Gray Panthers: {r}age against the machine

Gray Panthers: {r}age against the machine

      

            In his monumental book, (1997 – Canto Edition) The Journey of Life: A Cultural History of Aging in America, Thomas R. Cole, after presenting an extensive cultural history of how our society emerged into our present conditions, he then offered his reflections on aging in “postmodern culture” and he stated that, “It remains to be seen whether we can build postmodern courses of life that are both socially just and fulfill our needs for love and meaning” (p. 251).

            This statement (which carries both hope and skepticism) brings to the forefront the crux and hub of the entire aging experience for the critical mass of an cohort (the boomers) emerging into “IT” – that is, the bona fide and the exactitude (no more bullshit – it’s gonna happen; hell, it’s already here) of AGING.

              But Cole (1997) did not leave it all open-ended and foggy in the prognosis:

“The modern scientific culture of aging resembles Oedipus as a younger hero, the brilliant problem solver who neglected the existential ground of his greatness. Like the young Oedipus, we have suppressed the mystery and fatedness of the course of life by construing it as a technical problem. As a result, old age in our culture too often appears life a season without purpose; old people too often appear as strangers, not also as pilgrims. Like the aging Oedipus, however, a growing element in our contemporary culture seeks not to avoid but to transform its fate into a journey to self-knowledge and reconciliation with finitude” (p. 244).

Cole (1997) acknowledges that “a growing element” has worked to bring about transformative change for the aging experience that would counter both the ennui of “complete” disengagement from society and the hyper-reductionistic approach that equates aging as only a senescent operation at the molecular level. That growing element was – and still is – represented by a mosaic of those in academics, public policy and advocacy groups, grass-roots collectives, and dedicated individuals (many unheralded and unseen) that work to provide balance and dignity to the aging experience. For example, W. Andrew Achenbaum (1986) articulated the goal and the ideal for America as the dust settled after the political turbulence of the 60’s and 70’s,

“A new myth of America as an aging society is no less self-interested that ones it replaces. Yet it invokes a fresh sense of interdependence across geopolitical boundaries that transcends parochial concerns. It builds on a sense of community that fulfills the needs and inspires the noblest of a brave new age.” (Daedalus, Winter, 1986; p. 28

 But there is the need for sustained vigilance and critical thinking in order to realize that perspective and approach because the “experience” of aging can be co-opted and easily diluted into meaningless profiteering, or morphed into a an “enterprise” or become the monopoly of university think-tanks – where the commodification of aging may perhaps trump the phenomenology of aging.

And while it is true that “we” (who be we – exactly?) may point to organizations such as the behemoth that is AARP – as the “voice” or watchdog for issues on aging (and more), I find it comforting and then just down right ROGUISH that we have additional – or better yet – other KINDs of monitoring and advocacy groups to examine the “aging experience” from alternative modes of thinking and ACTION.  One author that comes to mind is Theodore Roszak with his publications, “America The Wise” (1998) and then republished later (2001) as “Longevity Revolution: As Boomers Become Elders” and the more recently with “The Making of an Elder Culture” (see http://www.secondjourney.org/Roszak.htm), but if you are looking for something even more action-oriented in terms of representing both “in the trenches” and having a significant track record (a legacy!) – well then that would be the:

Gray Panthers   - http://www.graypanthers.org/ – Still kicking-ass and taking names.

