When we consider someone as having prodigious talent it is almost always a child. Child prodigies usually display talent in music, mathematics and occasionally dance or athletics, but rarely in the arts that rely on a life lived to inform and enrich the creative process. Years of observation and refinement decerning what makes a work of art resonate.  The Museum of Modern Art in New York has a year-long  exhibit (running through November 4, 2018), entitled The Long Run which features work chronicling the continued experimentation of artists long after their breakthrough moments, it suggests that invention results from sustained critical thinking,...

The dictionary definition is: "A cooperative arrangement whereby individuals are paired or teamed up and assume responsibility for one another's welfare or safety." Most of us learned this system in kindergarten and may not have thought of it since elementary school, but we need to bring back the Buddy System. People middle aged and older now account for the largest number of people living alone. The number has nearly double in 30 years to one third of adults over 65 and half over 85. According to the Pew Research Center’s analysis of U.S. Census Bureau figures forty -two percent of Americans live...

Last week was a tough one for music fans. Eric Clapton announced he is going deaf. He says he'll continue performing live, but is concerned.  Clapton stated:  "I mean, I'm hoping that people will come along and see me just because, or maybe more than because I'm a curiosity. It's amazing to myself that I'm still here." Eric Clapton is 72.  Neil Diamond was honored last night at the Grammy Awards with a Lifetime Achievement Award; just a week after cancelling his tour and announcing  his retirement due to Parkinson's Disease. "The onset of the disease has made it difficult to travel...

In winter it is especially easy to fall. The wild temperature variations and crazy kinds of precipitation lead to ever more falling hazards. Anyone can fall, but the potential for serious injury increases with age. Now along with prevention awareness; we should practice and learn the right ways to fall. In the New York Times Kate Murphy wrote The Right Way to Fall   "Although often associated with older people, falls occur at any age and are the most common cause of injury seen in emergency rooms in the United States. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates that falls cause more than a third...

For me, it started with The Conversation Project, the organization Ellen Goodman and a group of colleagues and concerned media, clergy, and medical professionals started in 2010. They gathered to share stories of “good deaths” and “bad deaths” within their own circle of loved ones. Their vision emerged as a public campaign spanning both traditional and new media that would change our culture. The goal: to make it easier to initiate conversations about dying. No small feat in a culture which has removed the end of life and the process of death to unseen, unspoken, unheard corners of our consciousness.  I remember...