Women in Second Adulthood Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You.
In a country that gorges on “happy meals” and concludes correspondence with a “smiley face,” it is safe to suggest that happiness has been devalued as a meaningful state of mind. Asking about it is like asking “How are you?” Fine.  Nevertheless Marcus Buckingham, who describes himself as “leading expert in personal strengths and best-selling author,” decided to assemble all known happiness surveys (On a scale of 1 to 3, how happy are you?) and report on Huffington Post that his …

Barbara Glickstein, host of NPR’s “Healthstyles” and Public Health Nurse Executive, on the Current Controversy
The release of a report suggesting that women should begin regular mammograms at 50 instead of forty shouldn’t obscure the fact that women over fifty should most definitely be conscientious about scheduling annual mammograms:
Here is what I wrote last month (see “Five Ways to Make Fall Work for You – Remember Good Health is about Maintenance):
“Older age is the single greatest risk factor for breast cancer in women. According to the American Cancer Society (1999), breast …

GLORIA STEINEM, ISABELLA ROSSELLINI, REP. DONNA EDWARDS (D-MD), MODERATOR LESLEY JANE SEYMOUR AND ME.

FREE BOOK Fifty is the New Fifty, First 10 Comments
I don’t think there is anything more nourishing than an hour spent with a group of bright, funny and honest women friends. I got to do that – big time – last June when Gloria Steinem, Isabella Rossellini and Rep. Donna F. Edwards joined me for a discussion of the ideas in my book Fifty Is the New Fifty on a panel moderated by Lesley Jane Seymour, More …

I Love Your Term the Fertile Void…
Suzanne Braun Levine has been a hero of mine since age 16, when I was a charter subscriber to Ms. Magazine, where she was the first editor. Just as Ms. had many things to teach me about myself as a woman and a feminist, so Levine decades later continues to teach women about themselves, through her writing (in books like Inventing the Rest of Our Lives: Women in Second Adulthood and her contributions to MORE Magazine) and speaking. I was privileged to talk …

My friend Joanne Edgar is a 2009 Trek Women’s Triathlete!
She’s in our FIFTY IS THE NEW FIFTY video in her Nia class and “Nia — Why I Keep Coming Back for More…” Now, she is going for it all!
FOR THE CHALLENGE, THE FUN . . . AND FOR ME!
By Joanne Edgar, #1312
What does it mean to feel good about your body? To me, at age 65, it means feeling strong and healthy and optimistic, knowing I can meet the challenges I set for myself.
On September 13, 2009, I completed …

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: …

“THE HOUSE OF SPIRITS” – ISABEL ALLENDE’S REMARKABLE WOMEN- BY LIANA SIDERI

As I was contemplating “Fifty is the New Fifty,” I kept thinking of the immense resilience characteristic of the female nature, the concept of which you illustrate so beautifully. And though most of us have been taught to be in control of the many roles we shuffle daily (and of those we were never called to assume but we have), eventually we come to a point where we need to reevaluate the meaning of and the reasons for …