexplored mode of expression. The challenge is in developing a new talent even as motor skills may be in decline. But that was sort of the point: the motions of creation were, themselves, a sort of therapy.
As the project went on, each client’s role in the kimono creation process was tailored to their physical or mental needs. IOA matched their Occupational Therapy regimen with their tasks for the project. Repetitive movements with foam rollers or brushes provided excellent therapy to older adults, who had to concentrate to make sure that the motions of their hands matched their mental energies.
This was an interdisciplinary project that combined the worlds of:
• Physical therapy
• Cognitive therapy
• Art therapy
• Socialization
And the latter was one of the most important achievements. Friends gathered together to work with each other, to combine creative energies, and to focus on a goal—the goal of channeling inner expressions into outer beauty.
…Creation itself is naturally imperfect. The serene waterfall is born from rushing torrents eating rock away into jagged edges. Birds stumble on the ground before they soar. Our lives move forward in an aging process.
But all of that is beautiful and filled with its own power and grace. Aging shouldn’t be seen as a march away from something, but instead as part of that self-same beat you’ve followed your whole life. That’s what this project was all about: recreating that beat, and letting people know that every way in which you express yourself creates a kind of joyful perfection.
…no limit to the materials with which older adults can create art.
https://blog.ioaging.org/social-day-programs/the-therapeutic-nature-of-art-for-older-adults-ioas-kimono-fashion-show-demonstrates-the-creativity-behind-vulnerability
Feeding S.F.’s “Heart-Smart,” Low-Sodium Foodies
ReplyDeletePlanning daily meals for hundreds of seniors is no easy task.
Jessie Schiewe
Wed Jul 12th, 2017 5:40pm
It’s lunchtime at Rhoda Goldman Plaza, an assisted living community in Pacific Heights, and the 45-table dining room is in full swing. Uniformed and name-tagged waiters zig-zag around the L-shaped space, dodging the clientele’s walkers and delivering steaming plates of vegetarian moussaka, slices of baklava, tiny dishes of ice cream, and bowls of “heart smart” broccoli soup… Corey Weiner, the food and beverage director, is a face that everyone at Rhoda Goldman Plaza knows. For the last 17 years, she and chef Kelly Dame — both graduates of the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena — have planned and cooked all the meals for the dining room, …
Cooking and planning meals for 136 people three times each day is no easy task for any chef or culinary director, but it’s an especially difficult task when your clientele is elderly. Not only do food preferences have to be taken into account — most residents at Rhoda Goldman Plaza can’t abide spicy foods, and Weiner says even “a microscopic chip of pepper can be way too much for many of them” — but there are health and dietary restrictions, as well as generational tastes, that need to be factored in, too.
Rhoda Goldman Plaza is a Jewish establishment, so they don’t serve pork or shellfish, and the meats they do serve are all kosher. Because kosher meats are high in sodium, and because salt intake is something many of the residents at Rhoda Goldman Plaza must be frugal with, Weiner says the kitchen staff makes a concerted effort to use less salt when preparing meat dishes. Vegetables and starches, which are generally steamed instead of sauteed or fried, are also served unseasoned and without salt, and even their salad vinaigrettes are available with no salt or fat-free.
Because of physical challenges or handicaps associated with dementia, food texture and consistency is another thing that Weiner and Dame must take into account when planning menus. Most diners prefer “less-firm textures,” Weiner says, though she’s keen to point out that there are still those who “really like to chew, and like a crunch.”
Yet Weiner and Dame still put a priority on creating diverse and varied menus, and at least once a week, you’ll find either an East Asian, Indian, or Thai dish on the menu.
…Unlike the staff at other elderly and retirement homes, the kitchen at Rhoda Goldman Plaza makes all meals in-house and cooks most of its own breads and baked goods, like pies, cookies, sourdough bread, challah, pizza doughs, and onion bialy. Residents in the establishment’s “memory-care floor” knead dough every Friday that then gets baked in the kitchen. At one point, Dame even tried to convince the board to let her house goats on the roof, so she could make fresh goat cheese.
The main reason why Rhoda Goldman Plaza is able to serve freshly made fare is because of the smaller size of their establishment. Candiece Milford, the managing director of marketing at Rhoda Goldman Plaza, used to work at The Sequoias, another “life-care community” in the city that houses roughly 355 residents. Because of its larger size, The Sequoias doesn’t have the liberty of cooking meals in-house, serving meals shipped in from food service companies to their residents instead…
http://www.sfweekly.com/dining/feature-dining/feeding-s-f-s-heart-smart-low-sodium-foodies/
Time to rethink how we talk about older people
ReplyDeleteNICOLE KARLIS
03.31.2018
…Sister Jean …a 98-year-old woman, nun, and team chaplain for Loyola-Chicago’s basketball team. Bobbleheads have been made in her likeness, and as Time explained, Sister Jean paraphernalia might well be the most popular March Madness merchandise sold this year. ESPN reported that her name has been mentioned in 20,526 stories in the last two weeks. A montage video of her was produced by Ringer Records, called "Sister Jean" and paired to a rendition of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean.” And online, she's become a meme in her own right.
“There's no argument to be made: Sister Jean is the story of the 2018 NCAA tournament,” said Darren Rovell, an ESPN senior staff writer.
When reading about Sister Jean, whose full name is Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, adjectives like “adorable” and “cute” pop up. Some call her a “gift” to America — others, a “media darling.”
There’s no question Sister Jean is inspiring to many. Her happiness is contagious. Her loyalty to the basketball team is admirable. Sister Jean also coaches the players on strategy, and gives them spiritual guidance before games. From what her fellow sisters from her order have said, she’s a smart leader who has been in a position of service for a majority of her life. I’m not here to say her new-found notoriety is undeserved, but rather wondering: why didn’t it arrive sooner? And isn’t it ironic that American culture — a culture obsessed with youth, and which has a multibillion-dollar industry around anti-aging — obsesses over people older than the age of 85, but only when they exhibit youthful traits?
