Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing Gail Rentsch about her new book, "Smarter Women Don't Retire—They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time through my Careers group on Eons.com.
It was a novel idea, lots of fun, and if you missed it, head over to the Q&A and get a feel for the concept of the online interview yourself!
Looking for something to do on Wednesday...around 11 PST or 2 EST? Then you might want to take part in the new form of online book touring -- the online interview. Yours truly will be interviewing Gail Rentsch, author of Smart Women Don't Retire—They Break Free: From Working Full-Time to Living Full-Time, live and online through my very popular and active group on Eons, Careers for Boomers and 50 Plus. To observe, simply head over to the group at: http://www.eons.com/groups/group/careers-for-boomers-and-50-plus
If you want to want to take part in the interactive component and ask a few of your own questions, make sure to head over to Eons in advance and sign up as a member (you can only post messages and replies, or to join groups if you are an Eons member.)
Gail's book take a candid, fact-filled look at the challenging transitions women face in their 50's and 60's and how that translates into real life. This promises to be a fun and lively exchange, so don't miss it.
So, how will it work online?
When you head over to the group on Wednesday., you'll see a message with the title "Janet (Gen Plus) interviews Gail (Smart Women) HERE!" You'll see my questions and Gail's responses within THAT message stream. At the same time, you can post your own question to Gail by starting a new message and she'll respond in real time, or if you are shy, just send me a "private message" and I'll ask your question for you through my message stream. We've only got a tight 30 minutes with Gail on her busy book tour schedule, but don't worry -- if you have questions that don't get answered in time, Gail will come back and answer them later that day.
What if I can't join you?
If you can't join us live, but have questions about your own transition that you'd like to have answered, feel free to send me your questions in advance (through private message on Eons or at wspiegel@genplususa.com ) and I'll do my best to get them included in our discussion.Should be fun! Looking forward to having you join us. Great book, great author, great group. Nuff said. Hope to see you on Wednesday at 11 PST, 2pm EST.
Just released Cryo Kid: Drawing a New Map is already picking up some attention. Over at Touched by the Stork, blogger Kathryn gives a revealing write-up of the book:
It's hard not to be touched by the story of a grandmother who has watched her daughter struggle with infertility and who finally sees a granddaughter born through the use of cryogenics. It's particularly hard not to be touched when you know that the story is true and that it's told straight from the heart.
Corinne Heather Copnick has published just this book called Cryo Kid: Drawing a New Map. And there is more to it than meets the eye.
Although the book is written from the perspective of the grandmother, it also adds in the voice of the granddaughter (the girl who was born through cryogenics.) And surprisingly, it adds in the voice of the sperm donor who made her birth possible, touching on the fact that this girl has siblings out there in the world. More importantly, it takes a very real and human perspective at looking at the issue of infertility and the technological treatment options that are available today.
Anyone who has gone through the struggle of dealing with infertility will benefit from reading this book.
I have so many items to cover this week, but they will have to wait another day. I'll be sharing a brilliant start up, Brighter Planet, and the web-conference I took part in (all about carbon offsets, carbon footprints and conservation.) And I'll introduce you to an innovative new way to help boomers and 50 plussers get a virtual foot in the door through video-resumes at CV-Vision.
But all that is temporarily pre-empted today because of an exciting bit of news that flew into my email this morning...
As announced earlier this week, my mom released her new book "Cryo Kid: Drawing a New Map." One of the resources in the book is Donor Sibling Registry (or DSR). Headed by the dynamic Wendy Kramer, DSR evolved out of a desire and a need for donor offspring to connect and a desire from the anonymous donors themselves to contact their offspring.
I found out about Wendy after I'd had my daughter (by DI, or donor insemination -- long story, better buy the book!) I'd used the California Cryobank in order to find a donor, however, I hadn't had success finding out if my daughter had any siblings...or for that matter if her biological father would want to know about her. Out of the blue, someone mailed me a copy of an article...about the Donor Sibling Registry. I jumped online, donated my $40 for a membership, and searched out my donor. Imagine my delight when his number connected me to four moms and eight other siblings. The rest of the story is outlined in the book, but I contacted Wendy Kramer minutes after connecting with the first mom and we've stayed in touch from time to time.
