End-of-life conversations can be hard, but your loved ones will thank you
Deborah Carr, professor of sociology at Boston University, writes “most people dread thinking and talking about when, how or under what conditions they might die.”
Although most people know they should talk about these issues with loved ones, most don’t actually have the difficult discussion, Carr reports. “But everyone should talk about and prepare for death precisely because we want to minimize our own suffering at the end of life, and soften the anguish of loved ones left behind.”
Here Carr offers some guidance about both what to talk about and how to initiate the discussion.
In 1973, ‘Soylent Green’ envisioned the world in 2022. It got a lot right.
George Bass discusses how the film Soylent Green, released in 1973 and set “in the then-far-off future of 2022,” is “eerily prescient” in its portrayal of what is now our present.
The Federal Writers’ Project: Exploring “The Greatest Literary Project in History”
“Now, some in Congress are looking to the FWP as a model for a new jobs program for writers,” writes Clare Barnett. Read her history of the original Federal Writers’ Project, developed to employ writers in “the biggest public works program in American history” during the Great Depression.
Pickleball: The Rules, Rise, and Reach of a Surging Sport
Kenny Ducey reports on pickleball, “the racquet sport that has taken the world by storm over the past few years.” He defines core players as those who play at least 8 times over a year; these players “skew older, with 54% of them aged 55 and up.”
Janis Ian Lets Her Music Speak Her Mind (One Last Time)
“At 70, the singer-songwriter who has always been unafraid of difficult subjects is releasing a final album, ‘The Light at the End of the Line.’”
With all the recent obituaries of musical greats from the Boomer era, I was glad to find a story about one who is still performing.
The COVID-19 pandemic has inspired new health habits for these 4 scholars – here’s what they put into practice and why
Four academics discuss the habits they have developed to help them cope with the stress of the ongoing pandemic.
© 2022 by Mary Daniels Brown
Retreading for Retirement 