Suzanne Braun Levine » Featured

AGE IS NOT A DISEASE! – Embrace Your Age and Celebrate Yourself

glenlevy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:38:23 +0000

10-Part Summer Radio Series with Eileen Williams – Feisty Side of Fifty

June 2010 — “Age is NOT a disease! Women like being 50, 60 and 70. We don’t want to go back to Thirty – it was too stressful,” say, Suzanne Braun Levine, author of 50 IS THE NEW FIFTY and Eileen Williams, the founder of the FEISTY SIDE OF FIFTY blog and radio show. The two experts on women’s lives are partnering on a 10-part blog radio series based on the life lessons in Levine’s book.

“The lessons are guidelines,” Levine says, “for embracing your age, feeling positive about yourself, finding your own voice and using it.” The series will cover all aspects of women’s lives – marriage, change and crises, friendships, health, aging, work and self-reinvention in open, honest and intimate conversations.

“Our initial idea was a three-part series for the paperback publication of “50 IS THE NEW FIFTY,” says Eileen Williams, “but, we had so much fun, we decided to continue and talk about all the lessons the book.”

For information on the series, please visit:

http://feistysideoffifty.com/2010/06/15/women-over-50-age-is-not-a-disease/

JUNE 15 TOPIC:

Age is Not a Disease (15 minute program) – Listen and Share

http://bit.ly/feistysideoffitybHYbQT

JOIN SUZANNE & EILEEN FOR A 10-PART

SERIES ON “FEISTY SIDE OF FIFTY RADIO!”

The program that celebrates Baby Boomer Women who are totally transforming the spirit and style of aging!

www.blogtalkradio.com/feisty-side-of-fifty

**UPCOMING LIVE Radio Broadcasts**

(LIVE BROADCASTS – Noon EST)

June 21 YOUR MARRIAGE CAN MAKE IT (Lesson #8)

June 29 EVERY CRISIS CREATES A NEW NORMAL (Lesson #5)

July 6 YOU DO KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO

WITH THE REST OF YOUR LIFE (Lesson #9)

July 9 ‘BOTH’ IS THE NEW ‘EITHER/OR’ (Lesson #10)

July 13 FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY* (Lesson #1)

Previously Recorded Broadcasts (On Demand Episodes):

June 17 NOTHING CHANGES IF NOTHING CHANGES (Lesson #2)

June 15 AGE IS NOT A DISEASE (Lesson #7)

April 9 Do Unto Yourself as You Have Been Doing Unto Others

(Lesson #6)

April 7 A “Circle of Trust Is a Must” (Lesson #4)

April 1 No Is Not a Four-Letter Word (Lesson #3)

Also, please visit:

www.feistysideoffity.com

Listen Live at 1 pm EST or Later!

About Mary Eileen Williams, M.A., NCC has twenty years combined experience as a career and life transition counselor, job search specialist, university instructor, and writer. She is a Nationally Board Certified Counselor. She is the founder of the popular blog: www.feistysideoffifty.com

LAND THE JOB YOU LOVE! 10 Surefire Strategies for Jobseekers Over 50 (is a guide and workbook with easy-to-follow steps, that simple to understand guaranteed to produce results.

Retirement Ambivalence: Who’s Afraid of Getting Off the Career Track?

glenlevy — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 00:18:55 +0000

By Ruth Wooden

President, Public Agenda & Chair of the Board, Civic Ventures

There’s a new chapter required in The Etiquette Handbook: “What to say to someone who is retiring.”

I can’t get over some of the things people have said to me after a routine announcement that I plan to retire as President of a NYC-based nonprofit later this year. By the time I retire, I will be 64 and will have served more than seven years in this position after a working career of more than 40 years, interrupted only for 10 weeks of maternity leave in 1983. Is this really such a big surprise?

Apparently it is. The most benign response from professional colleagues was “Wow, that’s big news!” The most inappropriate was “Are you sick?” The most flattering was “You don’t look old enough to retire.” There were plenty of people who did say “Congratulations,” but by far the most frequent response was “What are you going to do next?”