I let Wendy know about the release of Cryo Kid, and coincidentally, she let me know that she was going to be on OPRAH (Friday, February 8th) specifically to look at donor fathers and siblings. My DVR is set up and ready to go.
The world is changing due to technology. No matter what anyone wants or believes, it is changing as fast (faster) than the internet changed our method of communication. I'm proud to say that I'm a supporter of DSR, one of society's changers. I'm proud to be connected to Wendy Kramer through her registry. She's a dedicated and enthusiastic warrior, and I'm delighted that she is getting the additional recognition this week.
It is rare that I can proudly share a profound, pivotal moment in the life of my family. And even rarer that I can share it with the rest of the world. 
Corinne Heather Copnick invites you to join her in celebrating Los Angeles guest writer, Corinne Copnick, shares thoughts she penned before Michael Moore stirred up the pot with "Sicko". In Sicko, Michael Moore took a couple of boat's worth of ailing people to Cuba for medical care (and it looks like he may be in trouble with the U.S. government now.) In this satirical (and I think really funny) look at the crumbling US health care system, we can look to the future...at least, Mexico has diplomatic relations with the U.S.
A great man, and my friend, Cass Brown, died earlier this week after a very long and challenging few years living with cancer. Cass started a blog several years ago, called Cancergiggles, shortly after surviving his EDD (Estimated Death Date) and went on to write one of the funniest, most joyful, authentic web diaries (blog) on the internet. He had over 675,000 visitors to his blog, self-published a book, and was set for republication by a respected publisher. His sharp British wit and compelling story caught the attention of BBC television and numerous publications.
But more than anything, he was a true heart. He had great love for his wife and children and stayed living as long as he could for his daughter.
He believed in finding the humor in everything and gave strength and courage to thousands and thousands of visitors over the course of his years of writing. I met Cass online and we forged a cyber-friendship and an instant connection. He gave me insight and a view of life that I had never really focused on before and we shared many laughs, including my one failed (very failed) attempt at a Skype phone call with him, but at least he brought me into the "age of blog".
Cass, wherever you are, your dear, dear family, people the world over, your visitors from all of the seven continents, all of us, will miss you dearly. I hope you find a way to send a chuckle on back to us here. Thank you for bringing the heart of cancer to the forefront of so many people's minds and conversations. And I'm so happy that you made it to 2007.
Wendy
Kathy Caprino in Westport, Connecticut, has asked us to spread the word. If you are a 35 - 55 year old woman, in a professional transition and want to speak out, read on. Please contact Kathy directly with any questions on this study. Her coordinates are at the bottom of this post.
Announcing a New National In-Depth Research Study:
Women Amidst and After Professional Crisis:
Finding New Meaning in Life and Work
In association with The Esteemed Woman Foundation
Are you a 35 to 55 year-old woman currently in a professional transition? Or have you navigated through professional crisis or transition in successful ways? Do you know of any women who are/have? If so, I'd love to hear from you!
Kathy Caprino, M.A., marriage and family therapist, personal and professional coach, and co-founder of Living in Harmony—The Center for Emotional Health, in association with The Esteemed Woman Foundation, is conducting a national in-depth research study with professional women age 35 to 55 who are currently experiencing, or have successfully transitioned beyond, a professional crisis or major turning point in their careers.
This study looks at women who have spent at least 10 years developing their mid- to high-level careers that by all standards would be considered “successful;” yet they’ve awakened to a crisis of meaning regarding their work and its role in their lives. Mid-life women who are re-assessing their careers in relation to issues around: the contribution they are making, meaningfulness, satisfaction, fulfillment, balancing personal and professional lives, and integrating newly-emerging longings, priorities, values, and needs, are all invited to participate.
The study’s target audience will resonate with the statement:
“I am a professional woman who wishes to work, but how I am working, and what I am working on is no longer working for me.”
The goal of this study is to collect and disseminate data on a wide range of psychological, cultural, and social constructs that will expand our current understanding of what contributes to these types of crises, how these crises differ in various cultures, and new alternatives, options, and approaches to navigate through them successfully.
