Life in the Later Lane
Free speech and anti-war activist Sue Trupin found her niche caring for AIDS patients and supporting black grandmothers
Sue Trupin spent more than a decade living in a countercultural enclave in Canyon, a community in...
She’s a photographer and a flamenco dancer who fights to reduce maternal deaths in poor countries around the world
The difficulties that pregnant women face in impoverished parts of the world can seem overwhelming. But Stacey...
Cathedral Hill doctor became a leader in the treatment and prevention of AIDS.
As a boy, James Campbell spent after-school hours in his mother’s lab. Ruth Campbell was a doctor,...
Through one-man performances, son of Holocaust survivor shares history with high school students
It’s a shocking and head-spinning image: A Jew in a German officer’s uniform is being ministered to...
Being an ‘old soul’ isn’t just about age but an attitude – best nurtured by intergenerational contact
SF SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – There’s a corner of Gen Z internet culture that has popularized the...
How a dedicated teacher of young children became a dedicated civic volunteer.
Sharon Yow’s father drove a truck and tried his hand at farming. Her mother worked a switchboard...
Famed boogie-woogie pianist embroiders her performances with her own hand-crafted art
Caroline Dahl has never forgotten the glamorous, red-haired woman in a sequined dress she saw at a...
The biggest, best walk – and bath of a lifetime.
Tina Martin SENIORBEAT GUEST COLUMN – I love San Francisco, and I love to walk. So when...
‘So hard, all the losses and pain:’ Personal and world tragedies led daughter of Holocaust survivors to life of helping others help others
Juliet Rothman was living in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1992 when her 21-year-old son Daniel attempted a double...
Rock ‘n’ roll and diamonds shaped the life of Arthur Indenbaum
WRITER'S NOTE: Arthur Indenbaum died on November 28, 2025, with his wife and daughter by his side....
A lucky phone call steered him into a 54-year career as a shipping executive.
Tony Hanley felt stuck. He’d flunked out of San Francisco City College and was working at an...
He rode the rails, he slept on the streets, Kevin Fagan spent decades reporting on the homeless for the San Francisco Chronicle
It's a Friday night at Chief Sullivan’s, an Irish-themed bar in North Beach, and The Irish Newsboys...
All Posts
What’s your attitude toward getting older? Do you, like Johnny Mercer, ‘Accentuate the Positive?’
Next year I’m turning 80. When I thought about the chronological number, I felt scared because that sounded really old. I feel better when I come across reports of 80+ people doing things that seem amazing. There’s the “Nimbleweed Nomad,” otherwise known as M.J. “Sunny” Eberhard, 83, who started walking when he retired 25 years ...
A history of struggles and challenges, but El Tecolote, its founder and City College journalism chair persisted
Juan Gonzales doesn’t discourage easily. His high school guidance counselor didn’t think he was a candidate for college. The faculty at San Francisco State University didn’t think he had what it takes to teach journalism. And the Spanish language press in San Francisco’s Mission District didn’t think publishing a bilingual newspaper would be a success. ...
Engineer helped make big strides in tech, but also in volleyball, photography, Hawaiian music revival – and neighborhood connectedness
When any one of us does an online or in-person banking transaction, do we wonder about the “what ifs?” What if our funds could not be retrieved? For the most part, we don’t wonder. That’s because engineers like Steve Hayashi and his team at Tandem Computers were among the first to build a fault-tolerant computer ...
Leader of avant-garde, female theater troupe Les Nickelettes back to performing, with Cosmic Elders
If you told 12-year-old Denise Larson that she was going to be the Mama of Les Nickelettes, a feminist experimental theater group with an anything-goes, throw-out-the-rules attitude, she would have stared at you like you had two heads. “I knew I wanted to be a stage actress at 12, but I was painfully shy with ...
Fighting for social justice never gets old: Longtime Greenpeace campaigner & Agape leader opens new door to activism
Despite a lifelong fear of heights, Karen Topakian at the age of 63 climbed up on a gigantic metal crane behind the White House five days after Donald Trump took office. She and six other Greenpeace activists unfurled a huge banner that said, “RESIST.” To prepare for the action and overcome her fear, she practiced ...
Are you in a RUT? Trying a new soup recipe sparked my anxiety
One day a couple of months ago, I realized I was in a food rut. I enjoyed what I was eating, but I also craved something new. Ruts are vastly different. There are serious ones like a job or relationship that isn’t working, where outside help is vital. Then there are perplexing ones like Donna ...