After a few weeks, an amusing pattern became evident. Almost to a person, women were the ones who said “Congratulations. You’ve earned it.” Some men also said some variation of that sentiment, but more often than not, the men seemed surprised and anxious to know “what’s next?” And the closer people were to “normal” retirement age, the more likely they were to fit into this gender pattern. Clearly there was a lot of projection going on. As a friend said, “The women are hoping for free time and enough money to avoid bag lady status while the men are panicked at the thought of not having a business card.”

We’re going to see a lot more of this pattern. I am a “canary in the mine”, so to speak, having been born in 1946, the first year of the baby boom. I’ve noticed throughout my life that I could usually count on having a lot of likeminded people to talk to when I was mulling over major life changes. That instinct for spotting trends served me well in my earlier advertising career –I could usually tell when there would soon be much more interest in products that I wanted or needed, e.g. clothes for a thickening waistline. Already there is a flood of articles and books telling us how to make the most of our retirement – from how to make your money last to how to find more meaning in your life. But most of us are inventing this new life stage on the fly and in secret.

And I think it’s fair to say that not retiring has become rather chic, especially in some NYC and other high-powered circles. It’s a sign that you are just too engaged and passionate to ever give up your important, productive work. One acquaintance asked me the other day if I was really using the “R word?” And since most people avoid talking about money, the retirement discussion is not about whether to retire, but what one will be doing in retirement, often using that oxymoron “working retirement.” It’s not that I don’t expect to work for some time during the next decade. I’ve got enough money saved to survive, but I will live more comfortably with a modest consulting income to supplement those savings. I’m not rich, but I do feel rich in the things that matter most to me—health, family, friends, passions and interests. And I have thoughts about what kind of work I might do, but honestly, I don’t know if these ideas will ever come to pass.

It would be disingenuous to say I am not anxious about the “what’s next?” question. I get anxious just being asked the question without having a ready answer. I have always had a good response to that question, or at least I pretended to know and gave a socially acceptable answer. A friend once told me that I had great timing, e.g. knowing when to buy and sell real estate, when to take a new job and when to move on. But now my secret fear is that I will let too much “game time” elapse and I will be” out of sight, out of mind” when I am ready to pick up the briefcase again. Last week I told a very considerate man that as my next thing I was thinking about buying a new bathing suit. I figured that would stop his questioning (it did), but my snarky response revealed the depths of my own anxiety, especially my worry about being too leisurely as I try to figure this all out.

The ironic thing for me is that I have already spent a lot of time researching the retirement question. I’ve been a board member of Civic Ventures for nearly 10 years and we have interviewed any number of retirees and near retirees, looking at what it would take to encourage the country’s upcoming baby boomer retirees to consider starting “encore careers” to take on the social problems that so many of us have the experience, skills and interest to address. I’ve heard this yearning over and over and feel it myself, but I am not yet sure exactly what it is I want to do in my encore. I know enough to know I’m not moving to Florida to play bridge or golf, and I doubt I’ll be joining the Peace Corps , though that was the encore career my own mother chose, going to Yemen of all places at age 70.

I guess what I want more than anything is to feel free to live for some decent amount of time in what my fellow Civic Ventures board member, Suzanne Braun Levine, refers to as the ”fertile void,” which she says could last a year or more. It’s a “prolonged state of confusion… feeling the energy and spirit of adventure stirring, without knowing what type of action to take.” I need to clear out the years of noise in my head and listen to my inner voice so I can truly know what I want to do next. Correction: I think what I really want from my time in the fertile void is to figure out what I don’t want to do and to finally give up on all those socially acceptable things I think I should want to do.

So for now when I get asked the question “what will you do next?” I plan to say with as little anxiety as possible, “Ask me next year.”

Ruth A. Wooden became president of Public Agenda, an innovative public opinion research and public engagement organization, in 2003. The organization, has been providing unbiased and unparalleled research that bridges the gap between American leaders and what the public really things about issues ranging from education to foreign policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life. She serves as chair of the board of Civic Ventures, which works to define the second half of adult life as a time of individual and social renewal.

