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The 44th President of the United States turns 48 today.  Born in 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii, he came into the world at the tail end of the Baby Boom.  During the 2008 campaign, much was made of the fact that he was younger than the other candidates.  But did you know that he is actually not the youngest man ever to be sworn in?  A bit of trivia: According to Wikipedia, Obama is the 5th youngest person to be inaugurated as President.  Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy, Bill Clinton, and Ulysses S. Grant, who were 42, 43, 46 & 5 months, and 46 & 10 months respectively at the times of their first inaugurations, beat him out for the title.

Filed under: Boomers • Fun • History • News

It’s here! The 40^th Anniversary of what some of us would consider our most memorable summer. Whether you were there to slog through the muddy fields yourself, or you heard about it from friends, it’s hard to forget Woodstock and August of 1969.

In celebration of the good times that summer and all those that have followed, we present to you a small collection of sites and events that might help you to revisit that weekend:

The original Woodstock documentary was released in 1970, and was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry in 1996.

A new film called “TAKING WOODSTOCK” is set for release in late August. Visit the IMDB website for more information and to view trailers for the film.

NEWSEUM WOODSTOCK EXHIBIT:

If you happen to be near DC on Saturday Aug. 15, join former New York Times journalist Bernard Collier, as he talks about what made Woodstock newsworthy.

Share your own memories of Woodstock with us! What do you think was so unique about the event? Were you forced to stay at home or did you head off with some friends to camp out in the fields? Have you been to anything like it since?

Filed under: Boomers • Fun • History • Media

Think Baby Boomers are slowing down? Not a chance!

In fact,  Baby Boomers currently have the highest rate of starting a new business of any age group in the U.S.

U.S. News and World Report published an article the 0ther day stating that “over the past decade, the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity was among people between the ages of 55 and 64,” and that “about 21 percent of all workers who change careers after age 51 are self-employed at their new jobs.”  It goes on to say that after making the decision to start a business, “entrepreneurial baby boomers need to pick a place to set up shop.”  Here at Springboard we took particular interest because, frankly, we couldn’t agree more!

(Check out the U.S. News and World Report article here)

While the article focusses on great places for entrepreneurial boomers to retire, we feel that the real expert on the subject is our author Barbara Corcoran, real estate guru, who wrote an entire book devoted to the subject of where to “live your life” called Nextville. Not only does Corcoran’s book include a quiz to help you figure out where and how you want to live, but it breaks each location down by cost, weather, median age, and local activities. Nextville is actually about to come out in paperback, and includes a new forward by Corcoran about how to survive the current (read: tough!) real estate market.

For more info, check out Barbara Corcoran’s website directly:

http://barbaracorcoran.com/

Filed under: Boomers • Media

Every generation has a war that marks and shapes the years of its coming-of-age. For today’s young people, it is Iraq.  Before that, it was the Persian Gulf.  For those who grew up in the ’60’s and 70’s, it was undoubtedly Vietnam.

In his poem, “Facing It,” celebrated writer and Vietnam veteran Yusef Komunyakaa recalls a visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C.  His language paints a powerful picture of a man whose memories of war have been engraved onto him as permanently as the names carved on the wall.

Facing It
by Yusef Komunyakaa

My black face fades,
hiding inside the black granite.
I said I wouldn’t,
dammit: No tears.
I’m stone. I’m flesh.
My clouded reflection eyes me
like a bird of prey, the profile of night
slanted against morning. I turn
this way–the stone lets me go.
I turn that way–I’m inside
the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
again, depending on the light
to make a difference.
I go down the 58,022 names,
half-expecting to find
my own in letters like smoke.
I touch the name Andrew Johnson;
I see the booby trap’s white flash.
Names shimmer on a woman’s blouse
but when she walks away
the names stay on the wall.
Brushstrokes flash, a red bird’s
wings cutting across my stare.
The sky. A plane in the sky.
A white vet’s image floats
closer to me, then his pale eyes
look through mine. I’m a window.
He’s lost his right arm
inside the stone. In the black mirror
a woman’s trying to erase names:
No, she’s brushing a boy’s hair.

(source: The Academy of American Poets Website)

* * *

More Poems About the Vietnam War:

• “At the Vietnam Memorial” by George Bilgere
• “Advent 1966″ by Denise Levertov
• “Vietnam” by Michael Collier
• “Driving through Minnesota During the Hanoi Bombings” by Robert Bly
• “The Asians Dying” by W.S. Merwin
• “Song of Napalm” by Bruce Weigl

Famous Poems About Other Wars, Past and Present:

• “Here, Bullet” by Brian Turner [Iraq War]
• “The Death of the Ball Turrett Gunner” by Randall Jarrell [WWII]
• “Dulce et Decorum Est” by Wilfred Owen [WWI]
• “The Blue and the Gray” by Francis Miles Finch [Civil War]
• “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred Lord Tennyson [Crimean War]
• “Paul Revere’s Ride” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow [Revolutionary War]

Filed under: Boomers • History • Literature

Check out this great article by Paula Span about the unexpected joys of taking care of elderly parents! It was featured in The Washington Post last week.

