Blog Posts - longevity

July 07, 2017 By Liz Seegert
…how to shorten the time that people live with serious illnesses. It’s a concept known as “compression of morbidity,” and it could be a literal life-changer. Read more...

Young Blood

May 10, 2017 By Flora Davis
If you were offered a way to feel healthier and even look younger, would you take it? What if it required you to have repeated transfusions with the blood of teenagers or 20-somethings? Read more...

No More Old Cats?

April 06, 2017 By Flora Davis
The other day, I was hunting online for new canned foods to try out on my unbelievably picky cat, and I couldn’t help noticing all the options for “senior cats.” There didn’t seem to be anything at all for “old cats.” Read more...

Deep Reading

December 02, 2016 By Flora Davis
I’ve spent my life immersed in a warm bath of fiction. I always have one novel going and another waiting. On the rare occasions when I have no new book on hand, I feel slightly panicky. Read more...

An Ounce of Prevention? Maybe

November 07, 2016 By Flora Davis
I’ve always figured that the fewer medications I take, the better. If there’s something wrong with me and a drug can help, I might not have much of a choice. But dose myself daily to prevent something that might never go wrong? Every drug has some side effects. For me, it’s a hard decision to make. Read more...

How to Have a Good Life: Lean In—to Your Relationships

September 09, 2016 By Flora Davis
I was stuck for a time when I was in my 20s. My career and dating possibilities were going nowhere, and I struggled with depression. I was far from home, but one day I talked to my father about all of this over the phone. Afterward, he sent me a long, thoughtful letter. He was then in his early 50s, and he wrote that, looking back over his own life, he was convinced that the most important thing for him had always been his relationships with family and friends. Read more...

Aging in Place: Is It a Pipe Dream?

May 11, 2016 By Flora Davis
On surveys, most older Americans say they want to age in place: to stay right where they are in the home they’ve lived in for years. Whenever I hear that, I wonder whether they realize just how difficult that can become. As time passes, house and yard maintenance begin to seem overwhelming; stairs can become impossible to climb. Friends move away or die, and once you have to stop driving, isolation looms. Read more...

The Birthday Party

April 08, 2016 By Bob Bostock
Recently my wife and I traveled to northern Virginia to help her Aunt Margie celebrate her 90th birthday. The luncheon party, arranged by the birthday celebrant herself, included 11 guests, all of whom (with the exception of my wife and me) were in their late 70s or 80s. As we sat around the table, I mentally added up the number of years represented by all the guests. There had to be at least 750 years of combined life among this group. That’s a lot of living and a lot of experience. And everyone was still very much “with it,” both mentally and physically. Read more...

Live to 100: Do You Have What It Takes?

April 17, 2015 By Pepper Evans
There's an old joke that goes something like this: The Japanese drink very little wine and experience fewer heart attacks than US or British citizens, while the French and Italians drink wine at every meal and experience fewer heart attacks than US or British citizens. Read more...

He Thinks 75 Is Old?

February 27, 2015 By Margaret Cruikshank
Ezekiel J. Emanuel caused quite a stir with his October 2014 Atlantic article saying that he did not want to live past 75. Emanuel is a noted bioethicist and a doctor who consulted on the Affordable Care Act. He does not believe in suicide or legalized euthanasia; he would simply decline medical care. What a limited imagination this doctor has, that he cannot visualize himself vital, engaged and enjoying life at 75. How sad that he has little or no contact with vigorous, healthy people in their 80s or 90s. They are everywhere; he need only look around. Read more...

How Problematic Is This Atlantic Cover Story? Let Me Count the Ways

How Problematic Is This <em>Atlantic</em> Cover Story? Let Me Count the Ways

October 20, 2014 By Ashton Applewhite
The cover of the October 2014 Atlantic magazine features a white-bearded skateboarder careening crazily above the title of an article that encapsulates American ambivalence about longevity, Ezekiel Emanuel’s “Why I Hope to Die at 75.” I wrote a letter to the editor, calling out the unacknowledged ageism that saturates the issue. Read more...

Why Ageism Matters

March 17, 2014 By Ashton Applewhite
In 2007 I started interviewing people over 80 who were in the workforce. At the same time, I was reading and writing about longevity. To my surprise, the more I learned, the greater the discrepancy that emerged between my grim notion of late life and the lived reality. I knew I was onto something. Read more...

Recalculating My Expiration Date

March 16, 2014 By Flora Davis
At 79, I’m old enough to understand that I’m not immortal. Put it this way: I don’t take out five-year magazine subscriptions, but I’m still willing to buy green bananas. Read more...

Are Men an Endangered Species?

Owl Monkeys

September 12, 2013 By Flora Davis
Why is it that almost everywhere on the planet women outlive men? And how come that’s been true for centuries, at least in Europe, even though childbirth used to be a really risky proposition? These questions grabbed me while I was researching an article on life expectancy for SCF. Read more...

Blogs by Author

Alix Kates Shulman

Ashton Applewhite

Bob Bostock

Flora Davis

Liz Seegert

Maggie Sullivan

Margaret Cruikshank

Margaret Morganroth Gullette

Megan Kearns

Pepper Evans

Pete Croatto

Victoria Robinson

Blogs by Date

2017
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2016
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2015
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2014
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2013
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2012
- December (2)
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Our Mission

The Silver Century Foundation promotes a positive view of aging. The Foundation challenges entrenched and harmful stereotypes, encourages dialogue between generations, advocates planning for the second half of life, and raises awareness to educate and inspire everyone to live long, healthy, empowered lives.

"It is not by muscle, speed, or physical dexterity that great things are achieved, but by reflection, force of character, and judgment; in these qualities old age is usually not poorer, but is even richer."

Cicero (106-43 BC)

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