Age and Aging from Cradle to Grave

"The Alzheimer's Project"

2009-12-05T20:54:00.000-08:00

You don't always know what you're in for when you tune in to a "dull" airplane movie... I happened to turn on "The Alzheimer's Project" heading home from a family summer vacation was glued to my seat for the next few hours.

I'd really recommend it to anyone interested at all in the illness' profound effects. "The Alzheimer's Project" is a four-part series broadcast on HBO that gives a realistic look into the the lives of various individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease, and it sheds light on family members forced to cope. Two installments of the film won Creative Arts Emmy Awards in 2009. If you're interested in watching a show or two, click this link for a free view.

One particular portion is narrated by Maria Shriver, whose father Sargent Shriver suffers from the illness and inspired her to co-executive produce the series. She narrates "Grandpa, Do You Know Who I Am?" which is targeted for a younger population of children and teenagers.

It's critical that such political figures continue to take active stances in the fight for more disease research and enhanced public awareness. Although this film may not have painted the prettiest picture of the disease's impacts, it certainly gave me chills - a true education.

"The Play's the Thing": Stanford's Bing Nursery School

2009-12-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

It is one of the top pre-school programs in the nation, with its highly educated teachers, indoor and outdoor learning spaces, and play-based curriculum. For the toddlers that attend, Bing Nursery School is a place that allows and encourages dramatic play as a means for exploring and learning about their big, wide world. Each classroom is supplied with blocks, clay, paint, sand, and water as the five everyday materials. These materials serve to help children express themselves and develop motor skills, acting as ‘pre-requisites’ to more complex learning. Through the simple act of playing, children learn to enact different social roles, accomplish varied tasks, and resolve conflicts. They come into a world for toddlers, but learn the acts and skills of adults. In a tour of the school, one may see children constructing blocks like engineers, bathing baby dolls like mothers, or measuring water quantities like scientists. But it is this process of learning different roles that makes a child a child. However, recent issues threaten to disrupt the peaceful play zone of these toddlers: “Government initiatives such as “No Child Left Behind” have made grade schools increasingly assessment-focused and pushed academics down into kindergarten. Preschools are now feeling pressured to abandon their play-based curricula for more.” Despite this, the researchers at the school believe that play is the best preparation for later academic success. Play covers physical, emotional, and cognitive development in a social setting – the perfect blend for learning. Thus the Bing Nursery School serves as a model for successful play-based curriculums. As institutions encourage the implementation of more formal, structured learning for toddlers, they may be taking away the means of which children become creative, imaginative, and flexible thinkers.

Chromosome Research Suggests Exercise Fights Aging: The Immortality Enzyme

2009-12-03T14:15:00.000-08:00

A new study on chromosomes takes a look at prolonging life and slowing aging, explaining it on a cellular level.

Telomeres are structures at the end of chromosomes, which shrink over time. As one of these DNA protein complexes shortens, the rate of human cell death decreases, ultimately weakening the body, leading to death. In other words, we could say short telomeres equal shorter lives. If this nebulous concept seems frightening, fret not.

We've all heard before that exercise makes us healthier. We are encouraged to "maintain an active lifestyle." But what does that mean biologically? The study by Dr. Dean Ornish showed that strenuous exercise was related to the maintenance of telomere length, if it is carried out over a long term. By running or exercising strenuously and regularly in the years to come, if you don't enjoy it, you may feel pain and exhaustion. But on the bright side, your body would be releasing an enzyme called telomerase which prevents the shortening of telomeres and improves the health of your cells. Hence this enzyme has been appropriately named the "immortality enzyme," whose discoverers won the Nobel Prize in medicine. So if you are willing to make this “comprehensive lifestyle change,” you will reap the rewards of a longer, healthier life.

From Miley to Meryl: How the Media's Role in Society Shapes Views on Age and Aging in Pop Culture

2009-12-02T08:21:00.000-08:00

September 2005. As studios gear up for the launch of their fall movie campaigns, two movies face off, released on back-to-back weekends. One stars Jessica Alba, 24-year-old Hollywood actress, ubiquitous tabloid magnet, and perennial member of the list of the top ten most googled celebrities. The other is a star vehicle for a then 43-year-old Jodie Foster. It’s a perfect matchup of the generations, as each female lead goes head to head at the box office to see who can draw the largest crowds. The answer seems obvious— the hot young star is sure to draw more theatergoers from our youth-obsessed culture than some middle-aged actress past her prime. Yet when the box office figures are released, the money, as always, gets the final word. Foster’s Flightplan garners nearly $90 million in ticket sales among American audiences, more than four times the paltry $18.8 million Alba’s Into the Blue reels in. Any American super-market shopper can remember the omnipresent and now infamous shot of Alba clad in her blue bikini plastered on the cover of numerous magazines as part of the movie’s aggressive marketing campaign. So how is it that Foster—with no stellar bikini shot backing her up—was able to lure more than four times the audience of the actress nearly half her age?

We have entered a new era of American culture, one that reveals an interesting contradiction in our attitudes and beliefs about age in the entertainment industry. We have heard the endless Hollywood horror stories about actresses hitting thirty and getting caught with the first stretch mark or wrinkle that pops up screaming, “Expiration date is fast approaching!” The perpetual image of young stars on magazine covers and blogs adds to this impression that youth is the driving force of the American media. Analysis of economic data—from salaries, to box office figures and record sales—tells a different story, however, one that suggests that older celebrities truly succeed in bringing in the audiences and the cash.

Before exploring perceptions of age in American media, we first must examine the broad reasons why Americans are perpetually accused of being a youth-obsessed culture. Throughout the past several decades, however, this youth obsession has appeared in American culture to varying degrees. In order to fully grasp the factors that influence the changes in American fascination with youth, we must scrutinize each generation’s relationship with the media. As the media’s form, as well as its role in American society, evolves throughout the decades, so too do the ages of its most prominently featured figures. Yet while attitudes about age may change from generation to generation, our culture’s obsession with youth will always remain inherently rooted into our national identity, manifesting in different ways overtime.

The Terminal Perpetuation of Masculinity

2009-12-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

Doug Vogt / ABC

The press praised his struggle against terminal lung cancer–his “uphill struggle,” his “aggressive chemotherapy”–as the battle of a legendary hero (“Peter Jennings”). They stood, misty-eyed, in awe of his “realism, courage and firm hope” because he lived his last months with the same strength and independence that had made him famous. In the press’s eyes, ABC news anchor Peter Jennings was a man to salute. He was tough, a fighter to the bitter end. His knowledge was his arsenal, his assurance an indestructible shield. And in farewell tribute to a man of all men, the world knelt its respect to an exemplar, a fallen hero. Peter Jennings: a true man unto death.

The media glorified Jennings’ masculinity, chiseling his life’s legacy in stone. They defined his life heroic by his adherence to masculinity’s norms: winning, emotional control, dominance, self-reliance, the primacy of work (Kahn 143). However, his terminal prognosis seemed a direct refutation of this masculine tradition. Terminality implied that he could no longer dominate, that his strength was to no avail. It stripped him of his ability to work and his power to control, forcing him to depend on others for his care. Finally, it damned him with the knowledge that he would lose the fight for his life. And the world celebrated Peter Jennings. They celebrated him because he fought. They celebrated him because he stood strong. They celebrated him because he kept the dignity of an untouchably, unfailingly masculine man.

Peter Jennings’ media coverage illustrates that popular culture honors perpetual masculinity. Media and literature hail such a controlled, strong and dominant man as a paradigm of the real-man tradition. If he deviates from this masculinity at any time, the public identifies the deviation as a loss: he has moved away from the man he once was. Thus, masculinity is to keep its dominant status through a terminal prognosis.

Even as terminal illness strips men of their traditional dominance and control, media and literature pigeonholes their terminally ill subjects into the masculine norms of healthy men. Its viewers take the popular images as the norm to emulate, and when the terminal prognosis comes, these norms of emotional control, dominance and self-reliance can hinder a man’s end-of-life closure and care. The gay man’s emotional openness about terminal illness offers a counterpoint to terminal masculinity, a different point of view that may help ease the last journey.

Beyond Party Lines: Millennials Revolutionize American Politics

2009-12-02T03:57:00.000-08:00

www.stltoday.com

The Millennial Generation. The first generation to grow up with the Internet, widespread cell phone usage, and Facebook. A truly "plugged-in" generation. Some people claim that Millennials (b.1982-2003) think of nothing but themselves and how many text messages they have received in the past five minutes. As unimpressed psychologist Jean Twenge puts it, "Millennials are the most narcissistic generation in history." Surely, today's self-obsessed youth, with their ipods and compulsively updated Twitter accounts, have nothing in common with their civically-focused grandparents and great-grandparents, those people who gracefully saw the nation through the Great Depression and World War II--right?

Wrong. In fact, striking parallels exist between the Millennials and the G.I. (a.k.a. the World War II or "Greatest") Generation. Not only do they both come of age during economic upheaval, but they also face global violence of epic proportions. In place of Nazis, we face Islamic extremists. A potentially nuclear Iran replaces the silent threat of the Soviet Union. As a result of this constant encounter with crisis during youth, both generations place a high value on active participation in government and take their civic responsibilities seriously. The civic spirit of the G.I.s drove the nation through the Great Depression and then propelled it through the Second World War. Hopefully,, the Millennials will handle the current economic crisis with such grace. So what does another civic generation mean for America's political future?

Before making such ambitious political predictions, the Millennials' place in the broader generational cycle of American politics demands analysis in order to properly frame this discussion. What does "civic" mean in a generational context? And if generations such as the Millennials and G.I.s embody civic responsibility, how do other generations fit into the historical picture? William Strauss and Neil Howe's Generations: The History of America's Political Future, 1584-2069 (1991)provides an excellent foundation for the examination of political cycles through a generational lens. These political scholars present a compelling interpretation of America's past, present, and--most importantly--future. They detail a four-part generational cycle where a distinct identity--Idealist, Reactive, Civic, or Adaptive-characterizes each stage. This cycle, they argue, has recurred (with the defining generational identities in the same order) with only minor exception since the British settling of North America.

Consequently, this generational cycle dictates a remarkably consistent political pattern in American history. Idealists come of age during a "spiritual awakening"--most recently manifested in the form of hippies, Vietnam protests, the Women's Liberation Movement, and John Lennon--during which they passionately challenge societal and cultural norms (Generations 35). Inevitably, a social upheaval follows this "awakening," and it is during this time of societal turmoil that Reactives are born and growing up. A few decades later, Strauss and Howe explain, Civics come of age during some sort of secular crisis--think "war on terrorism" and the current economic crisis--while Adaptives are being born. Strauss and Howe, then, refer to Idealist and Civic generations as "dominant" in the public sphere: Idealists reshape the moral and cultural worlds, while their civic counterparts rebuild institutions and develop new technology (Generations 35). Millennials clearly fit into the "civic" category. Growing up during a secular crisis? Check. Rebuilding (and more importantly developing) technology and institutions? Check, and hopefully even more so in the furture. Currently, America is in the middle of the Millennial Cycle, with the Baby Boomers labeled as the idealists, Generation Xers as the Reactives, and the Millennials as the civics. Because the G.I. was the last civic generation (during the Great Powers Cycle), the examination of that generation can potentially predict the behavior of the Millennials. What about the "Greatest" Generation made them great? How did they collectively persevere in the face of extreme crises? How will the Millennials' response mirror that of their generational predecessor?

A genuine concern for the state of the nation will spur Millennials to actively participate in government. Inevitably, the first step in active participation is education: knowledge of current affairs and policy issues. Unlike the politically disillusioned and cynical Generation X preceding it (Generations 333-334), the current generation of young people has an overall faith in the positive potential of politics. Fortunately, the advent of the Internet, along with its technological progeny (e.g. the I-phone) makes political awareness and knowledge all the more accessible and convenient.

Many political scholars believe that increasing awareness of issues (often facilitated by the Internet) will lead to a depolarization of sorts. As successful businessman and philanthropist Eric Greenberg explains in Generation We, Millennials will see beyond traditional partisan politics as usual. After extensive research, one will conclude that, rather than moving specifically to the political left or right, the Millennial Generation will affect U.S. politics in an entirely different realm together: issues, rather than party loyalties, will primarily determine how someone votes in a given election. Party ideologies will become secondary to a pragmatic interpretation of specific policy issues, and thus party affiliation will no longer serve as the crucial factor in predicting voting behavior. The Millennial "pragmatic policy voter" will dominate American politics. This voter will educate himself politically, prioritize issues on the basis of magnitude of immediate relevance, and then vote on the basis of which party purposes the most practical, logically sound solution to the given problem. For instance, in the 2008 presidential election such a voter would have voted primarily on the economy. Therefore, the two parties will still powerfully exist but with a severely weakened ideological base. A new breed of "independents" will come to fully dominate the American political scene--a truly revolutionary political phenomenon.

A Toast to Stanford

2009-12-02T02:32:00.000-08:00

Sinking into himself, the overzealous Stanford freshmen fought to raise his head in response to his Resident Advisor (RA). “I’m here to help you,” the diction sounded angelic, “let’s get you home buddy.” Sidestepping through hundreds of raving college students, grimacing from the thumping base system at the fraternity, this RA had found his student. It didn’t matter where or how the eighteen year old became intoxicated. It didn’t matter what punishment the RA would award for the staggering display. Here, where the rolling foothills rise up towards mountains higher, a Resident Advisor journeyed simply to pick up his drunken freshman and get him home safe.

That’s how we learn in America…right? We set a national minimum drinking age limit, expecting experimentation to garner safe drinkers. We say 21, knowing that 81% of students on college campuses drink. Education? O’ that comes with trial and error! In this country, 21 does not mean you’re mature enough to drink, it simply means that you’ve struck an arbitrary age by which you can drink legally.

Explicitly, the national minimum drinking age in the United States has been 21 for the last twenty-five years, but over this time society has tacitly consented to underage drinking. Parents have sent students off to college knowing that their child will soon experience the acclaimed social lubricant – if they haven’t already. Universities, fighting to uphold national policies, have adopted strict “zero tolerance” policies – even though they inadvertently drive students into unsafe, unhealthy drinking practices. Alcohol in America has become more than a drug. Today, it is both an antidepressant and an icebreaker. Today, it is the chief celebrant and the hidden healer. Today, students, from both Harvard and Hillsbrough Community College, from both Phoenix and Philidelphia, are forced to face the ubiquitous social experience labeled underage drinking. Entering college, students quickly realize that drinking and getting drunk are synonymous. Few people are taught how to drink, and social drinking is simply not an option. Each shot must be lesson, each beer, a quiz; and if your head stays out of the orifices of a toilet bowl, you’re except from a final, hungover exam. Universities use strict Resident Advisor practices and scare tactics to discourage students from drinking, but the numbers have not gone down. Binge drinking (drinking in excess of four standard drinks) is the new norm, and policy makers are so busy trying to punish the various outcomes of drinking, that they often forget about educating youth to prevent its misuse.

