Life in the Later Lane
Former art galley president helps people craft their deepest feelings in ‘lasting letters’ to loved ones
Looking out at Monterey Bay from Santa Cruz early one morning last year, a pair of silhouetted...
September 1, 2026
S.F. protest’s Tin Man has a history of making good trouble on behalf of empathy and kindness
Arthur Persyko loves to make trouble. The good kind, that is. As a young man, he protested...
August 24, 2026
Born to dance: Tammy Thornton struts her stuff with the Warriors’ senior dance team
It’s game night at San Francisco’s Chase Center and the Golden State Warriors are not the only...
August 10, 2026
Childhood bond with an older neighbor steered law officer’s choice of career and community work
A tarnished silver coin from 1964, likely worth only $10 to any dealer, reminds Richard Lyons Corriea...
August 2, 2026
As a teacher, playwright & screenwriter, Cary Pepper has lots of inside Hollywood info to share
You probably stream most of your movies. But if you happen to rent a film on old-style...
July 15, 2026
All-women punk band still on stage thanks to leader’s career, which started in a mortuary
Invite Klara Lux somewhere, and she’ll always show up early – except on the rare occasion when...
July 6, 2026
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?”...
June 29, 2026
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...
June 4, 2026
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...
May 28, 2026
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...
April 14, 2026
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...
All Posts
Former cruise ship performer offers fashion fun and neighborly guidance to her consignment shop customers
Jane Willson once sang and danced on cruise ships, dressing in glamorous outfits, including ones once worn by “Dynasty” star Joan Collins. She had a ball, she said. Since 2001, she has also had a ball helping others experience the fun and joy of style and fashion. Her Clement Street shop, JANE Consignment, is more ...
City workshops aim to arm every resident with a plan for a personal medical crisis
Tomi Cunningham didn’t want her daughter to have to go through what she experienced last fall. She had to step as medical surrogate during a health crisis that that put her mother in the hospital, unable to make decisions. “It worked out well; she made good choices, but she had to guess what I wanted,” ...
Matchy matchy is not this styler’s first consideration
SENIOR FASHIONISTA – When shopping for clothes, Kathleen Massoni’s mantra is “fun.” “I buy fun pieces because I like them, not to match. I make everything my own.” SENIOR FASHIONISTA – The 76-year-old Pacific Heights resident says she shops mostly in second-shops. Her favorites are Goodbyes, Jane’s Consignment, Crossroads, Goodwill, the Symphony Store and Seconds ...
Poet’s interest in herbs and healing leads to growth of Kitchen Herbalism workshops
When Marina Lazzara was 13, she held a tea party for friends with herbs she picked from her backyard in Easton, Pa. The problem was the plant she had so carefully prepared was not peppermint, as she thought, but poison ivy. One of her guests got a rash, and Lazzara’s eyes swelled up, but her ...
It’s a honey of a job, but the payoff is in saving the creatures who foster our food
When she was 15, on a beautiful sunny day in Toronto, Canada, Terry Oxford was enjoying an outdoor jazz concert when the sky went dark. Everyone looked up as a gigantic swarm of migrating monarch butterflies made their way across the sky. Even the band stopped playing. People were so awed they applauded when the ...
Emergency alert devices go modern, but old TV ad catchphrase won’t fade away
SENIOR TECH – Almost everyone remembers the 1980s commercial in which an elderly woman lies on the floor next to her toppled walker crying “Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up.” Sitcoms from the Golden Girls to Fresh Prince of Belair used it as a reliable laugh line into the ‘90s. It was also ...