“Retirement Ambivalence: Who’s Afraid of Getting Off the Career Track?” is also featured on More magazine’s site: www.more.com

For additional information, visit:

www.publicagenda.org

www.civicventures.org

www.encore.org

NEW VIDEOS – “50” Is a Big Deal Birthday For Most Women and a Time Full of Promise!

glenlevy — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:45:28 +0000

YOUNGER WOMEN ARE LOOKING AHEAD!

A young staff member at Plume (my paperback publisher) interviewed me for two new videos to celebrate the paperback publication of “50 Is the New Fifty.” Because the interviewer was a young woman, I was reminded (again) of how important it is for women in second adulthood to be seen in our culture – to be visible and happy. We are each other’s horizontal role models. And, just as important, we are paving the way for younger women.

Younger women today are looking ahead. The fact that some of the things they may not be able to do now – or achieve now – will be there for them later is very reassuring for them. Many of them also have very open and intimate relationships with their mothers. And, when I saw younger women buying two copies of my book, many said they were buying a copy for themselves (because they are looking ahead) and another for their mother. As loving daughters, they believed the book would make their mother feel better in this transitional stage.

The new “Fifty Is the New Fifty” (Part 1 & 2) videos are on YouTube.

What could be easier?

Part 1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXFKmZHqDrk

Part 2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fi7lDimhzTI

They are also available at Penguin Group USA http://bit.ly/c3cxA2 along with the Reading Guide. The Discussion Questions – “A Circle of Trust is a Must for Women” can spark a lively conversation at any gathering of women – young or older.

A NEW CAT IN MY LIFE

glenlevy — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 02:04:15 +0000

Tito (short for Gatito, little cat) is the newest addition to our household. My daughter found him in an alley in Buenos Aires, where she has been living for the past two years. He was a half-starved kitten, infested with fleas. She took him in, dealt with the fleas, and now he is a feisty – and very long – fellow.

When she moved back from Argentina last month, Tito came with her. He didn’t enjoy the 16-hour plane ride, but he took over our apartment as soon as he arrived. We have been cat-less for a while, so he has really filled our hearts as well as our home.

My daughter took this photo the other day, which happened to be my (69th – ouch) birthday.

“FIVE QUESTIONS FOR….SUZANNE BRAUN LEVINE” – The Interview with Pamela Redmond Satran on She Writes™

glenlevy — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 02:59:29 +0000

She Writes™ – A Room of Her Own Just Got Bigger

To celebrate the recent release of the paperback edition of “Fifty Is the New Fifty,” I was interviewed this week for She Writes.com {have this link to Suzanne Interview} by Pamela Redmond Satran–author of the bestselling book “How Not To Act Old,” creator of the online serialized novel “Ho Springs,” and the developer of “nameberry.com”– for She Writes.com, the leading online destination for women writers.

She Writes™ is a lively community of women writers – 8,000 strong and growing. I enjoyed this interview and think the questions about Feminism, Ageism, Role Models, and What’s Next, are right on target. Take a look! http://www.shewrites.com/profiles/blogs/five-questions-forsuzanne

The She Writes™ Mission – To transform the landscape in which women write, publish, and read.

Since its inception in June 2009, thousands of women writers from more than thirty countries and all fifty states, including many bestselling and award-winning authors, have been sharing support, organizing their knowledge, and doing business on the site. It is a unique community where women writers can create networks and get the services and support they need to make every stage of their writing lives easier, She Writes™ is a business on a mission: to forever transform the landscape in which women write, publish, and read.

We believe writing has the power to change the lives of women; we believe that when women write and publish, they have the power to change the world. She Writes™ is the brainchild of founder Kamy Wicoff, an author and salonniere based in New York City.