Filed under: Boomers

Yesterday, Kodak announced that it will retire Kodachrome film, a long time staple of color photography. According to Kodak’s press release about the discontinuation, Kodachrome was “the world’s first commercially successful color film in 1935,” as well as “the film of choice for family slide shows of the Baby Boom generation.”

Debuted in 1935, Kodachrome itself isn’t exactly a Boomer – its formative years were spent by the time the post-WWII Boom began. However, many Baby Boomers grew up with Kodachrome, and after 74 years of color-popping pictures, I think we’re all a little sad to see it go.

During our childhood, Kodachrome was the film our parents used on a vacation abroad– preserving scenes like the ones featured in National Geographic’s special exhibit, “Kodachrome Culture: The American Tourist in Europe.” (Open to the public, free of charge, June 25 – September 9, 2009)

Trieste, Italy, 1956 Photo by B. Anthony Stewart

In 1973, we sang along to Paul Simon’s famous “Kodachrome” lyrics:

“Kodachrome
They give us those nice bright colors
They give us the greens of summers
Makes you think all the world’s a sunny day, Oh yeah
I got a Nikon camera
I love to take a photograph
So mama don’t take my Kodachrome away”

And even in more recent years, Kodachrome captured some of the images of the world that took our breath away. Baby Boomer Steve McCurry, one of America’s most renowned professional photographers, used Kodachrome to shoot many of his incredible photographs, including that of Sharbat Gula – an Afghan girl with haunting eyes – which graced the cover of National Geographic’s June 1985 issue.

Photo by Steve McCurry

For a trip down a bright and colorful memory lane, check out Kodak’s retrospective Kodachrome slideshow, as well as the New York Times’ LENS blog story.

Share your own memories of Kodachrome and the years it captured in our comments section! What photographs do you hold dear, and what are the scenes they preserve?

Filed under: Boomers • News

Facebook began in 2004 as a way for college students to connect with classmates at their respective schools. The original Facebook networks were exclusive to students who had direct contact with each other. It was a way for students to see, for instance, who else was in their Biology 101 class. Two years later, Facebook had exploded into a world-wide social networking site.

This past Monday The New York Times ran an article about how social networking websites like Facebook  and MySpace have become important to “aging baby boomers” because they provide an easy way for people to connect with each other from home at a time when they begin to feel most isolated. 

The article concludes that by providing an easy way for people to connect with each other, social networking sites have enriched the lives of many aging adults.

A few months ago The New York Times ran another article emphasizing the importance of friends and social connections to longevity of life.

So is it safe to conclude that Facebook, MySpace and Twitter (to name a few) are actually increasing the life expectancy of those who participate in the social networking world?

What do you think?

How do you feel about these websites?  Have they affected people positively? Negatively?

Interesting factoid:

Despite the fact that Facebook was created for 18-21 year olds, CNN.com ran an article in April stating that women over 55 are currently the biggest market for facebook.

Filed under: Boomers • Media • News

We’re entering swimsuit season which means that women around the country are looking in the mirror and wondering how they’ll pull it off this time around. Finding a flattering swimsuit can be a daunting and demoralizing task after a long winter. Feeling self-conscious about the extra winter weight and loss of muscle-tone may be a yearly tradition for you, but this time Charla’s here to help!

Our fabulous beauty expert Charla Krupp has some advice about how to look younger and feel better in a bathing suit this summer. This week she did an interview with Oprah in which she gave some tips about how to choose the right bathing suit for your body.

Here’s the link to her interview in O, The Oprah Magazine:

Filed under: Media • Style

Paula Span, author of WHEN THE TIME COMES (in stores this June!)

When she’s not writing, Paula Span, one of our own Springboard authors, teaches classes at Columbia University. She teaches such classes as “Techniques of Feature Writing,” and serves as an advisor to students working on their master’s projects. We are delighted to announce that this past week Paula was named Teacher of the Year by the Class of 2009. This award is quite an honor, and was presented to her by The Society of Professional Journalists at Columbia.

Congratulations Paula!

Read more about the award on the Columbia University website!

Filed under: Books • Media

I don’t know how many of you have seen Charles Grodin’s great comedic roles in The Heartbreak Kid or Midnight Run, but his performances are laugh-out-loud funny. What you may not know, is that he’s also a really great person who has spent much of the last 20 years giving back to those who need help–from the homeless (he is a major fundraiser for Help USA) to those who are suffering extremely long imprisonments under the felony murder rule.
We are so proud to have published HOW I GOT TO BE WHOEVER IT IS I AM, Chuck’s recent memoir that recounts the “teaching moments” in his life from his days in Hebrew School to his days as a talk show host. His stories are funny and revelatory. I am lucky enough to know Chuck; I’d like to introduce him to you through his book.

Filed under: Books • Boomers • Media