Issue 2: The Human Condition

americanseniormagazine.com

MARCH / APRIL 2017 ISSUE 2

GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS THE LOVE OF NAPPING WHAT’S SO WRONG WITH HUMAN ERROR?

THE OTHER SIDES OF

ERIC BRAEDEN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

PLUS

UPLIFTING & INSPIRING STORIES

PROUD TO BE AN

www.americanseniormagazine.com

PROUD TO BE A

MARCH / APRIL 2017 | ISSUE 2 BODIE, CALIFORNIA OLD HAUNTED GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWN

32 The Forgotten American West

Western ghost towns and what they reveal about our pioneer past.

by Tobi Adams • photographs by Julien McRoberts

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

16 What’s So Wrong With Human Error

3 Publisher’s Letter 4 Remember When 8 Did You Know?

10 Health & Wellness

Making mistakes can actually be a benefit—it's all about perspective.

by Melissa Mayntz

18 Rejected: From Bad Idea to Great Idea

Throughout history, sometimes brilliance has been discouraged and criticized before being realized.

by Christina Burns

22 Think Before You Speak

An exclusive interview with the daytime television legend and sportsman.

by Christina Burns americanseniormagazine.com

MARCH / APRIL 2017 ISSUE 2

GOLD RUSH GHOST TOWNS THE LOVE OF NAPPING WHAT’S SO WRONG WITH HUMAN ERROR?

THE OTHER SIDES OF

ERIC BRAEDEN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

2 American Senior

PLUS

UPLIFTING & INSPRING STORIES 01_Cover3.indd 1

A granddaughter's gift of a lifetime.

Approaching Eating Challenges for People with Dementia

26 Eric Braeden

Photographed by Lesley Bohm

12 Uplift & Inspire

14 Facing Alzheimer’s

Some thought and exploration on the beauty of language and human connection.

by Seamus Mullarkey

On the Cover Eric Braeden

Why a daily mid-day rest is good for your health.

3/20/17 10:00 AM

38 Books 40 Fun & Games 42 Highlights for (Grand) children 44 Horoscopes 46 Puzzle Solutions 48 Last Laugh

PUBLISHER’S LETTER

MARCH / APRIL 2017 • ISSUE 2

PUBLISHER AND CEO

John Polatz

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Christina Burns

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Ali Burke

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Julien McRoberts, Lori Stevic-Rust CONTRIBUTORS

Katherine Adams, Tobi Adams, Melissa Mayntz, Seamus Mullarkey, Cristina Nascimento

American Senior is published by PS Lifestyle LLC 55 Public Square, Suite 1180 Cleveland, OH 44113 Phone: (440) 600-1595 Fax: (440) 848-8560 © 2017 PS Lifestyle LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

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And On To The Next One!

W

e’re thankful for the strong applause and reception that our inaugural issue of American Senior has received around the country. Now, we’re excited to present Issue 2 to our readers, continuing the celebration of American culture and values.

If you’re like me, a fan of stories about personal growth, perseverance, and achievement interlaced with appropriate threads of humility, grace, and empathy, then you’re going to be as excited as we are for what’s inside these 48 pages.

While he’s adorned millions of television screens and hundreds of magazine covers over the last five decades, Eric Braeden’s interview with American Senior reveals him to be every bit the down-to-earth man, father, and husband who could easily be your next-door neighbor. His life story is also relevant in the context of today’s focus on the issue of immigration, as Eric left Germany in 1959 for the USA at age 18, worked hard to realize his professional success and fully embraced his citizenship. That’s about as American as it gets!

We’re also rolling out a new department in this issue, Uplift & Inspire, and we kick it off

with the tale of a delightfully ambitious granddaughter in Ohio who gave her grandfather the gift of his lifetime. After reading about what Richard Cunningham dreamed about, I challenge you NOT to hum The Price Is Right theme song for the rest of the day!

Finally, many of us have had at least one family member during our childhood who could always be counted on to advise “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again” (for me, it was my maternal grandmother).

Apparently, we were all in good company, as such advice was taken to heart by the likes of Fred Astaire, J K Rowling, Colonel Sanders, Michael Jordan, and many others. Enjoy their stories of failure and success in Rejected: From Bad Idea to Great Idea.

And, as always, after you’ve enjoyed the fruits of our labor, please share your thoughts with us online at americanseniormagazine.com!