If you believe you fit the above criteria and are interested in participating in this study (anonymously if you wish), or for more information, please contact Kathy Caprino at 203-226-6210, ext 3 or email her at caprinocoaching@yahoo.com.
For more information, please contact:Kathy Caprino, M.A.
Living in Harmony – The Center for Emotional Health
164 Kings Highway North
Westport, CT 06880
(203) 226-6210, ext. 3
Email: caprinocoaching@yahoo.com
Websites:
http://www.kathycaprino.com/
http://www.livinginharmonycenter.com/
Blogger extraordinaire and Gen Plus guest writer, Cass Brown, of Cancergiggles repute pens some new thoughts on life. For those of you who have not yet met Cass, visit him at his compelling blog, Cancergiggles. Living with a challenging cancer, Cass' methodology is to laugh his way through life. And so far he is beating the odds and has surpassed his due date by quite a bit...which has the medical community somewhat delighted and flummoxed at the same time. And best of all...he's 50 plus. To purchase his book (limited edition and he's working on the next one, so get it while still available) visit our Shop page at Gen Plus. We're thrilled to offer what we believe will soon be a bestseller internationally.
You don't have an excuse for having that "it's all over" attitude just because you are 50. I could have had an excuse, because for me it looked like it really was all over (being dead is the only good excuse, and I was almost there) but for some reason it just seemed to be a waste.
Having taken a 3 year sabbatical from the world, due to some niggles with tumours, surgery and a legal dispute with the Grim Reaper, 9 days before I hit the magic five-oh I started to do something different. It had become increasingly clear that my talents as statesman, diplomat, media tycoon and brain surgeon were being ignored, so I decided that I needed to do something for the hell of it. I started to write.
As a career move, deciding to become a writer is just about as dumb as putting your name down for the next moon landing because I am told that statistically, you have a greater chance of being murdered than getting a book published. It would therefore, be very stupid indeed to waste your time following this sort of dream and you should buckle down and accept that you are of little or no value to society so should spend your time doing jigsaw puzzles until they put you in a retirement home. Unfortunately, this sort of incisive wisdom was not available to me so like an idiot, I went on TV last week to discuss the fact that my first book will be available in the shops here in the UK in a couple of weeks.
I would hate anyone to think that I am advocating that they should take up writing for a living; because the odds really are pretty poor and quite frankly I can really do without the competition. The point however, is that despite what you may tell yourself, the main barrier to achieving what you want, stares out at you from the mirror every morning.
Award-winning writer, Corinne Copnick* is a regular guest writer for Gen Plus. Enjoy this abridged version of her story from "How to Live Alone Until You Like It...and then you're ready for somebody else."
I’m sorry I didn’t save all the rejection letters. They would have made interesting wall paper with a repetitive motif. Most of them went something like this:
Thank you very much for your recent application. Although we were impressed with your résumé, we have received a large number of applications from highly qualified candidates like yourself. We were able to short list only some of them. The position has been filled by a candidate whose experience most closely matched our needs. We will keep your résumé on file should another suitable position become available.
After you receive five hundred or more letters that tell you how outstanding your qualities are, but that there is someone whose qualifications are more closely suited to the position advertised, you begin to think you may not get a post commensurate with your abilities. You contact all kinds of people and organizations who tell you your qualities are so outstanding you should be a “big-C” consultant. You apply for jobs that do not demand the abilities you possess.
When you apply for a job as a saleslady at a fine jewelry store and hand them your professional résumé, they think you’re crazy. When you apply for a job as a secretary or receptionist, they raise their eyebrows at your graduate degrees and tell you you’re overqualified. You find yourself being interviewed by people half your age or by someone who knows you could do his/her job and naturally won’t hire you as his/her junior.
I went to the first of the several reputable community vocational services that I had contacted.
“We don’t have managerial posts,” the rather drab lady in charge said. “If you need money desperately, I can place you as a waitress or in a warehouse.”
“I’m not that desperate yet,” I replied.
