A few months ago, we asked our listeners over 60 to tell us about their experiences of getting older, especially during the past year. And it turns out, you had a lot to say about it. 

The United States is a country that’s rapidly aging. According to Census Bureau estimates, the number of people over 65 in the U.S. will nearly double over the next 40 years. Americans are also working later, living alone more frequently, and facing greater financial hardship. And of course, there’s the pandemic. 80% of COVID-related deaths in the United States have been among people over 65.

But despite all of these commonly-cited statistics, we don't hear much about what it's actually like to be over 60. We don't talk enough about getting older in our society, and when we do, we don’t often do it well.

So in this episode, we hope to break down some of that silence around aging. We hear from listeners about unexpected health challenges and financial instability; feelings of isolation, invisibility and freedom; the responsibilities that come with being caregivers to parents, children and grandchildren; and shifting relationships with friends and loved ones. 

We're having these conversations with the help of veteran public radio broadcaster Jo Ann Allen—who also hosts her own podcast, Been There Done That, all about the Baby Boom generation. As Jo Ann told us when we had her on Death, Sex & Money back in the fall, even as she's navigated uncertainty about financial stability and her fears of COVID-19, she wouldn't trade this period of life for anything. "I am 67 years old, and I am really into older people!" she says. "I love, without a doubt, up and down, over and under, in and out, being an older person and getting older."

To read a transcript of this episode, click here.

If you're not yet 60, but know someone who is and might not know about our show, please forward it on to them! Click the link below to send them a special email with a link to this episode. 

    Share this episode with a friend!    

Did you know only 22% of people over 55 listen to podcasts regularly? Let's change that! 

We've rounded up some of our favorite recent reading and listening about people over 60 here, including reflections on living through the pandemic, a handy guide on how to care for older people in your life right now, and a deep dive on ageism. 

Don't miss our live call-in show all about aging on Wednesday, January 13, from 8-10 pm Eastern. Check your local public radio listings for it, or RSVP here to stream it live on the web. 

We often hear from our listeners that some of their favorite past Death, Sex & Money episodes are those that feature guests who are over 60. Here are just a few of our favorites: 

Fact Check My Feed: What’s Up With These COVID-19 Mutations?

It’s a new year, and that means there’s a whole slew of new COVID-19 news to dive into, including an overwhelming amount of new information about vaccines and mutations.

The U.S. has now administered roughly five million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, far behind the nation’s goal of vaccinating 20 million by the end of 2020. The two approved COVID-19 vaccines, one from Pfizer and one from Moderna, are intended to be given over the course of two doses. But there’s a discussion within the medical community about whether or not both doses are necessary for every patient. 

Mutations are also an increasing concern. Variants from the U.K. and South Africa are concerning epidemiologists, and appear to be spreading. Though there’s no proof that either are more deadly, they may be more infectious.

Joining Ira to explain is Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Georgetown University’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, based in Seattle, Washington.

Can Cells Rewind The Wrinkles Of Time?

As a cell ages, its DNA goes through a process called “methylation”—gaining extra methyl chemical groups. These groups can affect how the genes’ encoded information is expressed, without actually changing the sequence of genes.

In work published in Nature, researchers explore whether reversing that methylation can reprogram the cells back to a more youthful state. They used modified adenoviruses to introduce three specific transcription factors into mouse retinal ganglion cells, a type of neuron found in the eye. These transcription factors helped revert the cell to a more immature state—and also seemed to let the cell behave in a more ‘youthful’ way.

David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors of the study, joins Ira to discuss what the work means, and what it could tell scientists about the aging process.

Trump’s New EPA ‘Transparency’ Rule Could Hamper Science

This week, the Environmental Protection Agency passed the “Strengthening Transparency in Regulatory Science” rule. EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler stated that “the American public has the right to know what scientific studies underline the Agency’s regulatory decisions.”

But critics say that this outgoing policy by the Trump administration can be used to hamper new environmental regulations. Amy Nordrum lines out the policy and other science headlines from the week.

Marlo Thomas thought marriage was "nothing that I wanted to be a part of" after watching her mother give up her singing career for her father's acting dreams. But then, at 42 years old, she changed her mind.

All this month, we're sharing stories from listeners and guests over 60. If you missed it, check out our last episode, featuring guest host Jo Ann Allen in conversation with older listeners about unexpected health challenges and financial instability; feelings of isolation, invisibility and freedom; and shifting relationships with friends and loved ones. Find it at deathsexmoney.org/aging, as well as some of our favorite reading and listening about people over 60 and a playlist of some of our favorite past Death, Sex & Money episodes featuring older guests. 

Follow our show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @deathsexmoney. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. And support our work at deathsexmoney.org/donate.