JOHN POLATZ

Publisher and CEO March / April 2017 3

Remember When...

POP CULTURE, NEWS, AND EVENTS FROM DECADES PAST

The first issue of Detective Comics was published and introduced private detective Slam Bradley, and would later go on to introduce Batman.

Jackie Robinson played his first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, becoming the first black athlete to play major league baseball in the 20th century.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS

1937

1947 Su Lin (translated as “a little bit of something very cute”), the first captive giant panda in the US, was brought from China by explorer Ruth Harkness and on view at Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo. JONATHAN KIRN/CORBIS VIA GETTY IMAGES

Daffy Duck made his debut in the animated short Porky’s Duck Hunt, directed

by Tex Avery for the Looney Tunes series.

MOVIESTORE COLLECTION LTD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

4 American Senior

The song “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” was written by Fred Rogers, who used it as his opening theme song on Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.

AP PHOTO

The Woody Allen romantic comedy film Annie Hall, starring Diane Keaton whose character had a penchant for wearing menswear, made its premier in theaters.

AF ARCHIVE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

The Cat in the Hat, written and illustrated by Theodor Geisel (aka Dr. Seuss), was first published to promote early childhood reading.

GENE LESTER/GETTY IMAGES

1957

1967 The television sitcom Gilligan’s Island, featuring Bob Denver, Alan Hale, Tina Louise, Dawn Wells, Jim Backus, Nathalie Shafer, and Russell Johnson, aired its last episode with the shipwrecked castaways still stranded.

1977

›

Performers Barbra Streisand and Paul Williams won the Oscar for Best Original Song for “Evergreen,” from the film A Star Is Born.

AP PHOTO/PENDERGRASS

CBS PHOTO ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella was telecast live and in color by CBS, starring Julie Andrews in the title role.

PICTORIAL PRESS LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

March / April 2017 5

The Discovery Channel broadcast the epic elevenpart nature documentary Planet Earth over five consecutive Sunday evenings, which was narrated by actress and conservationist Sigourney Weaver.

Televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as the host of The PTL Club after his involvement in financial and sexual scandals became highly publicized.

AP PHOTO

ENTERTAINMENT PICTURES/ ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

The PalmPilot Professional and the PalmPilot Personal, the second generation of Palm personal digital assistant (PDA) devices, were released, becoming a precursor to smartphones.

1987

1997

2007

At the age of 21, Tiger Woods won his first major championship and became the youngest-ever golfer to win the Masters Tournament.

AP PHOTO/DAVE MARTIN

Matt Groening’s animated television show The Simpsons made its debut as a series of short segments on The Tracey Ullman Show on Fox. FOX VIA GETTY IMAGES

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MSNBC and CBS Radio cancelled the long-running radio show Imus in the Morning after host Don Imus made offensive comments on-air about the Rutgers University women’s basketball team.

AP PHOTO/RICHARD DREW

A Nationwide Strike Interrupted Television For 13 Days

AP PHOTO/ANTHONY CAMERANO

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between host Johnny Carson n March 1967, our television and NBC. Carson contended and radio programming that in doing so the network experienced an interruption had violated the terms of his that was difficult to ignore. agreement, and citing that New faces temporarily as a reason, he temporarily replaced the trusted figures resigned from the show. at the news desks, some soap To minimize the disruption, operas’ storylines became many of the networks unintentional cliffhangers, and improvised by using behindTV Guide found it impossible the-scenes staff for their to print listings for the week’s on-air talent, the majority of programming. which had never performed The reason for the such tasks or been on the air disruption was a nationwide before. In some instances, a strike by the American research director covered press Federation of Television and conferences, a sales manager Radio Actors (AFTRA) against became an impromptu sports the major television networks announcer, secretaries and about 100 radio stations.

NEWS ANCHORMAN PETER JENNINGS, worked as disc jockeys, and a The strike mostly affected live LEFT, AND SPORTSCASTER HOWARD chief accountant conducted programming, particularly COSELL, BOTH OF THE AMERICAN interviews for the local news. news programs, soap operas, BROADCASTING CO., PICKET ABC’S On CBS Evening News and the HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK. game shows, and variety shows morning news on the CBS-TV as much of the talent (and in network, the program manager Arnold Zenker some regions, even writers and camera crews) delivered the top stories. were part of the strike.