Breaking away from this inefficient system, Leland Stanford Junior University has developed an alcohol policy to harness the education that students find in downing shots and chugging beers. The policy at Stanford is especially unique because of the “Fundamental Standard” – a touchstone that governs interaction between the administration and students. The Standard is a social, and ethical contract to uphold the law and policy, and implicit within it is the understanding that students are responsible for making their own decisions and accepting the consequences of those decisions. The Standard states unequivocally: “The letter and the spirit of the Fundamental Standard – trust, individual responsibility and good citizenship – is the core of the Stanford Alcohol Policy and the administration can deal with watching over and educating the students rather than punishing them” (University Policy). The Standard has been especially effective as the driving force behind the alcohol policy because it approaches student conduct issues from a perspective that places emphasis on individual responsibility and development: “What really matters is what students decide to do,” the Standard states, “It’s their health, after all, and their safety that they’re most responsible for” (University Policy). Resident fellows, resident advisors, and school administrators are all set up to look out for students and to educate them, but it’s up to students themselves to create a policy that makes sense. At Stanford students learn how to drink. Administrators know they drink. They see students drink. But, finally, a university has decided to teach underage drinkers the right way to drink, instead of punishing them for the action.

In what follows, I will contrast the coordinated ineffectiveness of the national minimum drinking age and many universities’ “zero tolerance” policies with the success of Stanford’s alcohol policy. Through tracing the history of alcohol policies in the United States and presenting further statistical backing, the inefficiencies of the national policy will become glaring. The debate on lowering the minimum drinking age will then arise from the ashes of this inept national policy, and will be further ignited when examining the ineffective policies on college campuses across the country. Extrapolating on unsuccessful university policies, student opinions from various universities will be presented as a call for change in the national drinking policy. In conclusion, Stanford’s policy will be unpacked to demonstrate how permissiveness to alcohol consumption can add to the overall flexibility and oversight that a school has over its student body. The character of Stanford’s policy is very pragmatic in its ability to educate and it will be readily apparent that a similar strategy could be applicable on a national scale. In a toast to Stanford, the mission of this essay is to validate Stanford’s sobering syllabus as a best practice and to expose the prolific affect a lower drinking age would have on the perilous drinking culture in the United States.

As I sat there, looking up at my RA with glossy eyes, I knew I needed help. For me, there were no guidelines. I had misused alcohol. I had fallen down the same path a many other underage college students. I cannot prove that Stanford’s alcohol policy is the perfect solution. I cannot show that students drink less because of our environment. But, because I live here, because I have learned here, I have changed – and become more intelligent and responsible in how I consume alcohol.

2009-12-02T01:39:00.000-08:00

Little Bam Bam is a youtube sensation because of his unbelievably quick hands. At 6 years old, Bam Bam is a world renowned boxer who has been on both Good Morning American and ESPN. Born in my hometown of Toledo, Ohio - the greatest city in the world - Bam Bam began boxing at the age of 2. "He was sitting by the tv watching a boxing commercial, and all of the sudden he took of his shoes, put them on his hands and began boxing the tv," said his part-time trainer and part-time father in an interview on ESPN.

Though some may rush to condemn Bam Bam's parents for throwing him into the boxing world at an early age, I think that it was the perfect escape from the rough streets of his inner-city hometown. Boxing requires a tremendous amount of focus and training, and if Bam Bam sticks with it, he could learn many valuable lessons.

According to various interviews, Bam Bam can do 100 push-ups in a row, and 20 pull-ups. Watching the video, there is no question that his tiny arms carry a heavy punch (even though his boxing gloves may be half the size of his body). His trainer/dad has even said that a miss-punch once knocked his tooth out while they were training.

Condemn what you will, but I truly believe that Bam Bam's boxing career is the perfect escape for the child. And, furthermore, I think a vast majority of the 2,137,433 people who have watched his video on youtube agree with me.

The Enlightenment: To Be Asian or Not To Be Asian...Or To Be Both

2009-12-02T01:17:00.000-08:00

Who am I? I’d like to say that I’m a mature, independent, altruistic adult unabashed of my Asian heritage. But when I share a friendly glance and smile with a neighbor who quickly averts her gazes, is it wrong to become insecure? And when I spend time with people of various ethnicities other than mine, is it incorrect to succumb to their stereotypes of my varied ethnic makeup—Japanese, Chinese, Native Hawaiian—in order to fit in? How can I proudly participate in cultural activities in the safety of my home while feeling dismayed and somewhat shameful of my slanted eyes, round face, yellow-hued skin, and short stature in the public sphere? Does that make me a hypocrite? Can I have two identities simultaneously?

Many scholars assert their astute opinion as to the process in which an Asian individual develops their bicultural identity: the ability to draw values from or associate with an ethnic population to constitute one’s identity. Regardless of their stance on this circumstance, the experts conclude that one’s family and its ethnic values influence her identity. A discussion of their argument shows three familial nurturing modes that a budding youth falls into at the end of their development. The first model assumes that an individual in search of her core of beliefs becomes acerbically overwhelmed of her stringent, band-aid like family and their conservative values that she escapes her prison and never returns. That individual seems incapable of possessing a bicultural identity. Since she cannot manage to meld her two worlds together, she succumbs to the most appealing one. On the other hand, there exists nurturing, understanding, fresh-baked apple pie families that rear their children through humble example rather than through stark discipline; those adolescents understand their role and significance in their family. Those families have allotted their children the autonomy to explore the diversity around them but, by example, revealed the importance of their ethnic heritage. That type of rearing enables the “rearees” the freedom to identify with both worlds—two separate, exotic spheres. Finally, the conciliation of the previous models asserts that a young adult can leave her family in frustration to the alluring surprises of American society but become disenchanted when she realizes that she remains unfulfilled. She then rapidly retreats home much like the Prodigal Son: who returns home into the warm, familiar embrace of his father. Those disenchanted individuals—after realizing the pros of the opposing worlds—boil down their accrued values into one swirling, melting pot identity. However, can all young adults stringently fall into one model like coins sorted into moneybags? Is it possible for a young adult to challenge any neat fit within a certain mode of acculturation by dabbling in an assortment of rearing models much like how an assortment of coins of various values can constitute the same one-dollar bill?

The author Mei Ng in her semi-autobiographical novel Eating Chinese Food Naked paints an interpretive masterpiece of the archetypal story of the Chinese immigrant youth’s ‘coming-of-age’ experience—of children rebelling from the overbearing familial unit in favor of independence only to realize how profoundly their Chinese values constitute their identity. The protagonist’s family emigrates from the “Middle Nation” to the poor, immigrant-ridden Chinatown in New York City where they open a Laundromat and raise three children. Franklin and Bell try to raise their children—Van, Ruby, and Lily—according to Chinese familial values in the fact of American pop culture. While Ruby initially embodies this Prodigal Son model, her brother Van personifies the opposite by hastily running away from his family without one final remark or afterthought. Eating Chinese Food Naked portrays the rainbow-like spectrum of responses to this stringent structure of Chinese value development suggesting that immigrant children can epitomize overarching bridges connecting Chinese and American society. Ruby’s struggle to formulate her identity when barraged with the seductive American culture opens her eyes to the three models of acculturation and receptive to her familial values. Mei Ng focuses on the protagonist’s liberal, sex-starved promiscuity typically denied in her conservative parents’ ascetic discipline to embody the true Chinese immigrant child: one who builds bridges between two worlds.

I want to be Forever Young

2009-12-02T00:58:00.000-08:00

In his new album, The Blueprint 3, rap icon Jay Z frames the desire to preserve adolescence in his song "Young Forever." This song really hits home for me because, as a freshmen in college, I constantly feel as though my life is getting serious and I need to buckle down and get to work. Thanks to the shuffle tool on my Itunes, however, I was exposed to Jay Z's timeless message.

"Fear not when, fear not why,
fear not much while we're alive
life is for living, not living up tight
see ya somewhere, up in the sky"

In life we have to enjoy the moments. Man is a product of his experiences, and we must cherish the time we have on this earth. Yes, it may seem like I'm getting way to philosophical, but for some reason music always has the ability to drown out the worries of life and put everything into perspective. So today, as I lay in bed and rock out to Jay Z, I hope you realize that "there is no tomorrow, just a picture perfect day." Stop worrying about how difficult an exam will be. Don't worry about what career the path of life will take you to. Just enjoy the day. Work hard, and love life.

Enslaved by the Mind

2009-12-02T00:25:00.000-08:00

Rom Houben was involved in a tragic car accident in 1983. He was 20. Doctors said he fell into a coma and then entered a vegetative state. For 23 years Rom laid on his hospital bed while his family contemplated "pulling the plug." For 23 years Rom was enslaved inside his own mind.

Though doctors believed he was in a vegetative state, Rom's family knew there was more. They sensed that he was alive; they felt his emotions. Though the accident left Rom unable to speak and move, his brain was still and he still was able to hear doctors, nurses, and family members. He was able to listen as doctors urged his family to end his misery. He was able to mourn as his mother confessed the loss of his father. But Rom Houben could not act. He could not visibly show he understood.

Finally, in 2006, 23 years after his diagnosis, doctors reexamined Rom's brain with the latest technology to find that he actually was conscious. Re-diagnosed with the "locked-in syndrome" it was determined that although Rom could not speak or move, he could think and reason. Newly developed technology allowed Rom to express some of his emotions and in his first sentence in 23 years Rom said that he felt as if he had been reborn.

Other than extremely creeping me out, this story made me wonder what it would be like to watch the world go by without participating in it. To be able to sit and watch other age, watch nations battle, cities crumble, generations age. What would it be like to age inside the mind? What would you talk to yourself about for 23 years? Even scarier...

Doctors now believe that over 40% of those diagnosed as vegetative may in fact be like Rom....

Lingering Sexism: Teenage Girls and Contemporary Female Portrayal in Gossip Girl

2009-12-01T23:43:00.000-08:00

Blair plans a huge party in hopes of impressing her new boyfriend – who just so happens to be a duke. She goes about this by giving orders, gathering the support of the community, and doesn’t fail to be the center of attention at the actual event. But is Blair’s intention to seek power and dominance, or to be loved and protected? As Gossip Girl narrates, “On the Upper East Side, all the world’s a stage and the men and women merely players.”

In the most recently completed season of the CW’s teen drama Gossip Girl, we witness socialite teenagers from the Upper East Side of Manhattan take on outsized roles – consequently developing into models for adolescent girls. The female protagonists Blair and Serena portray a range of gendered behavior: feminine conventions and stereotypes, divergences and scandals. Gossip Girl is put under a controversial spotlight for its explicit sexuality, but a more insidious aspect of the show is its ability to tear apart gender stereotypes, but subtly put them back in place. Presentations of gender by the media, as we will see, cultivate adolescents’ attitudes about how they should behave as females. Even though television shows allow female characters to take on less traditional roles – breaking the girl stereotype by being agentic, assertive, and authoritative – they trap them in residual conventions of femininity, as seen through Gossip Girl.

Learning how to behave as an adolescent in society can be tricky. How are we to act? Who do we emulate? What is our role? Albert Bandura’s social learning theory in psychology argues that we learn behavior from models in our surroundings – actors on the metaphorical stage of life. Models can be real or fictional, old or young, male or female, have a positive or negative impact, or no impact at all. Most often, we model after those within close proximity such as a family member or friend; yet a noteworthy, often forgotten, and incredibly influential part of our environment is our media. Television provides characters as models which attract teenagers and help scaffold their attitude towards gender, giving them a sense of what is customary in society. With adolescents in the United States watching a daily average of three-hours of television (qtd in Walsh and Ward 134), teen dramas are sly vehicles that provide teenage girls with female models of behavior that they are consciously – or unconsciously – aware of.

Centenarians: Beyond Ageism and Beyond Horizons

2009-12-01T22:40:00.000-08:00

She wakes every morning on the small island of Okinawa, Japan at 6 A.M. to make her breakfast vegetable miso soup: steaming aromas of revitalization, hardiness, and soy. Taking a stroll or working for a couple of hours in her garden, she spends her early mornings with habitual vitality. At noon, she greets her family with arms waving over her head as she shouts, “Genki, genki deska?” (happy, are you happy?). She has lunch with her daughter and she dances to Japanese folk music with her granddaughters in her navy blue kimono. Sometimes she works at a local market selling oranges to tourists. Other times she gossips and drinks tea with her friends and family. By nightfall, she prepares a vegetarian dinner complemented with a fine cup of mugwort sake before going to bed. This is Ushi Okushima’s daily routine at 107 years of age.

We have all heard the phrase, “life is short, so make the most of it” but does life really have to be as short as people expect it to be? In Ushi Okushima’s situation, life is the least bit short or boring. Throughout history, people’s fear of the vulnerability of life marked the endless search for the fountain of youth. However, today, the search has shifted to the search for longevity. Since the 1970s researchers, journalists, and doctors worldwide have mused on the longevity of the Okinawan centenarians. Through studies and interviews, researchers have connected centenarian longevity to healthy diet, daily exercise, positive attitude, and cultural roots to the land. When the mystery of the centenarian secrets to longevity finally had been uncovered, popular media, such as BBC, Time Magazine and the New York Times took great interest in sharing to the public the possibilities of living to 100 years. Article headlines such as “Forever Young,” “Secrets of the Wellderly,” and “The Okinawan Way,” and images of Okinawan centenarians engaged in unexpected activities for the elderly—farming in their rice fields, running, dancing, and singing karaoke— have captured the concept of aging and old age in an unprecedented, over-idealized way.

The images, articles, and stories of the extremely old challenge our preconceived stereotypes of the elderly population. The American people in particular have developed an ageist culture where the youth population views elderly people as functionally and cognitively incompetent, dependent, and depressed. Although these negative stereotypes about the elderly population still abound among America’s youth, the publicity of centenarian longevity has begun to break down these ageist barriers. Based off of centenarian studies, journalists apply the success stories of centenarian longevity, through images of health, landscape, and youth, to counterbalance the negative stereotypes of aging. Although popular media romanticizes the aging process of the centenarians, it has commenced a new discussion surrounding the larger importance of longevity versus our negative views and biases of old age. Seen through the Okinawan centenarian model, aging now holds potential for an actual future rather than a timer counting down to one’s death.