Then I thought of actress Bette Davis who once placed an ad announcing that she, a former Academy Award Winner, needed a job. She got one! In a horror film, true, but she swallowed her pride to survive. My accomplishments were no match for Bette Davis, but they were considerable in their own way. I, too, would have to swallow my pride to succeed. I would not let my accomplishments be a stumbling block.
But when I applied for a job that was just that, a job (okay, not a warehouse yet), the prospective employer shook his head, “You’ll never stay.”
“I need the money,” I replied. “My financial planner says I’m not ready to retire yet.”
Not his problem.
When I visited my octogenarian Aunt Sarah, she also shook her head sagely when I complained that I couldn’t even get a job as a dishwasher.
“They’re all machines now dear, anyway,” she said consolingly.
I finally got a job answering 33 old-style telephone lines for a Luddite company whose customers were fed up with voice mail. They liked having a mature human being answer the phone. So when I next visited my Aunt Sarah, she asked, “How’s the new job going?”
“It only pays ten dollars an hour,” I said. “But I’m also working for myself on evenings and weekends.”
“For yourself?”
“I’m self-employed,” I said proudly. “My own business. I’m an employment consultant.”
“An employment consultant?” she gasped.
“Yes, Aunt Sarah. I’m teaching people how to apply for five hundred jobs and still smile.”
“Oh,” said Aunt Sarah, relieved. “You must be very good at it. You have lots of experience.”
(*Excerpted from HOW TO LIVE ALONE UNTIL YOU LIKE IT…AND THEN YOU ARE READY FOR SOMEBODY ELSE by Corinne Copnick, © Toronto, 1994. All rights reserved.)
Cass Brown is a regular contributor to the Gen Plus Blog. Take a minute and you'll draw several grins and possibly a few hearty chuckles.Cass' blog in the UK, the very popular, VERY funny, and very personal Cancergiggles, has drawn over a quarter of a million visitors over the past two years. In his words, "Cancergiggles is an idiot's guide to accepting, living with, laughing at and dying from cancer. The very, very last bit I can't be absolutely sure of, but then who the hell can? I could have written some beautifully crafted, grammatically correct essays but I hope you will understand, that when I say "I don't have a lot of time" I mean it far more literally than you do. I just wanted scribble a few thoughts to maybe light a spark in people - and then it became a book about Cancer, Life, Death, Illness and Politics". His book is available through http://www.genplususa.com/shop.aspx, www.lulu.com, or for a signed copy, directly through his site.
His job at 50 plus is,in fact, living with cancer, and though he's not sufficiently salaried for his skill set, has the insight of a Fortune 100 CEO or, for that matter, the Surgeon General.
I can't actually put a date on when I became what I am, but I'm pretty sure that it was around the time I was nearly dead about four years ago. There were no blinding lights or world shattering revelations - in fact I was so far out of my nut on morphine, that I think that this me crept in whilst I wasn't looking. Cancer is damn tricky.
The comic bit of me, to the serious annoyance of many, has always been pretty much to the fore because put simply, I have always preferred laughing to crying and have found that I operate far more efficiently when my ribs hurt. Since I nearly went to the big Comedy Club in the sky however, I have become far more analytical about the positive benefits of my somewhat ridiculous view of life. 
For a start I am still breathing, long after the medics had expected me to ART (Assume Room Temperature) and I put this down to exercising my lungs by laughing. Jogging or working out sure as hell aren't responsible for me still being here, nor is my lifelong chairmanship of the Temperance League. Having always treated my body as a temple (the drunken orgy, Walpurgis Night, ritual sacrifice, completely in ruins sort of temple), I could well have expected that by now I would have been having a seriously long snooze in a box. Instead I laughed myself silly all the way through the crap (just noticed I mistyped that as carp and that really wouldn't make a lot of sense even to me) and discomfort and giggled at what an amazing mess I am. My insides feel like they were put together by an extremely splintered committee and my outside looks like it was stitched together by a drunken Glaswegian welder. Stercus Accidit. (Ed. note: a little bit of Latin for you.)