Although David Brinkley supported the union, The principle issue for the strike was for an his partner Chet Huntley remained on the air to increase in pay for about 100 newsmen working broadcast the Huntley-Brinkley Report, and the at the major networks. Hugh Downs , Frank Blair, perceived tension between the two hosts led to Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley, Peter Jennings, CBS Evening News surpassing the Huntley-Brinkley and Howard Cosell were some of the bigger names Report as the highest rating news broadcast. who joined in the picket line.

After nearly two weeks, the strike ended just in Some shows had the luxury of being pre-taped time for the live broadcast of the annual Academy so programming could go on uninterrupted. This Awards. Oscar host Bob Hope’s opening monologue worked out well for one soap opera, Days of Our made many references to the strike, mentioning Lives, which ran out of pre-taped episodes exactly that as late as 30 minutes before broadcast, it was when the strike ended. However, re-running taped uncertain whether the show would go on. shows of The Tonight Show became contentious March / April 2017 7

Did You Know?

FASCINATING FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL

T

The Tradition of Protecting the Sick and Wounded

he American Red Cross has been one of the nation’s premier humanitarian organizations since 1881, and it was established in this country by the one and only Clara Barton. During the Civil War, Barton was known as the “Angel of the Battlefield” and was allowed to bring her voluntary services and medical supplies to the scenes of battle and field hospitals. After the war, President Lincoln directed families to her to search for the missing. She and her assistants received and answered over 63,000 letters and identified over 22,000 missing men.

(The Red Cross eventually established a tracing service, one of the organization’s most valued activities today.)

Later, Barton established the American branch of the International Committee of the Red Cross and fought successfully for the ratification of the First Geneva Convention by the US, which protects the sick and wounded, prisoners of war, and civilians. In 1884, the American Red Cross

8 American Senior

proposed an amendment to include relief for victims of natural disasters in peacetime, which became known as the “American Amendment” to the Geneva Treaty.

By the time World War II ended in September 1945, nearly every family in America contained a member who had either served as a Red Cross volunteer, made contributions of money or blood, or was a recipient of Red Cross services.

Today, American Red Cross members and volunteers have been an essential part of our nation’s response to war, natural disaster, and other human suffering.

ISTOCK

TO CRYING OUT LOUD

PLAYING HOUSE ON MARS IN HAWAII

AMONG ALL OF THE EARTH’S CREATURES, humans alone are the only ones who shed tears as a product of our emotions. These types of tears are known as psychogenic tears. Many mammals shed tears, especially in response to pain and to keep their eyes moist and healthy. However, scientists who have observed animals up close and over extended periods of time have not been able to show that animals cry tears from emotion alone. So shedding tears as an emotional reaction is a uniquely human characteristic.

One modern theory for why humans shed psychogenic tears is that crying triggers social bonding and human connection. Crying communicates feelings of distress, frustration, or sadness, and many tout the cathartic effect of “a good cry.” Surveys estimate that 85 percent of women and 73 percent of men report feeling better after shedding tears. Some scientists believe that chemicals build up in the body during times of elevated stress so emotional crying helps rid the body of toxins and waste products related to stress.

And why are we sometimes moved to tears of joy or from a good, hearty laugh? A series of studies out of Yale University looked at the expression of a positive experience with a negative emotion, and vice versa, termed as “dimorphous expressions”.

Showing two expressions for one emotion is a signal to those around you that you’re feeling an intense emotion.

Another reason why people might have these reactions is to get their emotions in check. The scientists behind the study theorize that those who experience “tears of joy” may be more emotionally expressive overall.

Crying is a part of what makes us human, and how people express emotions can depend on cultural and psychological factors.

AS YOU READ THIS, SCIENTISTS ARE working to bring humankind closer to a mission to Mars. Back in January, six astronaut-like crewmembers entered a geodesic dome atop Mauna Loa, located 8,200 feet above sea level on the Big Island of Hawaii as part of an eightmonth research study of human behavior and performance.

The NASAfunded project known as HI-SEAS (Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation) aims to help determine the individual and team requirements for long-duration space exploration missions including travel to Mars.

HI-SEAS Mission V crew will perform exploration tasks such as geological fieldwork and life systems management. The isolated and confined conditions of the mission, including 20-minutes of delayed communication and partial self-sufficiency, have been designed to be similar to those of a planetary surface exploration mission. Daily routines include food preparation from only shelf-stable ingredients, exercise, research, and fieldwork aligned with NASA’s planetary exploration expectations. Working closely under the watchful eye of a research team and experienced mission control, the crew will participate in studies.