Confronting Reality: Goodbye to Elderly Depression

2009-12-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

Imagine being on a never-ending quest for happiness, causing your life-long goals and ambitions to turn astray. What if somewhere in your quest for happiness, you began to feel vulnerable, helpless, or sad? You constantly wonder why nobody else seems to feel the agonizing feeling of being abandoned by loved ones, the reality of being trapped in an isolated state with no one to comfort your pain, sorrow, and misery? Some would explain that you might feel that everything was dark, fearing you were living in a nightmare. Others would describe the feeling of being locked inside your head, battling for sanity. To you, the world looks bleak and your thoughts reflect that of hopelessness and helplessness. You constantly have negative and self-critical thoughts; they will never leave. Sometimes, not knowing your own value, you feel worthless and unlovable. The terrifying thought of being sent to the mental hospital runs like crazy through your head every day. What would they think and say of me? Plus, I'm not crazy, why would I need to go there anyways?

These are typical emotions that seniors experience. Sadly, depression affects approximately 6 million people aged 65 and up; too few of these people receive proper treatment. In today's society, pharmaceutical companies are doing everything they can to satisfy their obsession with money, causing physicians' relationship with their elderly patients to change significantly. Since physicians are giving in to the bribes of pharmaceutical companies, patients should not trust their doctor this day and age. Doctors are influenced a bit too much from these companies and the reason for this influence is simply for profit. Due to denial and resistance in taking medication to cure depression, they are under medicated for this mental health condition. Why is that that companies are so insistent in advertising all other medications to the elderly, but are refusing to advertise medication to treat their depression?

Alzheimer’s Disease: Mitigating Educational Loopholes Perpetuated by Denial

2009-12-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

Unlike numerous illnesses—from thesniffles to the deadliest of all cancers—that force affected individuals toconfront symptoms, the unique nature of Alzheimer’s disease enables thoseaffected to evade reality. Despite the emotional outlet that denial oftenprovides, family caregivers and patients have a critical responsibility toactively educate themselves regarding the disease. Disease education, in orderto be effective, must address the fundamental causes and prevalence ofignorance among families.

A vast amount of educational resources—aworldwide web, academic journals, magazines, newspapers, television, radio—lieat the fingertips of patients and family members, providing information tobolster their foundation of support. Often ignorant of the disease’s presence,however, family caregivers and patients remain passive in their initial searchfor information. By the time patients decide to address concerns regardingtheir health with a physician, tensions have often already extended rootsthroughout the family dynamic. Brushing denial aside, the mesh of loopholeswithin the disease’s extensive educational realm begins to emerge, exacerbatedby inaccurate portrayals of the disease throughout popular media. Employingcertain educational strategies can effectively minimize the impact of flaws inAlzheimer’s disease awareness. Although a medical cure for the diseasecurrently lies out of our reach, patients and caregivers must continue toexpect and demand the hope that a quality education offers.

Twenty-Something Angst Now and Then

2009-12-01T21:56:00.000-08:00

Imagine yourself as a 23-year-old who has recently graduatedfrom college. You are educated; you are motivated; you are ready to secure yourdream job. You relocate to New York City only to find law school graduatespawing for paralegal positions and career opportunities in fashion becomingobsolete as magazines fold before your eyes. Rather than breaking into thefashion business and putting your French major to good use, you are forced towade in the murky trenches of the magazine world—otherwise known as working fora tabloid. This is the career my sister stumbled into upon graduating fromcollege and embarking on the job hunt. While my sister’s situation serves as anextreme case, many college graduates and twenty-somethings find themselvesfacing similar occupational and identity issues today. The problems thatcollege graduates and adults in their twenties encounter—ranging from finding ajob to coping with relationships to shaping a separate identity apart fromcollege and parents—compose the “quarter-life crisis.

Transitioning to adulthood through an extended period of timebecause of increased freedom and options remains unique to our generation.However, we are not the first generation to experience difficulties as we headinto adulthood. The young adults of previous generations experiencedquarter-life crises as a response to societal expectations or transformations—therigid social structure of the ‘20s, the advent of suburbia in the ‘50s, and theprevalence of women in the workforce in the ‘80s.

The issues of the ‘20s, ‘50s, ‘80s, and current decade thusvary in substance, but a common thread connects them. Through the study of fourkey primary sources, it appears that what assimilates these decades isindividuals’ shared urge to rebel. In the 1920s, Judge Lindsay examined therebellions of flapperdom and sexual freedom, in his subjective expose aptlyentitled Revolt of Modern Youth. The revolt then shifts in the ‘50s to acounterculture of beatniks, presented in Growing Up Absurd, andrumblings of feminism, which finally came to materialization in the form ofBetty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. We then turn to witness a moreexistential crisis in James Reston’s article “A Subdued Class of ‘80”, withadolescents rebelling to increased expectations, rather than to societalconstraints. After twenty years of existential crises, matters do not seem tohave transformed much as documented in the 2005 anthology Generation What? Instead,college graduates continue to defer adulthood and bemoan the consequences ofincreased freedom.

These primary sources offer directsnapshots into the lives of youth in their respective generations and give us abetter sense of their issues, as opposed to current scholars who remain furtherremoved from these generations. The sources, when compared to one another,suggest that quarter-life crises throughout the twentieth and twenty-firstcentury share a common theme. In each instance society presented youth, namelytwenty-year-olds, with a set of expectations and rigorous rules on how toapproach adulthood. Youth responded by rebelling—sometimes subtly andoftentimes vocally. However, the study of these documents also reveal that thecrises have evolved from a valid rebellion against societal expectations to today’scrisis for crisis’s sake.

Modern Day Peter Pans

2009-12-01T21:17:00.000-08:00

Once upon atime, there lived a stunted man who theaward-winning writer and broadcaster Jon Savage depicted in his book, Teenage,as a child troubled by his brother’s death and trapped in a “horridnightmare” of a marriage (79). During his young, tender adolescent years, heendured the loss of his mother and sister. To cope with all the morosenessencompassing his life and soothe his troubled mind, he took strolls inKensington Gardens where “he began to turn to other people’s children forsolace.” This, Savage asserts, “was not only a substitute for parenthood but areflection of his own self-diagnosed dilemma: He was a boy who could not growup” (79). For those of you trying to extrapolate this character’s identity—no,it is not Michael Jackson, though his picture in fig. 1 would suggestotherwise. This man was none other than J. M. Barrie, the playwright of thenostalgic children’s production, Peter Pan.

Not only didBarrie create an alternate reality where individuals could succumb to theirnagging childish tendencies free of guilt, but he wasalso the first documented individual to succumb to the allure of this fantasyworld. A little over a century later, the number of diagnosed cases of thisPeter Pan Syndrome has multiplied in size. This syndrome, formally dubbed asPeur Aeturnus, affects adults both young and old who haven’t fullymatured--both mentally and emotionally--out of their adolescent state, and whostill possess a maternal attachment to their caregivers. It’s as if Barrie’stheatrical performance dug its way deep into the heart of our society at theturn of the 20^th century, remained sedentary as its tentacle-like rootsspread throughout the soil of our subconscious, and sprouted up like aninvasive species of crab grass in the spring decades later. Now this epidemicis prevalent among many youth today as researchers work to trace it back tohindrances in their development during adolescence, searching for its causes,and attempting to formulate preventive solutions. However, in all their objectivestudies they forget to include one of the major voices of youth experiencingemerging adulthood: Hip Hop. While it seems as if the Hip Hop musical cultureperpetuates the emerging adulthood epidemic, in actuality it critiques thisproblem by engaging in issues scholarly sources fail to recognize, and finds arational solution under the umbrella of the Hip Hop culture/movement.

The Quarter-Life Crisis Quiz

2009-11-29T19:46:00.000-08:00

While I was at home for Thanksgiving, I explained my research paper on the quarter-life crisis to my friends and family. One of my family friends suggested that I check out the "quarter-life crisis" quiz on the Huffington Post website.

The quiz is composed of 25 questions, and answering yes to 12 out of the 25 qualifies you as having a quarter-life crisis. Many of the questions are repetitive and some seem slightly ridiculous, like "Do you feel entitled to a life much grander than the one you are living?" and "Do you overanalyze yourself?"

The columnist, who created the quiz, suggests that the only way to combat the quarter-life crisis is to engage in a process of self-discovery, no matter how long that might take. This column, along with the other books I've read on today's quarter-life crisis have jaded the phenomenon in my mind. In my opinion, the only way to make your life grander is to work hard. Things don't automatically fall into place upon graduating from college, instead it takes time and long hours to reach your dream job. Compared to generations past, we have little to complain about and would do better to start looking for jobs rather than "overanalyzing ourselves."

How Old is Too Old To Hit the Road?

2009-11-29T19:37:00.002-08:00

I came across this article in the New York Times's New Old Age Blog on the debate over senior citizens and whether or not they should be allowed to drive. While many people know that senior citizens are responsible for a good portion of vehicle accidents in America, I was unaware of the benefits that driving offers to elders. Driving not only acts as a form of transportation for them; it allows them to socialize, can lengthen life span, and prevent depression and institutionalization.

The author offered some interesting suggestions on how to prevent senior citizens from causing accidents by looking to British Columbia's prevention policies. In British Columbia, people over 80 have to present medical proof that they are fit to drive and are not allowed to drive at night.

I don't really know where I stand on this issue, because at 90 my grandmother still seemed alert and safe on the road. However, it is interesting to consider whether their should be an age limit for driving as there is one for obtaining your license.

Coing Home for Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T00:34:00.000-08:00

It's tradition for college kids, particularly freshmen, to head on home for the Thanksgiving Holidays. After months of being away from home for the first time, who wouldn't want to be back? A parent-writer in the New York Times Parenting Section talks about how being home can show just how much one has changed since the college adventure began. Leaving for college meant independence, but does coming home for Thanksgiving mean we're not all that independent just yet? Or does it allow for a gradual reduction of our dependence on our parents? Maybe parents have loosened up on "rules" since, after all, we've been on our own for the past two months. Maybe they're overbearing and just want to know about everything that's happened at college. The parent-writer ponders about how she should approach her own college freshman who is making his way home this weekend.

"What most parents want during visits home is a chance to take their child’s emotional temperature in ways that can’t happen in text messages or even video chats."

She does not want to be the interrogator, yet still wants to get a sense of her son's "emotional temperature." Inevitably, the relationship between her and her son will have changed from the time they last saw each other -- hopefully in a positive way. She claims that parents may feel conflicted in how to deal with the young adult that has come home for a temporary stay. The goal would be to find that perfect balance between giving space and catching up.

So I guess we can ask ourselves related questions at this time of our college career, as we can see the contrast between our college home and 'actual' home. Are your parents treating you differently? How much have you changed or grown?

Teaching Millennials Financial Know-How

2009-11-24T07:35:00.000-08:00

Today, many teenagers and young adults are less-than-stellar at managing their finances. The ever-present use of credit cards especially has clouded many young people's understanding of the value of money--after all, with a quick swipe of plastic that brand new dress or video game is all yours. A recent competition/summit in Chicago, detailed here , challenged its teen participants to address this very issue; it yielded some very impressive results. From organizing easy-to-use online "wealth diaries" for different expenses (cell phone, etc.) to setting up computer programs that allow young people to keep track of any and all debt with the click of a button, the winners of the competition certainly created some practical solutions.

Nonetheless, while reading this article I began to wonder: shouldn't parents be teaching their kids how to balance a checkbook? Why do most Millennials have trouble understanding how student loans should be managed? Does, and if so why, does this generation of young people have less financial know-how than their predecessors? In other words, I want to explore the roots of this issue after reading its possible solutions.

Social networks and kids: How young is too young?

2009-11-23T00:36:00.000-08:00

This article really made me think about the impact technology has on growing up. Socialization is vital to development in childhood. Children have playgroups, participate in sports teams, and join different activities, making a multitude of friends throughout the process. But in today’s tech-crazed world, how about online socialization? The question researchers seem to be asking today is: How much can an online social network actually affect a child? Many parents believe their 7-year-old should not be allowed access to sites such as Facebook or MySpace. They leave children vulnerable to an inappropriate environment. But perhaps these sites have become our social world and it is only right for children to be a part of it. The simple network sites intended for children are no longer sufficient; they do not provide enough ‘networking’ and are basically not “social” enough. Toby Clark, creator of KidSwirl (a kiddy version of Facebook) sums it up by saying, "The reality is that we're a technology-driven generation […] That’s not going to change.” So the next step would be to determine the best way to integrate the youngsters of our generation into social networking. Researchers are stumped now because they cannot determine the long term impact of internet use on children today, as technology is continuously evolving. Where are they to find their control group of non-users for their studies when everybody is on the web?

No More Food-coma on Thanksgiving

2009-11-22T18:59:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is coming up, so I thought in the spirit of health and aging...here are some key ingredients and tips to eat like a centenarian even for a Thanksgiving feast.

Eat foods with rich vitamins, exercise a bit after eating, and a sip of wine!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Centenarians of Azerbaijan

2009-11-22T16:15:00.000-08:00

Somewhere over the green, fertile, rolling hills of Western Asia, the mystic, foggy, ice capped mountains of Northern Russia, and beyond the deep, hidden valleys of Eastern Europe lives the centenarians of Azerbaijan.

The following link will direct you to a documentary trailer called "The Centenarians of Azerbaijan." Out of the 3 minute long trailer, about 2 minutes of the trailer consists of shots and frames that pan pastoral imagery described above. The connection between nature and extreme old age is apparent in many of the documentary videos, advertisement photos of centenarians, and centenarian interviews. This common theme overused by directors, photographers, and other artists, romanticizes the centenarians. They are placed on the same level as the unparalleled powers and vitality of nature (ie rolling hills, grass, mountains, waterfalls, etc). These frames of landscape represent beauty and a sense of grounded youth and life.

Although the juxtaposition of landscape and centenarians over-idealize longevity, it is a persuasive tactic to encourage commoners like us to learn from their "rooted" lifestyle and live healthier. Enjoy the trailer! the dramatic music complimented with scenes of nature will definitely put you at ease and calmness whether you are interested in longevity or not.

Support Groups without the "Support"

2009-11-21T20:51:00.000-08:00

Family caregiving for individuals with Alzheimer's disease instigates numerous changes within the family dynamic that often lead to the prolonged tension, stress, and depression of caregivers. Although many intervention programs have been established to ease these tensions, often times family members do not decide to use them. Andersen, Cairl, and Cohen state in Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease that only about 10% to 25% of caregivers use formal support programs (353). Why so few? What alternative methods can we enhance or establish to relieve tension within the family?

I'm brainstorming the possibilities of the internet. The importance of friends and family. The denial that weighs down on patients and family caregivers alike. I'm certain that there is a better system for addressing both patient's and family caregivers' needs. This system not only has the potential to better the quality of patient care, but improve entire families' quality of life. It's definitely time for the public to seek answers.

Can Anthing Be Done?