What really made all this gel as a conscious way of life, was the unexpected response I got when I started to write about it in a blog. I instinctively knew that it was the best way for me and my family, but was honestly astonished that so many people already were or became adherents to the "don't take it too seriously" theory. I have been positively encouraged by the medics even though they have been on the receiving end of many a wicked comment, the sick and lame joined in the fun and what surprises me more than anything is that droves of normal, healthy folk seem to think it's a bloody good way to live. 
The last thing I ever expected to become is a preacher, because my only real qualification is that I've got a hat. I wonder what the odds are of succeeding as an evangelical TV comic?
Cass Brown is a regular contributor to the Gen Plus Blog. Take a minute and you'll draw several grins and possibly a few hearty chuckles.
Cass' own blog in the UK, the very popular, VERY funny, and very personal Cancergiggles, has drawn over a quarter of a million visitors over the past two years. In his words, "Cancergiggles is an idiot's guide to accepting, living with, laughing at and dying from cancer. The very, very last bit I can't be absolutely sure of, but then who the hell can? I could have written some beautifully crafted, grammatically correct essays but I hope you will understand, that when I say "I don't have a lot of time" I mean it far more literally than you do. I just wanted scribble a few thoughts to maybe light a spark in people - and then it became a book about Cancer, Life, Death, Illness and Politics". His book is available through http://www.genplususa.com/shop.aspx, www.lulu.com, or directly through his site.
If your invisible friend threatens to leave you because he/she is bored with you, then you know it's time for a rethink and equally, those without an invisible friend are in need of a major shake up.
There are two sides to being boring but they are inextricably linked. Firstly, if you are bored with yourself, life can be really, really dull. 
Waking up each day, knowing that you aren't likely to do, say or think anything of a non-boring nature, is the same as having your life support switched off. Why bother going through the whole rigmarole of living, if you are effectively a human cardboard cut out? Clearly there are two options here - leave the planet or start using the grey stuff. Ridiculous things are the best and easiest start because they make you laugh and laughing people don't bore themselves. When you can look at yourself as being ridiculous, it's even better - this is worth gold.
The second side of being boring affects those around you, and possibly more critically, those who may want to employ you. Given equal job qualifications I will always employ the person who comes to work on a camel, over the greyish blur of a creature who was in the same interview line. I can honestly say that the times when I have been the most productive and have really achieved the impossible, have been those when humour was in control. The reason for this is that the chemicals released into the brain by laughter are so much stronger and effective than those released by fear and they are also entirely positive. Have you ever noticed that after being seriously frightened, many people laugh hysterically? So why not cut out the middle man and go directly to the enjoyable bit.
There are obviously many other ways not to be boring, but these are all for advanced pupils who have already mastered the basics and they can be dangerous if attempted by novices. The first step in assessing your current level is quite simple. Go look in the mirror. If you didn't smile or laugh, you have a lot of work in front of you.
My quote for today
"I always keep a stimulant handy in case I see a snake - which I also keep handy." WC Fields
Cass Brown is a regular contributor to the Gen Plus Blog.
Cass' own blog in the UK, the very popular, VERY funny, and very personal Cancergiggles, has drawn over a quarter of a million visitors over the past two years. In his words, "Cancergiggles is an idiot's guide to accepting, living with, laughing at and dying from cancer. The very, very last bit I can't be absolutely sure of, but then who the hell can? I could have written some beautifully crafted, grammatically correct essays but I hope you will understand, that when I say "I don't have a lot of time" I mean it far more literally than you do. I just wanted scribble a few thoughts to maybe light a spark in people - and then it became a book about Cancer, Life, Death, Illness and Politics". His book is available through http://www.genplususa.com/shop.aspx, www.lulu.com, or directly through his site.
There always seemed to be a common belief that as years attach themselves to you, your body has a tendency to begin causing problems. The fitness revolution has meant that this is no longer written in tablets of stone and the norm is that good health can be expected well into our allotted span. I don't do norms.
I opted for my own rebellion by going the major invasive surgery, radiotherapy, drugs and disability route and bizarre as it may sound, it was of the best things I have ever done. Resist, if you will, the temptation to call in my local nut doctor, whilst I try to explain.
