Shout-out to those 80-Year-Old Bloggers

By PenTales Pundit Elise Nardin, Zurich, Switzerland

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Here at PenTales we love discovering and sharing stories. This Sunday, sitting at the kitchen table and working on this post I was wandering around the Web looking for the ultimate blog written by 80+ year olds. I stumbled upon “the ageless project”, a listing of blogs of people born in the 1910s up to the 1990s.

WHOA! I couldn’t click fast enough to jump from a blog to another, getting overwhelmed by such eagerness of people to speak their voice and share their stories. Some of the bloggers, such as 1917-born Julia, haven’t posted an entry for over a year and it is quite moving. Their last entry certainly was the last they would ever write. It gives their blog another powerful dimension.

Of the many blogs, I picked 3 that inspired me most and decided to share them with you.

Not Dead Yet! – Judith Taylor, Hertfordshire, UK. For Judith, “this blog is about leaving my footprint behind when I go. It’s also about finding out who I am now, even if it’s a different person each day. It’s about thinking, feeling, learning and changing – and about laughing too, I hope; and it’s about filling my life with new people and making each new day interesting.” She writes about welfare cuts in the UK. She gets angry at a new bill making government services only available online, and reviews the concerts she  has been to. Active blogger, ambassador of elderly women in her community, she gets her voice heard out there. Read her blog here!

Me and the Cat – Lorraine O’Connor, Milwaukee, WI, USA. Lorraine is proud of her family, her web designer granddaughter who worked her collage magic and created a nice old-school homepage. Born in 1930, she blogs about her career in the US air force, animals and what it was to grow up in the US in the 1930s. She has a lot of humor, a very refreshing tone and great stories to tell. Read her blog here!

Connecting.the.Dots – Robert Stein. This journalism teacher, editor thinks “The Web is a wide space for spreading news, but it can also be a deep well of collective memory to help us understand today’s world.” Extremely active, he regularily writes about politics and sports. He has a infallible tip for stopping hiccups from Janet Travell, former President Kennedy White House doctor. Robert Stein reflects on today’s US politics, echoing lessons from the past. Read his blog here!

Elderly bloggers show to be very active producers of content on the Web. the “ageless project” is the tip of the iceberg. We do not know how many 80+ bloggers post out there. Nevertheless, getting their voices heard is empowering, stimulating and certainly helps them keep track of the fast-paced society we live in. What about elderly who do not blog? Life Lessons wants to give them the opportunity to get heard and to speak their voice. Do you know an elderly whose stories you’d like to share? If so, shoot us a “80+ alive and kicking!” email to writepentales@gmail.com. And, if you’re a senior, make your voice heard, we would love to feature you on PenTales!