Special Project: City Budget Cuts
Seniors and people with disabilities fight down to the wire to save programs that serve them
As Yogi Berra once said, "it ain't over till it's over." The baseball legend was referring to sports, of course, but the adage...
Life in the Later Lane
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...
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...
Stephanie Ernst-Scott runs the last tackle shop in San Francisco. It’s been in her family for 60 years.
Walk through the doors of Gus’ Discount Fishing Tackle, and you’ll likely be greeted before you even...
All Posts
Reframing Aging – Sharing joy never gets old: Bayview woman brings steel drumming and other ‘feel good’ activities to community’s seniors
Is 73 too old to feel beautiful, travel the world, learn a musical instrument or lead an exercise class? Ask any of those questions to 73-year-old Susie Tyner and you’re likely to get a rather astonished look and a firm “No way.” Tyner, who is one of five older adults featured in the city’s recently ...
Reframing Aging – Courage never gets old: A journey from drugs and destitution to role in Apple commercial
On a fine spring afternoon earlier this year, Chet Peeples found himself on Apple’s futuristic Cupertino campus. He wasn’t there as a tourist or a job-hunting techie. Peeples, a 64-year-old recovering addict, was there to appear in a promotional film as a stand-in for Apple CEO Tim Cook. Standing beside Tim Cook seemed utterly unexpected ...
Habit started from thrift leads Chinese singer to vintage dress, fabrics career and reunification with her culture
She’s walking down the street in a stunning vintage Chinese outfit and you think she’s off to model in a fashion show. But that’s typical of Terri Wong. She owns no jeans or sweats. “Since 2013, I have dressed daily in either Chinese or western fashion, or my own knitwear, always with a hat.” She ...
Filmmaker mines lessons for aging well in documentary on the lives of older lesbians in a NorCal health study
Deborah Craig has a certain empathy for older lesbians: She watched her mother come out at age 50. Vulnerabilities felt in aging can be magnified with worries of being accepted, she learned. That was in some part the impetus for Craig’s most recent film, “A Great Ride,” which explores the lives of lesbians aged 69 ...
Meals on Wheels CEO favors low-key style – but with occasional outbursts of ‘unique statement’ pieces
Ashley McCumber, the CEO of Meals on Wheels San Francisco, sported one of his “fun” jackets at the 2019 Norma Satten Community Service Innovation Award. He describes himself as a casual dresser who likes a periodic injection of unique statement pieces. “I’m a gray, blue and brown person with colors like pink and purple thrown in for ...
Colored paper and fabric swatches help women consider new style choices for a new stage of life
They sat at tables topped with fabric swatches, pieces of paper in a variety of colors, scissors, glue and colored pens. But it was a group of older women not kiddies getting set to dig in. The women mixed and matched colors and fabrics, gluing their choices on heavy paper. “This is just like kindergarten, ...