As I approached 17,000 days, I was doing all of the things which were expected of a married man of my age. Hunting nuts and mushrooms, chopping wood and partying - just like you. 
The appearance of a tumour the size of a small goat, came as no surprise and the ensuing medical interventions provided some interesting distractions and novel experiences. The most interesting side effect however, was the discovery that there was still an enormous amount of laughing to be done. Having always been of a fairly cheerful and humorous nature, I discovered that becoming single minded in my stupidity, brought me a great deal of satisfaction and seemed to actually have positive benefits for those I came in contact with. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, I found that I could communicate my attitudes to large numbers of people and I found to my utter astonishment that there were lots of folk who agreed with me. For the most part, these aren't chopped up people like me, they are just the ones who want to live - not exist - live.
I think that it is the realization that living does not entail bungee jumping or snowboarding that is the breakthrough. The grey stuff that does the thinking is the only really important bit and as long as you have an adequate exercise regime for it, it will let you enjoy pretty well everything. Let me give you an example of living. I used to get very frustrated if I was wasting time sitting in a waiting room with a magazine, but there is no need, because you can think of a pig. Making your head work out of context is great fun because nobody around you understands and as long as you can resist the temptation to make pig related comments to your fellow waiters it is fairly harmless. Pigs, like most things, are very funny indeed.
I think my point is this. At some stage in your past, you were conditioned to think in a certain adult way and that is where things became dull. Now you are reaching an age where you don't have to care, you can forget the brain washing and just think for the hell of it. Think what you like. 
Gen Plus welcomes columnist Cass Brown to the Gen Plus Blog.
Cass' blog, Cancergiggles, has drawn over a quarter of a million visitors over the past two years. In his words, "Cancergiggles is an idiot's guide to accepting, living with, laughing at and dying from cancer. The very, very last bit I can't be absolutely sure of, but then who the hell can? I could have written some beautifully crafted, grammatically correct essays but I hope you will understand, that when I say "I don't have a lot of time" I mean it far more literally than you do. I just wanted scribble a few thoughts to maybe light a spark in people - and then it became a book about Cancer, Life, Death, Illness and Politics". His book is available through http://www.genplususa.com/shop.aspx, www.lulu.com, or directly through his site.
Time to Quit
by Cass Brown
So that’s it then. Yesterday, when you were 49, you were still part of a vibrant human race, but this morning you’re 50, so you may as well check into the funeral home now. Your body is falling apart and is only any use as spares and your brain has turned to mush. You are incoherent, incompetent and incontinent and you will probably need to pay to get towed away as scrap. Your ID is withdrawn, bank account closed, credit rating in minus figures and the only employment available to you is as a tour guide in the sewerage system. Who is to blame for this sorry state of affairs? You are Dumbo, because you let yourself get a whole 24 hours older than you were this time yesterday. More to the point – you let it matter.
When exactly was it that you stopped laughing? When did you start taking yourself so seriously? When did you grow up? Pinpoint that date (because it all happens at the same time) and I can guarantee to show you a life graph that heads steadily south. No need to worry – thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, you can probably hang on being a miserable waste of space for another 40 or 50 years. On the other hand, you could have a helluva lot of fun, fighting the bastards who perpetuate the system which wants to consign you to the garbage, and well, just having fun. It’s time to fix the problem.
I think I had my 50th birthday in about 30 years time. It says 1954 on my birth certificate, but that’s clearly a clerical error because my 11 year old daughter thinks I’m far more immature than her even though I’m better at telling silly jokes and pulling faces. Plus I can walk like a crab because the surgeons chopped me up a while ago. Plus I just took her camping in storms in the high Pyrenees in a very little tent even though I can’t really stand up for long without falling over. Plus I wear an outrageous hat. Plus I laugh. A lot.