And stay in touch with us! Sign up for our newsletter and we'll keep you up to date about what's happening behind the scenes at Death, Sex & Money. Plus, we'll send you audio recommendations, letters from our inbox and a note from Anna. Join the Death, Sex & Money community and subscribe today.

The 76-year-old musician reflects on his complex relationship with his parents growing up, finding new audiences late in life, and why he loves "being cared for" by his younger bandmates. Listen to his latest album, "Transmissions," here.

Mark your calendars for our upcoming national live call-in show, Getting Real About Getting Older, on Wednesday, February 3, at 8 pm Eastern! Anna and co-host Jo Ann Allen will be be taking calls from listeners over 60 about getting older right now—if that's you, call in, and listen on your local public radio station or via The Greene Space. 

We've been sharing stories from listeners and guests over 60 all month long. Check out our previous episodes featuring Marlo Thomas, and guest host Jo Ann Allen in conversation with older listeners about unexpected health challenges and financial instability; feelings of isolation, invisibility and freedom; and shifting relationships with friends and loved ones at deathsexmoney.org/aging. You'll also find some of our favorite reading and listening about people over 60 and a playlist of some of our favorite past Death, Sex & Money episodes with older guests. 

Follow our show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @deathsexmoney. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. And support our work at deathsexmoney.org/donate.

And stay in touch with us! Sign up for our newsletter and we'll keep you up to date about what's happening behind the scenes at Death, Sex & Money. Plus, we'll send you audio recommendations, letters from our inbox, and a note from Anna. Join the Death, Sex & Money community and subscribe today.

[REBROADCAST FROM OCTOBER 6, 2020] In order to cope with the end of her father’s life, documentarian Kirsten Johnson tries something unusual: staging various versions of her father’s death and filming them. Johnson joins us to discuss the resulting documentary, “Dick Johnson Is Dead,” which you can watch on Netflix. 

Anna Sale, host of the WNYC Studios podcast Death, Sex & Money, and Jo Ann Allen, news host at Colorado Public Radio and the host of the podcast "Been There Done That," about the lives and stories of Baby Boomers, talk about what they found out when they asked listeners to share their thoughts on aging — including worries around health, money and how it has affected their relationships — plus take your calls.

When Dr. Norma Elia Cantú was growing up in Laredo, Texas, on the U.S./Mexico border, she was the oldest of what would eventually be eleven siblings—so she stepped into the role of coparent early. "When one of my younger siblings got in trouble at school, they called me," she says. "They [didn't] call the parents because my father was working, and my mother, who didn't speak English, was not able to go."

Norma lived at home and continued to help support her family when she went to college, but left after two years, when she became the primary breadwinner of the family. She finished her degree in night school while working at the local utility company, but even now, she says, she "wonders what would have happened had [she] not been so dutiful a daughter."

She eventually completed her degree and went on to get her PhD. Now she's 74, a writer, a professor at Trinity University in San Antonio, and the president of the American Folklore Society. I talked with her about how she's supported both her family and her own ambition at the same time throughout her life, as well as about how she processed the deaths of her parents, and her younger brother Tino, who was killed in the Vietnam War when he was only 19.

Head over to our Instagram page to see some photos of Norma's family that she shared with us. And Norma graciously agreed to read some of her poetry for us, all from her 2019 collection Meditación Fronteriza: Poems of Love, Life and Labor: 

My Mother's Hands 

Song of the Borderland (English)

Canto A La Tierra Fronteriza (Español)

We opened the phones for a national radio call-in, to hear from you about life after 60 right now. 

We've been sharing stories from listeners and guests over 60 all month long. Check out our previous episodes featuring Marlo Thomas, Beverly Glenn Copeland, Norma Elia Cantú, and guest host Jo Ann Allen in conversation with older listeners at deathsexmoney.org/aging. You'll also find some of our favorite reading and listening about people over 60 and a playlist of some of our favorite past Death, Sex & Money episodes with older guests. 

Follow our show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @deathsexmoney. Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org. And support our work at deathsexmoney.org/donate.

And stay in touch with us! Sign up for our newsletter and we'll keep you up to date about what's happening behind the scenes at Death, Sex & Money. Plus, we'll send you audio recommendations, letters from our inbox, and a note from Anna. Join the Death, Sex & Money community and subscribe today.

Ageism is on the rise worldwide. That’s according to a new report from the World Health Organization, which found that one in two people, globally, are ageist against older people. Age-based stereotypes and discrimination have seeped into our personal lives, health care systems, workplaces, news media, you name it.  

Though ageism existed long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the last year has exposed how serious and widespread the impacts of ageism can be, on everything from the physical and mental health of older people to the economy at large.  

For more on this, The Takeaway spoke to Dr. Sharon Inouye, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Aging Brain Center at Hebrew SeniorLife, and Dr. Louise Aronson, professor of medicine at the University of California San Francisco division of geriatrics and author of "Elderhood: Redefining Aging, Transforming Medicine, Reimagining Life."

Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this segment. Don't have time to listen right now? Subscribe for free to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with you on the go.

Want to comment on this story? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page, Twitter, or Instagram. 

This episode, a tale of a wonder drug that will make you wonder about way more than just drugs.  

Doctor-reporter Avir Mitra follows the epic and fantastical journey of a molecule dug out of a distant patch of dirt that would go on to make billions of dollars, prolong millions of lives, and teach us something fundamental we didn’t know about ourselves. Along the way, he meets a geriatric mouse named Ike, an immigrant dad who’s a little bit cool sometimes, a prophetic dream that prompts a thousand-mile journey, an ice cream container that may or may not be an accessory to international drug smuggling, and - most important of all - an obscure protein that’s calling the shots in every one of your cells RIGHT NOW.

This episode was reported by Avir Mitra and was produced by Sarah Qari, Pat Walters, Suzie Lechtenberg, with help from Carin Leong and Rachael Cusick.

Special thanks to Richard Miller, Stuart Schreiber, Joanne Van Tilburg, and Bethany Halford.

Support Radiolab by becoming a member today at Radiolab.org/donate.  

October is LGBTQ+ History month. For some of the members of the LGBTQ+ community, that history is not just an academic exploration to be researched in books but a lifetime of memories of years of discrimination, oppression, invisibility, and fear. 

While we’ve come a long way in this country, there are still many injustices facing the LGBTQ+ community especially among the aging population. Older LGBTQ+ people are more likely to deal with isolation, depression, and discrimination than cis, heterosexual seniors.

Headshot of Michael Adams, CEO of SAGE

(Courtesy of SAGE- Advocacy & Services for LGBT Elders)

 Michael Adams is the CEO of SAGE, the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older people. He discusses the many unique challenges facing our LGBTQ+ elders and what SAGE is doing to provide a life of dignity for this underserved community.

Dr. Imani Woody is about to break ground on a project long in the making. After Dr. Woody’s father fell ill, her family moved him into what they thought was a “good” home but they quickly discovered how poorly seniors are treated, regardless of how much you pay to be there.

As a long-time advocate for marginalized populations, Dr. Imani decided to create a safe space for the aging members of the LGBTQ-SLG (same-gender-loving) community. Mary’s House is due to open its doors in 2023 after over a decade of planning and fund-raising. 

Dr. Woody discusses the importance of affirming housing for LGBTQ-SGL elders and how Mary's House serves as a model for inclusive elders of all gender, racial, and sexual identities.

In our ongoing series, Aging while Queer, we’ve been exploring the lives and labors of members of the LGBTQ community living in their later years.

This week we spoke with Pat and Paulette Martin. They discuss the challenges of coming out of the closet, the significance of marriage equality, and how they give back to their community.

Paulette Martin knew she was a lesbian from a young age, but didn’t feel safe enough to fully be her authentic self until later in life. She married a man and raised three children before coming out in her 40s.

Today, Paulette is happily married to Pat Martin. And while coming out was also a challenge for Pat, most of her family quickly accepted her after she came out as a teenager.

Skeptical Supreme Court Could Determine Future of Abortion Care Nationwide

This Monday, the Supreme Court heard arguments for three hours on legal challenges to the Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks.These arguments took place after the court fast-tracked their docket to hear two separate cases on the issue: one by abortion providers and the other by the US Department of Justice. We speak with NYU professorMelissa Murray about what she took away from Monday’s arguments.

The Evolution of Abortion Plot Lines on Primetime Television

For decades, abortion on TV was overdramatized and depicted as “debate in narrative form,” writes doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Tanya Melendez for Vox. She joined The Takeaway to discuss how plot lines involving abortion have evolved on television and what those depictions have meant for public attitudes about abortion.

Aging While Queer: Pat and Paulette Martin on Finding Love Later in Life

In our ongoing series, Aging while Queer, we’ve been exploring the lives and labors of members of the LGBTQ community living in their later years. This week we spoke with Pat and Paulette Martin. They discuss the challenges of coming out of the closet, the significance of marriage equality, and how they give back to their community. 

For transcripts, see individual segment pages. 

Broadcast journalist Ray Suarez was 59 when he lost a dream job that took decades to reach. What he did next reveals a harsh reality of class blindness and the consequences of job insecurity in the U.S. His experience inspired a new podcast that “gives voice to people who have lost jobs, lost their homes, and sometimes lost the narrative thread of their lives.” He joins host Kai Wright to preview his story and helps take calls from our listeners. 

Listen to Going for Broke With Ray Suarez, a new podcast by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project and The Nation.

