Senior Influence

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Here are a few things I wonder about these days.

When did it become OK to talk in libraries? When I was growing up, you were shushed by a stern librarian if you talked to a friend. Nowadays, though, and happily, talking is completely fine. Our library is a place to gather and enjoy conversation.

When did it become acceptable to wear headphones or ear buds all day and night? I fear something is lost when we don’t talk to each other in social situations. It seems too often that people you see are absorbed in their own world too much; not open to serendipity.

I wonder, too, what the effect of the pandemic may have on young people socially. Will they sit around and share a pizza? Will they gather in numbers to party with drinks and snacks as before? Or will they be apprehensive about meeting each other with a hug or put their arms around each other.

I think it’s going to take me some time to figure out the new social landscape whenever the pandemic ends.

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There’s something immutable about old friendships. I’m talking about friends from grade school and high school. From your hometown. Before you moved away and started living your adult life. Before careers, marriage, children, grandchildren.

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Since I retired, I have been exploring the area around my home. I walk for miles on local trails, on city sidewalks and in my favorite place, the Arnold Arboretum. For anyone who loves trees, walking in the Arboretum is paradise, with a different view around every curve. I watch the leaves bud out in the spring and then welcome the summer’s lush foliage providing cooling shade. As the days become shorter, the trees perform their magic, turning their green leaves into a palate of red, orange, yellow and brown. In winter, the bare fingers of the branches allow me to see the architecture of the trees, especially when they are silhouetted against a snowy backdrop.

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Reading

  • debra stark

    Some good reads from these last few months: Red Notice, The Invisible Wall, Killers of the Flower Moon, This Is How It Always Is, Educated.

  • Rich Levinson

    Great site !!

  • Betsy Levinson

    I’m reading Alan Eskins’ “The Life They Buried” at the moment. He’s a wonderful descriptive fiction writer.

Watching

  • Dylan Awalt-Conley

    I recently watched Bong Joon Ho’s “Parasite” and I can’t get it out of my head.

Enjoying

  • Betsy Levinson

    We are enjoying the Netflix show “Giri/Haji”, a Japanese-British crime drama. Super well-acted, great plot.