Scientists studying wild creatures, from turtles and terns to bats and parakeets, are coming up with answers that may help humans stave off some of aging’s most devastating effects. Originally published in National Wildlife. FOR THE REPTILES LIVING in the University of Michigan’s E.S. George Reserve, Justin Congdon is something of a troll under the bridge. A […]
Sudden Debt
Overdrawn by $5? Need a loan until payday? Hidden bank fees and usurious storefront lenders plunge millions of Americans into downward financial spirals. Originally published in AARP The Magazine. FOR MARK KEIL, 45, THE SPIRAL began with some smokes. It was April 2004 when Mark stopped by his favorite convenience store in Dayton, Ohio, and spent $19.45 […]
Rethinking the Commune
Across the United States, bold pioneers are building a new kind of housing for the 21st century. Originally published, in a slightly different form, in AARP The Magazine. BY THE TIME HE WAS IN HIS MID-40S, Bob Gilby had his retirement plans all worked out. An engineer with a copper-mining company, he had purchased some land […]
Age in Place… But Not Here
Originally published in the AARP Bulletin. BLANCHE BELL, TO HEAR HER FAMILY TELL IT, had the determination of a bulldog—from studying physics at the University of Michigan in the 1940s because it was the toughest major offered to presiding over a family of six. “She was only 4-foot-11, but she was larger than life,” says her son […]
Prisoners of Pain
Why are millions of suffering Americans being denied the prescription drug relief they need? Originally published in AARP The Magazine. DEBORAH HAMALAINEN WAS FEELING more and more agitated by the minute. Waiting to see her neurologist, she was silently rehearsing a confrontation that had been building for months. She planned to look the doctor directly in the […]
Whose House Is It Anyway?
A city’s quest for renewal can mean the death of an old neighborhood. Originally published in AARP The Magazine. WILHELMINA DREY HAS LIVED HER ENTIRE 87 YEARS in a blue sea captain’s house near the banks of Connecticut’s Thames River. From the ground floor, her family ran a grocery where the neighborhood’s Italian women congregated Saturday mornings, […]
Going Home
The hospital couldn’t save Jack’s life. But hospice gave him something to live for. Originally published in AARP The Magazine. JACK SMITH LOOKED UP FROM THE EVENING NEWS to see two old buddies bounding down the steps to the basement den of his northeast Philadelphia home. At once his tired face broke into a wicked smile. “There’s […]
Stolen Lives
Thousands of older Americans are being robbed of their freedom, dignity, and life savings by a legal system created for their protection. How can this happen? Originally published in AARP The Magazine. THE CHRISTMAS DAY BEFORE THE COURTS STRIPPED Inez America Carr of her independence, she woke up earlier than usual to help prepare the traditional family […]
Colleen’s Choice
When her fight against cancer became unbearable, Colleen Rice chose death as her only option. Now the U.S. government is challenging the Oregon law that helped her end the agony. Originally published in AARP The Magazine. THE NIGHT BEFORE COLLEEN RICE SWALLOWED THE MEDICATION that ended her life, she wanted to give her grandchildren one final, uncomplicated […]
Can Turtles Live Forever?
A quiet backwoods study opens a huge window on aging. Originally published in Discover. WHEN JUSTIN CONGDON WAS A TEENAGER, he spent his days in the woods of northeastern Pennsylvania, shooting pheasants and trapping muskrats so he could sell their pelts for $4 apiece. He would have laughed had anyone told him he might spend the rest […]
