Friday, December 28, 2018

2018 Top Ten Posts

Photo by vallgall.
It's time to look back at the posts published in 2018 here at The Generation Above Me.

Most of the posts were book reviews or film reviews with a smattering of posts about health, fitness, and biomarkers of longevity.

I teach classes in gerontology at University of Southern Indiana and writing classes at University of Evansville. I also volunteer for the MAIA conference co-sponsored by USI; a lot of that showed up on the blog.

Without further ado, here are the 2018 Top 10 Most Viewed posts from The Generation Above Me.

In ascending order...

10.  Blood Urea Nitrogen: Biomarker of Health and Longevity

If BUN values are too high or too low, this may indicate problems such as under/over hydration, poor liver function, poor kidney function, heart problems, pancreas problems, nutrition problems (protein intake particularly), etc.


9. Preview for the 2018 MAIA and Wellness

Before the conference, I listed presenters' Twitter handles / Facebook pages for ease of reference while live tweeting. There are 30 plus fantastic professionals in the areas of wellness across the lifespan with particular attention to aging well. Follow them all on social media!


8. 2018 MAIA Keynote and Plenary Speakers

Learn more about state-of-the-art wellness from experts such as Teepa Snow (dementia positivity), Jeff Speck (city planning), Ashton Applewhite (activist fighting ageism), and Dr. Bill Thomas (intergenerational housing visionary).


7. Still Dreaming: Film Review

This documentary shows directors Ben and Noah working with residents in an assisted living center to put on Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream. Their endeavor highlights how aging affects the human condition but also how many aspects of the human experience persist through the life span.

6. Happiness Is a Choice Your Make: Book Review

Leland interviews six older adults in an effort to understand how they respond to the challenges of late life. The result is mix of character sketches, direct quotes, applicable aging research and interviewer reflections.


5. Our Souls at Night: Film Review

Redford and Fonda star as Louis and Addie who are neighbors embarking on a friendship after each of them experience the death of their spouse. Friendship turns to romance but not without some tensions. This is based on a novel, and the film makes some significant changes to the ending.

4. Art of Death: Book Review

Danticat is a Hatian-American novelist. Here she writes nonfiction about the time she spent supporting her mother during her mother's years with cancer. Dantical quotes a number of works by novelists, poets, philosophers, and religious writers in an effort to forge a lyric and thoughtful response to her mother's dying and death.

3. Sense of an Ending: Film Review

Based on an award-winning novel, this film moves from a man's midlife to his university days. As he reviews the past, he discovers the limits to his vantage point on what happened to him, his girlfriend, her family, and one of his classmates. He spent decades with false conviction and false judgment.

2. Knocking On Heaven's Door: Book Review

Butler's book offers insights about people living with any number of chronic or terminal diseases, but there is a wealth of detail about the heart, heart surgeries, and pacemakers in particular. Butler's father lost quality of life slowly, which influenced her mother to refuse care, resulting in steeper end-of-life decline.

1. Ageless Soul: Book Review

Moore combines philosophy, psychology, and spirituality to offer a book that is positive and full of hope while still dealing with issues that can cause people a lot of suffering--issues such as role loss, disability, loss of loved ones, and terminal illness.


Related:

2017 Top 10 Posts - including a Federal Report on Aging
2016 Top 10 Posts - including a Collection of Quotes on Aging
2015 Top 10 Posts  - including Celebrities Born in 1962
2014 Top 10 Posts -  including Aging Films to Watch Next
2013 Top 10 Posts - including Films Depicting Alzheimer's Disease
2012 Top 10 Posts - including Films about Aging


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