Companion listening for this episode:

Maybe We Just Want Less ‘Work’ (9/7/2021)

The “Great Resignation” appears to be a real thing. But why? We ask workers what they really want. Plus, 45 questions to help us understand each other, and ourselves.

“The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC. 

We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at anxiety@wnyc.org.

Do Climate Summits Like COP26 Really Matter?

The summit was seen as one of the most important international climate negotiations in recent history. But how effective are these kinds of summits? And do the outcomes even matter? The Takeaway talks about that and more with Dr. Michael E. Mann, Distinguished Professor of Atmospheric Science at Pennsylvania State University and author of The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back our Planet. 

Israeli Military Surveillance Program Targets And Monitors Palestinians Using Facial Recognition Technology

An Israeli surveillance program, rolled out over the past two years, uses facial recognition technology to monitor and surveil the Palestinian population. To discuss the surveillance program, implications to Palestinian society and what the future of surveillance technology could look like in other parts of the world, we spoke with The Washington Post's Silicon Valley Correspondent Elizabeth Dwoskin and Yousef Munayyer, nonresident senior fellow at Arab Center in DC.

Aging While Queer: Aging with HIV

In this segment, we talk to Tez Anderson, a long-term survivor of HIV, activist and founder of the first and largest group in the world focused on long-term HIV survivors and older adults aging with HIV, Let's Kick ASS (Aids Survivor Syndrome).

For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

In the early days of HIV and AIDS, a positive diagnosis was a death sentence. During the helm of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, on average, a patient died within 15 months of diagnosis.

Today, new antiretroviral therapies (ART) can make a HIV positive person's viral load undetectable, meaning that someone who is HIV positive cannot pass the infection to others. Advocates use the common term U=U (Undetectable = Untransmittable). These medications allow HIV survivors to live long, fulfilling lives, but those who have aged with the virus still struggle with the burden of loss and learning how to live for a future they were previously denied. 

In this segment, we talk to Tez Anderson, a long-term survivor of HIV, activist and founder of the first and largest group in the world focused on long-term HIV survivors and older adults aging with HIV, Let's Kick ASS (Aids Survivor Syndrome).

A new podcast from Texas Public Radio, Demented, uses interviews and audio diaries to explore the challenges that come with taking care of aging parents. Journalist and host Kitty Eisele shares her experience and what she’s learned from her reporting, and takes calls from listeners about their own experiences.

A new podcast from Texas Public Radio, Demented, uses interviews and audio diaries to explore the challenges that come with taking care of aging parents. Journalist and host Kitty Eisele shares her experience and what she’s learned from her reporting, and takes calls from listeners about their own experiences.

On Thanksgiving, Disney+ will begin streaming the first of the three-part docuseries,“The Beatles: Get Back,” made by Peter Jackson using footage of The Beatles in recording sessions for the album that would become Let It Be. The docuseries is the final piece of a months-long campaign that includes a photobook of the same name and Let It Be (Super Deluxe), a remastered and expanded box set of the original album. Giles Martin, the son of Beatles producer George Martin, helmed the new box set and mixed the music for the docuseries. He joins us to discuss both.

Thanksgiving is a time for pies, be it Pumpkin, Pecan, Apple, or maybe even Key-Lime if you're feeling dangerous. But there's an art to making a mean pie. Melissa Clark, New York Times Food Section reporter, dishes out her knowledge on all things pies on Thanksgiving Eve. Plus, she takes your calls.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, joins us to talk about gratitude, and what we have to give thanks for after a challenging two years.

Pat Henschel and Terry Donahue met on an ice rink in Saskatchewan, Canada in the late 1940s and fell in love, but spent decades hiding their relationship from the world. Their love story, which also became the two women’s coming out story, was made into a 2020 Netflix documentary called “A Secret Love.” As a part of our Aging While Queer series, we spoke with the documentary's director Chris Bolan about the two women's love story and what it's like coming out at an older age. 

 You can view "A Secret Love" on Netflix. Watch the trailer below: 

Aging While Queer

Michael Adams is the CEO of SAGE, the country’s largest and oldest organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older people. He discusses the many unique challenges facing our LGBTQ+ elders and what his organization SAGE is doing to provide a life of dignity for this underserved community.

Affirming Housing for LGBTQ-SGL Elders

Dr. Woody discusses the importance of affirming housing for LGBTQ-SGL elders and how Mary's House serves as a model for inclusive elders of all gender, racial, and sexual identities.

Aging While Queer in Puerto Rico

[REBROADCAST FROM November 24, 2021] A new podcast from Texas Public Radio, Demented, uses interviews and audio diaries to explore the challenges that come with taking care of aging parents. Journalist and host Kitty Eisele shares her experience and what she’s learned from her reporting.

We are joined by Vulture podcast critic Nick Quah, who comes on to talk his picks for the best podcasts of 2021.

