It was Sabrina Hamilton, the brilliant director of the Ko Festival of Performance, who kicked off my speaking career by inviting me to do a monologue in 2012. She’s got superlative taste and she’s bringing a show called “D-Generation: An Exaltation of Larks” to Brooklyn’s Irondale Center this week and next. The show uses puppets to illuminate the inner life of people with late-stage dementia and what it’s like to care for them, and it’s wrenching and uplifting and remarkable. If you don’t believe me, check out some audience reactions. I’ll be doing a talkback with Sabrina after the show on Friday 2/7, and giving my talk at 4:30 between the matinee and the last performance on Saturday the 15th. Also up in February, a return to Senior Planet in Chelsea, this time with visuals and as part of their Macquarie “Bold Ideas In Aging” series (Wednesday, February 26, 127 West 25th St, 5:30PM; free).
I’ve been lying low and working full-time on a book, so it was very gratifying to have three invitations land in my in-box last week. The University of Washington’s School of Social Work has invited me to Seattle to give my talk during Careers in Aging Week, April 7-11. I’ll be speaking about the link between ageism and elder abuse to Manhattan-based elder justice advocates later in April, sponsored by the NYC Elder Abuse Center. And I’ll be give my talk at Old Dominion University, in Norfolk, Virginia, on October 1, the International Day of Older Persons. I sure hope my wording catches on; doesn’t International Olders Day sound better?