Study shows love improves with age

No big surprise to me – or to most people on the sweet side of fifty:

Professor Amanda Barusch, who teaches social work and community development, found the people she surveyed "consistently reported that love improved with age," the Salt Lake City Tribune reported.

The article:

U. researcher says love grows sweeter with time
As for the sex, it's more fun, relaxed and low-pressure. The older the instrument, as they say, the sweeter the music. On the other hand, maybe you and your partner don't miss particular acts of intimacy at all. Why not explore love's selfless side rather than just physical thrills?

It’s all in a book published by Oxford University Press:

Love Stories of Later Life
A Narrative Approach to Understanding Romance
Amanda Smith Barusch
"This book dispels any notion that only young people enjoy romance. In a fun and engaging read, Barusch weaves cases with the most cutting-edge academic information on love in a thrilling tale about how love changes with age. The book is potentially transformative, as Barusch uncovers how in many respects the best is yet to come. Although the content appeals to a broad audience and includes experiential exercises to enhance readers' awareness about their own experiences, scholars and practitioners from all health professions should read this book."--Virginia Richardson, Professor, The Ohio State University College of Social Work

What’s amusing about the press coverage: anybody over fifty is automatically a Baby Boomer …

An Otago University professor investigating love and romance among baby boomers aged over 50 says her initial scepticism turned to fascination … she found a wide range of romantic experience when she interviewed 91 people aged 51 to 97 …

Cookie-Cutter Cavalcades

Lots of ethereal ink lately about nuts ‘n bolts travel:

Retired? Hit the road, help your brain
by Rick Spratling
So you've escaped middle age and are ready for the long calm of retirement. What next? If you spend too much time rocking on the front porch, will your brain droop into autopilot? One antidote for this is educational travel …

Elderhostel holds Baby Boomer travel appeal
by Paul Briand
"The study said travel programs should be shorter in order to fit busy schedules and keep prices affordable. It said Boomers will want to travel in small groups, with a mix of free time, hands-on learning and behind-the-scenes activities rather than ordinary tourist fare …”

Sounds a bit like my book, first published in early 2005 (now in an updated paperback). An excerpt:

Old Jews Telling Jokes

Eric Spiegelman emailed a few months ago to tell me about Old Jews Telling Jokes, an upcoming collection of videos starring non-stars – which, of course, is the perfect zeitgeist for the web.  Now it’s up.

OJTJ is a bunch of folks in their  sixties and seventies who vacationed in the Catskills when they were kids and young adults – and fondly remember the great Borscht Belt comedians and their brilliant jokes.

What’s special about it all: After they tell a joke, these non-professionals are rather shocked and embarrassed by the huge roars from the off-screen audience.  The concept is even funnier because the jokes are usually off-color.  It’s a touching combination of raunch and innocence.  Very human:

There are a few more on the site – and new ones should show up twice a week.

I’m hooked.

The New Old

Culled from a colleague’s email:

BTW, have you read "The New Old"? The author loves your writing and cites you generously.

Haven’t read it.  I bet he also cites my colleague.  I’ll have to order it:

The New Old: How the Boomers Are Changing Everything ... Again
by David Cravit
The New Old shows how the Boomers’ simple act of refusing to age is creating a revolution – in everything from education to employment to housing to health and beauty and, of course, to sex.

Mr. Cravit has dazzling credentials.  An article about the book and author:

BoomerAging: It’ll change everything
The final chapters of The New Old point business owners and organizational leaders in the right direction when it comes to including Boomers in their long term plans.

But what's the take home message for Boomers themselves? Information is key. “It's important to stay on top of things,” Cravit advises.

I’ve blogged about Zoomers.  Moses Znaimer and others have put together an impressive network of media outlets in Canada.

Generation B

The New York Times’ Michael Winerip now has a column focusing on Baby Boomers:

They Warned You About Us
Since the 1960s, when many of us were teenagers, Madison Avenue along with the news media have been polling, interviewing, analyzing, poking and sniffing us, and that continues to this moment, even as nearly 10,000 boomers turn 60 every day.

I used to write general interest columns about Baby Boomers way back in 1996-2002.  In fact, you need The Way Back Machine to find any of them:

                Baby Boomers Splash Page

Mr. Winerip is geared up for getting slammed – and he will:

But somehow — mistakenly I would argue — the term has become synonymous with greedy, spoiled, divorced, remarried mega-shopper.

I’m looking forward to Michael’s Generation B pieces.  We need more intelligent commentary to counter all the nonsense you read in the press and elsewhere.  Brent Green is doing a good job.  Now he has a kindred spirit.

I took a more humorous approach way back when:

Baby Boomer Nutrition (1998)
People are always coming up to me and asking, "Chuck, why are Baby Boomers so wonderful?"

How rare it is to have an infinite number of correct answers to a single question! One of my standard replies: It has to do with our alimentary intake during adolescence.

The Anti-Boomer Page (1997)
Oh, to be young and flippant again instead of old and flatulent.

And "... in the way" according to Tim McMahon (aka 'azel') and his very humorous Anti-Boomer Page. Here's a kid sick of hearing about Boomers -- and I don't blame him. Why, when I was his age all I ever heard about were the Depression and WWII. What a bore.

Good luck, Michael!