[REBROADCAST FROM November 24, 2021] A new podcast from Texas Public Radio, Demented, uses interviews and audio diaries to explore the challenges that come with taking care of aging parents. Journalist and host Kitty Eisele shares her experience and what she’s learned from her reporting.

[REBROADCAST FROM August 30, 2021] Julio A. Pabón, supervising creative producer at Spotify Studios, joins us to discuss the new Spotify and Futuro Studios Podcast, LOUD: The History of Reggaeton, hosted by Ivy Queen, who's often known as the "Queen of Reggaeton." The show dives into the cultural history and evolution of Reggaeton and its various forms.

New York Magazine's senior art critic Jerry Saltz comes on the show to share his choices for the best art and art exhibitions of 2021.

[REBROADCAST FROM September 30, 2021] Artist Adam Pendleton joins us to discuss his solo show at the Museum of Modern Art, Adam Pendleton: Who Is Queen?, which is on view through January 30, 2022. The large-scale installation features Pendleton’s paintings, drawings, and other works that explore complex themes around identity through use of a wide range of materials and sources.

[REBROADCAST FROM September 29, 2021] Scott Rothkopf, Senior Deputy Director of The Whitney Museum of Art, and Carlos Basualdo, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, join us to preview a new exhibit, Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror, which features over 500 pieces by celebrated American artist Jasper Johns, some of which will be shown in public for the first time. The exhibition is a partnership between the Whitney Museum of Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and is open through February 13, 2022.

André De Shields shares his wisdom from 50 years on the stage, and 76 years on this earth.

You can find our original conversation from our Opportunity Costs series with Ramal Johnson here. Find out more at deathsexmoney.org/class.

Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Got a story to share? Email us any time at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org.

Jennifer Senior, staff writer at The Atlantic, kicks off a series on friendships and discusses her recent articles on the importance of keeping friendships in middle age.  Plus, calls from listeners on how they've maintained and found new friendships in middle age.

As far as keeping friends in my late 30s, it’s been incredibly hard, small kids take up basically any extra time outside of work, and most of my close friends don’t live in NYC anymore. Glad to hear some older callers having success making friends. Gives hope

— Sean, My Own Worst Enemy, Esq. (@sean_comerford) March 2, 2022

My best friend and I met on 14th St. on 9/11 when we were both freshman at NYU. Each year we celebrate that day positively as the start of our friendship. Last year marked 20 years!

— isadora (@isadoratang) March 2, 2022

I have a circle of middle aged friends from around the world. We met through following our favorite band on tour: The Cure. We're all middle aged friends and I don't know what I would do without them. We're planning road and train trips together this fall.

— Arusha Baker (@ArushaBaker) March 2, 2022

Three segments you might have missed from this week's show:

Elie Mystal on Supreme Court news and his new book (First) | Jennifer Senior on the importance of keeping friendships in middle age (Starts at 28:20) | The Brian Lehrer Population Quiz (Starts at 44:10)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

Margaret Atwood, author of short stories, essays, and novels, including The Handmaid's Tale, and her latest collection, Burning Questions: Essays and Occasional Pieces, 2004 to 2021 (Doubleday, 2022), talks about her latest book, plus her response to Jennifer Senior's take on friendship in middle-age and how things change with friends as we get even older.

According to an economist at Indeed, more than a million people have come out of retirement to reenter the workforce. We speak with Dr. Beth Truesdale, an expert on the aging workforce at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, to understand this trend. Dr. Truesdale speaks to the reasons behind unretirement and why retirement works for some and not for others in this country.

Roger Angell, who died last week, at the age of 101, was inducted in 2014 into the Baseball Hall of Fame in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishment as a baseball writer. But in a career at The New Yorker that goes back to the Second World War, he wrote on practically every subject under the sun; he also served as fiction editor, taking the post once held by his mother, Katharine White.  Angell “did as much to distinguish The New Yorker as anyone in the magazine’s nearly century-long history,” David Remnick wrote in a remembrance last week. “His prose and his editorial judgment left an imprint that’s hard to overstate.”  In 2015, Remnick sat down for a long interview with Angell about his career, and particularly his masterful late essays—collected in “This Old Man: All in Pieces”—on aging, loss, and finding new love.

Plus, we join the comedian—a writer for “Late Night with Seth Meyers” and “Pachinko,” and a New Yorker contributor—on her favorite kind of outing: a fishing trip that doesn’t yield any fish.

Your stories about how your personal style has changed in the last few years, and the impact on not only what you wear, but how you see yourself and how you connect with others.

You can check out Bill's art on his website or Instagram, and you can find Stephen's style on his Instagram, or listen to his music on SoundCloud. As for Afi's style inspirations, learn more about DapperQ here, and follow Lydia Okello on Instagram. You can find more of the team's fashion inspirations in this week's newsletter.

