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Nancy Perry Graham
Editor, AARP THE MAGAZINE
aarpmagazine@aarp.org
Aging’s Not Optional
The woman stared at us, amazed.
A group of AARP THE MAGAZINE editors
had gathered before Bruce Springsteen’s
performance at Giants Stadium in New
Jersey on October 3, wearing T-shirts
bearing our September/October 2009
OUR SPRINGSTEEN-CONCERT WINNER Rebecca Martinez, center,
is joined by AARP THE MAGAZINE staffers, fromleft:David
Singleton, Meg Grant, Nancy Perry Graham, and Ken Budd.
cover of the Boss. “Why,” she asked,
“would you wear an AARP
T-shirt to a Springsteen concert?”
I explained that we were editors of
the world’s largest-circulation maga-
zine, that it’s for folks over 50, and
that Bruce himself is 60. She smiled
sweetly and let it rip: “But why would
you want people to know you’re old ?”
Understandable, perhaps, from
a naive young kid, right? Maybe—
except the woman was in her 60s.
I resisted the urge to stick my head
out the window of the stadium lounge
and yell, “I’m as old as hell, and I’m
not going to take this anymore!” (If
you don’t get the reference, pull up the
movie Network on You Tube.) But it got
me thinking. Why is age the last accept-
able bias in this country? A colleague of
mine calls it “chronological racism.”
Just listen to the late-night com-
ics. Scarcely an evening goes by that
David Letterman—chronologically
advanced himself, at 62—doesn’t
mock a certain 73-year-old politician
with lines such as “During the presi-
dential campaign, Sarah [Palin] had to
cut up John McCain’s meat for him.”
Recently Jimmy Fallon ( granted, a
youngster, at 35) announced that the
family of a 70-year-old man who had
run his 163rd marathon would
celebrate by “taking him out to a five-
star emergency room.” Frail as I must
be at 54, this didn’t split my ribs.
Putting One Town on a Healthy Path
As the AARP/BLUE ZONES VITALITY
PROJECT wrapped up in Albert Lea,
Minnesota, AARP senior vice president
Catherine Ventura-Merkel, far left,
and editor Nancy Graham presented
city manager Victoria Simonsen with
a check for $10,000—an amount that
sponsor United Health Foundation
promptly matched. The money will fund
a local Vitality Center to promote
wellness. (Read more on page 42.)
declined with the same excuse: “I’m
not ready.” Translation: “If the movie
studios discover I’m 50, I might never
land a lead role again.”
We choose cover celebrities for two
reasons—because they’re hot and be-
cause they’re the personalities you’ve
told us you care most about. Like
current cover boy and Inspire Award
winner Clint Eastwood, who at 79 is
still making blockbuster movies year
after year. (For other men and women
who dared to make a difference in
2009, turn to page 32.) Of all the
famous people we’ve tested in reader-
interest surveys over the past five
years, Eastwood scores number one—
far ahead of actors, actresses, politi-
cians, musicians, and athletes many
years his junior. Maybe because he
doesn’t care who knows he’s “old.”
Which brings me back to Bruce
Springsteen, who announced to the
massive crowd at two of his New
Jersey concerts: “I used to be on the
cover of Rolling Stone, but now I’m on
the cover of AARP THE MAGAZINE!”
Okay, I feel better. But I’m not going
to let this one drop. I went to Spring-
steen’s concert to listen to music, and I
left singing a new tune. Let’s hope the
chorus spreads.
