"The Alzheimer's Project"

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

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

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

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

                                                                 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

                                 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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

Unlike numerous illnesses—from the sniffles to the deadliest of all cancers—that force affected individuals to confront symptoms, the unique nature of Alzheimer’s disease enables those affected to evade reality. Despite the emotional outlet that denial often provides, family caregivers and patients have a critical responsibility to actively educate themselves regarding the disease. Disease education, in order to be effective, must address the fundamental causes and prevalence of ignorance among families.

A vast amount of educational resources—a worldwide web, academic journals, magazines, newspapers, television, radio—lie at the fingertips of patients and family members, providing information to bolster their foundation of support. Often ignorant of the disease’s presence, however, family caregivers and patients remain passive in their initial search for information. By the time patients decide to address concerns regarding their health with a physician, tensions have often already extended roots throughout the family dynamic. Brushing denial aside, the mesh of loopholes within the disease’s extensive educational realm begins to emerge, exacerbated by inaccurate portrayals of the disease throughout popular media. Employing certain educational strategies can effectively minimize the impact of flaws in Alzheimer’s disease awareness. Although a medical cure for the disease currently lies out of our reach, patients and caregivers must continue to expect and demand the hope that a quality education offers.

Twenty-Something Angst Now and Then

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

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

           

The issues of the ‘20s, ‘50s, ‘80s, and current decade thus vary in substance, but a common thread connects them. Through the study of four key primary sources, it appears that what assimilates these decades is individuals’ shared urge to rebel. In the 1920s, Judge Lindsay examined the rebellions of flapperdom and sexual freedom, in his subjective expose aptly entitled Revolt of Modern Youth. The revolt then shifts in the ‘50s to a counterculture of beatniks, presented in Growing Up Absurd, and rumblings of feminism, which finally came to materialization in the form of Betty Friedan’s Feminine Mystique. We then turn to witness a more existential crisis in James Reston’s article “A Subdued Class of ‘80”, with adolescents rebelling to increased expectations, rather than to societal constraints. After twenty years of existential crises, matters do not seem to have transformed much as documented in the 2005 anthology Generation What? Instead, college graduates continue to defer adulthood and bemoan the consequences of increased freedom.

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

Modern Day Peter Pans

Once upon a time, there lived a stunted man who the award-winning writer and broadcaster Jon Savage depicted in his book, Teenage, as a child troubled by his brother’s death and trapped in a “horrid nightmare” of a marriage (79). During his young, tender adolescent years, he endured the loss of his mother and sister. To cope with all the moroseness encompassing his life and soothe his troubled mind, he took strolls in Kensington Gardens where “he began to turn to other people’s children for solace.” This, Savage asserts, “was not only a substitute for parenthood but a reflection of his own self-diagnosed dilemma: He was a boy who could not grow up” (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 suggest otherwise. This man was none other than J. M. Barrie, the playwright of the nostalgic children’s production, Peter Pan.

Not only did Barrie create an alternate reality where individuals could succumb to their nagging childish tendencies free of guilt, but he was also the first documented individual to succumb to the allure of this fantasy world. A little over a century later, the number of diagnosed cases of this Peter Pan Syndrome has multiplied in size. This syndrome, formally dubbed as Peur Aeturnus, affects adults both young and old who haven’t fully matured--both mentally and emotionally--out of their adolescent state, and who still possess a maternal attachment to their caregivers. It’s as if Barrie’s theatrical performance dug its way deep into the heart of our society at the turn of the 20^th century, remained sedentary as its tentacle-like roots spread throughout the soil of our subconscious, and sprouted up like an invasive species of crab grass in the spring decades later. Now this epidemic is prevalent among many youth today as researchers work to trace it back to hindrances in their development during adolescence, searching for its causes, and attempting to formulate preventive solutions. However, in all their objective studies they forget to include one of the major voices of youth experiencing emerging adulthood: Hip Hop. While it seems as if the Hip Hop musical culture perpetuates the emerging adulthood epidemic, in actuality it critiques this problem by engaging in issues scholarly sources fail to recognize, and finds a rational solution under the umbrella of the Hip Hop culture/movement.

The Quarter-Life Crisis Quiz

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?

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

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

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?

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

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

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"

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?

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

"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

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

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]

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?

How We Sabotage Young Girls

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.

A Clear Explanation of the Quarter-Life Crisis

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?

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

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

(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

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?

The SAT: Is it all that matters?

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...

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

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!

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

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

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

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?

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"

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

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

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

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

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

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’

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?

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?

Change the town, Change your life

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

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?

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.