Every Wednesday we send out podcast listening recommendations, fascinating letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Got a story to share? Email us at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org.

John Waters is the writer and director of such cult classics like Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom, and his biggest mainstream success, Hairspray. He’s been making movies since the 1960s and this year he released his debut novel, Liarmouth: A Feel Bad Romance.

The novel is an incredibly dirty romp filled with the kind of taboo storytelling that John Waters revels in. In his work, he shines a light on the worst of us but rarely to ridicule, more as a reminder of how gloriously sinful we can be, as we discussed when I spoke with him in his Manhattan home. His interest in the carnal, though, has its limits. “When I got a colonoscopy, they said, do you wanna watch? No!” he told us. “Why do I wanna go on a fantastic voyage up my a–hole?” 

We also talked about money management, aging, and his secret to maintaining his many long friendships. “I do stay in touch and if anything bad happens to you, I call. If you get a bad review, I call. If you go to jail, I definitely am your first visit,” he laughed. “I never don't come visit you if you're in jail.” 

John Waters is the writer and director of such cult classics like Pink Flamingos, Serial Mom, and his biggest mainstream success, Hairspray. He’s been making movies since the 1960s and this year he released his debut novel, Liarmouth: A Feel Bad Romance.

The novel is an incredibly dirty romp filled with the kind of taboo storytelling that John Waters revels in. In his work, he shines a light on the worst of us but rarely to ridicule, more as a reminder of how gloriously sinful we can be, as we discussed when I spoke with him in his Manhattan home. His interest in the carnal, though, has its limits. “When I got a colonoscopy, they said, do you wanna watch? No!” he told us. “Why do I wanna go on a fantastic voyage up my a–hole?” 

We also talked about money management, aging, and his secret to maintaining his many long friendships. “I do stay in touch and if anything bad happens to you, I call. If you get a bad review, I call. If you go to jail, I definitely am your first visit,” he laughed. “I never don't come visit you if you're in jail.” 

Sandra Cisneros is one of America’s most celebrated coming of age writers. Her book The House on Mango Street is a staple in American classrooms and has been translated into more than 20 languages. Her latest book is a collection of poetry called Woman Without Shame. Sandra brought that same shameless spirit to this conversation, including everything from finding birth control and a mode of sexual freedom that worked for her as a working-class Mexican American in the 1970s, to her questionable taste in romantic partners and her decision to move across the border in her late 50s to start a new life for herself and her dogs in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

A powerful intuitive sense has guided all of these choices, Sandra told Anna. She says she’s been sensitive to the world around her since she was a kid – it’s something her mother saw as a weakness. But as Sandra puts it, “I just have a big radar disc.” Over the years, that radar disc has helped her translate natural beauty into poems and receive spiritual messages. It’s been a little less helpful in pointing her away from disastrous relationships, but she’s taken those in stride. “When I was young, it was more like, ‘Where is that other half? Where is he?’” Sandra says, “[But now] I feel a sense of joy and completeness that I didn't feel when I was younger.”

It wasn’t so long ago that Ronald Reagan was considered over the hill, too old to govern. Now a sitting President has turned eighty in office, and a Presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump would put two near-eighty-year-olds against each other. (Trump—while denying President Biden’s fitness—commented, “Life begins at eighty.”) Yet the question of age has not disappeared; even some of Biden’s ardent supporters have expressed concerns about him starting a second term. David Remnick talks with the gerontologist Jack Rowe, a professor at Columbia University who also founded Harvard Medical School’s Division on Aging, about how to evaluate a candidate’s competency for office; and with Jill Lepore and Jane Mayer, keen observers of the Presidency. Rowe argues that ageism underlies the public discourse; an occasional slip or unsteadiness, he thinks, is not consequential to the job. “If I give you a seventy-eight-year-old man with a history of heart disease, you don’t know if he’s in a nursing home or on the Supreme Court of the United States,” he tells Remnick. But Lepore and Mayer argue public opinion, and not only medical prognosis, should be considered seriously as we look at aging politicians. If Biden and Trump face off, Lepore says, “Age won’t be an issue between them. But age will be an issue for American voters. . . . I think of the young people that I teach everyday. They will be furious.” Mayer sees something anti-democratic in play as well. “Incumbency is such an advantage at this point,” she notes, that “it leads to gerontocracy,” because “it’s really hard to unseat someone.”

It wasn’t so long ago that Ronald Reagan running for office at sixty-eight was considered over the hill; the Presidential race in 2024 may feature two men close to eighty. What accounts for the change in attitudes? David Remnick talks with the staff writers Jane Mayer and Jill Lepore, along with the prominent gerontologist Jack Rowe, about how to evaluate a candidate’s competency for office—and what to make of public opinion on the matter. Plus, the author Deepti Kapoor talks with the staff writer Parul Sehgal about Kapoor’s highly anticipated new novel “Age of Vice,” a sprawling thriller of crime and corruption set in India’s capital. 

