Caring to cultivate on the long row of life: An eclectic look at gardens, gardening, and the aging process

This is Part I of a three-part series relating to the topic of gardens, gardening, and the aging process. In the spirit of Rogue Scholarship on Aging- this is an open source research paper for your learning and enrichment. You are welcome to cite and integrate into your own learning experience – but in return, all I ask is a reference back to this web site along with title and author (http://uofugeron.wordpress.com) – thanks – Scott D. Wright, Ph.D.

Title: Caring to cultivate on the long row of life: An eclectic look at gardens, gardening, and the aging process
Author: Scott D. Wright, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Director and Associate Professor, Gerontology Interdisciplinary Program, University of Utah, 84112.

UPDATED: March 21, 2009

from NY Times, March 20, 2009 Reporter: Marian Burros

Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House 

    

PART I

The reason one can call a garden a state of the soul is that garden and soul are composed of the same essential ingredients, which splinter into an array of wondrous forms that, however diverse, preserve their kinship with one another. If soul and garden did not share a common substance, how could the latter reanimate the former and fill it with new life? How could it give the back its past as well as its future? 

Robert Pogue Harrison, 2008, Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition, p. 134

Preface

Whether you call them “recession gardens” (similar to the “Victory garden”) (see USA Today story – Feb. 20, 2009) – “Recession grows interest in seeds, vegetable gardening” http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2009-02-19-recession-vegetable-seeds_N.htm , there has been a strong and sustained effort in the last months to have the new President – Barak Obama – consider the possibility of leading the way in transforming the White House lawn into a functional garden space. The web site and organizational movement leading the way is associated with “Eat the View” –

“Eat the View!” is a campaign to urge the Obamas to replant a large organic Victory Garden on the First Lawn with the produce going to the White House kitchen and to local food pantries. ”Eat the View” is coordinated by Kitchen Gardeners International, a Maine-based 501c3 nonprofit network of 10,000 gardeners from 100 countries who are inspiring and teaching more people to grow some of their own food.” http://www.eattheview.org

Other related news stories – A White House Veggie Garden? We Can Only Hope

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/07/AR2009010701082.html

“The home vegetable garden, a thing of much toil and simple pleasure, has taken on enormous political and environmental symbolism. Voices in the local-food movement have formed a chorus urging the Obamas to dig up a good chunk of the South Lawn for a garden to feed the first family and local food banks…If Americans planted wartime victory gardens again, the argument goes, we would reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and unsustainable agricultural practices, feed our families with cheaper, more nutritious food and reduce obesity and disease.”

(see also Wall Street Journal article on related article – http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123214377908391635.html

All this about Gardens? and President Obama ?

Why all the fuss about gardens? Can this actually work and happen? I think so… and in the context of an aging society and the renewal to become savvy about economic strategies to grow your own (healthy) food, it is time to examine the history and the purpose and the aesthetics of gardens, especially as it relates to the aging process.

Introduction

Gardening is one of the most popular home-based leisure activities in the U.S. and represents a significant and salient activity in the lives of older adults (Ashton-Shaeffer & Constant, 2005; Bhatti, 2006).  Francese (2002) noted in his article, with the provocative title of “Horticulture is hot,” that the National Gardening Association claimed that 80% of US households tended to plants, which represented an increase of 65% from the year 1996. Francese (2002) also reported that the 55 to 64 year old age group was the cohort that spent the most on horticultural products and services and that the aging baby-boomers would continue to expand the spending and interest in gardening activities into the near future.

But why? Is there a connection between a greater interest in gardening and along with increasing aging? Is there some sort of human developmental imperative at work here? Or is this a cohort specific phenomenon? Or perhaps the functional allure of gardens and gardening in the later years is the result of multiple factors: historical, aesthetic, generational, psychological, and physiological? It appears that the jury is still out in relation to the scientific answers to these questions. Furthermore, there is little empirical evidence to point to any direct measurable relationship to a natural affinity between aging and gardening as a desired activity and preferred use of time in later life. In addition, we have to acknowledge that a good number of people in our hypertechnical world may find the notion of gardening as antiquated as the telegraph or little more than a self-sufficiency habit held over from the Great Depression era. It may even bring to mind the stereotypic and passive activities of “the golden years” associated with shuffleboard or a slow game of checkers in the city park. Or in other words, about as interesting and engaging a topic on aging as watching paint dry, and certainly not a topic to compete with the latest research on telomere degradation or a policy report centered on the Medicare Advantage Prescription Drug Plan.

And yet, there is much more to the nexus of gardening and aging than what one might assume. In fact, the roots go deep and there are fruitful outcomes upon closer examination of the intersect between the two.

 A brief review of the literature: Reaping what we have sown [a complete reference list will be posted with Part III of this posting]

Gardening as an activity to improve the quality of life for older adults has generated a substantial number of publications that address the role of indoor gardening and horticultural therapy within institutional populations (Brown, Allen, Dwozan, Mercer & Warren, 2004; Collins & O’Callaghan, 2007; Grant & Wineman, 2007; Kreidler, 2002; Reid, 2006; Wells, 1997 ¹) which is also reflected in the paradigmatic shift of “The Eden Alternative” ² in managing long-term care facilities (Thomas & Johansson, 2003; Weinstein, 1998). There are also significant publications on outdoor gardening activities for people who live in geriatric care settings (Ottosson & Grahn, 2005) and specifically for persons with dementia (Rodiek & Schwarz, 2008). We also know that gardening can serve as a “bridge-building” activity for enhancing intergenerational cooperation in community settings (Goff, 2004; McKee, 1995; Larson & Hockenberry, 2006; Predny & Relf, 2004), and that it can represent a form of legacy in older adults (Moller, 2005), and serve as a mechanism to engage in “successful aging” (Oh, 2005).