The primary behavioral research includes a shared social behavioral task for team building, continuous monitoring of faceto-face interactions with socio-metric badges, a virtual reality team-based collaborative exercise to predict individual and team behavioral health and performance, and multiple stress, cognitive countermeasure, and monitoring studies.

March / April 2017 9

HEALTH & WELLNESS

For the Love of Napping Why a Mid-Day Rest Does a Body Good

M

By Katherine Adams

ore and more researchers are coming to an important conclusion about our sleep patterns: napping, it turns out, may be in our DNA. That’s good news for many of us who are already dedicated nappers. Dividing sleep in a day’s cycle is called bi-phasal sleeping, and it makes sense when you think about it. No other mammals try to get all of their required sleep in one extended period, and then stay awake continuously for the second part of the day. Our most logical assumptions about ancient humans suggest that rest periods needed to be divided, even staggered, for the safety of the family group or tribe. Even today, in modern hunter-gatherer societies, there is usually time set aside in the middle of the day for rest. Before the advent of industrialization and the contemporary workday, this mid-day rest period was standard, and it is still maintained in some cultures. In fact, the word siesta derives from the Latin sexta, designating the sixth hour of the day, or noon, which was (and still is in many places) set aside for the day’s largest meal followed by a period of rest of which napping has frequently been an important part.

The typical sleepiness most of us feel after lunch has often been attributed to the meal itself.

It was assumed that eating slowed people down and made them feel lethargic. Yet research shows that those who do not eat around noon, or else eat small meals at midday, still tend to have a dip 10 American Senior

in energy in the early afternoon, usually between 2:00 and 4:00 PM. New evidence indicates that this lull is natural and part of our circadian rhythms—the pattern that our days take according to our awakeness and productivity versus our need for rest and recovery.

And recovery is important. Sleep science, including studies of napping, has brought new awareness to just how critical sleep is to our bodily and mental health. While many of us can easily get on board with a good night’s sleep, it can prove more difficult to admit the importance of a nap. In our society today, there is still a stigma of laziness attached to nappers. It should be acknowledged that this is likely what almost every human would do if afforded the luxury of sitting still in the early afternoon. Even as we age and we have time to give into our body’s sleep rhythms, many of us feel guilty about napping.

With the many benefits of napping, there are nevertheless some cautions we should be aware of, as well as instructions on how to nap most effectively.

Napping may be counter-productive if it interferes with nighttime sleeping, either falling asleep or staying asleep. If you find yourself unusually tired or uncharacteristically fatigued, there may be larger issues for a healthcare provider to address.

Importantly, one study has linked napping with increased risk of heart failure in people already at risk.

Most experts recommend that we nap in the early afternoon, around 2:00 to 3:00 PM.

ISTOCK

However, this depends on how long one has already been awake. Early risers can adjust accordingly, and vice versa. We should always take into consideration at what time we naturally tend to feel sleepier. Moreover, naps should be ten minutes to around 40 minutes long, with 20–30 minutes designated as the perfect amount for most people. Anything longer can result in what is called sleep inertia, which is that grogginess we experience after a nap that can seemingly last for the rest of the afternoon. Though some grogginess is expected upon waking from a nap, we should be clear-headed and alert within a few minutes to a half hour after waking.

There are a number of things that can be done in order to facilitate falling asleep quickly and waking up easily within the designated time. Making a regular time for a nap in your schedule helps the body establish a recognizable rhythm. Finding a comfortable, cool, and darkened space may help you to relax. A mental relaxation exercise or five minute meditation may quiet the mind, allowing your body to relax into sleep. Resources including audio recordings are abundantly available online and in libraries and bookstores. Setting a timer lets you know when it’s time to get up. From there, it may be a matter of conditioning yourself, which may take practice.

