Last Week’s Links

Leaving the Law Behind for My Dream Job

“Maurice Carlos Ruffin on finding the courage to pivot to fiction writing in mid-life.”

At age 41, Maurice Carlos Ruffin quit his job as a lawyer and published his first book. He admits that he made more money as a lawyer, “[b]ut the satisfaction I have now is more than worth it.”

I’m always inspired by stories of people who have the courage to, as Joseph Campbell put it, follow their bliss.

Not Home for the Holidays

People across the country are saying no more to holiday obligations. After the drain of the pandemic, some are choosing to skip the stress of travel or of spending hours around a table with people they don’t entirely enjoy. Even those who like their families are choosing to be apart, opting instead to be with friends who live close to them or to go on far-flung trips they’ve always wanted to take.

Almost two years after COVID hit, Tacoma’s senior centers remain closed. It’s taking a toll

This story pertains to my city, but it discusses a problem that hadn’t occurred to me. Perhaps the same thing has happened where you live?

Two Musicals on the Perils of Aging

Those of us who don’t live in New York City don’t have direct access to this type of entertainment, but just reading about them can give us food for thought. Do you think of your older-life as a musical? I certainly don’t think of mine that way.

COVID time warp

“Scientists are beginning to unpack the way people processed the passage of time amidst the stress, uncertainty and isolation of the 1 year, 8 months and 21 days since WHO declared a pandemic.”

Do you remember how eagerly, a year ago, we thought about hanging up a new calendar for a new year that would undoubtedly erase the pain of 2020? And look how that turned out. Now, instead, we face another new year—but one of uncertainly about whether this pandemic will ever end. No wonder our sense of time has become so disjointed. 

This article looks at some research into the brain’s ability to perceive and predict time—“a fundamental feature of life.”

As U.S. Nears 800,000 Virus Deaths, 1 of Every 100 Older Americans Has Perished

Although people 65 and over are among the most vaccinated in the U.S., they “make up about three-quarters of the nation’s coronavirus death toll.”

“In both sharp and subtle ways, the pandemic has amplified an existing divide between older and younger Americans.”

2021 in Review: The Year in Vibes

“2021 feels as though it does and does not exist, a hangover from the depths of terror in 2020.”

Kyle Chayka reports that 2021 “has offered an unplaceable vibe.” It was supposed to be the year when we broke out of the funk caused by the COVID pandemic. Instead, we had new variants of the virus that made 2021 much like a continuation of 2020. 

“A year that never started can’t really end, either, and so the boundary of the New Year feels unreal as well. But the time did pass, and in looking back we have to recall grace where we can.” 

Here Chayka presents his “attempt to capture the year’s ambiguous nonverbal phenomena, both positive and negative.”

© 2021 by Mary Daniels Brown