Having explored the essence of caring for another person, we now ask: just who are these caregivers?  As family members, this includes us to varying degrees of time, energy and willingness.  Sad statistics show that often family caregivers burn out, then they themselves need the caregiving. So along the way, to share the load, many of us… read more

    Given all the hullabaloo these days about baby boomers aging, Alzheimer’s becoming epidemic and caregivers in shortage, the question looms: exactly what is adequate care giving, and are people with these meritorious skills born or made?  In past days when many elders still lived with their families, it was assumed that the wives of these families knew… read more

    “We want the same thing.”  My father spoke these self-revalatory words in the mid-1970’s when his forays into the world as a CPA brought the dawning awareness that Black Americans’ desires for a supportive job and viable family life were no different than our own.  This wasn’t born of some study of civil rights theory or even… read more

    Our mega-family reunion has come and gone.  Getting together with persons I may have heretofore passed on the street but not known that we were related has proved the following.     I have a cousin through marriage who is a union organizer and another, also through marriage, who is a gun toting NRA member. (Alright, they’re… read more

    Last week, as a Sierra Club volunteer, I went camping with 15 teenagers.  They are recent Hispanic immigrants, attend Baltimore City Public Schools and are part of an after-school program in Fells Point sponsored by the Baltimore City Health Department.     “Muy pequeno” English was spoken, so all of my bodily movement and facially expressive skills… read more

    Aren’t we all so glad to take a dip in the pool when we’re hot and miserable?  Not everyone. One says he never learned to swim as a child. Another emphatically states she will not don a bathing suit.  These resistances speak to the twin perils of aging—being acutely aware of gaps in past development and assessing… read more

    Encapsulating a history where I’ve seen inflation rise and fall, weathered other dire recessions and wondered about covering my next bills, I have respect for the dollar.  I’m far from my Dad who made $10 weekly at his first accounting job in 1940 and even from myself who was proud to earn $95 in the mid-‘60’s as… read more

It’s good for us; who can argue?  Every doctor and health expert tell us to pump that blood, stretch those muscles. It’s a good way to get up an get going, so we don’t waste the day. We may meet friends and interact, all good for the brain cells.     There’s walking paraphernalia, sturdy shoes and inserts, wick-a-way… read more

    In the global sense, we are all aging after we take our first breath.  In a more specific sense, we usually think of aging as a period of decline after we hit our peak.  In the most individual sense, this can vary greatly for each of us.  On one hand, we claim personal perrogative in deciding how… read more