It’s as though I’ve lost my sense of taste and smell, without actually doing so. It’s a disorienting feeling, but I feel fine.

I never thought twice about letting my hair grow gray, so why did I perpetuate a youthful (and costly) artifice with nails?

Photo by Solen Feyissa for Unsplash.

New AgeSpots contriburtor Karen Cantor’s career path includes marketing, teaching, documentary filmmaking, puppetry, mothering (three kids) and grandmothering (eight grands).

Photo by Solen Feyissa for Unsplash.

It has been a year since AgeSpots made its debut. I invite your ideas and contributions as the blog goes forward.

Much to my delight, Rather invited me to visit the CBS Evening News weekend set. He came striding in with a heavy backpack and shook my hand. I immediately felt at ease.

Photo by Wilhelm Gunkel for Unsplash.

For the past several months, I have participated in a Pen Pal ministry to reach out to asylum seeakers at two detention centers in Arizona. I have been very moved by our communication, and the grace of their endurance and elegance of spirit.

Photo by Abbie Bernet for Unsplash.

“I realized that perhaps my life has been inextricably changed,” says writer Cecilia Capuzzi Simon.

Photo by Michel Boule for Unsplash

Another great story involves the decoding of the elaborate Mayan script, comprised of more than 800 symbols which could be written in multiple ways.

Yucatan Peninsula glyph detail courtesy of Unsplash.

How has this year shaped—or shaken—your outlook and attitude as we look at 2020 in hindsight?

It depicts a young girl slightly uncomfortable with the viewer’s gaze. It looks at me now as a “finished product.”

This is the 30th AgeSpots blog post!

Photo by Camila Waz for Unsplash.

“At times like these, it feels as if alongside all the physical activity, I am also gardening my mind.”

Photo by Michael Dziedzic for Unsplash

My grandmother did not indulge in past regrets or even past losses. She would never compare one party with another, one meal with another, or one person to another. From her perspective, each day was fine.

Photo by Jung Ho Park for Unsplash.

I don’t move and groove like I used to, but who’s looking and who cares?

Photo by Jean-Philippe Delberghe for Unsplash.

“Like wars and depressions, a pandemic offers an X-ray of society, allows us to see all the broken places.”

Photo by Paola Galimberti for Unsplash

I do believe that at the heart of my struggle with an answer is not just that I became tired of the same-old-same-old work and stresses with journalism. It is also, perhaps, allowing myself to admit that I am, simply, done with it.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Writer Peg Bowden recently participated in a Tucson Festival of Books panel presentation on her brother, Chuck Bowden, a prolific, impassioned writer about the Southwest and Mexican border issues.

“Our relationship over the years blew hot and cold. Sometimes we were in sync. Other times, he would disappear, as if family news was too much of a distraction from the real work—his book writing.”

What are you doing to remain positive and follow the Four As (acceptance, adaptation, appreciation and attitude)?

When I was a young girl, my father began subscribing to publications such as Billboard, Variety and Show. I am not sure why, other than having a long-standing interest in popular music, media and show business. I didn’t expect that my professional career would later center around those—and other—trade bibles.

Photo by Martin Sanchez for Unsplash

The newly released documentary, Diana Kennedy: Northing Fancy, chronicles the feisty, still vital author who introduced traditional Mexican cooking to the world.