53.4 Million People Need To Get A Life

Only 160K geezer bloggers? I tried to interest the Computer Club in Geezerville (where I live) in blogs and blogging, but my effort was stillborn. I encountered a geezerette today who didn't know how to copy/paste a Web address out of an e-mail message. I feel as I'm living in "the land time forgot." At least it's not Skull Island. If this is (fair & balanced) gerontology, so be it.

Older, Wiser Bloggers: Want a Place in the Blogosphere? Join the Club
By Patrick J. Kiger

Only 0.3 percent of the Internet's estimated 53.4 million bloggers are age 50 or older, according to a recent study by Perseus, a Web survey firm, but their ranks—160,000 or so—are growing.

Among the pioneers is Millie Garfield, 80, of Swampscott, Mass., who's been writing "My Mom's Blog" for the past three years. "One day, I saw an article in the Boston Globe about bloggers, and so I asked my son Steve, who's into computers, 'What the heck is this blogging thing?' " she says. "He said, 'Ma, you should start your own blog.' "

Using Web-based blogging software, she's able to share with the world her observations and musings—even her recipe for apple crisp. Garfield's recent topics have ranged from sightseeing at the Grand Canyon to reminiscences about "Mexican Hayride," a 1940s Cole Porter musical. She's become so hooked on blogging, in fact, that she seldom watches TV anymore.

Clarence Bowles, 65, of Erlanger, Ky., calls his Web journal "Can You Hear Me Now?" It allows him to share his thoughts on movies, fishing and the monthly meetings of his Good Ole Boys Club companions. "I like having my own soapbox to speak to the world on," he says.

Perhaps the dean of older bloggers is Ronni Bennett, 64, of New York. Her blog, "Time Goes By," may be the only one that focuses exclusively on aging-related issues. Bennett, a former managing editor of CBSNews.com, often writes as "Crabby Old Lady," opining on subjects such as the dearth of cosmetics for older faces.

"Ninety-eight percent of what is written about getting older is about disease, decline and disability," Bennett says. "I'm trying to be an advocate for older people by taking on the youth and beauty police."

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Blogosphere 101: Older Bloggers List
By Patrick J. Kiger

My Mom's Blog "Thoroughly Modern Millie" Garfield, age 80, writes about everything from her travels to the Southwest to her recipe for baked apple crisp. She also includes humorous video clips, such as her recent discourse on packages that are too difficult for older fingers to open.

Clarence Bowles's Can You Hear Me Now? is the 65-year-old Kentucky man's soapbox for giving his views and observations on life, ranging from movies to fishing. "I like to write from my heart and write with as much emotion as I can," he says.

Texas Trifles is authored by Liz "Cowtown Pattie" May, who writes about her teenage experiments with Miracle Whip as a hair treatment, turkey buzzards, killer bees and other oft-amusing aspects of living in the Lone Star State.

Full Fathom Five written by English teacher and Maine resident Mary Lee Fowler, gives a snapshot of life in a "rural community of artists, craftsmen, farmers and gardeners, all united by our love of nature." Recent entries dealt with the experience of teaching English to Chinese immigrants and Fowler's adoption of a 10-month-old Grand Pyrenees-Husky puppy named Cody.

As Time Goes By (What it's really like to get older) may be the Internet's only blog devoted to aging issues. It's the work of former radio producer, TV scriptwriter and pioneering Web journalist Ronni Bennett, who writes in the guise of "Crabby Old Lady" about age discrimination and other subjects.

Frank Paynter's Sandhill Trek is about life on the farm, dealing with the inevitable loss of beloved pets, progressive politics, nature and other topics, rendered in sometimes lyrical prose.

The oddly-named Cop Car's Beat doesn't have anything to do with crime. Instead, it's the diary of an older woman blogger who writes about activities ranging from quilting to disaster relief work.

Silver Fox Whispers is written by a former elementary school teacher who now spends a lot of time traveling with her husband in their RV. She writes about childhood Halloween pranks in her native Minnesota and the difficulties of catching a pesky rat with a cruelty-free trap, among other topics.

The Joy of Six by Joy, a woman in her late fifties, often features her Ogden Nash-style poems about the pleasures and tribulations of everyday life.

Pure Land Mountain is written by Robert Brady, an American expatriate who has been living for the past three decades in Japan. Topics range from life in the rural countryside near Osaka to the joys of eating in Japanese noodle shops, to Brady's passionately dissenting view of U.S. foreign policy and politics.

AARP does not recommend or endorse any of these websites. AARP is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites. Please be advised that there are other similar websites available which were not reviewed and are not listed here.


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