2009-11-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

After interviewing Robert Sapolsky, a professor of biology, neurosciences, neurology and neurobiological sciences, and neurosurgery at Stanford University, I've been looking into medications that are currently on the market for treating Alzheimer's disease. Today the most commonly used drugs (that have been approved by the Food and Drug Administration) for treating the illness are: Razadyne, Exelon, and Aricept, Cognex. Cognex, however, is rarely proscribed today for safety reasons.

I still can't believe how few drugs are available for the millions with Alzheimer's disease!

Furthermore, although such medications may delay an eventual worsening of the disease, we still haven't found a cure. Where are the drugs that actually reverse or prevent the illness's onset?

Perhaps the public will have to turn to other options of facing this deadly illness. Sapolsky concurs that denial is a common reaction to the current lack of treatment. He believes that "denial could be [beneficial] because there are just a handful of drugs" with minimal effects on the market. I definitely believe he has a valid point.

Centenarian marries a 17 year old

2009-11-15T23:51:00.000-08:00

"Married life is about love and passion rather than age and beauty" says the Somali centenarian. The centenarian claims he is 112 years old and is marrying his 6th wife. His most recent wife who is still alive is 90 years old but "ailing."

Although in Somalia, marriage traditions are quite different from that of Western culture, I don't know how I feel about a 112 year old man marrying a teenager. My western views I'm sure is playing a role in my concern and discomfort of this news; however I wonder on what level can these two individuals truly connect. The man has lived over a century, gone through various wars, cultural changes, and life experiences in general. The girl or woman is roughly 1/6 of her husbands age. To what extent does age gaps account to true, authentic love? Is there an age where a man or woman crosses the line marrying someone over 80 or 90 years younger than them?

A Dying Man's Anxiety

2009-11-15T23:33:00.000-08:00

They come in, individuals to a group, to write about themselves. They are different - and the same; men with their own stories, men with a terminal illness. AIDS. Their stories are their truths.

This is New York City's Gay Men's Health Crisis in action. Professor Rachel Hadas organized a poetry workshop for its members, and published an anthology of their work soon after: Unending Dialogue. Wayne, one of its voices, spoke of "the anger and sadness of the man / there in the mirror."

Poetry is emotion cordoned behind words. What literary form is more expressive? The emotions of a terminally ill man seem to be found mostly in the work of terminally ill (HIV-infected), gay men. Perhaps, society keeps the terminally ill, straight man locked behind the strength and independence of macho-masculinity... a cage the gay man broke merely with his presence.

Sex: +3-5 years to your life

2009-11-15T23:23:00.000-08:00

Quick Fixes: some easy ways to add 2-6 years to your life (all but one is about what you do, not your genes which is GOOD NEWS!)

Several scientists believe that people's genetic code is the key secret to one's longevity; however, based on the Danish Twin Studies "less than 20% of how long the average person lives is dictated by genes." In other words, we control how long we live. Some of the "quick fix" tips to add a couple years to your life include:

getting a hobby equals 2+ years
taking a vacation equals 1-2+ years
flossing your teeth equals 6.4+ years
having sex equals 3-5+ years

As random and peculiar some of these "quick fixes" sound (especially flossing teeth) they are all scientifically proven and tested to be beneficial to our lives. It would be interesting to see a list of potential "quick breaks" are, or behaviors that take years off your life. I wonder how many of those are natural things or man-made/artificial things that harm us because I believe a lot of health problems that arise in elderly people are society's fault rather than a natural cause. Longevity has to do with re-evaluating one's life in a positive way. Perhaps examining human creations that harm our health will allow us to re-evaluate society, foods, technology, medicine and so forth.

Jaded Generation [X]

2009-11-15T22:35:00.001-08:00

Thanks to the recession, I sure GenX has so much more reason to support their stereotype as the cynical generation. What else does this world have to throw at them? Entering the workforce in a recession, clawing through the dot-com fiasco... it's no surprise that there's significant work discontent during today's recession.

SURPRISE! Generational thinking does make it into the popular news. Front-page-Yahoo! status even!

But wow. What a way to be portrayed. Why must all these generations be seen in such a negative light? It does nothing for the generation's morale, I'm sure. I, for one, would not be happy to be labeled a jaded curmudgeon (even if it is only a label). I wonder: does this generational labelling inspire rebellion in the ranks or do its members resign themselves to their labels through action and thought?

Will 18 be Sucessful in SC?

2009-11-15T22:35:00.000-08:00

Call them southern hicks, call them conservatives, call them whatever you want, but in South Carolina the drinking age is finally being changed to eighteen. On August 4th, 2009 Magistrate Mel Maurer ruled that the state law prohibiting adults ages 18 through 20 from possessing or consuming alcohol was a violation of the State Constitution. The ruling (although seeming very progressive) falls in line with national policy because, according to the National Minimum Dirnking Age Act, only the sale of alcohol is restricted from those under twenty one. Therefore, South Carolina can still receive full highway funding, and the state can lower its legal drinking age to 18. In my eyes, although this step is one in the right direction, it is a complete overstep. Yes, the drinking age should be lowered, but South Carolina has not ameliorated any problem. There is still no emphasis on education. There is still no definition as to when kids are ready to drink. Yes, I think the judge was correct in his ruling, but something must be done to ensure that this new policy works. And, something must be done to ensure that high school does not turn into the new training ground for the misuse of alcohol. Worst comes to worst, a failure in South Carolina would give those who support a higher drinking age enough evidence to permanently fix the drinking age at 21. I wish you the best of luck SC...you'll need it...

How We Sabotage Young Girls

2009-11-15T21:25:00.000-08:00

Girls are encouraged to be nice, quiet, perfect, polite -- at the expense of their authenticity and sense of self.

Is this possible? Today, this force called 'Girl Power' is ripping through cultures, schools, and families, pushing girls towards academic and social success. Traditionally, the males took all the leadership and power roles, but today, we transcend that. Girls currently have higher high school graduation rates than boys, and represent the larger percentage of college and graduate students. Girl Power seems to demand perfection in all aspects of a girl's life. However, this force inherently demands selflessness and prevents self-expression. This modesty is said to carry on as a girl ages, which will allow her to continue her success, but cost her her authenticity. The author refers to this as "The Curse of the Good Girl."

The Curse of the Good Girl erects a psychological glass ceiling that begins its destructive sprawl in girlhood and extends across the female life span, stunting the growth of skills and habits essential to becoming a strong woman.

So is the author suggesting that being a strong woman is different from being a leader? She suggests that this issue stems from a culture that seems to desire gender equality, but is still confused about the true meaning of balancing gender roles.

Our Capitalistic Cure

2009-11-15T19:55:00.000-08:00

In the American healthcare industry, there is always a demand for new markets: New consumers who glee at the sight of a product promised to enrich their lifestyle; consumers who will go to any length - spend any amount - just to be cured of their daily troubles. Sadly, however, the latest constituency for greedy drug companies has been the Alzheimer-stricken baby boomers. Currently, there is a new wave of products which promise to decrees the effects of Alzheimer's, and drug companies are to imploring ill-informed buyers to spend less on sticky notes and more on unproven pills. To date, their has been no confirmation that the pills actually work, but baby boomers, who have already begun to pull into their retirement plans, are spending more and more on a hope for a better life. In their time, baby boomers did not have to deal (as much) with overzealous healthcare professionals. Doctors were family. Pharmacists were friends. Their was a huge emphasis on trust in the healthcare industry during their time, and today, it seems that their righteousness is simply being abused by today's squeeze to earn every penny.

A Clear Explanation of the Quarter-Life Crisis

2009-11-15T16:55:00.000-08:00

While I was talking to a few of my friends this weekend about my research paper, I realized that not many young people know what the quarter-life crisis is. My own sister, whose move to New York and subsequent difficulty finding a job, inspired my research project and she didn't even know what it was.

I can't remember the first time I heard the phrase mentioned--it seems ingrained in my mind right now. But I was thinking back to this movie I really enjoyed over the summer, called Post Grad, which I think offers the best explanation of the crisis in a film-friendly format.

The movie stars Alexis Bledel (of Gilmore Girls and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants fame) and focuses on her trials and tribulations post-graduation (hence the title Post Grad). Moving back home with her parents, trying to define relationships with guys, searching for jobs constantly, this movie explains all the elements of the quarter-life crisis.

So for those of you who are still confused about what the quarter-life crisis entails, watch the trailer and I'm sure you'll understand.

Quarter-Life Crisis Becoming a Quarter-Life + 10 years crisis?

2009-11-15T16:39:00.000-08:00

In the midst of editing my research-based argument, I took a Yahoo break and happened to stumble upon this article that claims the real generation facing a crisis are Gen Xers, who are 33 to 44 years of age. The article describes how Gen Xers are facing discontentment as the recession is hitting them the hardest. Apparently, companies are more eager to hire young, enthusiastic members of Generation Y than the "mobile" and "disloyal" (as they have come to be stereotyped) workers of Gen X.

This article was particularly surprising to me because I've spent the past month or so researching the current quarter-life crisis, and have found plentiful evidence on member of Generation Y who are experiencing extreme difficulty finding jobs right now because of the economy. That's why the lede of this article, "A good number of them are just waiting for the economy to pick up so they can hop on to the next job, find something more fulfilling and get what they think they deserve" is so striking because it sounds like a description of Generation Y.

Generation X, which has often been described as the "jaded" generation, doesn't come up in news as much as the Baby Boomers or Generation Y. It was interesting to read this article because it calls attention to the fact that there is no age limit for discontent, particularly in the workplace. Young adults and middle-aged Americans aren't the only ones facing crises.

15 Going On 50: How Gossip Girl is Killing Youth Culture

2009-11-15T03:04:00.000-08:00

The writer of this article basically says the message of Gossip Girl is one of misery, a "truly insidious influence." This is not exactly my opinion, but it did force me to analyze the characters and plot in a different way. The show focuses on tech-savvy teenagers of today – constantly texting and updating blogs to spread, well, gossip. Despite their modern, inter-connected ways, these adolescents play adult roles. The writer describes one of the scenes perfectly:

At one point, Queen Bee Blair is lying in a dark bedroom with Nate, her boyfriend-since-kindergarten. Nate has cheated on Blair; she's just found out. The scene is one of dark marital alienation as she lies with her back to him. He wears a suit and a huge Rolex; she dons a dress of thick nunnish lace and a mask of make-up. He talks of working out their problems; she resigns herself to a pragmatic reconciliation.

Marital alienation. The Rolex. A mask of make-up. Pragmatic reconciliation. Now, this definitely does not sound like it takes place in a teen drama... Or does it? What happened to the “carefree golden years”? Is this generation of television killing youth culture? The writer argues (vehemently) that Gossip Girl tells us that teens can be adults before middle age, thus there is nothing more to look forward to. We are doomed, trapped with the adult role as soon as we hit puberty.

Alzheimer's: Mementos Help Preserve Memories

2009-11-14T22:08:00.000-08:00

(CNN - October 29, 2009) The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research suggests in this article that mementos are extremely important for re-introducing "life" back into a person suffering from Alzheimer's disease. When caregivers interview the one they love suffering from the illness, they preserve a special moment in time. That moment is so fleeting -- so precious -- in the life of an individual who suffers from memory loss. As the state of that individual progressively worsens, there may be no turning back to cohesive conversations. The Foundation presumes that by writing in journals, keeping important documents, and creating scrapbooks, family members can help jog the memory of individuals suffering from the disease.

However, I'd like to emphasize how important it is for the family caregivers themselves to keep these mementos. Although they indeed might help "restore" the memory of an affected individual, they also may serve as an incredible means of comfort for family members in the future. They could even serve as the highest form of education by portraying the true nature of the disease.

A True Education

2009-11-14T21:21:00.000-08:00

I can walk down the aisles of Barnes and Noble and choose from a plethora of autobiographies written by individuals with Alzheimer's disease. Reading through these books, I could get a fairly good background on the "structure" of the illness: the symptoms, the statistics, the history. I could google "Alzheimer's disease" and read about the complex relationship between plaques and tangles in the brain that leads to memory loss. I could watch "The Notebook." Maybe shed a tear...

But isn't there something missing in this picture? Where are the true voices of the individuals suffering from the disease? Where are the voices of the families, the voices of those that tiptoe through the pressures and provide care for the ailing ones they love?

Autobiographies and movies are scripted. The very nature of these resources hides the meaning of the words they contain. I want the truth.

Any good ideas on how to find answers? How to truly educate the public regarding Alzheimer's disease?

Stanford Chooses Responsibility

2009-11-09T18:04:00.000-08:00

For some reason, I forgot to blog about this while covering college drinking, so I thought I would harken back to that now. In July 2008, 100 college presidents came together to promote awareness on the dangers of reckless drinking by underage college students. In their eyes, the minimum drinking age in America was not working, and so they advocate for lowering the drinking age to 18. Choose responsibility works to open the debate on lowering the drinking age though calling on the responsibility of both government officials and students to change the underage drinking culture in America. Through my own research, I hope to engrain myself within the Stanford alcohol policy to show the affects of an "open campus" and a "lower" drinking age. Stanford's Fundamental Standard gives students the responsibility to decide their own policy in hopes that they will learn how to handle drinking on their own. With this policy, the university is able to provide a safety net for students who are drinking, and can educate their undergrads rather than punish them. In my eyes, the policy has been very effective, and I believe it can be used as a case study in an effort to prove that a lower drinking age (such as 19) would allow for more education and drastic change to the unsafe binge drinking culture which exists on many college campuses around the country.

Only a Man on the Outside

2009-11-09T14:19:00.000-08:00

At 6'11 258 lbs. Jeremy Tyler is a 17 year old man-child. However, Tyler is also an immature adolescent who hasn't grown up and has decided to skip his senior year of high school to go play professional basketball in Europe. Thats right, senior year of HIGH SCHOOL! I know I often write about the NBA's minimum age requirement, which forces NBA prospects to be at least one year out of high school basketball play, but this new story is a ridiculous path around the rule. Physically, yes, Tyler is ready for the bangs and bruises that professional basketball has to offer; but, in no way is Tyler mentally prepared for professional play of any kind. For God's sake, he's not even allowed to watch an R rated movie! The NBA's minimum age restrictions may be designed to keep kids from making the wrong decisions, but in my eyes the ruling is utterly ineffective and easily avoidable. Its sad that as I search the internet, this issue of professional athletes who are simply to young is constantly in the news. No matter the sport, no matter the country, physically abled kids are constantly being pushed to play professionally, but the mental ramifications are simply never taken into account. I don't know what will happen to Tyler in 5, 10, or 15 years, but I will say this: no matter how much professional experience he has had, he will still suffer some negative consequences on missing out on so much educational and social growth.

The SAT: Is it all that matters?

