The Enlightened Cynic (Formerly Specifically for Seniors)

Elizabeth Keating is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in culture and communication. Her book, The Essental Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations, reached #1 on Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers in Books” in the first week of publication, and was #1 in cultural anthropology the week after. The book takes an anthropolo...

Our guest today on Specifically for Seniors, Dr. Rosanne Leipzig is internationally recognized in the field of geriatrics. Dr Leipzig is the Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor and Vice Chair, Emerita of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. Leipzig’s latest book, Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the...

Jonathan Alter is an award winning author, political analyst, documentary filmmaker, columnist, television producer and radio host. His most recent book is “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life.” Jonathan is a former editor and columnist at Newsweek, politics analyst for NBC news and MSNBC. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Monthly, the New Yorker, Bloomberg...

Book bans have reached a record high over the past two years. Books targeted have overwhelmingly been about people of color and LGBTQ individuals. And nowhere has that been more evident than in Florida. Our guest today on Specifically for Seniors, Tania Galiñanes had to face Florida House Bill 1467 head on as a school librarian in Florida. House Bill 1467, signed by Governor DeSantis on March 25,...

Be advised: Adult language is used during this podcast Those of you who are fans of the TV show -Amerca's Got Talent - will recognize my guest this week. Maureen Langan was a semi-finalist on Season 18 of AGT where her performance landed her a standing ovation and four "Yeses" from the judges. Maureen is an internationally acclaimed standup comedian, broadcaster, Tedx Talk speaker an...

Adam Mansbach is a novelist, screenwriter, cultural critic and humorist. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Go the F**k to Sleep, which has been translated into forty languages, named Time Magazine's 2011 "Thing of the Year," and sold over three million copies worldwide. Mansbach's novels include Rage is Back, The End of the Jews (winner of the California Book A...

An hour without notes and a script. We talked ice cream sandwiches, Death Wish and Red Barn coffee, the pandemic, a life in Improv and teaching, Batman, super heroes, radio and ImprovBoston. If you want to spend an hour listeninhg to a pleasant, no-stress conversation about things that really matter very little, get connected. It's like a version of Jerry Seinfeld without Larry David.

Today on Specifically for Seniors, we're going to do something just a bit different. We have three guests who are here to tell you three completely different stories about parts of their lives. You've met two of them on previous podcasts, but they didn't have the time to tell you the rest of their stories. The third is new to Specifically for Seniors, but it's the story of a part o...

It was just a few months ago that Neo-Nazis and white supremacists paraded in front of Disney World in Orlando spreading antisemitic messages, more recently an outbreak of antisemitism on college campuses, war in Israel after a deadly Hamas attack on Jewish settlers and amidst all that Yiddish language is making a comeback due to our guest today on Specifically for Seniors. Avi Hoffman was recentl...

Our guest on specificallyfor Seniors this week, MT Connolly unfortunately had to cancel her podcast at the last minute but MT wIll be on later in the year. MT Connolly is the architect of the federal Elder Justice Act, founder of the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative, a MacArthur “genius” grant awardee, and author of the 2023 book, The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Mo...

One of the most common problems that older adults have is hearing loss and the inability to hear conversations clearly in a group setting especially when there is a lot of background noise even when they are wearing their hearing aids So we asked Brian Taylor, AuD, the senior director of audiology for Signia to come on Specially for Seniors to talk about the problem and the solution. Brian is the...

This podcast is a must listen for both you and your family's well-being. The stories that Diane Dimond tells about senior guardianship can happen to anyone. Journalist Diane Dimond and I discuss the problems that can occur what happens when a system designed to protect goes horribly wrong. Using stories gleaned from years of research, Diane illustrates how unscrupulous guardians can drain reso...

Are you looking for ways to improve your brain health and cognition? Look no further than the latest episode of "Specifically for Seniors" podcast, where Dr. Jennifer Brinckerhoff and Jodi Bornstein discuss the link between quality sleep and brain function. From the importance of deep sleep to tips for improving sleep habits, this episode is a must-listen for anyone looking to boost thei...