Sister Jean isn’t the only senior to become famous for being both elderly and active. Indeed, in 2016, Täo Porchon-Lynch’s name splashed the headlines for being a 90-something yoga teacher. In 2012, she was named the Oldest Living Yoga Teacher by Guinness World Records.
In one of many profiles written about her (all of which were captivating merely because of her interesting life), Newsweek headlined theirs "Ageless in spirit — yogi still teaching at 98.”
Then there was the 62-year-old American Apparel model profiled in Elle, George H.W. Bush's skydiving adventure at 90, the 80-year-old Everest hiker... I could go on till I was old.
Dr. Bill Thomas, an author and co-founder of ChangingAging.org, calls this type of rhetoric the “Tyranny of Still.”
“The most admirable older people are the older people who can 'still' — then fill in the blank,” Thomas explains. “Older people are admired to the degree that they resemble, look like and act like young people.”
…“Aging is the last form of bigotry you can speak of in public,” Thomas told Salon. “It’s not admirable because she [Sister Jean] is 98. It is admirable because she is a fan; her age is irrelevant.”
…Thomas explained that America’s obsession with older people who still live youthful lives is part of what he calls a "totemic myth."
“It’s a story we tell ourselves to console ourselves,” he said. “It makes us feel a little better. ‘Oh, she’s 97 and people just love her, so I don’t have to fear my own aging in quite the same way.’”
Perhaps that’s because society treats aging as a disease, and in a youth-driven culture we’ve been given no option other than to fear it. We’re told to hide our wrinkles, and dye our grey hair. After a certain age, one is essentially expected to look the same age for the rest of one's life. The solution — to embrace aging, rather than fear it — is complicated, given that the fear of aging is so evidently linked to the fear of dying. It’s hard to truly imagine a world where aging isn’t a trepidatious experience.
But Thomas says it doesn’t have to be, and it could just start with a shift in perspective.
“Today we say aging is to decline,” he said. “Tomorrow I would say the story should be that aging is growth, and growth is change.”…
https://www.salon.com/2018/03/31/time-to-rethink-how-we-talk-about-the-elderly/
There’s no shame in growing older — so I’m done dyeing my gray hair
ReplyDeleteMary Wisniewski Chicago Tribune
SEPTEMBER 10, 2018
Something weird is happening at the drugstore, at church and on the “L.” Women I don’t know are telling me I’m brave…
I just stopped coloring my hair.
I had dark-brown hair that started getting noticeably gray by the time I was 30. So like a lot of women, I started dyeing it, first on my own in the bathtub until I got sick of the stains on the porcelain. Then I switched to getting it done at the beauty shop.
It was expensive, messy and time-consuming. My interest in gossip magazines isn’t enough to fill two hours sitting in a chair under a dryer, smelling chemicals. And my hair grows fast, so I needed to go back every five weeks to keep from getting a “skunk streak” of white at my center part. When I didn’t have time to make an appointment, which was often, I would color in the roots with a special “touch-up” crayon and feel like an idiot.
What really got me was seeing pictures of stars like George Clooney and knowing that it is considered fine and sexy for a mature man to have gray hair. Men with obvious dyed hair can look a little silly — think about certain aging rock stars and politicians.
But many women seem to think they have to keep up the illusion forever that they are still 35 (at most) and fertile, unencumbered by too much wisdom and too many accomplishments.
Gray hair is one of the last feminist fashion frontiers. We no longer have to cinch ourselves into corsets. Many of us have given up crippling high heels and tossed the pantyhose. We’re asserting ourselves at work, “leaning in,” as the saying goes, asking for raises, demanding respect and a harassment-free environment.
But our hair starts to silver and suddenly we’re slaves to spending $500 or more a year to pretend something our male colleagues don’t need to pretend. It’s quite a racket.
Don’t get me wrong — men and women all want to look good as long as they can. And people should do what they want with their own bodies — my mother is 91 and still blond and why not? Only her hairdresser knows for sure.
I just wish more women would feel that it was OK to let it go, because going gray has done something for me besides saving time and money.
I like my natural hair. I like how varied it is — silver along the sides and still dark in the back. I like how it has gotten curly and full again, in a way it wasn’t after years of chemical damage. It’s a lovely color, which is why young people are dyeing their hair gray on purpose.
I also like that it has given me some needed perspective in a society that makes a cult of youth, disdains maturity and ignores the reality of passing time. It reminds me that I’m not a kid anymore. And this isn’t a bad thing.
Not being a kid anymore means I read the books I want, and not the books I feel I should read.
It means that I’m still going to be polite, but not so polite that I lose myself and don’t get what I’m after.
It means not wasting my time at events I don’t need to attend when I’d rather be with family and friends.
When I see my hair in the mirror, it’s a memento mori, a reminder that my time is not infinite, and I should spend it doing what matters.
Anti-ageism activist Ashton Applewhite wrote that one problem with trying to pass for younger is that it’s like a gay person trying to pass for straight — it’s based in shame over something that is not shameful. I wouldn’t take the comparison that far, but I agree there’s nothing shameful about growing older. It’s what happens if we’re lucky. And pretending it’s not happening is a way of surrendering power.
I don’t think I’m brave. I’m just frugal, and contrary. If the crowd goes one way, I want to go the other. I see my gray hair as a little act of rebellion against the toxic idea that people lose value as they age, instead of gaining it. To quote David Crosby, I see gray hair as my “freak flag.”
And I’m letting it fly.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/ct-biz-gray-hair-rebellion-20180830-story.html