The site is a wonderful resource and community for women writers.
I urge everyone to take a look and join!

www.shewrites.com

MY MOTHER DIED OF BREAST CANCER 25 YEARS AGO – It was a Beautiful Morning, just like Today!

glenlevy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:59:37 +0000

By Karin Lippert
Toronto, Canada
April 22, 2010

Today, it is 25 years since my mother, Wilhelmine “Mimi” Lippert died of inflammatory breast cancer at age 65. It was a beautiful morning, just like today!

We had spent three days with her while she was lying in a coma in our living room as family and friends came to say farewell. She was leaving us and we were encouraging her to let go. She had stayed through her wedding anniversary on April 20th and that of my brother and sister-in-law’s on April 21st. It was time.

And, this year at age 65, it is the right moment for me to participate in the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers. I am doing it to honor my mother and all the women who have struggled with cancer – the survivors and the women whose fight, like my mother’s, continue to inspire us. We have made progress on behalf of breast cancer, but so much more remains to be done for all women’s cancers. When my mother died we created a fund at Ms. Magazine for health and science reporting. Since 1985, so much has been written on the subject, so many women have told their stories. And, we have come together again and again asking for, demanding, pushing for research that will find the cure.

The Weekend to End Women’s Cancers will benefit all of things that will make a difference – from care giving to research, and just as important, it will bring thousands of us together to reach these goals and to celebrate life.

The morning my mother first called me to say that her left breast had become swollen, red and blue-ish/purple, I had to put the phone down for a moment. I went to the freezer in my kitchen got the ice cube tray and put some on my forehead. I thought I was going to faint…my heart was already breaking. Days later, when we heard the diagnosis, we were shocked. I had never heard of inflammatory breast cancer. I began calling around the country for solutions, treatments. She did everything. Not just the mastectomy, chemo and radiation – she did visualizations, reading (I bought travel books to take her far away…), a photo of the beach in the Hamptons helped, my brother and sister-in-law took my parents to Florida (my mother had always wanted to see the Space Center), we went to restaurants although she couldn’t really eat, and after checking around for a wig made with real hair (as gorgeous as her own), we settled on one from the Eva Gabor Collection – which highlighted her spectacular blue eyes and her smile!

As usual on this morning, I am looking at a photo of my mother with tears in my eyes. But, this year I feel her looking down on me – on all of us – with a smile and with joy! She would love the idea, the energy and commitment of everyone involved with the Weekend to End Women’s Cancers.

Last night, I trained on Poplar Plains Road (8 times up that hill!) with a group from the Running Room, and I am already walking almost 20K. I feel like I can do the two-day, 60K walk! That means I am definitely ready to begin my fundraising campaign today!
My goal is $2,500. for the two-day walk.

Karin Lippert

The Shopper’s Drug Mart
Weekend to End Women’s Cancers
Canada – September 11 -12, 2010

The Weekend to End Women’s Cancers – across Canada – will benefit The Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto). The hospital is doing critical work at the Campbell Family Institute – breakthrough research, services, and care in the battle to end both breast and gynecologic cancers.

Our slogan for the weekend is: Cure One. Cure All. It is a two-day, 60K walk (or a person can do 30K in one day). In Toronto, more than 5,000 women and men join together for the walk. I am told it is a life-changing experience. I believe it. I know that when we all come together we are powerful – we can bring about change and a cure for all. I believe in their mission – it is everyone’s mission.

For information and to find out more about weekend, please visit: www.endcancer.ca

READY TO READ GREAT WOMEN’S MEMOIRS? OR START WRITING YOUR OWN?

glenlevy — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 22:51:20 +0000

SHARE MARTHA ALLEN’S LIST WITH YOUR
“CIRCLE OF TRUST BOOK CLUB”

Director of The Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) Reads “50” Books per Year!

Dr. Martha Leslie Allen logs in about 50 books per year. She keeps friends up to the minute on her current selections and her reviews on Goodreads where she has logged in 744 books to date and lists 56 as “Favorites.”

