Ai-jen Poo is a woman who cares. That caring shapes her activism as a next-generation labor leader, a gifted organizer, campaigner, advocate and author. Ai-jen is also faithful. At the threshold of the second half of life –she just turned 50— she has spent the last 25 or more years dedicated to growing a domestic workers’ movement. Always crucial yet routinely undervalued, family caregivers are more and more essential as our nation ages, as we age. Ai-jen founded and leads the National Domestic Workers Alliance, a network of more than 70 local affiliate organizations and chapters and over 200 ..read more

American sculptor Jeanne Silverthorne, 73, is an “artist’s artist” known for cast rubber pieces and installations drawn from her studio, turning everyday objects and people into “metaphors for the inevitability of age and decay, …tempered with humor, hope and humanity.” (For photos of a favorite work of ours, Banshee: Self-Portrait at 73, see our website and social media.) She has showed her work at leading New York galleries for decades (currently at the Marc Straus Gallery) and in one-person exhibits including PS1 and the Whitney Museum in New York and the Institute of Contemporary Art in Ph ..read more

Donna Uchizono is the first and only American-born choreographer of Asian ancestry to receive notable national and international recognition in the history of modern dance.  She’s received a Guggenheim and a “Bessie,” been commissioned by the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Oliver Sachs, and toured her eponymous dance company around the world. We mention this first because – as you will hear in our conversation with Donna – it is a reality that she stresses not as a boast, but as an indictment of the dance field. She spotlights the difficult journey that all dancers from excluded gr ..read more

Just before the pandemic shut down live performances across the world, the American soprano Claron M. McFadden appeared with pianist Alexander Melnikov at London’s Wigmore Hall to rave reviews for “an exhilarating and unorthodox show” and her “breathtakingly beautiful” voice. Having listened to her recordings, we wish we could have been there. From Handel and Bach to modern and contemporary classical music and jazz, Claron is one of the most versatile singers of her generation. In music and in life, she is a fearless but not reckless risktaker who follows her curiosity and trusts her intuition ..read more

Feminist thinkers, activists and authors Idelisse Malavé, 74,  and Joanne Sandler, 70, created and host Two Old Bitches, a podcast featuring conversations with women in the second half of life whose perspectives and experiences disrupt what it means to be “old” and reclaim what it means to be a “bitch.” Over the past six seasons they have welcomed edgy progressive activists, a zen priest, performers, filmmakers, visual artists, scholars, a chef, journalists and writers, politicians, and more. These women make their own rules – whether it’s about politics, love, sex, art, work, family or f ..read more

“The world tells women-of-a-certain-age to be invisible, be innocuous with quiet voices. We’ve got news for you, world…WE’RE DONE WITH YOUR BULLSHIT!” These are the words that appear when you pull up the Crones of Anarchy website (https://cronesofanarchy.com) and the spirit that infuses the 18,000+ members on the Facebook group of the same name. We – Two Old Bitches – were fortunate enough to connect directly with one of the founders, Heidi Woordhuis, and hear first-hand about the journey to create a space where older women can speak their minds and be as abrasive and vulnerable as they w ..read more

Two Old Bitches co-hosts and friends, Joanne Sandler and Idelisse Malavé, were invited by the wonderful and popular Call Your Girlfriend podcast to have a conversation about their decades long friendship. As part of a series, “Summer of Friendship”, CYG asked a few of their favorite podcasters — we’re honored! — to tell them how they met, times their friendship has been stretched, and how they grow together. Idelisse and Joanne’s episode is available at CYG wherever you listen to podcasts. You can also listen to it here as a special, bonus episode ..read more

Imagine your life as a perpetual learning journey where you grow braver and more transcendent as the years pass. That is how Trudy Berlin has lived. She is the 98-year-old host of “The Ladies Room with Trudy Berlin”, a weekly discussion group for women over 70. She started it twenty years ago and when the pandemic hit, the group went virtual. The Washington Post christened Trudy “the ‘Oprah’ of senior citizens” at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center in Boca Raton, Florida.  In her nineties, she continues to live with undiminished excitement, appreciation, openness and yes ..read more

Jaune Evans was originally ordained as a priest in the White Plum Lineage by Bernie Glassman and Taizan Maezumi Roshi in 1983 at the Zen Community of New York. She is now a priest and senior teacher in the Bay Area Everyday Zen lineage of Zoketsu Norman Fischer, and leads the Heart of Compassion Zen Sangha in Point Reyes, California. She is reading from a guided meditation by the Buddhist teacher and author, Stephen Levine who was devoted to being with people who were ill, the dying and bereaved. We hope you will draw solace and some peace from it as we have, and thank Jaune for allowing us to ..read more

Surprise! Despite being at higher risk, older folks have weathered this past year in better spirits than younger people, according to recent studies.  Well, maybe it’s not such a big surprise given our breadth of experience and, uh-hum, wisdom. For Two Old Bitches, it’s certainly been a crucial topic of conversation since the first lockdowns in March 2020. We’ve also explored how COVID affected what we eat (sourdough bread has been an essential for these Two Old Bitches!), streaming preferences, newfound hobbies, relationships and our notions of the future. We’ve gathered gems and inspira ..read more