2009-11-08T23:56:00.000-08:00

Any high school junior or senior will tell you that, either currently or within the past year, the SAT (or ACT in some cases) has controlled his or her life. With college admissions getting more competitive every year, and grade inflation which makes a 4.0 look merely mediocre, students are under more and more pressure to perform on these standardized tests. Many take the tests over and over and over in order to "prove their talent." The Perfect Score provides a satire of sorts highlighting the ridiculous lengths students will go to in order to get the elusive 800. In this movie, these lengths include elaborately coordinated cheating, trespassing, computer hacking, etc. While this movie obviously primarily intends to entertain its presumable audience (young people), it actually provides substantial insight into the SAT-obsessed college admissions culture teens currently face. The characters are absolutely desperate to do well on a single test, which they are convinced will determine the rest of their lives. Is it good that society places such pressure on young people? Will there be long-term ramifications on this generation of young people from the amount of academic pressure they are under? No one can know for sure, but something about teens being driven to cheat as massively as they attempt to in this movie cannot be healthy.

As You Wish...

2009-11-08T23:03:00.000-08:00

SWASHBUCKLING PIRATES! KIDNAPPERS! PRINCESSES IN DISTRESS! HEROES SAVING THE DAY! A LOT OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!

The Princess Bride, what isn't there to say about it? It's the classic tale of love and loss, youth and maturity, and... men in black with immunities to poison and with a giant sidekick? As you wish...

The Princess Bride, a movie about a whole lot of things that are decidedly unclassical. Where else can you learn about growing up and finding your true priorities but by going through the evilest swamps or dueling with your arch enemies or surviving the Pit of Despair for your true love?

This movie is the only movie that can teach us about the realities of aging because it's so dramatically real. It teaches us the power of our hopes, dreams and wishes and inspires us to hold on to it even as the world conspires against us and grows old around us. It is all about what you wish...

The Alzheimer's Brain and Its Ethical Dilemma

2009-11-08T21:49:00.000-08:00

This image, provided by the Alzheimer's Society, depicts a cross-section of both a healthy brain and one with advanced Alzheimer's disease. So what is actually occurring in the shriveled and broken right side of this brain?

The brain's cortex, hippocampus, and ventricles are the main areas affected. While the cortex and hippocampus shrink, the ventricles expand, causing memory to deteriorate. Plaques, or proteins, and tangles, or dead nerve cells, suffocate the healthy tissue of the brain and reduce the brain's size. (See this image for a magnified picture of healthy brain cells and ones infected by plaques and tangles).

Although often thought to only impact the memory of an afflicted individual, however, these plaques and tangles have a variety of adverse effects. Symptoms of the disease include disorientation in time and space, poor judgement, and sporadic changes in personality.

After considering many of the potentially dangerous effects that an unsupervised, affected individual may have on others, I'm still debating when and to what extent one should intervene in making decisions for an individual with dementia. How will society ever determine when it is appropriate to take basic freedoms, such the ability to drive, away from an individual with Alzheimer's disease? What role must the family play in preventing disaster?

And... Break!

2009-11-08T21:32:00.000-08:00

Who was here to see the Stanford victory against Oregon this weekend? It was an epic game, worthy of legends! Toby Gerhart, you make us proud... representing the class of 2010!

With all this focus on the biggest, most experienced star running back, where do the freshmen fit in?As the youngest members of the team, it seems hard for them to have their glory. The article focuses on how the freshmen will need to learn the "veteren" moves and play until "instinct" kicks before they can begin to contend for Gerhart's star place. In college football, it seems, the older age means the more experience and the greater star.

I think that society benefits the older, more experienced players in more industries than we focus public media attention on. Experience is a more well-paid trait then many other qualities, and I'm not complaining at all. Though it seems as though there's that popular obsession with youth and vigor, we're still rewarding the wiser with the bigger dividends. This experience-based rewards program helps support the natural development of its players, and I - for one - don't mind that at all.

The Web Factor

2009-11-08T20:24:00.000-08:00

The internet gets blamed for any and all sorts of societal degradation. Obsession with social networking, pornography, plagiarism, and online stalkers all stem from the advent of the internet. But the world wide web definitely has its advantages as well. From making global communication exponentially more efficient to making shopping truly an "at-home" activity, the internet has made life more convenient in a plethora of ways. It has also had a monumental impact in the political world. As Michael Cornfield explains in Politics Moves Online: Campaigning and the Internet, the constant availability of news thanks to the web appears to create "smarter" voters. That is, a voting population that knows more about the political issues up for debate. Interestingly, Cornfield also indicates that these better informed voters tend to be more "independent" voters; they are not affiliated with a specific political party.

This correlation between "informed" and "independent" voters could be extrapolated to hypothesize that, as the internet becomes more and more dominant as a political news sources, large numbers of voters will float away from strict party adherence into independent territory. Therefore, the internet may ultimately have a much larger impact on American politics than merely as a campaigning tool. It may also ultimately prove to be much more of a societal good than harm.

Vitality with a Purpose

2009-11-08T18:47:00.000-08:00

This is a follow up on my previous post about the Vitality Project directed by Dan Buettner. This video elaborates more on the "Why" aspect of the project and how people are finding purpose in their lives through this project. One man, David, had just lost his wife a year ago and developed diabetes type II around the same time and was running on a dark path until Vitality Project took shape in his town. This project is about reshaping a community in all aspects: environment, restaurants, relationships, and self-perception in order to produce a more active and engaged community. David mentioned this project has brought purpose back into his life and feels younger and more energized. His outlook on life completely changed for the better and Buettner hopes, through this project, that mental changes like that of David's will contribute to longevity for the community and communities around the world. in Albert Lea, this project has inspired children, adults and the elderly to take control of their lives by adding more years into their lives AND adding more life into those years.

I believe videos, articles, and projects with the positive idea of longevity such as this are the driving forces that will help blur or dismantle people's age stereotypes. This project in particular unites a community with a common goal to better the health of the community. Life does not have to be a linear beginning and end. Life can have multiple beginning for people as long as they find a purpose worth living for in that given time. Through my research, I find that centenarians have this exact ability to find a special purpose in different stages in their lives, which keeps their life inspiring and active.

Longevity Calculator

2009-11-08T17:46:00.000-08:00

How long do you want to live? .....

Now how long WILL you live? Take a longevity quiz and dare to find out.

This Northwestern Mutual Longevity Calculator provides a range of questions about your body mass index, drinking and smoking habits, eating habits, stress management and driving record (very fun animations and sound effects included during survey). However, after taking this survey I realized how over simplified the survey itself was and the concept of a longevity calculator was. It estimated I was going to live to 93 years in 12 questions! Only 12 questions. It failed to ask about my medical history, in depth dietary details, family history, lifestyle, exercise habits and mental health (I'm sure I'm missing other factors) I found another survey that asked 40 questions. It asked more specific questions; however I still was not convinced about my predicted age. Longevity is not something you can measure through a survey nor 5 factors that are key to longevity. It's a multitude of factors that are all relative to each individual. Nevertheless, I was amused by the surveys. Check them out and see if you actually reach the predicted age!

Favored Child Transformed to Caretaker?

2009-11-08T16:59:00.000-08:00

In browsing through the New York Times's New Old Age Blog, I found this intriguing article on the relationship between a parent's favorite child and who ultimately becomes the parent's caregiver.

A new study, led by Dr. Pillemer, proposes that parents are more likely to choose the favored child to take care of them in their old age. Before making this assertion, Pillemer also cuts away the illusion that every parent loves their children equally. After interviewing seniors, Pillemer discovered that virtually all of his interviewees were able to name a favorite child. Ironically, middle-aged children were often incorrect in their guess of who was the favorite child (most of them picked themselves when it was actually a sibling who won the majority of their parents' praise).

Pillemer's argues that an aging parent will depend on the favored child to take care of them as they face old age, even if that child is troubled or unreliable, because the parent feels more comfortable with him/her. However, I think Pillemer fails to account for the practicality of care-giving. If the favored child lives further away, then it is more pragmatic to depend on the child who is located closer. While I don't have statistics on this, I would imagine that pragmatism is often more valued than intuition when it comes to care-giving in old age.

Coming of Age in the 1920s: "The Damned and the Beautiful"

2009-11-08T14:07:00.000-08:00

While we may think that undergoing adolescence today is one of the more painful points in life, rewind 90 years or so to the Jazz Age and the issues those college-age kids had to deal with will shock you.

When I first began my research on the quarter-life crisis in the 1920s (i.e. the issues teens faced in transitioning to adulthood), I expected to find evidence of teens turning to booze and partying as a means of escaping their societal roles a la "The Great Gatsby."

However, I discovered that teens then had a whole lot more on their mind than escape in the '20s. Paula Fass explains in "The Damned and the Beautiful" that teens rebelled in the '20s because the "imminence of death turned youth to pleasure-seeking." The recent end of the war and the knowledge that another one might be approaching thus turned youth to experience crises of the psychological variety.

Reading this, I couldn't help but wonder why people haven't made a bigger deal of coming of age in the '20s or during other war time eras. The quarter-life crisis didn't start gaining attention until the early 21st century, and yet quarter-lifers today aren't traumatized by war or determined to defy society's expectations because of a fear of death. Instead, we defer finding jobs because we have too many options and often because we believe we have too much talent to waste on a career we don't love. Our reasons for postponing adulthood thus seem less legitimate than those of 20-year-olds in the 1920s.

Dear Mr. President

2009-11-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

In her song “Dear Mr. President” Pink—a popular hip-hop and rock artist in the 21^st century—questions the unsuccessful governmental measures such as the no child left behind act. She asserts, “How can you say no child is left behind? We’re not dumb we’re not blind. They’re all sitting in your cells, while you pave the road to hell.” She attempts to stress through her lyrics that the government’s insufficient response to problems occurring in contemporary society foreshadows a life of “hard work” for adolescents as adults, giving them a bleak future to look forward to. This contributes to their unwillingness to want to partake in this bleak adulthood. In contrast, Nancy Lesko—a professor at Columbia University specializing in curriculum, sociology of education, and youth studies—would attribute this unwillingness to grow up to the unsuccessful middle school structures which do not adequately cater to and foster young adolescents, and inefficaciously prepare youth for adolescence’s transitional phase. Though Lesko makes a reasonable call for education through her academic argument, she ignores the mainstream source where youth are getting the bulk of their life messages from and fails to address the depth of the emerging adulthood problem.

Release Therapy

2009-11-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

In his album revealingly titled Release Therapy, Ludacris—a lucrative, well-respected figure in the rap industry who has been prominent since the 90s—includes a hit single entitled "Slap." In this song, he chronicles all the stresses, failures, responsibilities, and disappointments of being an adult. Like Pink does in her song "Dear Mr. President", he attributes some of these to the shortcomings of the government, exemplified by his exclamation that “President Bush could give a damn about [us]!” With young adolescents religiously following his lyrics and heeding his profuse warnings about adulthood, it is no wonder why they are so scared and uncertain and unwilling to take that big leap into the distant world of adulthood livelihood and all it entails. It is hip-hop artists like him who perpetuate the emerging adulthood epidemic through their dissuading lyrics.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009-11-08T03:11:00.000-08:00

In this movie, the protagonist Benjamin Button is born old. So he doesn’t grow older, but younger. The movie highlights how aging, regarless of its form, is inevitable. And with it comes all kinds of adventures, transitions, and conflicts. Benjamin shows the tribulations of aging, particularly of aging backwards – simultaneously facing the milestones of both types. What makes this move interesting is seeing how he copes growing in two directions since aging in itself is full of complications. His story is basically a battle between physical aging and maturation. Physical growth seems to hinder the characters’ capabilities: the older their bodies get, the more they are handicapped. Similarly, a baby (or very young child) is helpless. The move is narrated by Daisy, Benjamin’s lover, who is on her death bed telling the sort of her life. It beings with Benjamin’s ‘curious’ birth and proceeds to trace their lives via their interactions with one another. Although their different ages only allow them to meet halfway, at middle-age, their love story transcends the boundaries of age.

Gender Development in Adolescence

2009-11-08T01:55:00.000-08:00

A new book I found in the stacks explained to me why gender was so significant during adolescence and highlighted how females are portrayed on TV. Adolescence is that uneasy, expect-the-unexpected time when we go through various changes: biological, cognitive, social, and emotional. On top of that, it is a time that researchers say we feel extra pressured to "conform to traditional gender roles" because our gender awareness is increasing. With all those changes going on, where do teens look to learn how to "be" a woman or a man? The Changing Portrayal of Adolescents in the Media since 1950 presents the media as a significant source of gender socialization. TV shows and commercials (in the past 20 years) subtly give us samples of how a conventional female behaves: more often than males, she is concerned with beauty, romance, and household chores; more often than males, she is seen crying, whining, or making threats. This is interesting because although we live in a society that attempts to equate men and women, there are still residual conventions of femininity. Why are these stereotypes still here? Is it even possible to get rid of these traditional images of women? Perhaps we cannot expect stereotypes to ever disappear because gender is rooted in our biology -- it is something society cannot alter.

My Name Is Lisa

2009-11-07T09:30:00.000-08:00

This fictional film documents a thirteen year-old girl dealing with her mother, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease. It won "Best YouTube Short Film of 2007," drawing the attention of millions of people all over the globe.

Lisa's situation really shook me. In some ways, I feel as though a mere teenager has become a sole caregiver. Roles within this family have radically reversed. Who has truly become the parent now? Lisa is the one making a sandwich nearing the end of the film...

Might Lisa's innocent face be hiding emotions she denies confronting? Her mother no longer even remembers her own daughter's name. Is Lisa adequately prepared for the long road ahead of her?

Awareness and knowledge of the disease would at least present Lisa with some tools to deal with the grief she inevitably feels. Disseminating that information to the public remains difficult yet crucial in these upcoming years.

not much just chillin’

2009-11-02T00:51:00.000-08:00

In her anthropological study eloquently entitled not much just chillin’ (2003), Perlstein ventures into the lives of middle school students ranging from ages eleven to thirteen. Their secular culture has instilled a drive in them to grow up faster than they should and mirror the behaviors of vied after high school students. She cites, in her opening chapter, a third grader inquiring to his mother: “What if I skip middle school and go straight to high school?” (7); this interaction epitomizes the innate desires of many children his age. Why are middle school children so eager to speed through childhood into their adolescent years, only to slow to a tortoise-like pace, if not an abrupt stop, in this race during their latter stages of adolescence? The fact of the matter is that children are maturing too fast, especially for their parents. By stutter-stepping through adolescence, they can’t possibly prepare themselves for the surreal world of adulthood. Maybe if we as a society took action to prevent this stutter-stepping from occurring amongst youth at a young age, we can facilitate their transition into the adult world.

