Life in the Later Lane
Playwright Lynne Kaufman, the author of two dozen plays and five novels, is still going strong, despite some hiccups
The day after Lynne Kaufman retired in 2005, she woke up in tears. “What had I done?”...
A win for people power: Supervisors and mayor restore millions of dollars in cut to services for city’s most vulnerable
A months-long campaign by advocates for seniors, the disabled and other vulnerable populations has convinced San Francisco's...
Following in the footsteps of heroes: My visit to the cradles of Civil Rights
SF SENIORBEAT COLUMN – March 17, 1886. A date you probably never considered. Carroll County, Mississippi. A...
Couple’s script for their own movie? Shared creative passions and a bent for banter
“I'm Chiquita Banana, and I'm here to say, bananas have to ripen in a certain way,” Margot...
Social justice lawyer and activist infusing others with her love of SF’s Great Blue Herons and dedication to conservation
One day in 1993, on her daily walk from her Richmond District home to Golden Gate Park’s...
Nonprofit director is happy to bug you, whether you’re 2 or 92, about saving the wild
If you grow up in Los Angeles, where do you find the wild? Norm Gershenz is not...
Bass playing lawyer takes on the landlords when seniors call for help
During the day, you’ll find Thomas Drohan in court or at his law office on Mission Street....
Former SFSU teacher shifts to helping union workers build leadership abilities
Like some people need coffee, Joan Wong needs to walk – and talk. Mornings, she puts in...
Joe Edley, a three-time national champion, has been racking up great Scrabble scores for decades
Joe Edley tucks his co-authored book, “Everything Scrabble,” under his arm and surveys the room. Around him,...
Robert Wachter, the doctor who is pioneering the use of artificial intelligence to treat patients
Robert Wachter is the doctor who oversees all the other doctors at the University of California, San...
Couple beat ‘fast furniture,’ pandemic and other challenges to keep upholstery shop going for nearly 50 years
J & G Upholstery stretches back farther than it looks from the sidewalk on Balboa Street. Stacks...
As the city’s older population swells, seniors who can no longer live at home face high costs, limited choices
EDITOR'S NOTE: See full profiles of the seniors interviewed by clicking links within the story. A panoply...
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‘Mostly’ retired photographer shoots for meaning after hurly-burly of Grateful Dead concerts
One of the best things about his work as a cameraman and sound engineer was that it enabled him to “meet people and go places other people don’t,” said Dennis Minnick. A self-acclaimed “Deadhead,” Minnick was on the crew filming those New Year’s Eve concerts with the Grateful Dead, and at the 1982 show, Vietnam ...
Unable to get a real job, a young Marty Nemko set about to reinvent himself; now the career advisor is famous
Marty Nemko was on a fast track to become a professor. He earned a doctorate in educational psychology from the University of California-Berkeley, was nominated for the school’s “Dissertation of the Year” and was looking forward to a long and storied career. But after sending out over 100 resumes, he only got offers for temporary, ...
Searching for ways to cope, twice laid-off worker envisions role for community libraries
Mimi Tong, 67, didn’t plan to stop working when she was laid off from her job as an administrative assistant at the University of California San Francisco, but after three years in the job market, she became what economists call an involuntary retiree, a pushout. With the job search behind her, Tong started building ...
Kaiser manager took early retirement to lock in changing benefits and look for new job
John Edmiston knows what it’s like to look for work and be rejected. At 66, he’s savvy enough to know that seeking “someone with less experience” was a way of saying he was too old. But that experience has proven valuable in the job he eventually found. He’s now a job placement specialist for SF ...
Seniors Say … senior? elder? old person? What’s in a name?
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this series, we get the thoughts and reactions of people 50 and older to a variety of everyday issues. If you or anyone you know would be willing to field some questions, email maryhunt@sfseniorbeat.com or rebeccalum@sfseniorbeat.com. Story and photographs by Mary Hunt and Rebecca Rosen Lum Question: You’re over 55 – old ...
Employment lawyer fighting to ‘balance the scale between the powerful and powerless’
Roderick P. Bushnell never faced age discrimination himself. But he has dedicated the latter part of his legal career to defending people who have. Still, he has experienced what it does to older workers when they lose their job. He was a teenager when his father was fired at the age of 50. “My father ...
