To be honest I should have titled this podcast -Surviving the Podcast Guests.Tune in and you'll understand why I said this. Joel and Karmela Waldman are mother and son co-hosts of their True Crime podcast called Surviving the Survivor. Joel worked most recently as a Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for Fox News, covering national politics from Capitol Hill. He has also worked as an investigative reporter for Fox 5 in New York City and for TV-news programs in West Palm Beach, Miami, and Tuc...

We've just been through an historic election and so we asked Bob Levey, a prize winning journalist who has covered the Washington scene since the Johnson administration to talk with us about it. We talked about Bob's early years at The Washington Post and his currect column on the Senior Beacon Newspapers. Bob and I discussed the recent election, the job that both print and media did in covering the days up to the election, Bezos' refusal to endorse Harris and the problem with print endosements...

This podcast was recorded during the part of the year in which the holiest of Jewish holidays takes place. It seemed appropriate to take some time to remember those of us who were lost during the Holocaust, but a part of the Holocaust many of us know little about, This podcast contains a film by John Pollick: (From the film's web page - https://www,beyondbabiyarmovie.com) "Babi Yar, or Babyn Yar, is a ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine. On September 29th and 30th, 1941, Nazis forced 33,771 Jews into it a...

According to Senator Bob Casey, the ranking member of the special committee on aging , "The right to vote is one of the fundamental pilars of our democracy, but that right is under attack for millions of older Americans across the nation. Attempts to limit voting locations, the length of early voting periods, inaccessible voting locations, and new, strict voter identification laws threaten the hard won voting rights of older Americans." So we invited Attorney Joan Bondareff to be our guest on S...

We all get them - those momentary lapses when we can't recall someone's name, why we came into a room or where we left the car keys. We call them senior moments, but are these moments inevitable or limited to seniors? We'll learn more about these senior moments and how to work through them with our guest this week on Specifically for Seniors, Dr Stan Goldberg. Dr. Stan Goldberg is an expert in the areas of aging, human information processing, change, loss, and end-of-life issues. He is a Profes...

My guest today on Specifically for Seniors is Emmy winner, international acclaimed journalist, executive producer, food and travel lover, and creator of the beloved groundbreaking show Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives, David Page takes us deep into the world of chefs, restaurateurs, and everything “foodie” on his new podcast Culinary Characters Unlocked, featuring incisive, entertaining and uninhibited conversations with culinary stars, future stars, as well as chefs and owners who run beloved local cl...

My guests today on Specifically for Seniors caught my attention in an Opinion piece in the Washington Post. Professors Ben Katz and Pamela Teaster urged “an objective, scientific conversation about mental and physiological aging - both for our leaders and for the rapidly aging populations around the world” realizing that these conversations are both difficult and obligatory. We’re going to try to at least open that conversation here on Specifically for Seniors, today. Both Ben Katz and Pamela ...

My guest today on Specifically for Seniors is a practicing magician, but his story goes way beyond slight of hand and deceptions. Richard Hatch holds two graduate degrees in physics, but found it easier to apparently violate ther laws of physics than to discover them. Dick has always had a fascination with books on magic, but one book, in particular, led him a deeper understanding of the Jewish people during the holocaust. Dick discovered and translated, from the German, a book entitled DIE JUD...

An unfortunate fact of life at our age is that sooner or later we are going to face a hospital admission whether due to an illness, an injury or pain, and that can be confusing and frightening. Many of us need help in preparing for an Emergency Room and/or hospital visit. Once in the hospital learning how to navigate hospital care and advocate for ourselves is essential So I called on Dr. Monique Nugent, author of Prescription for Admission: A Doctor's Guide for Navigating the Hospital, Advocat...

My guest today on Specifically for Seniors is a practicing Rabbi and stand-up comedian. Bob Alper has been seen on Good Morning America, Showtime, The BBC, CNN and was featured on Extra, TV’s top rated entertainment program, immediately following a segment on the size of Jennifer Lopez’s butt. Bob and I talk about how a Rabbi got started as a stand-up comedian, why he feels that humor is holy, hs 'gentle' humor, his book - Life Doesn't Get Any Better Than This - and how his father used to showe...

I have a friend who just celebrated his 100th birthday. He was a bombadier during World War II. He is in great physical ad mental health, has written a play about his experiences and is trying to cast that play at the senior residence he considers home. This got me wondering if there was a way that more of us could live well into old age, so I called on Noelle Nelson, PhD author of “The Longevity Secret, How to Live Happy, Healthy & Vibrant Into Your 70s, 80s, 90s and Beyond” for the answer. No...

One of the best parts of doing this podcast is that it gives me the opportunity to meet and talk with some remarkable people who've done exceptional things after retirement. Chad Richardson was a Detroit police officer who gave himself the gift of filmmaking when he retired from law enforcement. On today's episode of Specifically for Seniors takes us on his journey to fulfill his dream after retirement. Chad and I talk about his movie Bad Senator and the more than 200 seniors who volunteered in...

