So says Matt Perry in “Cheer Up and Push Back: One Woman’s Fight Against Ageism,” an interview for the California Health Report. It’s a nice piece, I’ll cop to being excitable, and I appreciate the exposure.
l do take issue with the first line of the interview: “If there is a modern mystic channeling Dylan Thomas’ famous poem Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, it would be Ashton Applewhite.” Leaving my mystical bent aside, I think it’s perfectly fine to go gentle, if that’s what feels right. I’m not raging against death, or life winding down. I am raging against ageism, though, and against the bleak depiction of old age in American culture. So I’m happy with Perry’s description of my mission “to continue spreading this gospel and forcing us to face our own ambivalence about aging.” Not that anyone can be forced to face anything, but realizing where that ambivalence is rooted is a good start.