I was so touched by the note and poem I received from my friend Sean Strub – a feminist in good standing as well as a major AIDS activist – that I want to share it. He found the poem when he was going through his mother’s papers after she died recently. The short story he mentions, The Yellow Wallpaper, is a feminist classic, written in 1892; about a woman who is kept housebound by her husband and slowly goes mad.

Sean’s mother’s aversion to the word “feminist” is an example of the familiar “I’m not a feminist, but……” syndrome – a woman who walks the walk but doesn’t feel comfortable with the talk. It is clear to me – and to her son – that Janey was a feminist in spirit, which is where it counts. — Suzanne Braun Levine

By Suzanne Braun Levine

Recently I came upon a photograph of myself in my first bikini (it was really a two-piece, compared to what goes as a bikini these days) and I was struck by how good I looked. That thought lasted about two minutes until I realized that when that picture was taken, I thought I looked fat and bulky; I was not happy to be looked at. Then I realized that I feel the same way today. Fat and bulky. Plus, wrinkled and saggy. What a waste, I thought, not feeling good about my body back then. And just as much of a waste feeling ashamed of it now.

By Suzanne Braun Levine,
“Happy Anniversary,
SheWrites.com™!”

Finding material to write about is not always easy. One route is the memoir, which is built on revealing material you know well. Or you can write about something you don’t know well but would like to learn about. I combine the two by weaving some – but not all – of my own life story with answers to the question “What’s going on with women?” I have spent most of my professional life chronicling that transformation of women’s lives at different stages, and the experience has, in turn, inspired and empowered my own. Every time over the past forty years that I posed the question “What’s going on with women?” the answers were different.

By Suzanne Braun Levine

One thing about being an older mother is that you are constantly reminded of the truism that age doesn’t really describe the shape of a person’s life. Nor does our place on the family tree, the generation we are assigned to at birth. When my daughter was born I was 44, old enough to be her grandmother. When she went to school, I was old enough to be her teachers’ (and her friends parents’) mother. At the same time my contemporaries had long since forgotten about coping with babies and young children – they were on to the joys of grandchildren. My most meaningful cohort was other women with children my children’s age, but not my age themselves.

By Suzanne Braun Levine

I’m not big on change. Most of us aren’t. That becomes a bigger problem the more choices we have and the more restless we feel. Second Adulthood is about choices and restlessness and trying something new, but that means change, and many of us get stuck at the edge of the diving board.

By Enid Weishaus, MSW, founder
Smarter, Bolder. Older™

Women Redefining Life after 50…

Smarter, Bolder, Older™ – a one-day event for women 50+ – grew out of my own experience of aging and conversations with other women. I am committed to changing the stereotype of aging and loss in midlife to one of vitality, embracing new opportunities and possibilities as women in midlife and beyond get clear on what matters and makes the most of this stage of their lives.

SHARE YOUR BIRTHDAY STORY WITH OTHER WOMEN & WIN A BOOK!

We’re celebrating “50 Is the New Fifty,” with a Contest for Women in Second Adulthood. Tell us how you celebrated the New 50, 60 or 70? The first 10 women to share their birthday stories will receive an autographed copy of 50 Is the New Fifty – 10 Life Lessons for Women In Second Adulthood.

We are ALL at the height of our Power!

“FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY” -
For Immediate Release from Plume Books
We are ALL at the height of our Power!
“Well the first thing I want to say about Fifty is the New Fifty, is that it’s not the whole title. The whole title is 50 is the New Fifty, 60 is the new Sixty and 70 is the New Seventy…and who cares about birthdays anyway. The best thing is that we are all at the height of our power, and we feel that …

MEMO TO MYSELF
I’ve been advised to write an upbeat end-of-year note – to reinforce the message of my writing, which is that women over fifty are feeling upbeat about themselves and their prospects. And that certainly applies to me. My kids and friends are good; my husband has opened the art gallery of his dreams; and my mother is drifting off peacefully (so far). I have reconnected with old friends, which is an amazing gift; my longtime friends continue to nourish me and one another (one had major back surgery, …

POEMS OF PONDS, PINEWOODS, PROVINCETOWN AND LIFE
 
The Journey
One day you finally knew
what you had to do, and began…
 

I cited the Mary Oliver poem “The Journey” at the beginning of the Fertile Void chapter in Inventing the Rest of our Lives because it spoke so evocatively about the trepidation we feel as we enter unknown territory. The lines “and there was a new voice/ which you slowly/ recognized as your own” in particular resonate with so many women in transition.
This week as I listened to her voice on “Provincetown: …