If anyone would like to learn about how to do some of these things, just ask and I will explain further (apart from walking like a crab because that’s my trick). Soon, I will also tell you how to not let dates matter, how to have a riot (of your very own), how to un-mush your head and how to start laughing again. Until then, you could have a little go at doing this on your own. It isn’t dirty or dangerous and you may find that it is quite addictive. Trust me – I’m an addict.
by Corinne Copnick
Los Angeles, California –
In the midst of dire warnings about upcoming terrorist attacks on New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago by means of fuel tankers and continued U.S. bashing in both the domestic and international media, it was refreshing to find an upbeat article entitled “It’s a wonderful life” in the Sunday issue (August 14, 2005) of the London Times (www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0.2092-1733906.00.html). Author Andrew Sullivan sees a lesson for currently gloomy Britain in the way “American society has rescued itself from what seemed to be a terminal decline caused by family breakdown” in the late 1970s. It seemed to many people then as if civilized life had come to an end. Along with the disintegration of family life and loss of religious faith, there was a “deeply displaced” sense of what matters.
Over the next few decades, this “decadence” slowly reversed itself, Sullivan claims. (Perhaps he has not been watching much so-called “reality” television in 2005, but let us not be cynical. That is an old-fashioned, baby boomer reaction.)
Not everything about the hedonistic 1960s and 1970s was so terrible, Sullivan writes, pointing to U.S. societal improvement in the treatment of women, gays, and radical minorities as a direct result of those embarrassing (to the present generation) Woodstock years when their parents, as he puts it, rolled in the mud.
The main thesis of Sullivan’s article is that open societies are not “inherently self destructive.” Because open societies like America can disseminate information efficiently,” they can correct what is wrong in the same way.
Sullivan’s argument is not taken out of thin air. He provides thought-provoking statistics to prove his optimistic contentions: Divorce in the U.S. peaked a generation ago and has slowly and steadily been declining. Crime slowed markedly in the 1990s, and this trend has continued. “Since 1993 the amount of violent crime in America has dropped by 55% and among teenagers has collapsed by some 71%.” Incidents of domestic violence have been cut in half. Drug use – would you have guessed? – is way down from the 1970s, especially in schools, with crack “a shadow of its former self,” and San Francisco is adjusting its estimate of HIV-infected individuals way, way down.
And kids have been getting smarter. Apparently, IQ scores have been rising along with modest gains in educational test scores in U.S. schools. Also, Americans are treating the environment better than a generation ago. “In the 1970s you could barely see downtown Los Angeles from the Hollywood Hills. Today it’s mainly clear skies.” My goodness, even cancer rates are down, cure rates are up, and the biggest health threat in the U.S. is obesity because people eat too much.
Maybe it takes an English writer to point it out to us, but our self-correcting, open society is getting better and better. So when, amidst the continual and undeserved global assault on Western society, you next read headlines predicting that the goal of terrorism is the collapse of the U.S. economy, remember that we ain’t gonna let that happen.
Copyright, Corinne Copnick, Los Angeles, 2005. All rights reserved.
Corinne Copnick, is a 50 plusser. In addition to her position as President of Timesolvers, a writing and editing service, she is an award-winning writer. Her perceptions of the world are unique and insightful. She is able to make you chuckle while at the same time, surprise a tear to your eye.
She recently wrote a great piece on the perspective of time in our aging society. Whichever Gen Plus you are: Post WWII or Baby Boomer, or if you belong to Gen X, Gen Y or even are an Echo Boomer, her cross-generational insights will hit the mark. Here is the article in its entirety.
A Time Change
By Corinne Copnick
A generational time change was graphically brought to my attention on a recent trip to Boston’s Newberry Street, chock full of quaint little shops reminiscent of an earlier age. Some twenty years ago, shortly after my lovely jewelry was stolen in a home robbery – unfortunately, I had just cancelled the expensive insurance -- I began to collect antique jewelry. Small pieces were affordable, and I considered it an investment since antique jewelry gets more valuable with age. It’s too bad people aren’t afforded the same privilege. Replacing my gold watch, however, was too big an investment for me as a divorced woman. Since I was self-employed, I couldn’t expect the proverbial gold watch from my employers at retirement age. But the absent gold watch has always rankled in my memory.
Then, two years ago, I bought the “watch part” of a gold watch at a Los Angeles consignment shop that sold vintage objects reasonably and donated the profits to help senior citizens. The watch was white gold, rectangular, with little diamond chips, and fastened with a silk ribbon band in the manner of models popular in 1925.