It wasn’t so long ago that Ronald Reagan was considered over the hill, too old to govern. Now a sitting President has turned eighty in office, and a Presidential contest between Joe Biden and Donald Trump would put two near-eighty-year-olds against each other. (Trump—while denying President Biden’s fitness—commented, “Life begins at eighty.”) Yet the question of age has not disappeared; even some of Biden’s ardent supporters have expressed concerns about him starting a second term. David Remnick talks with the gerontologist Jack Rowe, a professor at Columbia University who also founded Harvard Medical School’s Division on Aging, about how to evaluate a candidate’s competency for office; and with Jill Lepore and Jane Mayer, keen observers of the Presidency. Rowe argues that ageism underlies the public discourse; an occasional slip or unsteadiness, he thinks, is not consequential to the job. “If I give you a seventy-eight-year-old man with a history of heart disease, you don’t know if he’s in a nursing home or on the Supreme Court of the United States,” he tells Remnick. But Lepore and Mayer argue public opinion, and not only medical prognosis, should be considered seriously as we look at aging politicians. If Biden and Trump face off, Lepore says, “Age won’t be an issue between them. But age will be an issue for American voters. . . . I think of the young people that I teach everyday. They will be furious.” Mayer sees something anti-democratic in play as well. “Incumbency is such an advantage at this point,” she notes, that “it leads to gerontocracy,” because “it’s really hard to unseat someone.”

As millennials begin to enter their 40s, many have found that middle age looks different for this generation than it has in the past. Jessica Grose, opinion writer at The New York Times, delves into this phenomenon as millennial callers share their own experiences of hitting middle age.

"This Isn’t What Millennial Middle Age Was Supposed to Look Like" (NYT, 3/14/23)

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D NY), talks about her work in Washington, including her new Five-Point Aging Plan, preserving SNAP benefits, the mifepristone cases and more.

Beverly Glenn-Copeland was in his 20s when he left a classical singing career to create experimental music. And at the time, making that change didn’t feel scary. “I felt totally free,” he told Anna. “I wasn't afraid of it. It was just like, this is what it is. I'm free to explore this.”

But it took decades for that gamble to pay off, and 2020 was supposed to be Glenn’s breakthrough year. At 76 years old, he was going to go on an international tour, and move into a new home with his wife, Elizabeth. But then the pandemic hit, his tour was canceled and he lost his housing.

When Anna and Glenn first spoke in 2020, he talked about his complex relationship with his parents growing, quietly releasing his music for years, and how his newer fans supported him during the precarity of the early months of the pandemic. This year, Glenn’s releasing a new album, and he’s finally going on tour. And even with the success he’s found, there are still moments of uncertainty. Glenn and Elizabeth told Anna about what’s changed—and what hasn’t.

Listen to the music in this episode from Glenn’s album, "Transmissions," here, and you can stream his new album, “The Ones Ahead,” here.

For weeks, political coverage has been dominated with discourse over the age of American politicians and their ability to hold office as they continue to age. As presidential elections get closer, the focus has shifted to President Joe Biden, who at 80 is the oldest sitting president in American history. When it comes to questions about his capacity to serve four more years, most of us don’t have the expertise even to make an educated guess. OTM correspondent Micah Loewinger speaks with Dr. Steven N. Austad, The University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Protective Life Endowed Chair in Healthy Aging Research, about the president's medical history, the science of aging, and if there's such thing as being "too old" to hold office.

This is a segment from our September 15, 2023 show, The “Too Old” President and Political Doppelgängers.

Katy Schneider, features editor at New York Magazine, reflects on "the pandemic skip," which she describes in a recent essay in The Cut as "the strange sensation that our bodies might be a step out of sync with our minds." 

→ The Pandemic Skip

We love the theologian Kate Bowler's allergy to every platitude and her wisdom and wit about the strange and messy fullness of what it means to be in a human body. She's best known for her 2018 book Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I've Loved) — a poetic and powerful reflection on learning at age 35 that she had Stage IV colon cancer. 

From a reset on how to think about aging, to the new reality in our time of living with cancer as a chronic illness, to the telling of truths to our young, this beautiful conversation is full of the vividly whole humanity that Kate Bowler singularly embodies. 

(Also, as you'll hear, if she hadn't become a theologian, she might have been a stand-up comedian.)

Krista and Kate spoke as part of the 2023 Aspen Ideas Festival.