So, go ahead and nap! And know you are in good company. Some of the greatest minds in history were nappers. Leonardo da Vinci took multiple naps a day to make up for less sleep at night. Albert Einstein, by contrast, slept ten hours a night and took a daily nap. Though embarrassed by his need for naps, Thomas Edison did so every day, and John F. Kennedy took his lunch in bed followed by a nap every day. Others who jealously guarded their daily naps include Napoleon, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, and John D. Rockefeller. ■

IF EVERYONE KNEW THE BENEFITS OF NAPPING, PERHAPS ATTITUDES WOULD CHANGE. HERE IS A LIST OF JUST A FEW POSITIVE EFFECTS OF NAPPING:

• Napping restores alertness, which increases performance, mental agility, and reduces mistakes and confusion.

• Napping after learning something new increases the chance that you will be able to remember it up to five times, according to German scientists. During sleep, our brains have a chance to build new neuro pathways, which forge memory.

• Napping can balance hormones and blood sugar while reducing food cravings, especially for sweets.

• Napping can reduce stress. The health benefits of stress reduction, as more and more science supports, are incalculable. Cortisol levels drop, the heart and lungs regulate, inflammation decreases, and so on.

• One study has shown that nappers have a decreased coronary mortality rate than those who did not nap.

March / April 2017 11

UPLIFT & INSPIRE

Richard Cunningham, Come on Down!

The Amazing Story of a Granddaughter’s Gift

D

By Cristina Nascimento

reams, determination, and love are powerful combinations.

For many years, retired teacher Richard Cunningham has watched The Price Is Right from his home in Kilgore, Ohio. His devotion to the longest running game show on television dates back to the show’s original host, Bill Cullen, who led the original version of the program from 1956 until 1972. He also admired Bob Barker when he hosted the show. “He was very professional but also a very caring person,” Richard said.

What sparked his interest in the popular game show? Richard credits the frugal grocery shopping skills he inherited from his mother. “When the show came on the air, I was very interested to see if my pricing skills agreed with the contestants,” he shared. He also keenly observed the prices of food and other items during shopping excursions with Judy, his wife of 52 years.

Richard’s family is quite familiar with his passion for The Price Is Right. His children and grandchildren know not to call during the show because he won’t answer the phone. His favorite games are Plinko and Cliff Hangers, the Swiss yodeler game. His least favorite? Time is Money, a pricing game where you can win up to $20,000.

“You have ten seconds to arrange the items. That is absolutely not enough time. I’m also too old to move fast enough to do it,” Richard added.

Richard was diagnosed with chronic leukemia in 2014. When his leukemia returned in October, his granddaughter Alexis Hileman was 12 American Senior

determined to make a lifelong dream of his come true. “I occasionally send my grandpa a gift during his chemo treatments. I try to send something little, just to say, ‘I love you’,” Alexis said. After hearing from her mother Amy that his lifelong dream was to attend The Price Is Right, Alexis set out to make her grandfather’s dream come true. What followed was an inspirational and moving journey for Richard and his family.

On a Sunday in January, the Cunningham family surprised Richard at his church with the incredible news that he would be a contestant on The Price Is Right. “During the service,” remembered Richard, “the pastor paused before his sermon and said, ‘Some family is going to be blessed today and it’s going to knock your socks off.’” Then The Price Is Right theme song started playing, followed by a video of his grandchildren announcing that he would attend a live taping in February. When Richard turned and saw his wife Judy crying, he knew this wasn’t a joke.

Richard’s journey to The Price Is Right soon garnered the attention of many followers and well-wishers outside their small community in Ohio. Alexis created social media pages on Facebook and Twitter called “Help Grandpa Be On The Price Is Right”. She posted regular updates and photos of her grandfather and raised money for their trip. Richard’s family was overwhelmed with joy by the generosity of local and national businesses that helped them along the way. JetBlue provided airline tickets for Richard

COURTESY OF ALEXIS HILEMAN

ABOVE: RICHARD CUNNINGHAM WITH (LEFT TO RIGHT) DEROCK LONG, DAUGHTER AMY RICHARDS, GRANDSON-INLAW BRYSSON HILEMAN, WIFE JUDY CUNNINGHAM, AND GRANDDAUGHTER ALEXIS HILEMAN.

and Judy, and companies such as Walmart, Harmony, and Applebee’s provided goods and gift certificates to ease the journey. “When I saw the JetBlue flight confirmation, all I could do was cry,” said Alexis. “We just simply could have never paid for that. That really inspired me to do the absolute best I could to make this the trip of a lifetime. How could you not after everyone worked so hard and donated so much? There are still nice people in this world.”

