By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Huff/Post50
When I went to work at Ms. in 1972, I wore a matching pink skirt and blouse — and a girdle. I had just gotten married and was, therefore, not able to get a bank loan without my husband’s approval. I had given up playing basketball (half-court for girls) in college because no coach or court could be found. And I had had an illegal abortion.
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By Suzanne Braun Levine
It seems self-evident that generations can reinforce each other – by sharing the stories of their lives, by working together, and by living together in communities that are responsive to the needs of citizens of all ages. But those communities are too few and far between.
By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Huff/Post50
My new book How We Love Now is out this week.
The date was chosen because in publishing January is “self-improvement month.” The thinking is that at the start of the New Year we want to repent for all the guilty pleasures we indulged in over the holidays. Which is also why we make resolutions — to become better than we are. Oy, the guilt.
By Suzanne Braun Levine
This has been quite a month!
First of all, I finally held in my hands a copy of my new book How We Love Now; it has been eighteen months since I finished it, and at last it is real. The scary part is that it will soon be in the hands of actual readers, and while I am anxious to hear if it resonates with other women, I am less anxious to hear if it doesn’t, which will undoubtedly happen.
Watch the Videos Here!
www.tedxwomen.org
The TEDxWomen event – Resilience, Relationships, ReBirth, ReImagine – on December 1, 2011 was the FIRST bicoastal, global TEDx event in history!
I was thrilled to be a part of this energizing, awe-inspiring day.
By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Civic Ventures Board Member
I joined the Board of Civic Ventures in 2009, and one of the most inspiring elements of their mission is the discovery and celebration of outstanding social entrepreneurs in the Encore stage of life. The winners of the Purpose Prize have been selected from hundreds of nominees, and having had the honor of being one of the judges, I can tell you that the choices were tough to make; there were many resourceful and courageous candidates for this year’s prizes.
By Suzanne Braun Levine
Thanksgiving is my absolute favorite holiday of the year – no gifts to worry about, the chance to collect people you love from all corners of your life, and the best food ever!
This year, while the leftovers are still tasty, there is yet another event I am looking forward to: I have been invited by Jane Fonda to join a panel she is leading at the TEDxWomen at a one-day bicoastal event on December 1 at the Paley Media Center in New York, + Los Angeles.
By Suzanne Braun Levine
I am happy to report that I am now blogging on Huff/Post50. My first post is up today – “We Still Undress in the Dark, But the Sex Is Great!”
By Suzanne Braun Levine,
EXCLUSIVE, BOOK EXCERPT
Thousands of women in their fifties, sixties and seventies are living – and defining a totally new love narrative. Whether they are already experiencing intimacy or joy – and great sex! – or need the inspiration and support to go for it, readers will be energized and motivated by the stories of new ways of loving in How We Love Now: Sex and the New Intimacy in Second Adulthood…
By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Ms. Editor, 1972- 1988
I was interviewed recently for an article about the early days of Ms. magazine, which is about to be forty years old. Soon after that I was interviewed for an article about Our Bodies, Our Selves which was first published around the same time. When thinking about those days and looking at some photographs, my first thought is How Young We Were! And my second is How Brave We Were! Now I have another thought: How Lucky We Were! to be there.
By Mary Eileen Williams
Feistysideoffifty.com
Women over 50 have wrestled with a lifetime of mixed messages. In our formative years we were taught the virtues of adhering to the1950’s & early ‘60’s standards of conformity. That meant being “ladylike” and fashioning our futures based on the June Cleaver/Donna Read models of matrimonial bliss.
By Suzanne Braun Levine
I am thrilled to announce that my “papers” – the boxes of stuff that I always meant to sort our and never did – from my years at Ms. Magazine (1972 – 1989) are now in the Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s Archives at Smith College. Along with other collections from those exciting days, including Gloria Steinem’s papers, they should be accessible soon. My papers from my time as (the only woman) editor of The Columbia Journalism Review will be there too.
In “How We Love Now” I talk about the difference between care-giving and care-getting, by which I mean the necessity of watching out for one’s own needs even if it means asking for help (and we all know how hard that is!).
As a model for one kind of care-getting I describe the Caring Collaborative created by The Transition Network (TTN).
ADVANCE PRAISE FOR THE NEW BOOK…
“Postmenopausal Zest is fueling a new revolution in the generation that redefined womanhood. Love on the far side of fifty will never be the same!”
“It’s still rare to read anything this thoughtful about our age group. Especially about care-giving at our age. And care-getting. None of us is too good at that yet. How great to have Suzanne Braun Levine there guiding us as we go along.”
“HOW WE LOVE NOW is an immense Aha! of understanding. Because we’ve been punishing love and sex that aren’t linked to having children, we’ve downplayed the pleasures of love and sex after childbearing years are over. Suzanne Braun Levine breaks this barrier.”
“Discussions of “love” in literature and social science focus almost exclusively on first loves and infatuation. Suzanne Braun Levine looks at what happens to love in the second half of life. It is nothing like the stereotypes!”
”The metaphor I prefer is Suzanne Braun Levine’s ‘Fertile Void’, a space of ‘unremitting unknowingness’ …It is here in the tendrils of the fertile void that something new can begin to sprout — if you surrender to it and don’t numb yourself with busyness.”
