Hey, guess what? The Gero-Punk Project’s official one-year anniversary is coming up. August 14, 2012 was the date of my first post on this blog, though as some of you are aware of, I was gero-punking well before then (as were many of you!).

So, to honor our upcoming anniversary — and the 50-plus essays published here over the past year — I wanted to remind you, dear readers and contributors, that the Gero-Punk Project has always been envisaged as a collaborative and collectivist space for creative exploration and praxis regarding our travels together through the life course. Wouldn’t the summer months be an ideal time to contribute a bit of writing to the project (What a nice anniversary gift!)? You can volunteer to do so at any time by submitting an idea or a fully-formed essay to me at jsasser@marylhurst.edu. Or you can gracefully accept my offer when I track you down and beg you. 

Please invoke your inner gero-punk and essay away!

What will I be doing over the next few weeks of summer? Well, Harry R. Moody and I are working away on the 8th edition of our text Aging: Concepts and Controversies, alongside of which I’ll be updating the instructional materials for students and instructors that accompany the text. Let me take a moment to thank those of  you — teachers and students alike — who have been using our text to teach and learn about adult development and aging, and the field of gerontology. We appreciate your participation in our ongoing project to bring critical thinking to the study of adult development and aging. If you have any ideas or input you’d like to offer us as we work on the next edition, you know how to reach me.

Another project I’ll be spearheading this summer is a primer on gerontology geared toward an international market. I’m working on the proposal over the next couple of weeks and we hope to get cracking on the full-blown book later this year. The opportunity to open up a larger conversation about what the heck this field of study and practice called “gerontology” is, where it came from and where it might be going, is, well, beyond my dreams and very exciting. Very.

As far as the Gero-Punk Project is concerned, I’ll be happily posting all of the great essays the rest of you will be generously offer me as well as taking a look at the Gero-Punk Manifesto to see if there are any additions or alterations I want to make to it (If you are stymied as to what you might write about for this blog, perhaps you’d rather take a re-look at the Manifesto and let me know your thoughts about where to take it next. You’ll find the Manifesto in the archives of this blog).

A manifesto, to my way of thinking, shouldn’t be seen as written in stone and a done deal, but, rather, as a living, emergent manifestation of intent and lived experience. So, time to pause, take another look, reflect, and revision, as needed.

Thanks again for your interest in and support of what I’m trying to do as a gero-punk and for reading — and pondering — the essays that my comrades and I offer here.

Many blessings,

Jenny Sasser