Columnist Steve Lopez’s series on California’s aging population
California is about to be hit by an aging population wave, and Steve Lopez is riding it. His column focuses on the blessings and burdens of advancing age — and how some folks are challenging the stigma associated with older adults. Follow along here.
After a year on the aging beat, I’m finding strength in those who honor the departed while moving forward and in those who meet disease with courage and grace.
Advice on aging from the legendary Norman Lear: “So long as I am interested in the next, I’m moving. And there have been a lot of wonderful nexts.”
A popular Netflix docuseries focuses on ‘Blue Zones,’ where lifestyles centered on faith, community and healthful eating lead to lower rates of chronic disease and greater longevity.
At the century mark, Pete Teti, WWII vet and renaissance man, keeps learning and moving
Column: A visit with my late mother’s nurse, and a lesson on what you should know about hospice care
Karen Eshelman, like many other health care providers, got into hospice work after a personal loss. She’s worried that staffing shortages are impacting the quality of patient care.
David Mays, 69, was living in his car. When he moved into his new apartment, ‘after two years of nothing, it was a quantum leap’
Nancy Boyarsky is on her eighth book and Duane Filer is on his 10th. They’re not getting rich, but they are persevering -- and reinventing themselves
For older adults living in their cars, sleeping in a parking lot isn’t the answer, but ‘it’s a buffer. It’s a sanctuary, almost. A way to gather your wits and maybe your resources’
Confusing. Trivial. Useless. Laughable. Inconsistent. The road rage over DMV test questions continues for drivers 70 and older.
‘It’s what I’m meant to do,’ Sen. Dianne Feinstein said of her work — and her identity — but many find new purpose and identity after they retire.
‘Golden Bachelor’ is looking for love, but you have to suspend your disbelief that a handsome widower apparently couldn’t find a date and decided his only option was to appear on a reality TV show.
Is Biden too old to be president? Is Trump? ‘It’s not about, “Are you too old for the job?” It’s “Can you get the job done?”’
Moving a grandmother from her home? Not happening. “I feel the way to honor my mom is to keep her with me as long as I can.”
A miscommunication about medication and treatment leads to a hospitalization for Nathaniel Ayers-- who keeps on playing
While the fight over nursing home staffing plays out, you can be sure that more patients will suffer from negligent care, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Like so many in an epidemic of loneliness, Judge Lance Ito struggles after the loss of his wife.
Good luck trying to manage Medicare. As I waded through the possibilities, I started to see waves of bright light roll across my computer screen -- a visual aura migraine, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
STDs are up among older adults, but that hasn’t put a damper on their search for love or companionship. Here are some of their stories
With ‘Barbie,’ it seems director Greta Gerwig wanted to comment on our youth-obsessed culture and remind us that there is beauty in people of all ages.
Ken and Audrey Mattlin live with a family of robots that can play trivia, turn on the TV and act as security. But will all this technology cure loneliness?
In Santa Monica, hotel workers in their 60s and 70s join the picket line. They’re trapped in crummy jobs and can’t afford to stop working.
Older adults have lost billions to scam artists who use phones and computers to break, enter and steal. Thefts targeting seniors are big business, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
There’s no remission and no cure for Alzheimer’s, but a Southern California couple find support as they negotiate memory loss, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
It’s more than music. This Los Angeles orchestra bridges cultural and generational gaps and creates a deep sense of community, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
USC gerontology grad, with two degrees in hand and another in the works, wants to serve older adults in her underserved community, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Jose Palacios has hauled stones, tools, seeds, saplings and the burden of his past up a hill to create his own Shangri-La in Griffith Park, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Searching for that answer on the tip of your tongue? UCLA initiative takes students to retirement homes to train the brains of aging adults, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Martha Stewart on the SI cover? ‘On the one hand: Yeah, go Martha!’ On the other hand, ‘Most women who are 81 do not have access to groomers and dressers,’ columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Adult centers run by Valley InterCommunity Council offer support for those in isolation. ‘If you know anybody that’s old like me, and, you know, needs a friend, I would love that,’ columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Facing fears of mortality: ‘We’re living under a different framework — the possibility of impending death. It’s so far back in our thinking, and then it’s right there,’ columnist Steve Lopez writes.
It’s Feinstein’s health that matters, not her age. Same with Biden. We do not all age on the same schedule — and aging is not inherently negative, columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Reader response to Steve Lopez’s column about older drivers having to take knowledge and eye exams was all over the place.
For those who care for aging adults, ‘It’s a legacy of slavery and a history in this country of not valuing the work done by … people of color,’ Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
She takes care of six clients, works seven days a week and can’t afford to slow down — one of thousands who multi-task for our aging population, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
The DMV is requiring people 70 and older to take an in-person test and eye exam. Some say it’s discrimination, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
General health, exercise and good sleep habits — not mental gymnastics — are the best tools for brain health, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Bias and outright discrimination on the basis of race, gender and age have long histories in Hollywood and broader culture, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
World War II veteran Paul Hult has an already tight budget with costs for home healthcare. Now, astronomical gas charges in recent months are threatening to wipe him out, his family says, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
‘Rather than thinking of 75 as the time to die,’ let’s reimagine a world in which it’s a ‘robust time of engagement and work,’ Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
On skid row, where physical and mental distress are on parade, ‘we are forecasting a tsunami of seniors and families with children,’ says the Rev. Andy Bales.
Steve Hideg was never rich, or particularly famous, but music always carried him. He refuses to let go of his drumsticks, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Neither cancer nor advancing age can keep Benny Wasserman from going up against 90 mph pitches and circling the bases on field of dreams, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
Isolation is no small matter in the rapidly aging population, and the depression that results often goes undiagnosed and untreated, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
‘An important topic everyone wants to shove under the rug is the cost of keeping somebody alive. And do they really want to live?’
As my doctor listened to my heart, I picked her brain on the medical technology that could possibly save my life — and yours, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
California is about to get walloped by an aging population wave. Steve Lopez’s new column will focus on the blessings and burdens of growing older, Times columnist Steve Lopez writes.
