Recently, I found myself thinking of Caterina Valente, a singer who had some hits back in the ’50s. One of those hits was “Jalousie,” by the Danish composer Jacob Gade. This may not be the only tango written by a Dane, but it certainly is the most famous one. In fact, “Jalousie” is one of the most popular songs ever.

I mention this because a few days after Valente’s named popped into my head — for no discernible reason — I happened to hear an instrumental version of “Jalousie” on the radio. [Read more →]

Tags: getting older, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Well, it’s official.  It has taken me my entire life to get to this moment in time, but as of a week or two ago, I am 30 years old.  A “milestone” birthday.  Seeing the counter roll over to the three decade mark has made me think about my life for a bit, and I’d like to mention one of my reflections.

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Tags: getting older by Mike McGowan
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Tags: getting older, movies by Alexander Thorburn Hoffman
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I recently remembered a magic spell I once knew.  Here’s how it happened:

A few months ago, I had my metaphorical butt kicked by a twelve-year-old.  Part of my lifelong musical journey is that I have been studying classical guitar for the past five years. My teacher is kind enough to hold “salons” for her students several times per year, at which we can perform solo pieces for each other — mostly adults. Many self-conscious jokes are cracked before performances (mostly by me), many excuses are made from the stage (mostly by me) and many right hands shake nervously over the strings (mine, especially), derailing passages that sounded so great just the day before in everyone’s practice rooms.   [Read more →]

Tags: artistic unknowns by Chris Matarazzo, getting older by Chris Matarazzo
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Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of belonging to another, or to others, or to God.

So wrote T.S. Eliot in “East Coker,” the second of his Four Quartets. I was reminded of these lines while thinking about a conversation I had recently with a friend and former colleague. It was a couple of weeks before the recent election and had to do with Christine O’Donnell, the Republican senatorial candidate in Delaware.

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Tags: getting older, politics & government, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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I have begun writing this just after midnight on Thursday, October 14. At 8:30 this morning I will turn 69, which means that I will enter upon my 70th year, at the end of which I will arrive at the so-called Biblical age of three score and ten. [Read more →]

Tags: getting older, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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Kelly Conaboy, beautiful woman and writer of many popular humorous novels and television shows and movies that everyone loved, died Saturday at one of her homes in a scenic part of Europe. She was 101.

Her daughter, Kelley Conaboy, confirmed the death Sunday morning, reporting that her mother had died of her own will. Not like a suicide, really, because — let me explain. Kelly had spent her last 76 years in her 25-year-old body, except slightly taller and without the health problems, after ingesting something (?) by accident in 2012 that allowed this to happen. It was like Tuck Everlasting, except she was able to kill herself whenever she wanted. So I guess it was pretty much like a suicide. [Read more →]

Tags: creative writing, getting older by Kelly Conaboy
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In the July 14 issue of the Times Literary Supplement, David Wheatley begins his review of Letters of Louis MacNeice by noting that “the Greeks thought of the past as stretching out before them while the future waited behind their backs.”

I am not sure if I ever knew this, and had long since forgotten it, but I do know that I have often thought this way. It has long seemed to me that when we are born we get in line behind all those who are already here, and those who come after get in line behind those of us who have already arrived.

This is but one of a number of odd ways I have of looking at time. [Read more →]

Tags: getting older, that's what he said, by Frank Wilson by Frank Wilson
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A friend of mine recently referred to her life as a mountain. Apparently she started climbing it years ago without realizing, then one day looked down and discovered how high up she’d gone. She also discovered that it would be nearly impossible to get down off of this mountain and start the climb up a different mountain. By different, I think she meant the one on which she had assumed she would end up. [Read more →]

Tags: damned lies, ends & odd, getting older by Van McCourt
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My father-in-law recently faced up to the adult equivalent of “there is no Santa Claus.” Specifically, he discovered that, if the shit ever hits the fan, nobody is going to wipe his ass for him. Well … Maybe that’s unfair. He actually realized that, in case of disaster, he can’t count on “the authorities” to charge to the rescue.

Hmmm … I phrased it better the first time. [Read more →]

Tags: damned lies, getting older by J.D. Tuccille
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