Adolescence: Is it all fun and games?

2009-11-02T00:20:00.000-08:00

Unlike what misleading stereotypes portray, adolescence isn’t merely a care-free stage in life void of responsibility, self-sustainability, and arduous labor; on the contrary it is no joking matter. Dr. Jacquelynne Eccles—professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Michigan—and her team of researchers share this same sentiment on emerging adulthood in their 2003 adolescence research study found in the Journal of Adolescence Research. There, they explicate the importance of adolescence while clearly defining what it is. I agree with their stress on this period in life because it is so crucial in our development into pined after adulthood. This phase of life is an important time when youth interact with motley individuals, undergo a plethora of experiences, and make a slew of decisions that will be forever chiseled into the monuments of their lives. Any slight hindrance in this period can have drastic, deleterious effects on us in the long run. Maybe this is one reason why kidults unwilling to grow up have become increasingly prevalent in contemporary society. Still think adolescence is a transitory period for the weak-hearted?

Lessons from the Cirlce of Life

2009-11-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to lie, the first movie (and for my manhood's sake the only movie) to make me cry was Walt Disney's "The Lion King." Arguably, the best Disney animated film ever produced, the story walks the viewer through a journey of accepting destiny and adulthood. Simba, the main character and cutest little lion cub you've ever seen, deals with many hardships during the coming-of-age tale. He loses his father, gets banished to the Jungle, and, worst of all, falls in love with a girl. What will Simba do? How will he overcome the adversity the stares him in the face and prevents him from becoming his true self? Yes, I know it seems ridiculous to look so deep into this animal cartoon movie, but the story is timeless because it can hit home to an audience no matter the age. We all struggle. We all suffer. However, the difference comes in answering the question: "What will I do now?" Will we, like most, crumble when faced with adversity and allow our lives to fall down unwanted paths? Or, will we instead fight for what we believe in and work to achieve the things we truly desire from life?

"Insert College Here"

2009-11-01T23:40:00.000-08:00

You've seen the poster. A scruffy looking man wearing a navy sweater with the word "College" in white letters across the front. A man proudly holding a Jack Daniels in his hand and starring off into a new world of ragging frat parties and absurd amounts of alcohol consumption. In 1978 the film "Animal House" changed the American perception of college. Society knew about the partying and underage drinking that occurred on college campuses around the country, and the practices we're given tacit consent. Since that time the national minimum drinking age has risen, but our perception of drinking on college campuses has remained the same. Animal House threw the reality of college drinking into the faces of Americans across the country, but the response was simply to act as if nothing was wrong. And this tradition, of silent understanding, sadly, still holds with us today.

Change the town, Change your life

2009-11-01T22:45:00.000-08:00

Vitality Project!!

Step 1) Pick a town in America (small to medium size)
Step 2) Give the town or brainstorm ideas of how to live a healthier life style
Step 3) Do it!

End Result: Longer life

Dan Buettner, the author of The Blue Zones non-profit group organized a "vitality project" where he and other researchers from University of Minnesota and the entire town Dan chose in Minnesota rebuilt a "new" and healthy town over one summer. The town built new gardens, repaved sidewalks, and labeled names of foods in the market. Small changes in the environment, lifestyle, and group motivation literally helped improve and create a healthy, vitality rich culture in this one small town in Minnesota.

I've come across research about the relationship between the environment and aging/well-being which conjecture the exact results Dan Buettner received in his experiment. It's amazing how small changes truly make a huge difference, as cliche as that might sound. The town as a whole became more health conscious, established a popular culture, and lifted the spirit of young and old to live a healthier life. Maybe we should start a Stanford Vitality Project. yes?

Synecdoche, New York

2009-11-01T21:50:00.000-08:00

Synecdoche, New York (2008), directed by Charlie Kaufman starring Philip Hoffman tells a story about a theater directer Caden Cotard, who is consumed by his fear of death as his life around him falls apart. With numerous medical ailments and separation from his wife and daughter, Cotard resorts to his profession in theater and constructs a piece that reflects his inability to confront his reality. In a warehouse, he replicates parts of the city of New York. He recruits more and more cast members and more and more years pass by without a finished product. Caden loses himself in his theater world and the world outside the warehouse, which ultimately leads to his death.

This seems like an extreme depiction of a mid-life crisis story. Being separated from your family, learning you might die, burying yourself in your artwork, and losing control of your self in this inevitable downward spiral...

It seems as though his fear of death seeped into every part of his life that pertained value and life to him. To what extent does one's fear of death inhibit one's ability to live? Is this an accurate portrayal of a mid-life crisis?

Social Networking or Social Necessity?

2009-11-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

Supposedly, social networking websites such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and the like make it easier for people to stay connected with their friends; they provide additional means of communication. According to this recent article from the Washington Post, however, social "networking" has now become a social MUST. The article details the stories of several young people without such connections and the severe social ramifications of that. Not having a Facebook or MySpace account makes you, as a modern adolescent--GASP--different than 85 percent of your Millennial peers. People may shun you because you are oh-so unconnected. You may be ostracized. You may be teased. Or people may think you have extreme fundamental opposition (moral or otherwise) to such sites.

Sheesh. It sounds like we are talking about a momentous political issue. Like infinite youth trends before it, the use of social networking sites (or, more specifically, the lack thereof) serves as another way for young people to be ostracized. The irony is striking: some people think you can't be real friends if you're not "friends" on Facebook. And what kind of friend is that? I for one would much prefer my best friend, who--OH NO!--does NOT have a Facebook account at my bedside in the hospital if I were in a car crash than one of my Facebook "friends" who I haven't spoken with in years or didn't know all that well to begin with. But maybe that's just me. Hopefully, social networking doesn't become merely another form of exclusion...there are already too many forms in today's society.

May-December Gone Wild

2009-11-01T21:08:00.000-08:00

Old men dating younger women...it is an extremely commonplace occurence in today's society. Actually, forms of it have existed throughout virtually all of human history (12 year-old princess brides, anyone?). Many people assume that the young women are in it for the money, and the old men are in it for other benefits. While this is probably often true, Something's Gotta Give, starring real-life ladies' man Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton, explores the "why's" and "how's" of May-December relationships (of both the older man-younger woman variety and vice versa). Why do older men want to date younger women, besides the most obvious reasons? Is it really a fear of commitment? And why are societal stereotypes of unmarried older men (suave bachelors) different from those of single older women (as, pardon the term, "old maids")? This movie, while on the surface simply another romantic comedy (albeit with very accomplished actors), provides a lot of insight on the age factor of romantic relationships. Plus, it really is hilarious.

Euthanasia and the Right to Control Death on Film

2009-11-01T19:57:00.000-08:00

While this film is definitely on the serious side, it is a must-see when it comes to movies that deal with age and aging. Starring Javier Bardem (from Vicky Cristina Barcelona/No Country for Old Men fame), The Sea Inside is the true story of a Spanish paraplegic who campaigns for 28 years for the right of euthanasia, which was illegal in Spain at the time. This film raises questions on aging, like should we be allowed to take aging into our own hands and determine when we die? How does paralysis/terminal illness affect the way we age and the way we die? The movie reminds me especially of Kim's topic of the way society expects men with terminal illness to act. This is a beautiful film, and I believe this film won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film a few years ago.

Origins of the Quarter-Life Crisis, Film Edition

2009-11-01T19:00:00.000-08:00

Mike Nichols famous 1967 film The Graduate with a young Dustin Hoffman gave us an early glimpse of so much that now consumes our culture: not least, the roots of the cougar (here's to you Mrs. Robinson) and the quarter-life crisis. At the end of the day, a more conventional and authentic romance replaces the movie's central, aberrant relationship between Hoffman's character and the seductress, Mrs. Robinson. But there is no conventional answer to the nascent quarter-life crisis as society awakens, perhaps, from the slumber of what poet Robert Lowell called the 'tranquilized 50s.' One hears more and more talk of the quarter-life crisis--indeed, at least two individuals in our research group are taking up the topic--but to what extent is Hoffman's life our own? Perhaps we are just more vocal than unique in our little quarter-life crises. We can, after all, blog about it!

Halloween at 80?

2009-11-01T15:24:00.000-08:00

When I think of Halloween, a few pictures come to mind. Little kids in superhero outfits trick-or-treating. The smell of fresh fall leaves and candy corn. That scene in Mean Girls where Lindsay Lohan embarrasses herself by dressing up as the bride of Frankenstein.

Somehow, I cannot picture 80-year-olds dancing to Missy Elliot's "Get Ur Freak On" and dressed up in towels, with canes covered in gold lame. However, this is the picture that Susan Dominus portrays in her feature article: "Where 30 is Ancient, 80 is Youthful." Not only is this article a fun snapshot of 80-year-olds partying at Halloween, but it also captures the irony of the East Village--a place where people feel too old to live at the ripe age of 32 and yet the older population has no problem returning to their youth.

Additionally, Dominus touches on the more serious issues of neglect that the older population faces in the East Village, which is due to the fact that most of the elderly residents are living at or below the poverty level. Dominus strikingly criticizes, "The older crowd is not always seen; the elderly may be too frail to get out, or when they are out, they fade into the background, mentally photoshopped out."

The Cat in the Hat on Aging

2009-11-01T14:23:00.001-08:00

Again, how fitting!

The Cat in the Hat presents aging oh so negatively. And with that youthful, happy-cat picture of him, who would want to grow up anyways? “The Golden Years” seem to be distant, a time we want to avoid – but can’t. He lists all these things that ‘old’ people cannot do, all these things that will deteriorate, and all sorts of physical problems. He reminds us of what we may inevitably lose when we are old. But in doing so, he has a fighting, spunky approach, saying “The Golden Years can kiss my ass.”

This may suggest that when we age, our bodies may fail, but the intangible attitudes still prevail!

Wise Words from Dr. Seuss

2009-11-01T14:09:00.000-08:00

Young cat, if you keep your eyes open enough, oh, the stuff you would learn!
The most wonderful stuff! --Dr. Seuss

I stumbled upon this quote as I was searching Google for things Dr. Seuss related, since I was The Cat in the Hat (Pats in the Hat, rather) for Halloween.

Dr. Seuss’ words here are very applicable to my current research on adolescents’ susceptibility to environmental influences. He concisely suggests that being “young” is a time for learning – learning things from what we see. I have read a lot about how TV shows present a narrow image of females: female protagonists seem to be young, beautiful, and limited to certain occupations. Because young girls are indeed keeping their “eyes open” to this media, they may begin to copy their favorite characters’ behavior and develop sexist attitudes. Our environment seems to be a powerful force that makes us act in certain ways, but research also shows that we do not necessarily become what we see. Teenagers may experiment and take on the appearance of a TV character, but no more than that. Teen girls may dress like Blair from Gossip Girl, but not necessarily become the drama queen that she is.

It’s kind of like dressing up Halloween… we take on a new role, but our inner selves are different from what’s on the outside.

The Sandwich Generation

2009-11-01T09:51:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about Elna Rodenhouse's wisdom for the class this past Wednesday. I thought it was really interesting listening to the perspective of someone with so many talents in such a diverse range of fields. One idea that she happened to mention particularly caught my attention. The "sandwich generation," a term I've come across many times in researching Alzheimer's disease, is often pushed out of the picture given the public attention surrounding the treatment of patients suffering from the disease. Jesse F. Ballenger, a historian and former nursing home assistant, defines the term in Self, Senility, and Modern America as "adult children (mostly women) who were caught in the dilemma of having to care for both their own children and their aging parents" (131). This particular group of individuals is currently targeted for dealing with the rising number of Alzheimer's disease cases.

It has become apparent to me that a balancing of the needs of afflicted individuals and the needs of caregivers is critical to the health of both. How might society attempt to ensure care for both parties? I've pondered educational possibilities...

Technologies of the Future

2009-10-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

I’ve been taking a social entrepreneurship course that meets weekly to discuss social innovations around the world. Today we discussed social ventures “homegrown” from Stanford University. A panel of four came to speak to us about their various social innovations and share the successes and difficulties they have faced. One panel member in particular, Matthew Callaghan, discussed OneBreath, an organization that was formed to combat the great number of deaths caused by lack of a ventilator and prepare developing nations for pandemics. The disposable, portable ventilator costs a mere $75.

It’s absolutely fascinating how such a simple innovation can transform the lives of people across the globe. What new pieces of technology will surface within the next few decades? Few years? Few months? The potential to better the lives of the suffering seems limitless.

For pressing, severe illnesses, it’s crucial that we dedicate time and energy to research and innovation. In the case of Alzheimer’s disease, we’re about to crack that code and take great strides in preventing, if not curing, the disease. Exactly when we will reach that point remains uncertain; but the entire world is waiting impatiently…

The Job of Dying

2009-10-25T23:22:00.000-07:00

"By then, he knew he was dying,
he seemed to approach it as a job to be done
which he knew how to do."

What does a daughter see as she watches her father die? Does she see the death of a hero in terminus? Or does the superhuman qualities of her father never fade?

In her poetry anthology The Father, Sharon Olds chronicles her observations of her father's death from cancer. An outsider looking in, she portrays her father with worship of how he carries himself during his last days. She tells of his stoicism, his dominance, his strength - qualities that do not leave him even as he approaches his end.

Through her work, masculinity is portrayed never to fade. Indeed, when a man keeps his masculinity even in the face of death, Olds explains that he gains additional respect and reverence by keeping his image even as evening falls.

2009-10-25T23:00:00.000-07:00

If a TV show presented you with two characters - a beautiful young lady and a "grotesque" old witch - who would you most like to be? The book Contemporary youth culture an international encyclopedia shed interesting light on the presentation of social roles to young viewers. They suggested that by contrasting a positively portrayed young figure with a negatively portrayed old one, teenagers are more likely to emulate the young one. Samantha from the TV show Bewitched is a young witch that is attractive, and not 100% girly (which is a good thing, apparently). She exerts control over her man: he is literally under her spell! This control shows she is powerful, and everyone loves power! Endora's positive qualities on the other hand seem absent - she is an old witch who always fails to break up Samatha's relationship. The young witch gets love and the old witch has no control over it. Again, we see it is clear who the better role model is for helpless teenagers. Being young and powerful seems definitely more appealing than being an old failure.

1) Witness Something Magnificent

2009-10-25T22:55:00.000-07:00

Do you remember The Bucket List? I remember cheering Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman on as they fulfilled their wildest dreams in the movie: racing cars, hiking the great wonders, coming to accept death with dignity. What better lives could there have been than theirs?

Who didn't come out of that movie thinking that the life of the terminally ill should end just as satisfyingly? The men never lost their sense of humor, never lost their heroic place, never failed to show their strength - even in spite of their flaws. Even with their prognosis, their masculinity was not even a question. It stayed with them unto death.

