Aging in Community A Third Way

Like they did with ice cream, boomers are creating a thouand new options in where we grow old.To "age in place" or to relocate - to a retirement community, assisted living facility, or other long-term care setting - that seemed to be the choice for an older generation. Not so for boomers who, at every stage in their wild joyride through the life span, looked at the currently available options and said, "No, thank you. Have you got something else?" This book explores the cornucopia of new options that are emerging as the "aging-in-community" movement gathers a full head of steam.In "Moving Beyond Place," co-authors Thomas and Blanchard introduce the concept of aging in community, debunking the false choice we are often presented, between institutionalization and an idealized vision of "home." Next, Tim Carpenter describes the Burbank Senior Artists Colony - one of the exciting emerging models of community. Author/architect Sarah Susanka expands our horizons, inviting us to imagine the "Not So Big Community." Anthropologist Philip Stafford reflects on irony and remembering. And Second Journey founder Bolton Anthony writes about "Creating Community in Later Life." Additional essays by Janice Blanchard, Tobi Abramson, Mia Oberlink, and Susan Poor delineate the range of options and offer many practical suggestions. In the final essay, Stambolian and Blanchard tease out the striking parallels between Woodstock Nation values and Aging in Community principles. The issue also features three profiles of elders who are living community in new ways: Susan McWhinney-Morse in Boston's Beacon Hill Village, which she helped cofound; cohousing advocate Ann Zabaldo in Takoma Village Cohousing; and "Artful Ager" Teddi Shattuck in Tim Carpenter's Burbank Senior Artists Colony.It takes a village to raise our children, and it takes community to care for our elders.