Next Chapter A 50+ Library Blog

On Wednesday, November 9, the New Horizons Band for Adults played a concert at Chatham Square Library before an appreciative audience. It was their premiere performance at this library, and for a member of the flute section, it was a homecoming.

You have no doubt heard that the world is getting older. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that by 2025, nearly 60 percent of the U.S. population will be 55 or older. And the age wave spans the globe.

Lions International, working with other organizations that fight blindness, commemorated the first World Sight Day in 1998. Since then, it has been observed throughout the world on the second Thursday of each year; the World Health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness are the chief coordinating agencies at present. Communities and organizations have initiated activities to support the main goal: to focus global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of those with visual impairments. This year, the New York Public Library is working with partner agencies to join in this important work of raising awareness of 

Something big has started in the Big Apple!

On July 1, 2011, the organization Coming of Age: NYC officially launched. Part of a national initiative and spearheaded by PSS (Presbyterian Senior Services), it brings together several leading innovative and diverse nonprofits to provide New Yorkers 50 years old and better with opportunities to connect and contribute to their communities.

Please join us at this informative panel presentation:

In Search of Purpose, Passion, and a Paycheck: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life
Wednesday, June 29, 2011, 4 to 6 p.m.
The New York Public Library

We're all looking for programming that is easy, effective, and not a burden on staff resources.  You may think that such a program does not exist, but luckily for NYPL, the nearly perfect opportunity has presented itself in the form of a new initiative called "Creative Aging in Our Communities." Administered through an organization called Lifetime Arts, the Creative Aging initiatives are designed to enrich the lives of New York City seniors by providing ongoing instruction in the visual or performing arts.  Programs run a minimum of eight sessions and can include anything from collages to choral performances to memoir writing.

Next Chapter.

It's hard to believe that the LiveStories memoir writing workshop at the Grand Central Library is nearing its conclusion.  This has been a fascinating, emotional, cathartic, and educational journey for us all.  With the help of our two wonderful teaching artists, Annie and Lauren, and our generous funders at Lifetime Arts,  we have learned how to craft our personal stories, and in some cases, even to dramatize them. We have made new friends and, in just a short time, become part of each other's lives.

Choices...

I would choose to have only 70 degree days throughout the summer, and a light breeze wafting through the air, plus a New York City to live in just as it is—but with affordable rents in midtown. Wouldn’t you? Unfortunately, these aren't choices I can make. But there is a world of choices that we can make to make our lives better, and to make an informed choice we should hear from the experts first.

Draw from your experience: six NYPL branches will offer creative aging programs this fall. The programs consist of a minimum of eight 90-minute classes and each will end with a culminating celebration.

Are you hearing the same mixed messages about the state of the economy that I am? Though some aspects seem to be getting better, other indications are not so bright... Whatever our age or stage in life, now more than ever we need to learn about personal finance.

Forty years of Earth Days... and each year we are encouraged to do something green. How are you doing with that? I've made a few changes—am making fewer copies, reusing paper, recycling lots of stuff. And today I shall eschew plastic bottles: it's just that superb NYC tap water for me. 

April is the cruellest month.
—T.S. Eliot, opening of The Wasteland.
 
What do you associate with April? April showers? April in Paris?
 

To celebrate Women’s History Month last year, I wrote about some women from the past who made history by doing amazing things in later life. This year I’d like to take a look at some superwomen over 50 who are making history right now.
 
First, let’s look at some of the women who have won the Purpose Prize, a prize awarded to several individuals over 60 each year for making extraordinary contributions in their encore careers.  Note: these are just a few of a cadre of dozens of wonderful women, as well as magnificent men who have won the Prize!
 

If you enjoyed reading this collection of essays, there's always lots more Nora Ephron to read--I recommend Crazy Salad: Some Things About Women for a start.

I do hope you've had a chance to read or listen to Nora Ephron's elucidating and entertaining collection of essays. If not, it's not too late—these questions will be here waiting for you whenever you would like to post your responses, or any thoughts about the book you'd like to share.

Happy New Year! And welcome (or welcome back) to The Reader’s Den, now in its second year.

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron, a former #1 New York Times bestseller, kicks off the list this year. As the years roll by, many over a certain age move into an increasingly-complex maintenance schedule, and several of the 15 essays in the book examine these efforts. If we can’t ultimately win the war against aging—as each of us knows somewhere inside—we might as well laugh at it. As you read this book, you will laugh.

Marc Prensky coined the term digital natives to describe those born after the advent of digital technology, circa 1980. He posits that they differ fundamentally from those who came before. To carry the natives analogy a bit further, Prensky suggests that even if we digital immigrants learn the language, we will always have an accent.

Alvaro Fernandez, co-founder and CEO of SharpBrains and co-author (with Elkhonon Goldberg) of The SharpBrains Guide to Brain Fitness: 18 Interviews with Scientists, Practical Advice, and Product Reviews to Keep your Brain Sharp will be discussing the growing field of research in this area at two NYPL locations this coming week: Wednesday, September 23, 10 A.M. at Bronx Library Center, 310 East Kingsbridge Road; and, Friday, September 25, 1:30 P.M. at the