Kate Bowler's beloved books include Everything Happens for a Reason (And Other Lies I’ve Loved) and most recently, The Lives We Actually Have: 100 Blessings for Imperfect Days. She is an associate professor at Duke Divinity School and made an early name in her field of American religious history with her 2013 book Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel. She also hosts the podcast Everything Happens.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

_____

Sign up for The Pause — a Saturday morning companion to the podcast season.

Anna and Ellen Burstyn check in 9 years after they first spoke. Ellen talks about the relationships that make up her life in this moment, her dog, and finding novelty in the everyday.

You can listen to the original interview here. 

Did you know we have a weekly email newsletter for the Death, Sex & Money community? Every Wednesday we send out a note from Anna, fascinating listener letters from our inbox, and updates from the show. Sign up at deathsexmoney.org/newsletter, and follow the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Got a story to share? Email us at deathsexmoney@wnyc.org.

A wondrous, buried treasure from the 20-year On Being archive, with renowned yoga teacher Matthew Sanford. Be prepared, as you listen to what follows, to take in subtleties and gracefulness you've never before pondered — or tried to feel in yourself — in the interplay between your mind and your body.

Matthew has an immensely energetic physical presence. He has been paralyzed from the chest down since a car accident in 1978. But he likes to say that his experience is only more extreme, not so different, from that of everyone else. He's written, "We are all leaving our bodies — this is the inevitable arc of living. Death cannot be avoided; neither can the inward silence that comes with the aging process." Matthew’s intricate knowledge of that "inward silence," which he was forced to befriend after the noisy connections which most of us take for granted were severed — it’s revelatory. So is his insistence that it’s not possible to live more deeply in your body — in all its grace and all its flaws — without becoming more compassionate towards all of life. And: if you do yoga, you will never think about what it is affecting inside you in the same way again.

Krista sat with Matthew Sanford in 2006, just after he'd published his beautiful book Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence.

Matthew Sanford is the founder and president of Mind Body Solutions. He teaches yoga for all kinds of bodies, including adaptive yoga classes weekly, and holds regular virtual gatherings with people around the world. A video library of his teaching methods for yoga teachers is freely available. His book is Waking: A Memoir of Trauma and Transcendence.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

______

Sign up for The Pause — a Saturday morning companion to the podcast season.

Host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about people inserting themselves into the lives of others—in their own best interests.In Simon Rich’s “Relapse” friends rally ‘round when one of their number heeds the call of the muse.  It’s read by Ophira Eisenberg.  In Langston Hughes’ “Thank You, M’am,” read by Pauletta Washington, a fierce old lady sets a young man straight.  And a young woman finds an ingenious way to cheer up retirees—and herself—in Miranda July’s “The Swim Team,” read by Parker Posey. 

As people age, health often becomes a larger focus in their lives—their joints become a little more achy, or their vision less sharp. Some might even be dealing with a new diagnosis.

To handle these ailments, doctors might prescribe medications, or diet and lifestyle changes. But there’s often one big factor missing from these conversations: a patient’s social well-being.

Sociology researcher Dr. Linda Waite has been tracking the social health of thousands of research participants ranging in age from 50 to over 100, for 15 years. The study is ongoing, and so far she’s found that the social aspects of our lives play a big role in our long-term physical and mental health and well-being as we age.

Ira talks with Dr. Linda Waite, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and head of the National Social Life, Health & Aging Project in front of a live audience at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, presented with WBEZ and Mindworks. 

To stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

On today's show: 

• Mayor Adams holds one off-topic press conference per week, where reporters can ask him questions on any subject. Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, recaps what he talked about at this week's event. 

• U.S. Senator (D, NY) Kirsten Gillibrand talks about her work in Washington and more.     

• As February winds down, listeners try their hand at quiz questions related to Black History Month.    

• Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, offers advice for avoiding scams and other personal finance guidance.  

• In this membership-drive mini-series, we get to know about hobbies and building skills and finding communities for fun. Today, Knitty City's Nancy Ricci, knitter, crocheter, weaver, and pattern designer with Knitty City yarn store, shares her passion for knitting.  

In her new memoir, cultural influencer Lyn Slater explains how she followed her passions and started her fashion blog, Accidental Icon, at age sixty-one. She joins us to discuss aging gracefully and her book, How to Be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon.

*This segment is guest-hosted by Tiffany Hanssen*

On this episode of Selected Shorts, host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about change. A playful fantasy, a domestic dilemma, and a private struggle help us to adjust to the idea of transformation, losses, and gains.  In “Sea Monster,” by Seth Fried, performed by Natasha Rothwell, a husband and wife reveal their secret identities to each other.  In “Death by Printer,” by Mira Jacob, read by Rita Wolf, a widow learns to cope with loss—and technology.  And a mature woman embraces the self she is becoming in Maile Meloy’s “Period Piece,” performed by Kelli O’Hara.  The last two stories were commissioned for Selected Shorts’ anthology Small Odysseys.