Talkin’ ‘bout Our Generation: The Myths Versus Reality
By NextAvenue Staff
You know the stereotype: aging narcissists who’ve lost their creative edge, coasting downhill and taking up space at work as they wax nostalgic about Leave It to Beaver and Woodstock to stave off the inevitable midlife crisis. Or something like that.
WHITE HAIR – A New Kind of Beauty
When my mother was my age, long hair was considered “inappropriate” in an older woman, unless it was wound up in a bun or a “chignon” (who remembers chignons?); when I was my daughter’s age, I thought white hair was synonymous with “old lady.”
I have kept my hair long, but have been “covering the grey” for decades. Like many of us, I wish I didn’t, if for no other reason than the skunk line that appears along the part within weeks after the $100 treatment. It is clear from those roots that I would be completely white if I went natural. I haven’t gotten even close to going there. I am afraid I would look “washed out” or that I would send the message, as someone said, that I had “given up.”
Is Meryl Streep Our Generation’s Next Helen Gurley Brown?
Suzanne Braun Levine
Huff/Post50
The fact that Meryl Streep’s new movie “Hope Springs” opened and Helen Gurley Brown died in the same week seems to me a passing of a very important baton. The baton our Post50 generation needs to get us moving toward an honest and candid discussion about sex. Helen did it for us back in the sixties in her books and her magazine; Meryl is getting the conversation going with her movies.
“Reinventing Love, Relationships, and Intimacy in Second Adulthood”
The Transition Network
Washington, DC/June 5th
A conversation with Suzanne Braun Levine on “Reinventing Love, Relationships, and Intimacy in Second Adulthood” is being sponsored by the DC Chapter of The Transition Network and Civic Ventures, a nonprofit think tank on Boomers, work and social purpose, that publishes Encore.org for people interested in encore careers, jobs that combine personal meaning, continued income and social impact.
Why Women My Age Are Reading
’50 Shades of Grey’
Suzanne Braun Levine,
Huff/Post50
Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James is number one on the New York Times best-seller list — an unusual slot for a pornographic novel. And it has gotten there by word of mouth. Have you heard about it? Have you read it? Are you thinking you might? In my conversations with women all over the country in recent weeks, the answers are variations of yes.
Not that the plot matters, but it’s about an innocent college student and an incredibly attractive and very rich man, who also keeps a bondage chamber.
“Older Women Take on the Challenges of
Life, Love and Sex”
Marcia G. Yerman
Huff/Post50
Three books that fall on this continuum which overlap, while still standing solidly in their own sphere are:
“Single And In Search Of…”
Ruth Neubauer,
MSW, LCSW
Huff/Post50
Late last night I gathered up my courage, as I must each time, and called the 800 number to access the voice messages responding to my personal ad.
Just composing the ad took approximately two psychological years of my life. What me? Do this? No way.
Join Pat Wynn Brown & Me
TTN/Columbus, OH, April 4
Suzanne Braun Levine &
Pat Wynn Brown of
“Hair Theater”
The Transition Network special event in Columbus, Ohio promises to be a really fun evening. The group has asked Pat Wynn Brown, creator of the “Hair Theater” and an Ohio Treasure, to join me on the program. We’re having a conversation about “Reinventing Intimacy After 50” and then, the audience will have time to share stories and ask questions.
TTN/JCC/LONG ISLAND
Special Event, April 3
“Reinventing Intimacy,
Love and Sex After Fifty!”
The Transition Network of Long Island in partnership with Sid Jacobson JCC present, Suzanne Braun Levine, author of How We Love Now: Sex and the New Intimacy in Second Adulthood.
It’s Enough To Make A Unicorn Blush: Our Problem With Talking About Sex
By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Huff/Post50
Not long ago I wrote a blog called “Sex, Love, and Unicorns,” describing the ambivalence I was encountering when I talked about sex among us older folk. Everyone seemed to be embarrassed by the topic. Those who were doing it were a little sheepish and didn’t want to go public. Those who weren’t doing it were a little cynical and didn’t want to hear others sing the praises of a revitalized erotic life. It got more than 500 comments!