There are research findings to indicate gardening as an activity to enhance the physical and emotional well-being for older adults who reside in home and community-based dwellings. For example, Infantino (2001) found that the gardening experience had sustained older women in their cognitive and spiritual development. Heliker, Chadwick, and O’Connell (2000) found that horticultural projects (consisting of 12 weeks of interactive gardening classes) were instrumental in increasing a sense of psychological well-being in racial and culturally diverse groups. They also found that gardening helped to instill of deeper sense of legacy and spirituality and a deeper relationship with the earth and nature in the older participants. Similarly, Miiligan, Gatrell, and Bingley (2004) found that older adults benefited from gardening in communal garden allotments as it helped to overcome social isolation and contributed to the development of social networks. Although lawn care has been the most prevalent form of gardening nationwide, this dimension has been going through its own transformation and redefinition as many more people are looking to redefine the “lawn” into a more environmental friendly ³ and regionally appropriate recreational and social site for families, including the expansion of gardens (Grampp, 2008). Brown & Jameton (2000) have indicated that there are numerous benefits for the increase and support of gardening: food security and nutritional health (home grown produce has the potential to offset the cost of purchasing food; positive effects on physical health (as exercise), and overall community improvement (to enhance social capital; it can serve as a community organizing tool to combat poverty and provide a collective response to blighted city neighborhoods) and as a way of raising consciousness about environmental stewardship.

Brown and Jameton (2000) also suggest various community-based policy recommendations to encourage urban garden activities because, “Urban gardening raises our public awareness of the need to safeguard our environment, and especially our urban soils, from future pollution, erosion, and neglect” (p. 33) {see also Guerilla Gardening - http://www.newsociety.com/bookid/3945}

More specifically to older adults, Ashton and Schaeffer (2005) discovered many motivational factors for gardening in their investigation. For example, they found significant differences among older adults by marital status, education and health status in terms of motivational categories. The two most important categories were: physical fitness and creativity.

 

Perhaps it is best to summarize the findings of the importance of gardening in the lives of older adults by highlighting the work of Bhatti (2006) who found that the presence of and the interaction with gardens can have a major significance in the (re)creation of “home” in later life. In addition to the benefits of physical activity, there is the added dimension of what the garden symbolizes psychologically as a meaningful reason for existence, or as one older adult expressed it, “when I’m in the garden I can create my own paradise.” 

Ah yes, paradise. But not quite like the ones we associate with Dante’s work, or mythology, or in the biblical accounts in Genesis. As Harrison astutely points out,

“A garden that comes into being through one’s own labor and tending efforts is very different from the fantastical gardens where things preexist spontaneously, offering themselves gratuitously for enjoyment…For unlike early paradises, human-made gardens that are brought into and maintained in being by cultivation retain a signature of the human agency to which they owe their existence.” (pp. 6-7)

In the remainder of this paper, I will examine two domains of the nexus between gardening and the aging process. One domain will be to discover and highlight the many interesting nodes of intersection among the arts and humanities in relation to the themes of gardens, aging artists, writers and filmmakers. The second domain will address two issues: a) gardening as a mechanism to engage the cultivation of care in the social milieu of the aging individual, and b) as a way to enhance the notion of stewardship in supporting environmental health in the context of home and community based dwellings. But before we examine the interplay of those issues in greater detail, I will briefly review the history and purpose of gardens, and then examine the role of gardening and the aging process by highlighting the cross-fertilization of these issues in the arts and humanities.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Definitions, History, and Purposes

For many people, the word “garden” can evoke varied emotions and leaps of cognitive associations. It can also signify many things that have little to do with cultivating vegetables and flowers. Some may immediately think of an entertainment/ sports venue (e.g., Madison Square Garden); a biblical setting (e.g., The Garden of Eden) or some historical wonder of the world (e.g., The Hanging Gardens of Babylon); or pieces of literature such as The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges or Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt or The Garden of Last Days by Andre Dubus III; or the film The Constant Gardener directed by Fernando Meirelles (based on the novel by John le Carre); or exotic paintings like The Garden of Earthly Delights by Hieronymus Bosch or The Enchanted Garden by J.W. Waterhouse (see Albers, 1991) or exotic settings such as found in Hypnerotomachia Poliphili (Colonna, 1999).

For others, there may be an immediate leap to the Butchart Gardens in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, Canada or the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden or Zen rock garden of the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, Japan (see Harte, 1999). Some may think of the Garden State (New Jersey) or if that is too far north then others may prefer Winter Garden, Florida. In the academic domain, gardens have served as a sociological focal point for assessing collectivist and bureaucratic cultures in conflict in the context of the “urban gardening movement” (Jamison, 1985). In the historical domain, there were the “Victory Gardens” in the 1940’s and with contemporary television, perhaps the PBS series, “The Victory Garden.” But for many people, a garden can simply be a plot of soil as close as your backyard and as modest as raised box with a few marigolds and tomato plants.

As Ross (1998; 1999) has noted, trying to pinpoint an exact definition (in the Wittgensteinian sense) of gardens is daunting,

“Consider a French formal garden, an English landscape garden, an Islamic water garden, a Japanese Zen garden, a backyard vegetable plot, suburban perennial bed. Gardens can be large or small, enclosed or unbounded, natural or geometric, dense or sparse, rolling or flat. They can contain tress and flowers, streams and fountains, mounds and grottoes, walls and ha-has, paths and trenches, temples and follies. Given this range it doesn’t seems promising to define “garden” in terms of content or features.” (p. 5)

Nevertheless, for the purposes of this paper, one can be advanced for conceptual purposes. According to Pizzoni (1999), gardens can be thought of as a place set aside for multiple uses such associated with horticulture and the cultivation of plans for food and medicinal herbs but it can also be seen as an expression of ornamental, religious and even political purposes. Gardens can even be considered an art form and “representative of civilizations and their cultures, and in particular of every age’s experience and depiction of nature” (p. 9). Although Pizzoli (1999) primarily examines gardens in the West from about the fourteenth century to the present day, Turner (2005) has explored the philosophy and design of gardens from 2000 BC to 2000AD and reviewed the uses of gardens in Egyptian, Greek and Roman culture, West Asian and Islamic cultures, through the Medieval and Renaissance periods, Baroque, Neoclassical and Romantic, and into the more modern era of abstract and post-abstract designs (see also Adams, 1991; Comito, 1978).