Should a man keep his masculinity to keep his image whole, even when he's been determined to be terminally ill? YES, says popular culture. The alternative - any loss of manliness - is no blockbuster film.

An Inescapable Cycle

2009-10-25T22:46:00.000-07:00

Generally, people like to think they have control over their own lives. On a broader scale, politicians like to think they have control over the government. But what if all of politics, all of history, is really one big repeating cycle? This is exactly what William Strauss and Neil Howe argue in their groundbreaking book, Generations. Since the Puritan generation in 1584, American history has maintained a four part generational pattern that has dictated crisises, triumphs, and everything in between. The four "generation types" include the following: idealist, reactive, civic, adaptive. In the current cycle, the aging Baby Boomers are the idealists, the disillusioned Generation Xers the reactives, and the Millennials the civics. Any adaptives are virtually toddlers. The pattern repeats, with a crisis at its "rightful" place in each cycle. As I read this historical perspective, I was at first incredulous. The future cannot be predicted. But as I kept reading their explanation, I became more and more convinced. The timing of a massive crisis can "easily" be predicted--though the nature of the crisis cannot. Eerily, this book vaguely predicts the current issues of terrorism and the economy. According to this model, Millennials are like the G.I. Generation--and they made it through their crisis (World War II) with flying colors. Hopefully, the Millennials will do the same.

Overly Connected

2009-10-25T22:16:00.000-07:00

So, as an experiment of sorts I searched "millennial generation" on Google Images, and this is the first result. Huh. Obviously, Millennials have a reputation for being rather obsessed with social networking. But this representation also implies the presence of extreme stress in the modern adolescent. Is this stress caused by being overly connected via technology? Are the very tools that supposedly make life easier stressing us out? It certainly seems that way. When I get back to my dorm, I first check my phone to make sure no one has called or texted. Then I check all three of my e-mail accounts and reply as necessary. Then I check Facebook to make sure no one has sent me a message or tagged a picture of me I don't like. And then I can start on homework in peace. I'm not even on MySpace or Twitter; I'm not very tech-oriented. My routine sounds a little ridiculous, but I am sure that many of my peers have similar ones. The stress factor comes in when you are supposed to know something (via e-mail, text, etc.) and you don't and someone gets frustrated.

When examining the "unraveling" aspect of this picture, I also began thinking about if actually our generation's "obsession" with sites like Facebook and Twitter is actually only a way to deal with ever-increasing societal pressure to succeed. With college admissions more competitive than ever, scholarships more and more prized, and jobs few and far between, today's young people are more stressed than ever. So maybe they use Facebook and the like to relax, at least for a bit. For some, it indeed becomes an obsession. How can society reconcile the success and overall welfare of its young people? Is it even possible?

The Upside of Grief

2009-10-25T21:33:00.000-07:00

"What do we know, or think we know, about the way we respond when a loved one dies?"

I chanced upon this article while browsing through the New York Times's "New Old Age" blog.

In reading that opening line, I immediately thought of the way people expect us to act after the death of a loved one. It's healthy to express emotion, but try to avoid emotional outbursts in public places, like school or work. Don't try to feign happiness, but steer away from outright depression.

Paula Span, the author of the article, offers similar reasons in the paragraph following her thought-provoking opening question. However, she attempts to provide different answers to the question after reviewing the book "The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tell us About Life after Loss."

Rather than encouraging those who have lost loved ones to put on a smile and get over it, the author of "The Other Side of Sadness" suggests that it is good, and in fact, healthy to have a period of intense grieving over the loss of a loved one as long as you attempt to lead a balanced life in the process. Bonnano (the author) defines a balanced life as one filled with attempts to achieve happiness as well as allowing oneself to feel upset.

While Bonnano's suggestions were interesting, this article intrigued me because it made me think about society's expectations for those who are grieving. What is the socially acceptable period of mourning? How do we expect people to act after the loss of a loved one and why?

Boston's Quarter-Life Crisis

2009-10-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

Out of all the newspaper articles I've read on the quarter-life crisis, Meredith Goldstein's Boston Globe article was by far the best in capturing it. While Goldstein mainly focuses on Bostonians' perspectives of quarter-age angst (it is a Boston newspaper after all), she uses psychologists' and authors' opinions to paint a well-rounded picture of what twenty-somethings are facing today.

The most striking part of the article comes in the beginning, where Goldstein describes a party that her interviewees are hosting. The theme of the costume party was to dress up as what you wished you had been by the time you turned 25. People disguised themselves as "working professionals, artists, poets, and musicians" according to Goldstein.

I think this party truly encapsulates the idea of the quarter-life crisis. There is something distressing in the fact that twenty-year-olds are dreaming of obtaining realistic jobs, like working professionals, as compared to the dream jobs everyone had as little kids, which were more akin to astronauts and movie stars. However, there is also something self-indulgent in throwing a party to celebrate your lack of success. This article made me question: how valid is the quarter-life crisis? Additionally, does the quarter-life crisis come with any benefits? Can we skip the mid-life crisis if we start questioning our life decisions in our early twenties?

WE Are the Future

2009-10-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

TODAY'S YOUNG PEOPLE WILL SAVE THE WORLD!!! This is essentially the message of Eric Greenberg and Karl Weber's love letter to the Millennial Generation, Generation We. In this almost outrageously optimistic outlook on today's young people, Greenberg and Weber predict that the Millennials (the generation born between 1982 and 2003) will create lasting global peace, save the planet from imminent environmental doom, and balance the budget by raising corporate taxes and cutting defense spending (easily due to global peace). Sound like a tall order? Well, it should be no problem for today's amazing youth. Interestingly, the "Millennial Agenda" as defined by Greenberg and Weber bears an uncanny resemblance to the far left agenda in the United States. Maybe that is a coincidence.

It is a given that youth, especially today's youth, lean heavily to the left politically. This is nothing new. While the authors of Generation We try to explain why today's teens are different, their arguments fall short. Yes, youth are liberal. Their overwhelming support for President Obama proves this to be true. But will this political orientation stay with them as they age? And futhermore, does a liberal nation really equate with the sort of utopia Greenberg and Weber predict? Maybe, but they need to do a little bit more work to prove this.

The Notebook: Love, Aging, and Denial

2009-10-25T19:18:00.001-07:00

"A classic tear-jerker." Shebah Ronay, News of the World
"It breaks my heart." Tv Choice

Would The Notebook not be the perfect movie to watch as a class? With Alzheimer's disease as my research focus, I vote this "tear-jerker" as the perfect conclusion to our course. Although I've already seen it a number of times, I think the themes of love, aging, and denial never become "old." This movie truly reflects the ideas covered in my Texts in Conversation essay as well.

Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling portray the tensions of life brilliantly, contributing to an almost tangible feeling of sorrow when the extended family visits the elderly couple at a nursing home in the second half of the movie. Gena Rowlands and James Garner highlight the strain the disease brings to relatives; the decision to place Rowlands in a nursing home was most likely a difficult one to make. The family stands in foggy confusion as the physical appearance of Rowlands masks her memory and mental capacity.

Centenarian Offsprings continue: Peronality matters

2009-10-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

So in one of my previous blogs I mentioned that centenarian offsprings inherit a higher health benefit but they also inherit personality traits that are closely connected to longevity. Researchers from Boston University have acquired data that links Big Five personality traits: neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness, with longevity. They results showed that centenarian offspring ranked low in neuroticism and very high in extroversion. They infer that centenarians with high extroversion characteristics are more able to control their stress levels in life and have an easier time forming relationships with people as well as living independently.

I find this study fascinating because this realm of psychogerontology is relatively recent. There's many holes and gaps in this study that researchers are in the midst of filling and discovering. People constantly believe longevity is a result of a healthy way of life, which is true; however, to attain a healthy way of life first starts with one's mentality and attitude towards life and oneself.

Ancient, Active, and Alive

2009-10-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Who said life as an old person was boring and miserable? Running, dancing, karate, and lifting? If they want to, they can.

During my first week researching, I ran across some of these images of centenarians engaging in quite physically demanding activities. There is one Okinawan centenarian working her field of purple yams, another centenarian man running on the track, and another Japanese woman lifting weights with a group of other elderly women. These images defy our preconceived notions of what elderly people can and cannot do. When I first think of 80 or 90 year old people, I imagine them to be hunched over on their walking aides taking trembling strides every 10 seconds. Centenarians, on the other hand, stay active and carry themselves with confidence and power.

Take a second and see what pops into your head first when you think of the elderly.

Centenarians are a special group of people and they maintain this youthful lifestyle of staying active through also keeping a youthful personality. They are extroverts, optimists, and conscientious as Margaret Kern and Howard Friedman explain in their study about the relationship between conscientious individuals and longevity. Kern and Fiedman conclude that personality does in fact affect individual's longevity as for those who stay positive and upbeat exert themselves into social and physical activities which in turn keep their mental stability positive.

Stanford University's alcohol policy: The Safest Solution

2009-10-25T14:45:00.000-07:00

The drinking age is 21. We all know that. Underage drinking in college is rampant. Again...this is understood. But how do we deal with those that break the law and illegal consume alcohol?

Many universities around the country use fear and punishment to drive underage students away from alcohol. "Zero Tolerance" rules scare students into hiding when they drinking and binge drinking has hit an all time high.

Leland Stanford Junior University, however, has taken another approach to the underage drinking pandemic: respect. The Stanford alcohol policy rests on empowering students to make their own decisions -- a "fundamental standard" is placed on all students to abide by the law of the land and so the school itself does not have an alcohol policy. In this way, students are asked to develop their own policies and the university is able to help students in need rather than punish them. No longer do students need to hide in their rooms and quickly consume alcoholic beverages. No longer do students need to run away from their Resident Advisors. Students and administrators can work together to ensure a safe environment around campus. In my few months here, I have been exposed first-hand to the effects of this policy; and, I truly can say that it has been the safest solution to college drinking.

The most interesting way to procrastinate on Facebook

2009-10-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

I accidentally stumbled into this video after countless hours procrastinating on youtube (Yes, I know it seems long, but I promise it will be a worthwhile five minutes and twenty-two seconds). In the video, the audience takes a pictographic journey through the life of a man named Noah. Noah has taken pictures of himself in the same pose for the last 6 years and during the video, these pictures are all streamed together. In essence, the audience has an unbelievable opportunity to watch Noah age: growing facial hair, losing weight, changing hair-styles.

After watching the video, I immediately thought back to how I have looked in the past. I began to wonder if my facial structure has changed or if my hair has receded. Thanks to the every-useful tool of facebook, I was able to trace my growth through my picture history. I went all the way back to sophomore year of high school and walked through my growth in high school. Although reminiscing made me extremely depressed, it was amazing to retrospectively view my growth both mentally and physically over the last three years.

An Aging Population

2009-10-25T13:29:00.000-07:00

The mortality rates of the entire population are falling: we're an aging nation, which means we'll be facing some major changes within the upcoming decades. According to "Advances in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease" edited by Vinod Kumar and Carl Eisdorfer, it has been projected that ten million people will have either Alzheimer's disease or a similar dementia by 2040. More explicitly stated, about one in every thirty Americans will have dementia at that point.

So what are the major implications of such drastic numbers?

Not only will our health care system absorb a shock, but caregivers will also experience tremors. Family members, who provide a majority of the care for individuals suffering from Alzheimer's disease, confront a great change in lifestyle upon the diagnosis of a loved one. As family roles, decision-making processes, and relationships alter, they serve as the ultimate foundation, fighting the grief of the disease. How they manage to cope with the decline of a loved one is another matter.

Thank you, Grey's Anatomy!

2009-10-25T03:10:00.000-07:00

My favorite part of writing this paper so far has been being able to analyze the characters of one of my favorite TV shows, Grey's Anatomy. Girl Culture: An Encyclopedia is a contemporary book that, in one of its chapters, analyzes popular television characters and their impact on young females. As I have learned through my research process, female roles have developed significantly in recent times. Instead of idolizing depictions of pure girly-ness, we seem to place greater value on women that possess masculine assertiveness on top of their femininity. In Grey's Anatomy, Dr. Christina Yang serves as the most "powerful" female role because she encapsulates that balance between manly power and sexiness. The other stars of the show seem to be less powerful because they lack assertiveness and always seem to succumb to their romances, which lead them to perform poorly at work. A balance of assertiveness, power, and sex-appeal seems desirable to a young woman because that role “becomes a marker granting the girl/woman a form of sexualized power without which she is in danger of slipping into dangerous forms of androgeny and masculinity”: how can teens resist that role?! So thanks to this book source, I've made my hours of watching Grey's Anatomy all the more enriching - enriching to personal entertainment as well as to my research!

Xpectations

2009-10-20T01:29:00.000-07:00

The Transition to Adulthood by Calvin and Frances Goldscheider discusses the insurmountable mountains of expectations we erect for ourselves to hurdle over and how the slightest knick of a hurdle prompting us in failure’s directions causes us to give up. Why do we have such a prominent phobia of failure? Just a glimpse of it will send us home packing with our tails tucked between our legs. For one, the increasingly harder acceptance guidelines of contemporary colleges force us to fit the perfect student prototype they have fashioned. This instills in us a fear of failure that is present in all aspects of our lives. So if we fail to get into the out-of-state college of our dreams, if we fail to get an A on the Chem 31X midterm, if we fail to get that hunky dream date with the football running back Scott Tucker you and your best friend so cleverly coined as “white tee”, it’ll batter us into going to an in-state college nearby home, into taking an easier chemistry class where you can earn a guaranteed A, into shying away from serious, committed relationships since the one with Mr. Right didn’t work out. Something about this mentality just seems wrong. Maybe it’s just me.

not much just chillin'

2009-10-20T01:21:00.000-07:00

Linda Perlstein's book not much just chillin' ventures into the lives of middle school students ages 11-13. Their secular culture has instilled a drive in them to want to grow up faster than they ought to and mirror the behaviors of high school students. It’s interesting though how they’re so eager to speed from childhood into their adolescent years, yet slow and even come to a complete stop in this race during their latter adolescent years. What’s the appeal that adolescence has that causes us to rush through childhood just to obtain it, and slows our transition into adulthood? Is it the media with its appealing ads of wearing Revlon's simply red lipstick we saw Vanessa Hudgens sporting or the bleak future of our economy foreshadowing years of hard labor just to make ends meet as an adult? In case you're wondering, these inquiries aren't meant to be rhetorical, and will be answered in future entries to come.

WARNING: MANFLU

2009-10-19T09:24:00.001-07:00

"But... honey! I'm so sick!"

Ever heard your man complaining about his sniffles and aches as though it were doomsday? It's a strange phenomenon. For the man who wouldn't complain if he got pinned beneath a rafter during a semi-annual home-repair session, he's sure got a case of the whineys when it comes to his health during a cold.