We’re posting a list of “10” of her favorite memoirs to share with “Your Circle of Trust Book Club.” Martha says, “these books are all remarkable in various ways.” And, if you are ready to write your own memoir, she suggests visiting Matilda Butler and Kendra Bonnett’s site www.womensmemoirs.com for inspiration and the essentials of women’s memoir writing.
Then, you can get started!

The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices
By Xinran

Are You Somebody?
By Nuala O’Faolain

When I Was Puerto Rican
By Esmeralda Santiago

A Russian Diary: A Journalist’s Final Account of Life, Corruption, and Death in Putin’s Russia
By Anna Politskaya

This Child Will Be Great
By Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

Born in the Big Rains: A Memoir of Somalia and Survival
By Fadumo Korn

Alicia
By Alice Appleman-Jurman

The Girl I Left Behind: A Narrative History of the Sixties
By Judith Nies

Wild Swan: Three Daughters of China
By Jung Chan

Desert Flower: The Extraordinary Journey of a Desert Nomad
By Waris Dirie

To find out more about the memoirs listed, visit www.amazon.com or the writer’s website.

The Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press (WIFP) is a non-profit, tax-exempt research, education, and publishing organization. The organization was founded in 1972, by Dr. Donna Allen, to increase communication among women and reach the public with our experience, perspectives, and opinions.

For information on WIFP visit:
www.wifp.org

Contact: Martha Allen
Email: allen@wifp.org

YOU CATCH YOUR HUSBAND CHEATING! DISBELIEF CAN BE AS PARALYTIC AS FEAR…

glenlevy — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:40:02 +0000

Toxic Relationships Can Make Us Sick
Saying NO Can Save Your Life!

The Shock of Discovery…
For ‘Anne’, age fifty-one, it began with a misdirected email on her computer…and the shock of discovery in a relationship that seemed fine.

I found out through an e-mail on my laptop that he had picked up a woman–or she had picked him up–it was just one of those whacko things: This was a girl that was 29 years old from Nebraska, and in forty-eight hours she’s e-mailing him that she can’t live without him–she’s married, he’s married, and it was like the person I knew, the person that I loved and adored, just turned on me, and turned before my eyes into this absolute unknown.

When I confronted him, he basically said to me, “You really shouldn’t look at my e-mails,” and then within twenty-four hours she had sent naked photographs of herself. And then he was like, “Anne, it’s just a chat room, you know I look at this stuff,” and I’m like, “Okay.”

And what I did, which everybody thinks is so funny is that–you know for a moment you believe this stuff, you think, “Well he can’t be lying to me,” and then you think, “Wait a minute, that’s so crazy,” I said, “If this is what you’re going to do and this is what’s going on, go ahead, knock yourself out; I’m out of here.”

What followed?
A “winter of discontent” and then, Anne was able to hatch her life-saving NO:

I had my own apartment, but I was in contact with him, and one day he came over, and I remember saying to him, you know “If you’re lying to me, and this is still going on, I just think that that would be unforgivable.” And he looked at me, and he said, “I’m not lying.” And he left, and I thought, “I’m never going to speak to that guy again.” I just knew.

And I understand what they say in movies sometimes, when they say the person that you knew isn’t there anymore. The person I knew wasn’t there anymore.”

Lesson Three: “NO Is Not a Four-Letter Word”
Toxic relationships like Anne’s can make us sick. Saying NO in this situation can save your life!

Heartbreak and frustration put tremendous stress on the body. High levels of the stress hormone cortisol are a significant contributing factor to heart disease, and heart disease is the number one cause of death among postmenopausal women.

For information on “Women, Heart Disease and Stroke,” visit the American Heart Association, click here: http://bit.ly/cUyT8q

To join the “National Start Walking Day” (April 7, 2010), visit: www.startwalkingnow.org

“YOUR BOOK AND MINE” – A LETTER FROM KATRINA KENISON, AUTHOR OF “THE GIFT OF AN ORDINARY DAY: A MOTHER’S MEMOIR”

glenlevy — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 23:34:22 +0000

Be sure to watch her YouTube Video!
An early Mother’s Day Gift!

