You can’t work at a profession all your life and not carry over some telling behavioral traits into retirement. I like to observe elder folk, like me, and try to guess their earlier career—a version of the old TV show: ‘What’s my line?’ but instead ‘What was my line?’ For example: I was in a … Continue reading Professional Tells
Coach Class Oversharing
I was on a plane out of Chicago a while back, row 32A next to the window. A lady slides in next to me, carefully arranges her gray wool skirt over her knees, shakes her bobbed, unashamedly silver hair and reaches for a Georgette Heyer paperback from her carry-on bag. Finally, a guy, big as … Continue reading Coach Class Oversharing
Granddad Jokes
You’ve heard of…or perhaps, yourself, indulge in ‘dad jokes’. One step past those are ‘granddad jokes.’ It’s interesting to speculate why some elder males have a penchant for that kind of humor. You never find women compulsively telling corny jokes. Certainly not to their grandchildren. A serious discussion with a thoughtful oldster on his choice … Continue reading Granddad Jokes
Fiesole
Fifty years later, my daughter and three of her college roommates take a trip to Florence where I had gone to recover from surgery and the culture shock of living and studying in Rome. Over those four years’ study, I had returned many times. More particularly, I made it back to Fiesole, my retreat on … Continue reading Fiesole
Somebody to Lean On
According to so many ads on TV, online, and in magazines us older folks require a whole arsenal of walkers and stair climbers and walk-in bathtubs not to mention hearing aids and orthotic insoles. Well, we certainly can use some mechanical support devices. But the adaptations and accommodations we most lean on, don’t come from … Continue reading Somebody to Lean On
Screens and memories
A familiar sight, my grandchild absorbed in his ‘screens.’ Focused on a small rectangle of light and magic, absorbed in animated conflicts, he is cocooned within the world around him. Like a writer subsumed by his concentration, he startles and remonstrates if someone barges into the room with real-life presence and demands. As I age, … Continue reading Screens and memories
Getting the Set-up Right
joke telling...an art to be shared across the generations I do jokes. Not professionally, since, technically, I don’t get paid. I just perform at family gatherings where sometimes I have to chum the audience with a few one-liners to get the hilarity level up and bubbling. I only fathered daughters who can seem, at times, … Continue reading Getting the Set-up Right
Throwback Medium
A group of folks in our town work hard to produce old fashioned radio shows. They solicit and select thirty-minute scripts for a live production in a local church before a live audience for ultimate playback on NPR. As you might imagine there are a lot of moving parts from cast auditions, to tech crew … Continue reading Throwback Medium
Animal Bigot
Did you ever notice that chipmunks all look the same? I suppose if you hung out with them for a long time you would begin to notice differences between them. Think Jane Goodall studying chimpanzees. She got to know each of them so well, she even gave them endearing names. The chipmunks in my yard … Continue reading Animal Bigot
Humor Consultant
all stories are true and some of them actually happened I used to work for a major pharmaceutical company—in purchasing actually. But over years of coffee breaks and lunches I developed a rep for joke telling—longer anecdotes at the table; quick one-liners in the hallways and elevators. And eventually I had managers and department heads … Continue reading Humor Consultant