One of the pleasures of this project is listening to the history that my subjects have lived and witnessed. One of the difficulties is weighing how much to include, and my general rule has been less not more.  When I interviewed master ceramicist Eva Zeisel, for example, I learned that she had been involved with novelist and essayist Arthur Koestler and figures in his masterwork Darkness at Noon, which George Orwell drew upon when writing 1984. 

An entry in the New York Times Magazine’s annual Year in Ideas issue tackled the “reputational stigma” that penalizes people over 45 in today’s brutal job market. When economists pitted "seniors" (over 50) against "juniors" (under 30) in a set of decision-making tasks, the older group proved only “very slightly less” competitive. They also cooperated better, leading to the welcome conclusion that the ideal workforce consists of workers of all ages.

On Veterans Day, PBS aired a documentary called "The Way We Get By."  Much of it was shot in Bangor, Maine’s tiny airport, where flights from military bases all over the U.S. and inbound from Iraq and Afghanistan stop to refuel. Filmmaker Aron Gaudet’s mother Joan is one of the Maine Troop Greeters:  a group of older men and women who’ve taken it upon themselves to shake the hands of every soldier passing through.