Bulk up man, geez! Where's your macho man attitude?

But, really? Is is possible for us ever to cut men some slack? Does a masculine attitude have to prevail even in times of sickness? Maybe we hold the male image to too-high a standard, if we do not allow him - even in his time of misery! - to show his pain. To what extent does this go? If he has a critical illness, do we critique him then?

Warnings of drug intake?

2009-10-19T00:05:00.000-07:00

The Habituating properties of the antianxiety drugs put clinicians in the often difficult position of having to persuade patients not to use them. This is in sharp contrast to the situation with other psychopharmacologic agents: there, the clinician is often attempting to persuade patients to use medicine they do not wish to take. The irony of this situation is apparent. More often than not, the clination is in adversary relationship with his patient telling the patient to take things the patient doesn't want to take. Some practitioners tire of this adversary stance and easily succumb to the patient's demands.

Children and grandchildren of today's society look at treating depression far more differently than our elders. The newer generation is more drawn to to medications and advances in life, while the older generation is stuck in the past still trying to use old remedies.

While skimming The Treatment of Emotional Disorder, I was shocked to come across these warnings. If I was warned that taking anti-anxiety medication was hazardous to my health, I would probably listen. Could this be why older people has decided to stay away from these prescriptions?

13-years-old

2009-10-18T23:50:00.000-07:00

Thanks to TV characters, tween stars, and fashion trends, we can see that 13-year-olds are beginning to act older than they should. This article basically made me question what it meant to be age 13: the first year of the teenage years. Should one still be treated like a tween? Should this age be considered the beginning of a smooth transition into teenhood? Or should age 13 signal a more rigid, contrasting change of attitudes and clothing styles? I remember being 13 and changing these aspects. I'd say I'd blame it on the media, and the images and ideas that were prevalent in my society. The article agrees by citing that "teens are growing up in a culture that sexualizes children and immerses them in adult images" -- it is no wonder that the second we hit the teen zone, we want to be adults. This article also explains however that girls are becoming physically more mature earlier in life than they were a generation ago. So this makes me question what the balance is between nature and nurture in creating a 13-year-old today, and as the title of the article, makes me question "What does it mean to be 13?"

Centenarian offsprings stay just as healthy

2009-10-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

In the JAGS journal for Geriatrics, Emily Adams and her colleagues assessed incidences centenarian offsprings had with age-related diseases such as cardiovascular disease. In other words, are the offsprings of centenarians prone to live shorter lives due to age-related disease or does their "pre-disposal" to healthy aging allow them to avoid diseases? This longitudinal study surveyed 440 centenarian offspring participants and 192 control participants (72 year old people who are not offspring of centenarians). This study spanned 9 years from 1997-2006. The results followed as so:

The offsprings had a 78% lower chance of cardiovascular problems; 83% lower risk of a stroke; 86% lower risk of developing diabetes; and 81% higher probability to live longer than the control group.

Thus this study concluded that centenarian offsprings have an natural advantage from their parents to live a longer, healthier life than that of 'normal' elderly people.

This academic journal demonstrates that centenarians possess some type of gene that transfers over to their offspring; thus the offspring has a high probability of longevity just as their parents. What I wonder now though, is do the 2nd generation of offsprings have the same likelihood to live a longer life?

Public Service Is, like, Really Awesome

2009-10-18T21:35:00.001-07:00

In my quest to prove how similar the Millennial Generation is to the WWII generation (a.k.a. the "GI" or "Greatest" generation), I found this graph which shows that well over half of Millennials would likely consider attending a public service academy rather than a traditional college after graduating from high school. The very interesting thing about this graph, which is explained in more detail here, is that the percentages of young Democrats and young Republicans willing to attend a service-based institution, implying that public service amongst today's young adults goes beyond the political realm. This graph also quite drastically disproves the idea that Millennials only do such extensive community service to get into more competitive colleges--that is, for selfish reasons. After all, this service-learning experience would happen after high school in lieu of a traditional college experience.

Obviously, the statistics displayed here may well inspire hope in many people for the future of the United States of America. For a generation known for its addiction to Facebook and compulsive obsession with text messaging and Us Magazine, the graph contradicts many societal judgments about today's teens. Is there any way that our tech-savviness and excellent communication skills help us feel more connected and thus concerned for the world around us? It sounds radical...but maybe it's not so far off the mark.

My Last Words

2009-10-18T21:35:00.000-07:00

For those of you who enjoy Scrubs this episode creates an interesting juxtaposition of how the elderly and the young handle, face, and deal with death. JD and Turk spend the night with a terminally ill patient, with little time left to live, discussing what makes life worth living, and how to cope with dying. They ultimately put their doctorly pride aside, admit their fear of death, and try to find ways to help the patient accept it. JD tries to calm him by saying that he would hope for nothing more than that his last thought be a good one. When the patient quietly slips away at the end he whispers to them that the beer they brought him earlier in the show was delicious. It raises an interesting aspect of aging, which of course is, when we cease to. Is all this emphasis we place on youth really that important in the presence of death? Furthermore, how does the existence of an afterlife affect our feelings on death?

Teens More Traditional than Parents? Yes, It's Possible.

2009-10-18T21:07:00.000-07:00

As I was cruising the internet researching the Millennial Generation's politics and values, I stumbled across this article about a very conservative (in terms of morality) segment of the Catholic Church: its young people. Granted, not all young Catholics believe in or practice abstinence before marriage, but apparently many do. More of today's young Catholics adhere to traditional Church teachings regarding sexual morality than either the Generation Xers or even their parents, the Baby Boomers. Catholic youth are also more apt to go to Mass regularly than their predecessors. So what does this mean? In my opinion, this is actually fairly consistent with the parallels I am uncovering between the Millennial Generation and the GI Generation. The overarching theme of the two generations is responsibility--primarily civic and social, but apparently, for a considerable amount of religious youth, spiritual as well. As I read more and more about the political and social ideals of this generation, it is becoming more and more clear that institutions--government, church, etc.--have and will have a huge impact. The question I am now asking, therefore, is how these trends towards institutional power will shape the political future of the country. Moreover, what will happen in response to conflict between institutions? For instance, how will these devoutly Catholic young adults respond to the common liberalism (moral and otherwise) of their peers?

A Generation Going Through the Motions

2009-10-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

With all the comparisons to the "great" generation of the 1940's, 50's, and monikers (iGeneration, GenerationMe, Millennials, etc.), I don't think enough is made about how our generation compares another generation, the "Lost Generation" of the late 1920's and 30's. Much like them we're a generation promised everything, and usually given it, only to mature during a time of economic decline. Raised to believe in the sanctity of the individual and the promise of success we are finding that individuality and success are becoming more uncommon. It's something I've seen, something I've lived through. An image that was characteristic of generation x and the reactionaries before them, a group of teens in a circle, experimenting with drugs and alcohol, is still true of youth today, but something has changed. It is less a social outcry and more an effort to hide oneself in apathy. There is no one unifying cause, but a number of a smaller issues to occupy our attention (global warming, health care, abortion, etc). And as informed as we are, and for all the opportunities we're given, it seems we do less with more.

In that regards in the coming weeks I'll be researching the so called quarter-life crisis, especially the psychological effects and consequences of it. What happens when an entire generation loses a sense of purpose? Is this new trend of volunteering based off of purely selfish motivation, and if so, how does this affect societal conscience? Does the lack of a culturally unifying figure (despite Obama's best efforts), great war, or true cause, effect us? How does this relate to drug use, suicide, and depression?

Generation What?

2009-10-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

As young, ambitious college students who have grown up with the promise of the American dream, what do we do when we find out that our dreams are unachievable? What happens if we don't get the perfect job and have to take the first on we can find? How do our relationships with our parents, girlfriends, and boyfriends define us as we approach quarter life?

Generation What?, an anthology of essays of different aspects on the quarter-life crises explores these questions through the personal experiences of twenty-somethings. Out of all the book and articles I've read concerning the quarter-life crisis Generation What?has engaged me the most. While the essays may not be as poetic or beautifully written as 20 Something Essays by 20 Something Writers (another anthology of essays by 20-year-old writers), they speak directly and eloquently on the issues facing college graduates and 20-year-olds today.

From pregnancy in their 20's to going to war, these essays explore a variety of topics. However, the most striking come in the form of 20 somethings on the job-hunt. One essayist compares job interviews to flirt, however she claims that if an interviewer is disinterested, "he can't just walk away, disappearing into a crowded bar. Human resources doesn't say 'You're just not my type, but I think your friend's pretty cute.'" Another essayist gives of a description of his "quarter-life crisis vocation" as a "human-sized subway sandwich" whose job description involved giving flyers out "to people who were in arms length of me."

Reading these essays have given me concrete examples of the issues that compose the quarter-life crisis. I agree with the author, whose purpose in writing this book was to help 20-year-olds facing life crises with giving them essays they could empathize with, rather than advice they could easily ignore.

Living to 101

2009-10-18T17:40:00.000-07:00

Living to 101- BBC Horizon

In Okinawa, you might see an old women outside of her house sweeping her front door steps. You'll guess that she's only....65 years old. In reality, she's probably well into her 80's or even 90's. Every morning you'll see the lively, elderly town congregate to a local produce market buying the freshest vegetables and native purple yam to cook for the night's meal. You'll even meet Mr. Miyagi, 92 years of age, teaching his fellow friends how to Karaoke. Now travel to Sardinia and you'll meet the Vacca family who has a rare lineage of longevity. They love to eat meat and cheese, drink wine and sing. The eldest woman in the Vacca family is determined to live to 123 to become the oldest women in Sardinia. Let's go down to So-cal in Loma Linda where Margaret, a 101 year old women cycles 6 miles a day and lifts weight all before her morning breakfast. Each of these individuals live on opposite sides of the world from one another and live completely different lifestyles, but they all are over 90 years of age. You are probably wondering: How is that possible?

The people who live in these small towns/cities live and maintain a unique lifestyle apart from the globalized and homogeneous world we live in. Although there are genetic factors that effect their aging process, their specific cultural customs and daily routines allow them to prosper and preserve a healthy, rich quality of life. However, places such as Glasgow, UK and Honolulu, HI are facing a shortened life expectancy rates than that of Okinawa and the rest of the world due to immigration, poor dieting, generational thinking, and genetic factors. How can there be such communities where people are able to live for so long while others are fighting to live past 65 years of age? What environmental, temporal factors contribute to such contrasting aging patterns? And where did these factors arise?

This is only part 1 of 5 10 min clips of this BBC special. I really encourage you all to check out at least 2-3 of the segments. The individual stories of each elderly persons in the documentary are truly fascinating because the documentary explores the mysteries of living to 100 years through multiple lenses: historical, medical, dietary, and spiritual. The rich and complex stories opens your mind to new meanings about age and aging.

Into the Twilight

2009-10-18T17:38:00.000-07:00

(People, November 21, 1994) Whoah. President Ronald Regan: President of THE United States. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Who would have thought that such a prominent person could be afflicted with such a terrible illness?

But it does happen. Sometimes the "untouchables" are touched by the most severe sicknesses. When I came across this article, written the day after President Ronald Reagan announced his diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease, I couldn't help but get the chills. The public had been given a few hints regarding Reagan's memory loss, but who could have imagined...

However, I did try to consider his diagnosis in the best light I knew how. The publicity and media attention surrounding the President's diagnosis might help calm some of the negative perceptions associated with Alzheimer's disease. Much of this stigma exacerbates the loneliness and isolation that afflicted people feel as they face the prospect of forgetting the ones they love. Reagan's diagnosis leads a wave of attention, funding, and media down the Alzheimer's path, and I'm interested in learning more about the stigmas, stereotypes, and negative emotions the media generates and the afflicted combats.

Is Middle Age the End of Life?

2009-10-18T15:33:00.000-07:00

In glancing through the headlines on the New York Times website, an article in the Opinions section caught my eye. In "I Feel It Coming Together," columnist Judith Warner takes a seemingly meaningless moment of her day--her daughter singing along to the Fame soundtrack--and turns it into an overwhelmingly pessimistic commentary on middle age.

Warner comments on the carefree and invincible approach to life that teenagers like her daughter are able to take on as they struggle through adolescence. This approach, Warner argues, includes a sense of urgency and passion that is lacking in the everyday life of average middle-aged women like herself.

The most heart-wrenching moment of the piece comes in Warner's statement: "This is the cruelty of middle age, I find: just when things have gotten good - really, really, consistently good - I have become aware that they will end."

While I am personally terrified of approaching middle age (even though I have a good couple of decades to go), I think Warner is obsessing a bit much over the "end," while she could be delivering positive views on living in the moment. I look at my parents, who are now living as empty nesters in their mid-50s, and see a happy couple who have settled down and are satisfied with that. This begs the question: why do people in their middle age always feel the need to relive their teenage years or accomplish something? Isn't their a model that we can look to, aside from the midlife crisis, that can offer insight on achieving contentment in middle age?

When You’re Your Mother’s Keeper

2009-10-18T14:47:00.000-07:00

Isolating myself in the corner of the library and burying myself in books has led me to some interesting information about age and aging in America and the world. I've decided to move my focus for these upcoming months to Alzheimer's disease after encountering literature that piqued my interest in the topic this past week.

(New York Times, August 21, 2009) One such article I found particularly unique is "When You're Your Mother's Keeper." The article describes the Cooper family's situation following Suzanne and Peter Cooper's decision to take care of Suzanne's mother, Irma Stitz, in their home instead of seeking the help of a nursing home.

Suzanne didn't realize how much of a commitment she was signing herself up for when her mother first moved into the house. Irma was in her early stages of Alzheimer's disease at that point. However, as the disease progressed, Peter and Suzanne's marriage become strained as Suzanne spent increasing amounts of time taking care of her mother. Taking care of Irma also came at the cost of the time Suzanne was able to spend with her young son.

I've picked out a role reversal outlined in this article -- Irma, an 84 year-old woman, has become somewhat of a child as she becomes increasingly dependent on Suzanne for support. Suzanne experiences guilt as she feels forced to seek help caring for her mother; taking care of Irma affects her social, personal, and familial life. What other affects to Alzheimer's patients have on their caretakers? Do we as a society extend too much of a focus on the affected individual when we should really be taking into account those burdening by administering care?

Age Is...

2009-10-17T17:03:00.000-07:00

Schott's Vocabulary, A Miscellany of Modern Words and Phrases courtesy of the New York Times, is soliciting definitions of age. How fitting!

This one, posted in the comments section, had a ring to it: "Old age is when the past haunts you, new tech daunts you, your body taunts you, and AARP wants you." Anyone want to take a stab?