Conan and Whangheng (2008) have focused their masterpiece book on the role of gardens in city life and have examined the role of gardens in developing social and cultural life and facilitating economic well-being in various cities from an international perspective. In their edited book, several authors have pointed out that gardens have served both for pleasure and politics over the centuries and have served as repositories of cultural memories. One of the more fascinating chapters in the book presented information on the ecological and socioeconomic dimensions of homegardens in Kerala, India. And if the reader wanted to take a visual tour of over 500 gardens across the planet, there is the exquisite publication by Phaidon Press (2000), simply called The Garden Book, which provides a comprehensive and illustrated survey arranged in A-Z order complete with accompanying commentary “to place both garden and maker in their stylistic and historical context” (see also Taylor, 2006).  If one wanted to review the intimate history of the social-psychological and utilitarian transformation of “home grounds” for middle-class families, the publication by Grampp (2008) is indispensable (see also Constantine, 1981).  And finally in another edited book by Punch (1992), there is the presentation of an extensive profile of gardening as it has been involved in the general cultural life of the United States from its very beginnings with the first European settlers in Virginia and Massachusetts (approximately 1584 and onward).

The last chapter by Michael Pollan (1992) (“The Garden’s Prospects in America”) ⁴ is illuminating in its analysis of the development of gardens in America. Pollan (1992) argued that although both the front lawn and the wilderness park are brilliant in their own regard, they actually “represent the antitheses of gardens, and their hold on our imaginations and yards has done much to retard the development of the American garden” (p. 261). In fact, Pollan suggests that our motives for gardens have usually been more utilitarian than aesthetic or sensual, and he provocatively takes on the transcendentalists (as Thoreau struggled with the activity of gardening in relation to the “moral” dilemma of altering the natural landscape) as harboring a negative view of the function of gardens. While Pollan believes that defending wilderness and the right to have a front lawn are essentially a part of our cultural pedigree, he also believes that the America is shifting toward the middle landscape of the garden, which makes both environmental and economic sense. Pollan wrote,

“Gardening tutors us in nature’s ways, fostering an ethic of give and take with respect to the land. Gardens instruct us in the particularities of place. Gardens also teach the necessary if still rather un-American lesson that nature and culture can be compromised, that we might be able to find some middle ground between the wilderness and the lawn…we need the garden – and the garden’s ethic – too much today for it not to flourish.” (p. 265)

Gardens, Aging, and Classical Literature

            The portrayal of gardens as real sanctuary, as metaphor and as imagery to provide exotic backgrounds has been a part of the heritage of literature throughout history (see Miller, 1982). For example, as Shorto (2008) has pointed out in his fascinating book, Descartes’ Bones, there is the “engraved image of a bearded man, dressed in tunic and tights, digging in a garden – the seeker after philosophical truth in the guise of a humble laborer?” (p. 14) on the first edition front cover of Descartes’s (1637) famous treatise, Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting the Reason, and Searching for Truth in the Sciences. Here we have the garden as a metaphor for cultivating the kind of food for that would provide sustenance to in the philosophical domain. However, for the purposes of this article I will present only a few exemplars to highlight the nexus.

In order to set the stage in this section, Marx (1985) has suggested an intriguing proposition that the bucolic setting, the pastoral world, and the role of gardener to be found in classical literature and poetry has been very much highly symbolic and associated with the later stages of life. That is, to garden is typically gerontological because the pastoral world was deemed to be separate from the “life of action” (vita activa) that was associated with young adulthood and middle stages of life which focused on the maintenance of life out in the world.  In contrast, Marx (1985) claims that in old age there is a (necessary) retreat to the pastoral and a resulting renaissance in the mind and body by returning to the “natural world.” What is provocative about Marx’s analysis is how there appears to be the subtle hint of the traditional “disengagement theory” at work here, but what is emphasized more strongly is that the role of the “old shepherd” is to serve as a reservoir of wisdom separate and away from away from the corruptions and tribulations of the court and the city. Marx (2005) believes that the portrayal of old age in the pastoral domain was the needed to balance against the excesses of pleasure and play of “youthful Epicurism” (e.g., folly) so that the sense of responsibility and care was instilled in the chain of generations as a desired virtue in order to deal with the hardships and challenges of life, which inevitably would appear across the life course.

And so, we could perhaps begin with The Metamorphoses of Ovid or Hesiod’s Words and Days or Cicero’s On Old Age (Cato Maior de Senectute) to examine the nexus, but the I will propose that the proper starting point should be with Virgil’s Georgics.

Virgil (70BCE -19 BCE) wrote the poem Georgics (the word Georgics refers to primarily to “farming”) during the 30s BCE and most likely finished it in 29, just as the civil war between Octavian and Antony had finally come to an end. This would put Virgil at just over 40 years of age, and relatively speaking, at the peak of his senior status in the understanding of the life course at that time but perhaps not senectus yet (see Parkin, 2003). From one perspective, Georgics can be thought of as the middle grand publication of Virgil sandwiched in between Bucolics (or Eclogues) and what some consider his magnum opus, the Aeneid.

          

As Lembke (2005) has noted, “The poem {Georgics} is indeed a love song to almost everything that grows or gazes on the land.”  Ferry (2005) proposed that Georgics “is one of the great songs, maybe the greatest we have of human accomplishment in the difficult circumstances of the way things are” (p. xiv). Georgics is Virgil’s call for a return to the land – to begin again – to reconnect to what made, from Virgil’s perspective, the Roman culture steadfast, prosperous, and virtuous. The poem is also didactic and very much a template and design for interacting with the land and being attentive to what Ferry (2005) noted as Virgil’s ability to engage the “ecstatic and tender celebrations of the very life in things,” and more importantly how these “celebrations” interact with human existence (see also Haarhoff, 1958).  In the Georgics, one can appreciate Virgil’s attentiveness to the cycles of seasons, and to the changes in weather, and to the rhythms of the seasons and the cycle of birth and death, and the inevitable unfolding of sickness and aging. But of paramount importance, is that Virgil believes that humans are summoned to labor, and to engage with the land, so that a resulting broader cultural odyssey may flourish based on the core elements of farming. Through care of the land, we begin to care for each other, and from there follow the arts and cultural blossoming and the resulting the harvesting of another kind: poetry, art, music, sculptures, law, and ethics. The care of the land is essential and Lembke (2005) noted,

A message inhabits the instructions: only at our gravest peril do we fail to husband the resources on which out lived depend. That council is as valid for today and tomorrow as it was for long-gone yesterdays (p. xiii).

            Of direct relevance to the theme in this paper, is the sub-story within the fourth Georgic which captures the exquisite writing of Virgil and message of reward that comes from care and cultivation based on an ethic of both labor and love. Here we meet an old man from Corycian who is at work on his small patch of land that was at one time not fertile enough to be plowed by oxen, but with his dedicated attention it has been transformed,

            But this old man
            Carefully planted white lilies, vervain, and poppies,
            And different sorts of vegetables for his table,
            And thus he made for himself a happiness
            That was equal to the happiness of kings,
            And when he came home at night his feast was free. (Ferry, 2005 p.151)

            The lines in this vignette, which appears in the middle of the Georgic primarily profiling beekeeping, is less didactic and more poetic in the sheer strength of the action and sensuality by use of vivid descriptions of the labor that is needed for all the seasons (see de Bruyn, 2004). It is believed that the old man was one of the re-settled pirates who was conquered by Pompey the Great in decades past, and Quint, (2006) has proposed in his review of the new translations of Georgics by Ferry (2005) and Lembke (2005) that,

“…the old gardener thus carries some of the poem’s political hopes as well as its ethical message. From a life of turmoil, he has settled into quiet usefulness and contentment, tamed by work and hardship, and even makes a thing of beauty in his flower garden, an analogue to the poem itself .” (p. 35).

            An overarching theme throughout the Georgics is the didactic lesson of  “as you sow, so shall you reap.” ⁵ It is a very much a parallel to the notion of karmic behavior that understands progress towards happiness and well-being is highly dependent on the service that you have rendered onto the land and to kith and kin, to neighbors and to community. And it all begins in your backyard.  And this will examined in greater detail in the second node of this paper as I review Voltaire’s philosophy via Candide such that with all of the civil wars and political strife that swirled about and over the years, there can be a return to where it all begins: with the soil, the plants, and the animals. This serves as the cornerstone of civilization – that is, to care. To garden is to cultivate is to care and though it takes effort, labor, and sweat – the rewards and dividends are accrued by all. And so gardening is both vita activa and vita contempliva. Work and reflection. To reap and to sow. To attend to and to care – constantly. Harrison (2008) succinctly weaves these themes together,

“A human created garden comes into being in and through time. It is planned by the gardener in advance, then it is seeded or cultivated accordingly, and in due time it yields its fruits or intended gratifications. Meanwhile the gardener is beset by new cares day in and day out. For like a story, a garden has its own developing plot, as it were, whose intrigues keep the caretaker under more or less constant pressure. The true gardener is always ‘the constant gardener’” (p. 7)

Gardens, Aging, and Modern Literature

          The conjunction of gardening and literature is substantial and readers are encouraged to review Marranca’s (2003) anthology and Garmey’s edited book (1999) for an introduction and extensive review in this domain. For a more contemporary non-fiction perspective, Arthur Hellyer’s (1936) Your Garden Week by Week, Jamaica Kincaid’s (1999) My Garden (Book):, Diane Ackerman’s (2001) Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden (2001), Michael Pollan’s (2003) Second Nature: A Gardener’s Education, Barbara Kingsolver’s (2007) Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life and Robert Fenton’s (2002) critical review in the The New York Review of Books are highly recommended. Following the pattern of the classical literature section, I will examine only a few exemplars, specifically as it connects with the aging process.

          Following the theme of a labor of love when it comes to the dedication to gardening, many people will think of one of the best-selling American non-fiction classics which is Walden by Henry David Thoreau.⁶ As a nature writer, he had the uncanny ability to “master the art of descriptive writing” (Harding, 1995) and in one chapter, Thoreau dedicates the writing directly to his bean field,

“I came to love my rows, my beans, though so many more than I wanted. They attached me to the earth, and so I got strength like Antaeus. But should I raise them? Only Haven knows. This was my curious labor all summer – to make this portion of the earth’s surface, which had yielded only cinquefoil, blackberries, johnswort, and the like before, sweet wild fruits and pleasant flowers, produce instead this pulse.”

But while Thoreau had the ability to capture the art and beauty of being connected to the soil, his stay at Walden was relatively short, a two-year experiment into his late twenties, and then he left to pursue other travels. If one wanted to find a more “constant gardener,” across the entire life course and into the retirement years, perhaps we could better start with Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia, Secretary of State in Washington’s cabinet, Vice-president and President of the United States, President of the American Philosophical Society for eighteen years, and founder of the University of Virginia, who was also an avid gardener and we are fortunate to read of his observations and activities in gardening in a publication titled, The Garden Book (Betts, 1944), which he began in 1776 and continued it until the autumn of 1824, two years before his death at the age of 83. The Garden Book is a remarkable account of Jefferson’s meticulous note taking on his botanical interests and indicated a devotion to the “culture of the earth.”

          Here is one account of Jefferson’s vast amount of correspondence, at the age of 68 years old, in a letter to a Charles Willson Peale written in 1811 (from Betts, 1944)

No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden. Such a variety of subjects, some one always comming to perfection, the failure of one thing repaired by the success of another, and instead of one harvest a continued one through the year. Under a total want of demand except for our family table, I am still devoted to the garden. But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.

Although Jefferson completed so much in his life, his return to his beloved land and gardens became his therapeutic activity, whereas for Hans Christian Andersen, the garden became an allegory for his lifework writing folk tales (“fairy tales”) which had more significance with the world of adulthood than for children. The folk tale, “The Gardener and the Gentry” was written toward the end of his career and two years before his death in 1872. Hans Christian Andersen wrote the “The Gardener and the Gentry” as story to covey his frustration at being a lifelong writer and fulfilling the role of the “genuine storyteller as a cultivator of the social good” but having to “suffer the indignities of serving upper-class patrons who did not appreciate his great accomplishments” (Zipes, 2007; p. xxix). In the story, the reader can sense the deliberate parallel between what Andersen believed was dedication to the craft of writing (the artist cultivating the words) that would make up a story and the role of the gardener who would place the same amount of care and attention to the cultivating of plants and vegetables. And yet, in both cases there is the lack of appreciation for what the working class can produce and create that is virtually taken for granted or assumed to be the result of other forces beyond the “commoner” in society.

          The use of gardening as a metaphor and allegory continues in the works of noted writers such as Frances Hodgson Burnett, Charles Baudelaire and T.S. Eliot. The book The Secret Garden (1949) by Burnett, is considered a children’s classic and the garden carries the prospect of renaissance and healing powers, but what is of interest to our theme is the portrayal of the old gardener, Ben Weatherstaff, who also has a stake in the care of the garden as well.  To me, this presents an interesting representation of the generational connection with the healing properties of caring for one another and that the illustration by Nora Unwin between pages 234-235 is quit remarkable with its color print scene of three children walking through a vibrant garden of flowers, trees in bloom, escorted by various wild creatures, all under the protectful watch of the old gardener. But this is one side of the coin with gardens being targeted as a place of magical renewal; there is also the other perspective whereby gardens represent the philosophical confrontation with the cycle of life and death. Although Baudelaire lived a relatively short period of time (46 years), his contributions in poetry, especially associated with Les Fleurs du mal (published in 1857), point to the existential challenges of suffering and death, and he uses gardening imagery in one poem to convey his frustrations and dreams at that point in his life’s journey (Baudelaire, 2006).  There is a cultivation of flowers (of evil) representing moral dilemmas that most must face and endure with the flow of time and inevitable aging.  The poem, L’Ennemi (titled and translated as The Ruined Garden by Robert Lowell; see Mathews & Mathews, 1989) where the organic elements of soil, seeds, rain, and heat add to the unfolding drama of a life at the edge of survival and ultimate destruction (see also Mahood, 2008).

In the case of T.S. Eliot (1991), the imagery of the rose-garden in the Four Quartets carries a multi-layered meaning of spirituality and the loss of Paradise within the cycles of life and death (Wagner, 1954). The Four Quartets were written over a span of several years (1935-1942) and in the last quarter of Eliot’s life. In “Burnt Norton” the rose-garden conveys memories and mythology of time passing with human existence (mere moments) compared to the history of humanity, civilization, and all that has gone before. And in “East Coker” another set of images to convey an Eden-like time and place that knew of the cycles of life and mortality seemingly lost in the turbulent wake of a perpetual-moving modernity. The flow of time and the unfolding of generations and the march of history; and as the centuries press on, we seek to find our place and our mark.

We need sanctuary from the rolling tide of, as Harrison phrased it, “rage, death, and endless suffering.” And we find solace in various beliefs, mythologies, stories, family, and in love. But Harrison notes that we also have the counterweight of our gardens.

“Where history unleashes its destructive and annihilating forces, we must, if we are to preserve our sanity, to say nothing of our humanity, work against these forces and allow them to grow in us. We must seek out healing or redemptive forces and allow them to grow in us. That is what Voltaire means to tend our garden.” (p. x)

I find it correlative that Carl Jung was using a similar theme to address his understanding of his own life in his book Memories, Dreams, Reflections (1989). In 1957, at the age of eighty-one years of age, Jung began to work with Aniela Jaffe to complete this major work before he died in 1961. The enlightening passage is from the prologue and is both vegetative and seminal in its garden metaphor by picturing life individually and collectively as sustaining and regenerative over the ages (see also Sabini, 2002).

“Life has always seemed to me like plant that lives on its rhizome. Its true life is invisible, hidden in the rhizome. The part that appears above ground lasts only a single summer. Then it withers away-an ephemeral apparition. When we think of the unending growth and decay of life and civilizations, we cannot escape the impression of absolute nullity. Yet I have never lost a sense of something that lives and endures underneath the eternal flux. What we see is the blossom, which passes. The rhizome remains.” (p. 4)

End of Part I – Part II will appear in the first week of March 2009.

Thanks, Scott D. Wright, Ph.D.

Being Presidential = Accelerated Aging? Table that motion! Veto that conclusion…

Being Presidential = Accelerated Aging?
Table that motion – it is a premature conclusion in need of a veto

There has been a rush to judgment on creating a causal connection between (a) being a President – which then leads to (b) the acceleration of the aging process.

This headline-grabbing proposition culminated in several news items.

1.  (1/4/09) from the Boston Globe by the reporter Stephen Smith,

“The graying of the presidents – Some researchers believe Oval Office stress accelerates aging process”

and the article elaborates on the work of,

“Dr. Michael Roizen, who has written extensively on aging, said a formula he helped develop suggests that for every year in office, the average president ages two years.”

Readers of this blog can check out the entire article at:

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/2008/articles/2009/01/04/the_graying_of_the_presidents/

2. (1/7/09) from the CNN network with headline,

“Advice to Obama on battling presidential aging”

Readers can check out the entire article here:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/06/presidential.health.aging/index.html

3. From there, that led to another related story,

The Candidates: How will they look in four years? A trip through the Pop Photo Time Machine.

Now, I have to admit the technology (via software tools) to “enhance” or de-enhance” the physical look of Barak Obama, Hillary Clinton, and John McCain was impressive, but then again, I also was smitten by the special effects in the movie “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” were the reverse process took place before “my very eyes.”

Readers can “Mouse-over any of the images to see how the candidates may look in 2012” at:

http://www.popphoto.com/popularphotographyfeatures/5253/the-candidates-how-will-they-look-in-four-years.html/

4. And from there  - the blog machines kicked in with both interesting and beyond “tacky” perspectives on the causal connection.

For example (mild correlation and analysis) -

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/presidents_and_aging/

to tacky -

And this site/example takes the prize for complete jassackery (so bad, it’s not even wrong…It’s dumbass) – I know – I know – I struggled with even giving it a link and thus running the risk of elevating its significance, but in the spirit of internetism – you be the judge; but I find it to be an example of low-wattage and simple-minded “ignert humor.” By focusing on only one layer – it is complete disrespect.

http://bitsandpieces.us/2008/11/11/the-aging-of-presidents/

Ok, I made my stand on it – and what would have made it collectively humorous – is this: on all four examples, you could have portrayed a “younger” Ronald Reagan with an “older Archie Bunker”, a “younger” Bill Clinton with an “older Red Skelton” – and the younger George Bush with an “older Alfred E. Newman” {what, me worry?} – and then I get your point – and then I laugh (somewhat) at your caricatures (look the word up – you’ll need it). But, as it stands with ONLY Obama (and his wife) as the “joke” with the aging process – there is no cerebral hook, no subtle understanding, just 15 seconds of vaporous fame and link lust. Enough attention to that – back to the main point.

Now, back to the hypothesis – and yes – that is all that it is – to present it (the headline) as a conclusive statement is premature and – more importantly – it is specious (apparently correct or true, but actually wrong or false [Latin species outward appearance]). With all due respect to the reporters and their sources – the headlines of president = accelerated aging smacks of a priori reasoning.

(if, then…)

If you are the President of the United States, then you will experience accelerated aging.

The hypothesis simply needs further analysis and a critical examination beyond photo manipulations and chronological age based algorithms. The headlines and the news stories on this topic appear to help recycle the creative myth of Faust who, in search for ultimate knowledge and power, must make a pact with Mephistopheles, and give up something in return. So instead of one’s soul, it appears (according to the headlines and sources thereof) that our (United States) Presidents must sacrifice normal aging, in return for “accelerated aging” in order to lead the country {although many wonder if the soul is taken as a part of the bargain too; let’s hope not}

So, let us table the motion on the floor, let us veto the “conclusion” until we engage in some good ole fashioned empirical science to test the hypothesis.

In the mean time, consider the following issues to explore as we still seek and search for the “answers” to the hypothesis of –

If you are the President of the United States, then you will experience accelerated aging.

(the jury is still out….)

For example, what I find intriguing in all of this speculation is the time frame for candidate Barak Obama (then candidate, but now President) in the two years of running for President. Has anyone analyzed the “before” and “after” photos of that time period? I know being a President is not the same as running for President, but no one can say that running a light-speed, burning the candle-at-both-ends campaign freight train 24/7 hyperdrive lifestyle is not stressful – and would most certainly would have to take its toll – and if you take the premise of Dr. Michael Roizen about stress and accelerated aging – is not the campaign “effect” a part of the process too? Do we see the effects for McCain, Romney, Clinton, and Palin as a part of the process too? What about the staff surrounding the President? Can we examine the process in their lives too? Are they not a part of the same beehive of stress-for-breakfast environment? 

Sure – one can say that the Presidential role is where the “stress” is most acute; that is where is all leads to – to the desk of the President (see H. Truman .. “The buck stops here” – or should it be (?): “The stress piles up here.”

But if  (a) some President(s) make it point to deliberately avoid the “small stuff” and let their staff “run the operations day to day” – it almost makes us wonder if being President (for some) could lead to a “Benjamin Button” effect – where Camp David is where you can escape the daily grind – and rejuvenate – and slow it down – and do all that is necessary to dive into the “fountain of youth.” It also appears that not even owning/having a dog at the White House can serve as an antidote to rapid aging. 

OK – I have a theory. It’s just a theory – ready to be tossed out – just like that.

The “accelerated aging” we think we see and know – is an artifact of many factors – and not just the “job” itself. 

Is it possible that for many men - who take on this role, there is the “before” look of running for office- campaigning for the office – and that the “look” is “Normal” – due to hair dye, make-up (yes, for men), and all that it takes to project vigor and heartiness, but that AFTER the role is acquired, after the job takes over, the President has achieved the greatness, the laurel wreath is in hand, the “look” is no longer necessary?; it is, rather, the wielding of power (see “Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac.” – Henry Kissinger) and the decisions made, and the pinnacle is reached – the look does not matter. In fact, the projection of accelerated aging might even be a testimony to the great “effort” made while on the job. Being Presidential (for men) – might even embrace the Older “wise-sage-he-who-weareth-the-powdered wig, Gandalfesque” look. Am I saying there is “letting go” (some might say “going to seed”) effect while being President?  To some degree: Yes. 

Another point: Do Vice-Presidents suffer the same fate in office (in their office?) If they are witnessing “accelerating aging” as a result of being President – why would they want to then jump into the accelerating aging role ? Cabinet level positions ? same thing? What about leaders in other countries? Or is rapid aging only associated with US ? (pardon the pun). What about the Speaker of the House? What Supreme Court justices? 

And it bears further examination.

I think the before “look” is as manufactured – as the “after” look.

Here is a test. Go to the New York Times Sunday Magazine for Sunday – Jan.18, 2009 – “Obama’s People”

But before you do – grab some post-it like notes or have some paper ready to take the “quiz.” You will be asked to IDENTIFY the age (chronological age) of each person on the team – BEFORE you skip ahead to the “answers” at the end.

http://www.nytimes.com/pages/magazine/ – or if you have the hard copy – that is good too.

Now, flip through or scroll through the photos of Obama’s team (people) on “display” and guess their ages.

How close were you? How many did you get “right”? Any surprises? Was it harder to guess ages for men than for women? Or not?

I would highly recommend this exercise (self-guided test) as a great classroom technique in college classes (in gerontology – and in any classes) as a way of our society/culture gauging the meaning of “AGE”

Is aging (the status of) = physical appearance? Why?

For another example – visit and review this web site: = The Age Project - http://ageproject.specialsnowflake.com/

So how are we defining “aging” ?

And is it possible to “look” old on the outside and be “young” on the “inside”?

Physical appearance versus medical status versus subjective “age” (of felt age).

It is different for men than for women?

Here is work from the Proceedings from the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS) – (about as credible as you can get!)

“Accelerated telomere shortening in response to life stress”

(or in the form of a headline = Study: Stress Ages Women Faster – Stress Can Cause Immune Cells To Wear Out Prematurely)

   1. Elissa S. Epel*,†,

   2. Elizabeth H. Blackburn‡,

   3. Jue Lin‡,

   4. Firdaus S. Dhabhar§,

   5. Nancy E. Adler*,

   6. Jason D. Morrow¶, and

   7. Richard M. Cawthon∥

Abstract

Numerous studies demonstrate links between chronic stress and indices of poor health, including risk factors for cardiovascular disease and poorer immune function. Nevertheless, the exact mechanisms of how stress gets “under the skin” remain elusive. We investigated the hypothesis that stress impacts health by modulating the rate of cellular aging. Here we provide evidence that psychological stress— both perceived stress and chronicity of stress—is significantly associated with higher oxidative stress, lower telomerase activity, and shorter telomere length, which are known determinants of cell senescence and longevity, in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy premenopausal women. Women with the highest levels of perceived stress have telomeres shorter on average by the equivalent of at least one decade of additional aging compared to low stress women. These findings have implications for understanding how, at the cellular level, stress may promote earlier onset of age-related diseases.

—————————————

So, instead of being President = accelerated aging – (A then B),  we may wish to examine the unique and individual role of resilience and how that package of traits and attitudes “can ward off sickness and let us live longer, while those who feel overwhelmed by life may have a shorter one to live”

See video at:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=798710n

And finally, may I highly recommend that you read the -

Position Statement on Human Aging

http://biomed.gerontologyjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/57/8/B292

before we test any theories – or hypotheses – and more importantly before you subscribe to any news story – or the a priori acceptance of someone’s speculation on A then B.

And to take a dose of my own medicine – please read the position statement – and then revisit my postings – my perspectives should be subject to the same scrutiny and critical thinking –

The search for the “truth” is an ongoing journey – especially in aging – beware of statements in the press that create the notion of “instant” causal connections – and that the ship of “facts” has safely reached its destination – and is tucked away in the harbor.

Our assumptions and “Facts” need to be dynamically forced into vigilant investigation –

Test – corroborate – retest -

Begin to understand and appreciate AGING as “The Environment” – and “The Person”  -
Not one – or the other, but both – and some degree of interaction between the two ~

Now that is something worth voting for ! 

thanks – Scott D. Wright

Talking About My Degeneration: a Manifesto to End the Jackassery of Cohortism

Don’t know Jack Shit* about our Generations:
Degenerational Warfare and a Manifesto to End the Jackassery of Cohortism

Jack Shit* From Urban Dictionary (.com) - Nothing, or something equivalent to nothing. Jack shit has the remarkable property that its absence and presence are identical. Typically used with or without a negative to describe a total lack of knowledge, value, or significance. Its use carries a strong negative connotation which can express frustration, disdain, ignorance, or other negative qualities. {see also SFA)

As a general rule, generalisations are stupid. And the most stupid generalisations are those based on race and on religion. But No.3 in the stupidity list is generational generalisations.
(David Dale, The Sydney Morning Herald, reviewing the book by Ryan Heath, Please Just F* Off, It’s Our Turn Now (Pluto Press)).

Cohortism: All can be explained by generational membership; and that the selected few – exemplifies the “group” (fallacy; fail; lazy; and ignorant).

—————————————————————————————————-

I guess I’m going to test the “roguishness” of this blog site by jumping into the hot zone of generational labels and “who is better than the other generation,” and what generation is God’s gift to the cosmos, and which generation supposedly created evil (in all of its manifestations) and what generation did this and did that, what generation is bestest, which generation bought the most shoes and which generation screwed up the election, and which generation can’t find their ass, and which generation invented the internet, and which generation is best known for its hypocrisy.

  

Furthermore, I hope to start some momentum to begin the process of dismantling, destroying, disintegrating and disassociating every label ever created (and cranked out like the old-school machine that produced plastic strips of peel off labels –

  

“Hey kid’s it’s the Acme label maker- just pull the trigger and create your own label!”) for any of the so-called generational groups that have – that do – or purport to soon exist in this country. 

 I have had it with these insipid and mindless labels and the marketing and media hacks that latch on to the labels as though they were the powerful axioms or go on treat generational labels as though they were infallible rules of causation. (e.g, WWII = automatic sainthood; Boomer = sick puppy; Gen X = less than zero; Millennials = indulgent little shits).

Let me just say that these labels are, if anything, examples of weak correlation (at best). Oh, hell…Let me just say it – it’s all a load of crap.

I think that these labels are convenient window-dressing for profiteers, marketing consultants, disgruntled pundits, the captains of enterprise, political wonks, and those reporters who excel in jassackery in order to create glib sound bites passing for “insight” and then they deliberately ramp-up the reckless “blame game” on social ills and cultural deficits on a group of people (take your pick) roughly born around the same time in order to “explain” whatever phenomena the producers of the shows want to “investigate.” 

And because the actual “truth” or the evidence, or the data, or the research findings are either to difficult to collect, to hard to find, or to complicated to interpret, the default is to blame the “generation” (preferably not your own – of course) ahead of you >>>>”me”<<<<< or behind you. The generational labels that drive the dumb-downed newscasts and the sophomoric analyses of patterns, trends, projections, and prognoses are based on as much science as the utterances of the Cumean Sybil breathing the vapors or the prophecy one can get from the Ouija board. In other words, not much.

I know, I know…you like to place your “things” and “stuff” in tidy little Tupperware boxes and place them just so on your shelf –or get your eggs just so in every little pocket - 

  

but that dog won’t hunt with capturing the nuances of the vast and diverse world of individuals born between any given year “x” and year “y”.

So I am saying we can do better than that. So lets review the cranked out labels so far:

Lost Generation, G.I. Generation, Silent generation, boom generation, 13^th generation (see Strauss and Howe, 1997); New Worlders, Hard Timers, Good Warriors, Luck Few, Baby Boomers, Generation X, New Boomers (see Carlson, 2008; Zuehlke, 2008); greatest generation, boomers, millennials, post-boomers, leading-edge boomers, shadow boomers, echo boomers, Millennium Generation, the Net Generation, Generation NeXt, Generation Y2K, the Sunshine Generation, the Bittersweet Generation, the Little Boomers, the Digital Generation, Generation Y, Generation WHY, Generation Now, Generation Jones, Generation Z, Generation C, Facebook Generation, Cuspers, Texting Generation…etc. etc. ad infinitum >>>>>>>>>

Enough! Cease and desist. Put the label maker down slowly…Step back and let me see your hands…

But before we pull the plug on these brainless labels, I have – (and I can’t help myself) – to get the scholarly “wooden stake” out and drive it into the heart of the worst label of all. I mean I need to kill it once and for all – I am loading the chamber with a silver bullet.

Time to pull the trigger on the label “baby boomers” – once and for all – and forever.  I know… it won’t be easy.

The beast is big (48 million – some say 80 million) and it is hard to put down (they just don’t get old and die). For example, DYK:

In 2009, the oldest of the baby boomers, the generation born between 1946 and 1964 (so says the US Census Bureau) will turn 63 years old.
{Will we still love them, when they turn 64?}

78.2 million: Estimated number of baby boomers, as of July 1, 2005.
{see Boomer Death Counter below – for boomer haters, the number can only get lower; for boomers it also means the boom is f-f-fading away (also see below)}

7,918: Number of people turning 60 each day in 2006, according to projections. That amounts to 330 every hour.

50.8%: Percentage of women baby boomers in 2005.

57.8 million: Number of baby boomers living in 2030, according to projections; 54.9 percent would be female. That year, boomers would be between ages 66 and 84.

——————-

Now wonder, many are worried about the future. That’s a lot of older baby boomers milling about – doing what?

Now some have told the “boomers” to “Please Just F* Off, It’s Our Turn Now” (Ryan Heath) which is ironic, given that a “boomer” song, “It’s My Generation” offered a kinder, gentler proclamation (“Why don’t you all f-fade away”) – and some even have a “boomer death watch” underway (“http://www.boomerdeathcounter.com/”). Yes, it’s true – there is a digital ticking away of the seconds to when the last scum-sucking bottom-feeder boomers go extinct. Some idiots have proclaimed that because we will see the helicopter lift off and carry away Bush to wherever and then is replaced by President Obama – the boomers time is over. Right…think again. Look at the Cabinet positions- look at the advisors – the ages – the generations are mixed, diverse, and I predict Obama will transcend the use of generational labels as “excuses” or “causality” and reach out to all – in order to address the challenges ahead.

All of this dancing on the grave of boomers is not only premature; it is a classic example of cohortism (yeah, I know another –ism),
which is just plain dumbass {ignoranus.}

Cohortism is, “any attitude, action, or institutional structure which subordinates a person or group because of their cohort affiliation [or identity} or any assignment of roles in society purely on the basis of cohort membership." 

Now there is a difference between “cohort humor” and “cohortism.”

For example, here is cohort humor (from The Onion):

Long-Awaited Baby Boomer Die-Off To Begin Soon, Experts Say

WASHINGTON, DC - Census Bureau deputy director Arthur Clausewitz said at a press conference, “… the Great Boomer Die-Off should hit full stride in approximately 2015, when the oldest members of the Baby Boom generation—born during the last days of World War II—turn 70.

"Before long, tens of millions of members of this irritating generation will achieve what such Boomer icons as Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, Timothy Leary and John Kennedy already have: death. Before long, we will live in a glorious new world in which no one will ever again have to endure tales of Joan Baez's performance at Woodstock." Despite his enthusiasm, Clausewitz cautioned that the Great Boomer Die-Off will not be without its downside. "Our nation must steel itself for one vast, final orgy of Boomer self-obsession as we are hit with a bewildering onslaught of magazine pictorials, hardcover coffee-table books and multi-part, Motown-soundtracked television specials looking back on the glory days of the 1960s," Clausewitz said. "But once this great, final spasm of nostalgia passes, the ravages of age will take its toll on boomer self-indulgence, and the curtain will at long last fall on what is regarded by many as the most odious generation America has ever produced."

---------------------------

Pretty funny and dripping with sarcasm. Is it the truth? – Nahhhhhhh.

So, if I call you a “greedy geezer”, “yuppie”, “slacker”, “overachieving brown-noser product of helicopter parents”, “a premature textualator” – I believe that would be an indicator of prejudice/ bias against someone for thinking that the ONE INDIVIDUAL is representation of the whole, which as we all know - “you know how ‘they’ can be.’ It’s when inductive reasoning forgets the reason-ing.

And while it is evidence-based that some “boomers” are complete selfish hypocritical materialistic assholes…guess what? There are some of those in almost every group you can think of. So we need to do this>>>> We need to dismantle and de-construct the labels and we start the process with the oxymoronic label “baby-boomers.” First of all, they are not babies (anymore) and there sure as hell ain’t no “boom" either.

The “babies” are old enough to get ready to collect big-time from the various entitlement programs (Social Security) from (ironically) another set of “babies” (see other cohorts – aka "young’uns"). And the “boom” that was associated with high fertility rates – well that was the parents (the "square" generation) that did the “booming” – and now the “boomers” are - to a lot of cynics and generational war-mongers - “the bummers.” The bloom is off the boom. And perhaps the bummers, oops, I mean, boomers deserve the critique. But again the cohort is simply too massive, too diverse, and too un-lable-ready to box them all up- and send it Fed-Ex to hell.

So - No baby – no boom – no luck – no way – no how – no deal – no-thing.

Then what? If they ain’t boomers, then what do we call them?

Ahhh, Time for a cool change. Let’s call them ….Americans.

Yep, that’s right.

I am calling you out. This group, this cohort, this “generation.” No more aging hipsters, mo more “zoomers”, no more of the hypocrisy, you are not the greatest, the greater, or even “above average.” You don’t vote a certain way, you don’t dress a certain way, and even “your” music is the result of hybrid historical influences. I propose that we (the so-called boomers) have not done a damn thing yet.

And therein lies the promise to finally make amends. This country deserves much more from aging Americans. 

            Time to grow up – and give back.

We are here – and now – for something bigger and better than “us.”

Every younger citizen is watching – and learning. I hereby declare that all baby boomers have shed their skin.
All boomers have had the epiphany – “Holy shit…It’s not about me…it’s about all of us.” {the rest of you say - "It's about time!} 

All boomers will not use the label “boomers” or use any other low-wattage labels for generations [starting…………….. NOW !]

I promise you it will be painless, you won’t feel at thing – except for - good.

Okay, here we go….E pluribus unum – out of many, one.

Out of all ages – together.

Ask not what all the other generations can do for you — ask what you can do for all the generations.
No- I am not getting out of the way. I ain’t fading and I sure as hell am not going to F*ck Off. 

Billy Joel had a song – a sort of ****** anthem,  “We Didn’t Start the Fire” – Well, we need to start one now. Forget retirement. Time to re-create and reinvent. Since we do not know Jack Shit – why don’t we stir some up? Turn that shit up – Make this a better place – not because YOU are going to live longer, rather because you want them – all of them – to live better. You think this is bull ? You want a concrete example ? 
go to: Hands On – Greater Portland, OR : http://www.handsonportland.org/HomePage/index.php/home.html

Step up. Create a legacy for the future – not yours – but for them. If not, the only song we will hear, will be: “Talking about my degeneration.”

Thanks,

Scott D. Wright (born in 1955 – only a hundred years later after the publication of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass – how is that for feeling old?)