Maggie Scarf is a former visiting fellow at the Whitney Humanities Center, Yale University, and a fellow of Jonathan Edwards College, Yale University. She was for many years a Contributing Editor to The New Republic and a member of the advisory board of the American Psychiatric Press. Maggie is the author of seven books for adults and two books for children. She s the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a Ford Foundation Fellowship and a Nieman Fellowship in Journalism at Ha...

There is an organization in Massachusetts that is focused on caring for an aging population, that develops services that meet older adults’ needs and preferences and advocates for us. I had not heard of this organization before so we invited Elissa Sherman, the President of LeadingAge Massachusetts. to explain it to us. Dr. Sherman has worked in aging policy for more than 30 years, beginning her career in state government as an analyst for the Massachusetts state legislature’s Joint Committee o...

Rick Mater is a longtime runner and Emmy-nominated TV executive living in Los Angeles. He was born in Pinner, England, and grew up in California, New Jersey, and Munich, Germany. A miler in high school, he lettered in cross-country in college and has run the Grand Canyon twice as a cardiac patient. A heart attack survivor, he has four stents in his left anterior descending artery and a defibrillator implanted in the side of his chest. He is the author of Six Hours: Running for My Life in the Gr...

As many of us age we develop physical problems, we have difficulty seeing, hearing and mobility. We require a walker, wheelchair or motorized device to get around. And we feel that our physicians don’t understand our problems. So we asked Dr. Lisa Iezzoni to be a guest on the podcast to help us work through the challenges we face. Lisa I. Iezzoni, MD, MSc is Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and based at the Health Policy Research Center, Mongan Institute, Massachusetts General Hos...

On today's podcast, it is my distinct honor to introduce MT Connolly to those of you who have never had the privilege of meeting her. M.T. Connolly is a leading national expert on elder justice and a MacArthur “genius” grant awardee. In issuing the award, the foundation said Connolly has “ devoted her career to laying bare the many forms of elder abuse: physical and psychological, as well as financial exploitation and wrongful deprivation of rights.” MT is the author of the 2023 book, The Meas...

Elizabeth Keating is a professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas at Austin who specializes in culture and communication. Her book, The Essental Questions: Interview Your Family to Uncover Stories and Bridge Generations, reached #1 on Amazon’s “Movers & Shakers in Books” in the first week of publication, and was #1 in cultural anthropology the week after. The book takes an anthropological approach to finding out about your own family history, and will help you to uncover new sides of f...

Our guest today on Specifically for Seniors, Dr. Rosanne Leipzig is internationally recognized in the field of geriatrics. Dr Leipzig is the Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor and Vice Chair, Emerita of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Dr. Leipzig’s latest book, Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life, describes what to expect physically, psychologically, functionally, and emotio...

Jonathan Alter is an award winning author, political analyst, documentary filmmaker, columnist, television producer and radio host. His most recent book is “His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life.” Jonathan is a former editor and columnist at Newsweek, politics analyst for NBC news and MSNBC. He has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Monthly, the New Yorker, Bloomberg and the Daily Beast. He hosts a weekly Substack newsletter called “Old Goats, Rumination with Frie...

Book bans have reached a record high over the past two years. Books targeted have overwhelmingly been about people of color and LGBTQ individuals. And nowhere has that been more evident than in Florida. Our guest today on Specifically for Seniors, Tania Galiñanes had to face Florida House Bill 1467 head on as a school librarian in Florida. House Bill 1467, signed by Governor DeSantis on March 25, 2022, and effective July 1, 2022,requires school districts to be transparent in the selection of in...

Be advised: Adult language is used during this podcast Those of you who are fans of the TV show -Amerca's Got Talent - will recognize my guest this week. Maureen Langan was a semi-finalist on Season 18 of AGT where her performance landed her a standing ovation and four "Yeses" from the judges. Maureen is an internationally acclaimed standup comedian, broadcaster, Tedx Talk speaker and corporate event host. She has performed with entertainment, literary and cultural icons that include Robin Wil...

Adam Mansbach is a novelist, screenwriter, cultural critic and humorist. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Go the F**k to Sleep, which has been translated into forty languages, named Time Magazine's 2011 "Thing of the Year," and sold over three million copies worldwide. Mansbach's novels include Rage is Back, The End of the Jews (winner of the California Book Award), and Angry Black White Boy, which is taught at over a hundred schools and was adapted into a prize-winning stag...

An hour without notes and a script. We talked ice cream sandwiches, Death Wish and Red Barn coffee, the pandemic, a life in Improv and teaching, Batman, super heroes, radio and ImprovBoston. If you want to spend an hour listeninhg to a pleasant, no-stress conversation about things that really matter very little, get connected. It's like a version of Jerry Seinfeld without Larry David.