I would like to end this posting with a brief overview of a new book, Gray Panthers (2009) published by Roger Sanjek who is Professor of Anthropology at Queens College, City University of New York. But first a little context and humor:

I saw this LOL headline in the Stanford Flipside: Political Apathy Club Falls Through (http://stanford.edu/group/stanfordflipside/cgi-bin/) along with this photo:

   run out ink with the “y” or just didn’t care ?

but then after getting a good dose of satire and humor – and then I wondered if – a big IF here – if maybe, just maybe – even in the afterglow of Obamamania  - there is still the undercurrent and persistent low-grade fever of apathy and denial still infecting the citizens of this country about social justice and political involvement, but if that is the case, OR if you are still fired up with wanting changes to occur and wanting to make a difference, but NOT sure how or why or where to focus your energies –

then please read this – Gray Panthers – a book to get your batteries charged or your soul refreshed with renewed vigor and enthusiasm to become an active citizen in this democracy – OF AND FOR ALL AGES – that we call the United States. Be prepared to get your nose out of joint and your brain appropriately adjusted with some good old facts about the Gray Panthers and their accomplishments. Now, the biggest question of all is this: Will the Gray Panthers flourish into the next several decades as the boomers journey into the upper age brackets? Or will activism and focused protest simply fade and fall apart like some worn-out jeans and sandals?

            Sanjek ends his book by saying that, “Whether or not the Gray Panthers survive or flourish, the world of the twenty-first century will require something like them.” (p. 252).

         If the cause and principles are worth something – to ALL of us – young and old then I would expect to see a flourishing. Maybe I am “old-fashioned” (wow, thought I would never say that), but if there is ever a group that has a second chance to generate a legacy beyond its fertility spike (1950’s), then cramming the grade schools, and flooding the campuses with an expansion of heterogeneity on all fronts – it could have been the boomers – but then…something happened (or didn’t)

What? Is the legacy thing over and done with? Rock and roll? Vietnam? Mid-life crises? And now what? Wait for the magic bullet to cure aging and then live out the remainder in a purple haze (although the book by Tim Sandlin writing about Guy Fontaine as an unwilling new resident at Mission Pescadero, an assisted-living facility outside San Francisco and having déjà vu all over again – sort of – is really funny).

In 1967 – one could sing, “This is the dawning of the age of Aquarius”, and that was nice, but Aquarius is for the Antiquarians, perhaps even We Didn’t Start the Fire – but now it seems we couldn’t boil water;  It’s the end of the world as we know it and I don’t feel fine – so I suggest a new song (after 40 years +) {No, it won’t be Dazed and Confused II} – a new anthem to help us get off our ass and out of the new Lexus and away from the 75 inch Plasma screen and into the lives of people who could use our talents and our energies and our spirit of wanting to do the right thing –

I am not saying that the anthem should be like something from Rage Against the Machine – Guerilla Radio {but you gotta love the inspiration – It has to start somewhere…It has to start sometime} – I was thinking more like music from THE WHO – like Won’t Get Fooled Again (The Who) but in the spirit of the Gray Panthers – maybe more like ~ “Join Together” – even though it’s my (and yours) generation, we are way overdue on a deep-caring about all the other ones that follow.

We shall see… thanks, Scott D. Wright

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Gray Panthers

Roger Sanjek – 328 pages | 6 x 9 | 22 illus. Cloth Feb 2009 | ISBN 978-0-8122-4137-2, University of Pennsylvania Press

Overview of book:

            In 1970, a sixty-five-year-old Philadelphian named Maggie Kuhn began vocally opposing the notion of mandatory retirement. Taking inspiration from the civil rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, Kuhn and her cohorts created an activist organization that quickly gained momentum as the Gray Panthers. After receiving national publicity for her efforts—she even appeared on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson—she gained thousands of supporters, young and old. Their cause expanded to include universal health care, nursing home reform, affordable and accessible housing, defense of Social Security, and elimination of nuclear weapons.

Gray Panthers traces the roots of Maggie Kuhn’s social justice agenda to her years as a YWCA and Presbyterian Church staff member. It tells the nearly forty-year story of the intergenerational grassroots movement that Kuhn founded and its scores of local groups. During the 1980s, more than one hundred chapters were tackling local and national issues. By the 1990s the ranks of older members were thinning and most young members had departed, many to pursue careers in public service. But despite its challenges, including Kuhn’s death in 1995, the movement continues today.

Gray Panthers   - http://www.graypanthers.org/