I just realized that it’s that time again. Actually, it is well past that time again. But as I always like to sing: Better late than never; no time like the present; sooner rather than later; life is short, act now!

What time is it? It is time for a Gero-Punk public service announcement!

But first, let me say a few words to those of you residing both far away and close by who have recently come around to see what we are up to here at the Gero-Punk Project: Hey there, welcome, and thank you for your curiosity and interest! In the past week we’ve gathered new readers from New York and Massachusetts, not to mention far-flung global environs (Norway and India, to be specific), as well as a really brilliant woman I sat next to on my flight to the east coast the week before last (hello, Betsy!).

If there is one theme for my life during the first quarter of 2016, the theme has something to do with going to new places and meeting new people and having new adventures. In addition to this blog, where I publish my own and others’ gero-punk essays (for more on what “gero-punk” means, see below), the Gero-Punk Project involves life-wide and wide-spread praxis in the form of local (Portland, Oregon area) Salons and other anarchic educational happenings, as well as workshops, presentations, and conversations around North America (and, hopefully, other locations on this awesome planet). Between now and April, I’ll be journeying to California, Missouri, Maryland and Southern Oregon to do offer some gero-punk perspectives on our travels through the life-course.

Maybe I’ll see you?

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Perhaps you are feeling a bit confused about what this “gero-punk thing” is. Perhaps you need to know a bit more about what’s what before you’ll feel willing to venture further.

That’s understandable. How about I say more?

The Gero-Punk Project provides a venue for telling and sharing stories about our travels through the life-course. Together we create a space for trying out alternative ways of experiencing and writing about time/space/place, about age and aging, and about the complexities of being human beings, creatures who are aware of the passage of time and how time has its way with us.

We take seriously the idea that we are time-travelers: a particular age, all ages, and no age at all. We give voice to our flummoxing, fascinating, mundane and profound, odd and perhaps transgressive thoughts, feelings, and experiences related to this grand and strange adventure of being and becoming human in and through and outside of time.

We legitimize confusion, uncertainty, and vulnerability, states of no-sense. As well, we harness our inner authority, our sovereignty, our growing expertise about our own inside experiences and our curiosity about the inside experiences of others.

We ask questions such as:

Where does age reside?

What does it feel like to be the embodied creatures we are right now in this present moment? (And what might it feel like to be a differently embodied creature?)

What assumptions are we holding about what a particular age should be like, or look like, and where did these assumptions come from? (And are we served well by these assumptions or do we want to blow them up and create something new?)

How might our confusions, mishaps and missteps as we muddle through this life be sources of learning and wisdom, for ourselves and, by sharing them, for others?

(And for those of us who are formally engaged in the work of gerontology) We ask to what extent do we see our aging experiences reflected in the official Gerontological theory and research? And to what extent are our aging experiences and our capacities to support others with their aging experiences informed by Gerontological theory and research? What are the connections and disconnections? What is missing and what might we add? What new questions might we ask?

As well, we ask: What capacities for self-care and intentional aging do we want to develop so that we can live vibrant and purposeful lives, no matter what challenges we might face as we continue our travels through the life-course?

Also this: What are the ways in which we might be of service to others, to the larger community, and to the world that allow us to enact our deepest longings and commitments, help us grow in all directions as human beings as we continue to ripen?

And perhaps most important of all, we ask: If we had play-dates with our 8-year-old selves, what would we do? If we invited our future older selves over for a glass of wine, what would we talk about?

Will you play with us?