As a precaution, I removed the excellent antique movement and fragile silk ribbon and put them in my safety deposit box in case I ever wanted to resell the watch. Then I replaced the movement with a battery. The watch was now updated in time but still needed a band. Alas, it didn’t have a pin to hold a modern watch band, only a slot on each side where the ribbon had been inserted. Temporarily, I “made do” with a sturdy black leather band that an innovative jeweler pasted into place.
Despite a search of antique and watch shops, finding a matching white gold band was fruitless in Los Angeles. While a bracelet could be modified to fit the watch, the gold color of modern bracelets didn’t match, and antique bracelets were very costly. It was the same story everywhere I went, even gorgeous Carmel, where an antique shop owner produced a triple strand pearl band that could be made to fit for $3,000. Surprisingly, I couldn’t find anything in New York either.
But then I discovered Newberry Street in Boston, and at the very first antique store I entered, there it was – my white gold watch bracelet. Filigreed, inlaid with onyx and moonstone, and circa 1925, it was the right color and could be made into a band. It was $1,200, more than twice what I hoped to pay. The jeweler wouldn’t bargain but threw in the labor. He was shocked when I bought it in one minute flat. But hadn’t I shopped around, even on the Internet? For two years?
Practically speaking, I can buy the things I need, but I really can’t afford to splurge like this on luxury items. For some time, my funds have been dissipating to buy medical necessities – just last week another $450 for a deep cleaning at the dentist, a raise from $498 to $629 a month for my health insurance, mounting costs for prescription drugs, $300 for new glasses, more for orthotics and well-fitting shoes that breathe (no cheapy synthetics). Like so many seniors, my financial resources as I’m pushing seventy are limited. I have left the ranks of the destitute rich to join the ranks of the destitute middle class.
There are the many things you have to plan for (like food and shelter), and the many other things you can’t always foresee. Little emergencies like fixing your car – hoping you don’t have to buy a new one -- when it keeps stalling for no reason. Or the rising cost of gas. Or plane tickets to the wedding of a dear friend’s daughter, the dress and grooming to look nice, the wedding gift…which brought me to the East Coast. To Newberry Street.
“I am not retired. I am only semi-retired and resourceful,” I told myself in the minute before I bought the gold bracelet. “I am still going strong. I can still work to buy the things I don’t need. I want to have a gold watch with a matching gold band before I retire.” And a minute later, I did. Then I left it at the antique shop so that the bracelet could be modified and sent to me in Los Angeles.
That is how it happened that when I strolled on the broad, alphabetical avenues in Boston, I was watchless. My left wrist, where I normally wear a watch, was completely unadorned. I stopped a friendly-looking young man. “Do you have the time?” I asked him, smiling. “Yes, indeed,” he replied, taking the cell phone off his belt. “It’s just noon.”
That’s when I began to notice that time had changed all around me. Boston, with its close proximity to Harvard, was full of young people -- lots of twenty-somethings. I had a little time to kill before meeting my forty-five-year-old-daughter-who-still-wears-a-wrist-watch for lunch. So I asked a few more “youngsters” for the time. All of them referred to their cell phones. Some were already holding them, a call obviously just completed or about to be initiated. Some reached into a jacket, others into a purse. No one was wearing a wrist watch.
Of course. Who needs to wear a wrist watch? There’s a clock on the bedside table, a clock in the kitchen, a clock in the car, in the office, on the computer. And the multi-tasking, ubiquitous cell phone always knows the time of day or night.
Suddenly, I felt young. I had no watch, but I had a cell phone in my purse. Why had I asked for the time when all along I had it with me? All of a sudden, time was on my side.
When my beautiful watch arrived in Los Angeles, I decided to wear it only on “dress” occasions, as a curiosity, something from the past. Obsolete. Oh, I was so glad I had purchased a near-antique for investment. Now I smile when I look at the wrists of my chronological contemporaries who are still wearing watches on their wrists. They can’t tell from looking at me that I have stepped forward in time. But I know. Psychologically, I have changed generations.
Copyright, Corinne Copnick, 2005, Los Angeles, CA. All rights reserved.
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