Courtney Hogenson, is a Registered Nurse, Advanced Legal Nurse Consultant, Patient Advocate and Life Care Manager with more than ten years of experience in elder care and healthcare worker empowerment. She is also the founder of Call-Light, an innovative healthcare platform that enables patients and nurses to directly negotiate private in-home care engagements anytime, anyplace. In our discussion,...

Priscilla Long is a Seattle based writer of science, poetry, creative non-fiction, fiction and history and a longtime independent teacher of writing. Her awards include a National Magazine Award, ten of her essays have been honored as “notable” in various editions of the Best American Essays. She wrote a science column for The American Scholar online. Priscilla has an MFA from the University of Wa...

Dr. Robert Krim is a leading expert on the factors that have driven and continue to drive Boston (and Massachusetts) to be the most innovative city in the US.. He Co-authored Boston Made: From Revolution to Robotics: Innovations that Changed the World. His revelations about Boston have been made into a permanent exhibit at Boston’s Logan Airport Terminal C - From Massachusetts to the World: Four C...

"Best If Used By" is a new play about aging and ageism inspired by, and performed by, 2 senior-citizen actors beloved on the North Shore. Written by North Shore writer/actor Doug Brendel (DougBrendel.com) the world premier is presented by Firehouse Center for the Arts and Ipswich Art Association with performances October 12-15,2023 at Firehouse, Newburyport. We talked with the author, Do...

This is the fourth episode in Specifically for Seniors podcasts in conjunction with Hebrew Senior Life and Orchard Cove's kseries on cognitive fitness, In the first episode we spoke with Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone on Brain Health and Cognitive Fitness. In the second episode of the series, we reviewed the relationship of physical exercise and brain health, in the third we discussed challenging yo...

Alexander Keyssar is the Matthew W. Stirling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy. An historian by training, he has specialized in the exploration of historical problems that have contemporary policy implications. His book, The Right to Vote: The Contested History of Democracy in the United States (2000), was named the best book in U.S. history by both the American Historical Association and...

Judy Kugel currently is a columnist at The Boston Globe, writing regularly on issues related to aging.  JUDY Retired AS Associate Dean of Students at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She has helped people to make life choices since 1970 when she co-founded the Boston Project for Careers, one of the first organizations to promote job-sharing for professionals. Her personal essays...

Robert Krim, author of Boston Made will be presenting alive discussion at Orchard Cove, a senior living facility in Canton, MA on September 7, 2023. The presentation will be recorded and played as a podcast in early September, 2023. This is a promotional video for that podcast. Video of Bob Krim on Innovation Trail Courtesy of Sam Seidel, Unplanned Podcast

If you are a fan of Netflix's hit show Jewish Matchmaking this episode is one you do not want to miss. We chat with Aleeza Ben Shalom from Israel about becoming a professional matchmaker, the differences in dating in the 50's and 60's and now, the show itself, her computer database, how she met her husband, breaking up with ChatGPT and more. Aleeza is an American-Israeli matchmaker and...

A man, his beanie and Harry Potter glasses, an umbrella and a sign that reads "Free Advice Offered and Accepted". That's George Vaill's story as he sits in Harvard Square offering advice to all who pass. Al Roker and so many Harvard students drop by to chat.

This is the third episode in Specifically for Seniors podcasts in conjunction with Hebrew Senior Life and Orchard Cove's series on cognitive fitness. In the first episode, we spoke with Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone on Brain Health and Cognitive Fitness, in the second episode of the series, we reviewed the relationship of physical exercise and brain health with Tim Parke and Chris Young. In this ep...

Ageism, according to the World Health Organization, refers to how we think, feel and act towards others or ourselves based on age. It affects people of all ages and exists in our institutions, our relationships and ourselves. Many of us have experienced the effects of Ageism when it comes to older adults in the workplace, in hospitals, in public, in nursing homes, and in both the media and the ent...