Dear Suzanne,

I’m half-way through your terrific book, and couldn’t wait to write you; I’m underlining on every page, and have just ordered two more copies, gift-wrapped, for friends turning fifty.

A few months ago, my own book, The Gift of an Ordinary Day: A Mother’s Memoir, was published by Grand Central. I didn’t know it till this morning, when I began reading yours, that what I’d actually written was missive from deep within The Fertile Void. There were many times, during the writing when I completely lost confidence in what I was doing. (I’d send chapters to my mom, asking, “Will anyone be interested in this?” And she would call to say, “Well, I’m interested, but of course, I KNOW you.” Not terribly encouraging.) When the book came out, it felt uncomfortable, as if I were running around town in my pajamas — not exactly naked, but weirdly exposed
and vulnerable. And then the letters started coming in, from women who said, “I feel as if you are writing the thoughts in my mind.”
That’s when I began to relax, and to realize that, as you say, we are all more alike than different. And that we can find our Horizontal
Role Models at every turn. My readers are my role models these days, as I am theirs; the conversation has been amazing.

Anyway, I love your website, and your message. At fifty-one, I have already found myself hesitating on occasion to reveal my age, because
I think that the younger mothers who write to me will feel that I’m too out of touch with their challenges. And then they surprise me, by saying that I give them some idea of what lies ahead, just up the road and around the corner from where they are.

I’d love to send you a copy of my book, if you tell me where to send it. And I hope you’ll drop in on my website too. (My great claim to
fame at the moment is a YouTube video that’s making the rounds–a total surprise, but I’m also really proud of it; in a way, the process
of writing–and then going out to meet my readers–has led me out of the Fertile Void into a brand new place.)

All best, and thank you for writing the perfect book!

Katrina Kenison

http://www.katrinakenison.com

Click here to watch the YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olSyCLJU3O0

“READY FOR LIFE’S ENCORE PERFORMANCES” Baby Boomers in Second Careers

glenlevy — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 00:49:05 +0000

Civic Ventures and Encore.org in the News – Again!

Photo Credit: Angela Jimenez for The New York Times

Ever since the June, 2009 White House hosted an event salute to social innovators who are in their Encore Careers, Civic Ventures www.civicventures.org and Encore.org have been in the news.

On March 3, 2010 The New York Times (by Elizabeth Pope) reported on “Matching Life Experience With New Careers:”

“HEALTH navigator? Conflict coach? Pollution mitigation outreach worker? These emerging jobs aren’t household terms yet, but they are a natural fit for older people looking for new career opportunities, said Phyllis Segal, vice president at Civic Ventures, a nonprofit research group based in San Francisco.
“Many of today’s new encore careers build on multiple work and life experiences, so they are a good match for older adults who’ve spent decades in the workplace,” Ms. Segal said.”

[To read more, click here]

And most recently, The New York Times praised the work of Marc Freedman, who started Encore Careers and initiated the pilot program for baby boomers to transition into second careers (March 19, 2010, by Sarah Kershaw): “Ready for Life’s Encore Performances”:

“IN the back room of a neighborhood restaurant here (Palo Alto, CA) a small group of men and women in their 50s gathered recently to mark a milestone. “I feel like when historians look back and think about this salmon lunch at MacArthur Park, they’ll see this was a real turning point,” said Marc Freedman, who started a pilot program for baby boomers to transition into second careers.

These 10 executives had all left their high-paying jobs in the private sector and joined the pilot program, and this was their formal graduation. They had taken a step familiar to some high school or college students: take a year off to regroup, rethink and figure out what they want to be when they grow up.”

[To read more, click here]

As Marc Freedman has said, “In tough economic times, we need more creative solutions to long-standing social problems. It’s reassuring to note that as America ages, we have creativity in greater abundance. Purpose Prize winners show that experience and innovation can go hand in hand, that inventiveness is not the sole province of the young.”
Please join me in saluting these wonderful organizations.
For more information, please visit: