My Better Half: Recent Episodes
Vanessa Finney
With career changes and second or even third acts becoming more common, My Better Half shines a light on midlife or late-life reinventions and how people are thriving in the second half of their lives. Listen to explore the creative potential of our later years.
"Morning Edition", hosts Steve Inskeep and Renee Montagne. (Stephen Voss/Stephen Voss)Renee Montagne began freelancing for NPR in the 1980s, eventually co-hosting All Things Considered and Morning Edition. During her 44 years at the network, her storytelling style won listeners' hearts and major journalism awards - many of them during her second half of life.
At 59, Julie Anderson Bailey has survived midlife's tough transitions: divorce, the death of a partner and parents, and an empty nest. Art has been there through it all.
Learn More: SOPBS The Work of Art Profile / Julie Anderson Bailey
My Better Half host Vanessa Finney explores the intricacies of relationships among the population of seasoned citizens with Francine Russo, author of Love After 50: How to find it, enjoy it, keep it.
(Simon and Schuster, Active Aging with Oseterics / Simon and Schuster, Active Aging with Oseterics)Russo offers a comprehensive and intimate guide to finding, keeping, and enjoying love after fifty ... the best kind of love there is.
Studies show that love after fifty is more satisfying than at any other stage in life, and it makes sense: at this stage, you are more emotionally stable and more focused on the present; you know what you absolutely have to have, but also what you can live without; partnering is no longer about building family and fortune—it’s about sharing intimacy as grounded individuals.
In Love After 50, journalist Francine Russo interviewed experts in the field and dozens of couples to help show the way.
ABOUT
Francine Russo is the author of They’re Your Parents, Too! How Siblings Can Survive Their Parents’ Aging Without Driving Each Other Crazy. A widely recognized journalist, she covered the Boomer beat for Time for over a decade. She has also written for Scientific American, The Atlantic, and other major publications. Russo has two grown children, three adult stepchildren, and eight amazing grandkids. She has experienced first-hand the tremendous potential we all have to grow and transform ourselves with the people we love. A PhD in English literature, she lives in New York with her partner.
Diana Coogle takes a hike(Diana Coogle / Diana Coogle)Longtime listeners of Jefferson Public Radio might be familiar with the voice of Diana Coogle. Starting in the 1980s, she aired commentaries about life living off the grid in the Siskiyou Mountains, raising a son in a home she built herself.
The 21st century has been fruitful for her, too. In her 60s, she earned her PhD at the University of Oregon. And when she turned 79, she decided to walk 800 miles in the year leading up to her 80th birthday.
Roy Sutton and fellow medalist at the 2023 National Senior GamesAshland sprinter Roy Sutton has placed well in his age group at the two main annual masters sports events in Oregon: the Hayward Classic in Eugene and the Oregon Senior Games in Corvallis.
He's promoting the idea of a 150+ club, where people wear gear with that logo and recognize fitness values in each other around town. (Based on the guideline of 150 minutes of exercise per week. The 93-year-old heads back to the biennial Oregon Senior Games in Corvallis in August, and registration is open for anyone interested.
Roy attributes his high level of health to his staying physically active throughout his life, and he wants to spread the word. He says research finds that longevity and health are only about 30% attributable to good genes, the rest is lifestyle, which is his big push for people.
He's been nudging local papers to establish a regular advice column on senior fitness, or to at least cover these games like they cover high school and college sports.
He joins host Vanessa Finney in this episode of My Better Half.
Dr. Peter Adesman was well along in his medical career when he decided to do something else. Not instead of doctoring, but in addition to it. So he planted grapevines on his property, and thus was born Peter William Vineyard.
The operation produces several different kinds of wine, all the while Adesman and his wife, Dr. Robin Miller, continue their medical careers. Vanessa Finney talks to Adesman about making the late-in-life dedication to an avocation, in a new edition of My Better Half.
Cathleen Calkins was always fairly athletic, but she was well along in life before she got into competitive weightlifting. She liked it, and did it well, eventually working her way up to a state record in her age class (she's 58).
We hear her story of learning a new sport in a new edition of My Better Half, with host Vanessa Finney.
Cathleen Calkins gives details of what she's done in powerlifting, and what it's done for her.
Cathleen Calkins was always fairly athletic, but she was well along in life before she got into competitive weightlifting. She liked it, and did it well, eventually working her way up to a state record in her age class (she's 58).
We hear her story of learning a new sport in a new edition of My Better Half, with host Vanessa Finney.
Cathleen Calkins gives details of what she's done in powerlifting, and what it's done for her.
Cathleen Calkins was always fairly athletic, but she was well along in life before she got into competitive weightlifting. She liked it, and did it well, eventually working her way up to a state record in her age class (she's 58).
We hear her story of learning a new sport in a new edition of My Better Half, with host Vanessa Finney.
Cathleen Calkins gives details of what she's done in powerlifting, and what it's done for her.
For decades, Humboldt County humanitarian Betty Kwan Chinn has helped community members suffering from homelessness, and mental health and substance abuse issues. She's the founder and director of The Betty Kwan Chinn Homeless Foundation, which feeds hundreds of homeless Californians a day, helps them secure jobs, and trains them to help others. She's also the subject of the biography, The Gray Bird Sings: The Extraordinary Life of Betty Kwan Chinn, by author Karen Price. Chinnjoins My Better Half with host Vanessa Finney to discuss her work, her journey from homeless youth in China to a life dedicated to philanthropy, and the cycle of kindness that transforms people's lives.
She wasn't a model, but she looked like one. Ten years ago, Lyn Slater was mistaken for a famous model. She was already into fashion, and the incident led to a persona as The Accidental Icon, Lyn's blog and Instagram presence, and now to a book,How to Be Old: Lessons in Living Boldly from the Accidental Icon.
That's a lot of activity for the latter half of life, and Lyn Slater is Vanessa Finney's guest in a new edition of My Better Half. Oh, and Lyn DID become a model, but has since traded high fashion for overalls. In this interview, we get further details of Lyn's senior adventures and her favorite hashtag, #AgeIsNotAVariable.
If you don't like artificial ingredients in your food, why would your pet? That's the basic thinking behind Wellness Pet Supplies in Ashland, which goes well beyond food, to toys and supplies and anything else used by the family pet, all designed to be environmentally friendly.
Billie Jo Vinson co-founded the store later in life, getting the attention of our My Better Half podcast, which visits with people who've made significant gains and changes in life's second act. Host Vanessa Finney talks to Billie Jo Vinson about health for people, health for animals, and how things came together in a store for pets and their people.
Think about the last social gathering you attended: how broad was the age range of the people in attendance? The question goes to how often we cluster with people around our own age... and conversely, how little we mingle with people much younger or older.
This is a focus for Ashton Applewhite, who spends much of her time and energy calling out ageism in society, everything from our social-group choices to our aversion to wrinkles and gray hair. Vanessa Finney hosts Applewhite in a new edition of our podcast My Better Half, exploring her book This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism.
It's not the years in your life, it's the life in your years. Somebody said that, and our guests on My Better Half continually prove it.
Deborah Costella is the latest example, a former dancer who decided to attend cooking school in her 40s, and proceeded to cook and educate people about cooking. But it was in her mid-60s that Deborah openedCosmic Muffin School of Cookery in downtown Ashland. MBH host Vanessa Finney returns to get the details from Deborah about her wrinkles on cooking--including cooking with cannabis.
One nice thing about being on Earth for a while is having the time to develop your skills. Not just in one line of work, either. Take Antonio Melendez as an example... he's familiar with photography and cameras and has worked as director, director of photography, and camera operator on TV and film projects.
Antonio Melendez. Courtesy of ModernKlassical.comBut he's also got a degree in music, and composes music for TV and film as well. Vanessa Finney introduces us to Antonio Melendez in the latest edition of My Better Half, showcasing the things people do in the second half of life, including reflection on life's joys and accomplishments--while creating more.
We may have a "golden years" mindset about retirement, but our bodies can have other ideas. Wishful thinking still has to live in the real world, and aging presents some challenges. Dr. Rosanne Leipzig has long been a proponent of healthy aging, and lays out the course anew, in her book Honest Aging: An Insider's Guide to the Second Half of Life.
Vanessa Finney interviews Leipzig in the latest installment of My Better Half, catching up with advice on balancing dreams with reality.
The organization Third Act helps mobilize people over 60 to focus on some key issues. Deborah Moore, a retired environmental scientist in California.
My Better Half, JPR's Vanessa Finney talks to Levine about taking up nutrition therapy later in life, and how he's still doing it at age 70.
As someone who had the value of water therapy instilled in her at a young age, it’s not surprising that Mary Bemis finds herself living on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. On this episode of My Better Half, Mary outlines the Seven Tenets of Spa and charts her course to becoming known as “the mother of American spa media”.
She’s long been known for making waves in the wellness industry – through the serial launches of spa magazines, and for keeping spas accountable in the way they describe their services. Her work has garnered her both a Folio Women in Media Award and a Dedicated Contributor Award from the International Spa Association.
Now in her sixties, Mary is still active as a lecturer on spa culture and the Editorial Director of Insider's Guide to Spas. She visits with MBH host Vanessa Finney.
He's had a stellar career with words, but New Yorker staff writer Adam Gopnik is finding things especially sweet in the second half of life. After all, how often does an author get to be in a movie--playing himself--with Cate Blanchett? That was him, interviewing the lead character in the movie Tár.
Now we turn the tables, and interview Gopnik for the latest edition of My Better Half. JPR's Vanessa Finney exchanges some words with the writer about the joys of lifelong learning in his new book The Real Work: On the Mystery of Mastery -- including how he deepened his relationship with his adult children by tackling new challenges together.
He's been on the Earth for a while now, but his fascination with the planet and its creatures shows no signs of abating for Matt Witt.
The Talent-based writer and photographer and hiker stays busy, well after he retired from his old day job. And Witt shares his thoughts and fascinations in the latest edition of My Better Half, with JPR's Vanessa Finney. The series focuses on people staying busy and engaged in the second half of life, which Matt Witt certainly is.
You've probably heard about birth doulas, people who assist women in delivering babies. Turns out, there are doulas for the other end of life... Sarah Doré is a tea shop owner training to be a death doula.
Eric Chandler explains how adapting to college as a 40-something was much easier than he feared.
Pam Haunschild rose to the top of her profession, teaching organizational theory at the business schools at Stanford and Texas-Austin. Now she's creating art on a regular basis, finding the joy in returning to an old love. Pam is the focus of the latest chapter of My Better Half.
Judy Collins played to a big audience at the Britt Festival in Jacksonville, Judy sat down with Vanessa to talk about life and music and living well, well beyond the so-called "prime of life.