This email came in a few days ago from gerontology professor Elizabeth Bergman, and it made very happy—almost as happy as the video beneath it, which was created by her student, Anne Qu. It’s smart and funny all the way through, but I especially loved the part where Qu rearranges photographs of all the people she’s already been—a perfect representation of the book’s epigraph: “We contain all the ages we have ever been”—and anticipates the wrinklier incarnations to come. Also, I admit, the scene with the two guys on the sofa talking about the “old guy in the club,” which made me laugh out loud.
Hello, Ashton,
I’m writing to tell you how much I appreciate your book. As a gerontology educator at Ithaca College, my primary endeavor is to teach “traditional age” college undergrads about age and the aging process. Most of my students will only ever take one such course in their entire educational career, so I strive to make as much impact as I can in the course of one short semester! I am using This Chair Rocks for the second time this semester in a course I teach called “Age Matters: Discovering the Possibilities beyond Midlife.” Your book is so accessible and my students really connect with your message.
Students conclude the semester with an “Envisioning Elderhood” presentation, in which they reflect on the development of their thinking about age and aging and imagine their own experience of aging. They are given several prompts to which they must respond in the presentation, including how they plan to “Push Back” and how they are an “Old Person in Training.” Here is a link to the presentation created by Annie Qu last semester (she was happy for me to share with you). You’ll see the influence of This Chair Rocks all over it!
AQu Envisioning Elderhood Pres.1 from Ashton Applewhite on Vimeo.