After weeks of planning and anticipation, with custom-made t-shirts in hand, Richard and his family prepared for their cross-country trip. Alexis and her husband Brysson flew to Los Angeles to meet her grandparents and her mother. Every detail of Alexis’ plan was met with an outpouring of love and support from the minute airline representatives greeted the family at Pittsburgh Airport to the moment staffers from The Price Is Right escorted Richard and his group to the front of the line at the studio. For the family, the levels of energy and excitement at the taping were infectious.

“The taping was great! You could feel the electricity in the room. We applauded and clapped more than we ever did in our lives,”

Richard said. He was very surprised by the size of the studio. “It seemed a lot smaller sitting in it opposed to watching it on TV.” After the taping, Richard recalled feeling like he imagined the whole experience: “Was it real? Was I really there? Did I really talk with Drew Carey and shake his hand? Did I sit in that studio? Yes, I did! Even the dream that you think could never happen, can come true. It also helps to have wonderful grandchildren like Judy and I do, who find out what your dream is and put action toward your dreams.”

Alexis grew up in Maine and attended college near her grandparents’ home in Ohio. “This is truly where I really got to know my grandparents,” Alexis said. “We’ve had a great relationship and continue to do so. I love surprises and I saved one of the best ones for them. They deserve the world and I couldn’t be happier that I got to live Grandpa’s dream right alongside of him. To see his smile and my grandma’s happiness was priceless.”

To find out whether Richard Cunningham was called to “Come on down” to Contestants’ Row on The Price Is Right, tune in to the show on CBS on May 9, 2017. ■ March / April 2017 13

FACING ALZHEIMER’S

Approaching Eating Challenges for People with Dementia Blend Independence and Safety into Satisfying Meals

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or people living with dementia, eating can present a variety of challenges—some of which are more obvious than others.

“Many assume the problem for people with Alzheimer’s is not eating enough, which does occur, but it can also be the opposite,” says Ruth Drew, director of Family and Information Services at the Alzheimer’s Association®. “Because of memory issues caused by the disease, people can forget they already ate and keep eating, resulting in weight gain.”

Alzheimer’s also attacks the body’s ability to function, especially in the middle to late stages of the disease. A person with dementia may have

14 American Senior

trouble lifting utensils or sitting up straight to chew and swallow. However, with careful attention to ability and safety, as well as a dash of creativity, you can address many common eating challenges.

• Help the person to maintain their independence. Don’t assume that someone struggling to eat needs to be fed. Instead, seek a solution that promotes the person’s independence. For example, if he or she is spilling iced tea, offer it in a lidded cup with a straw.

Rather than drawing attention to the person’s challenge, normalize the situation and say, “Here’s your tea.” Experiment together with ergonomic

COURTESY OF THE ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION, ISTOCK

A PERSON WITH DEMENTIA MAY HAVE TROUBLE LIFTING UTENSILS OR SITTING UP STRAIGHT TO CHEW AND SWALLOW. silverware and plates or bowls that anchor to the table. “Sometimes finger foods and spill-proof cups are best,” Drew says. “Help people do as much as they can for as long as they can.”

• Watch expressions and reactions when eating. A person with dementia may speak less as the disease progresses, so stay attuned to facial expressions and body language. “Watch to see if the person has difficulty chewing and swallowing.

If he or she seems to be in pain, consult a medical professional immediately,” Drew says. “Poorly fitting dentures, toothaches, mouth sores, indigestion, or constipation may be the cause. Also take note of which foods the person prefers. Many people with dementia like foods that are soft and sweet, such as applesauce or yogurt.”

• Create meals that are colorful.

Some persons with dementia have difficulty distinguishing foods of similar colors, for example, chicken, mashed potatoes, and cauliflower on a white plate. Serve foods of different colors and use contrasting dishes and linens.

• Allow enough time. If forgetting to eat or eating too often is a problem, offer regular reminders. In the early stages of dementia this could include posting a schedule or setting an alarm. If someone is too distracted or restless to finish a meal, offer something nutritious and portable, like a

smoothie in a lidded cup with a straw. “While variety can entice many people to try more foods, others may find choices overwhelming and prefer dishes presented one at a time.” Drew says.

“Accommodate the person’s needs so he or she can finish the meal at their own pace.”

• Safety and well-being are critical. “When people stop eating or drinking in their usual way, assess for pain first,” Drew says. “Work with health care professionals to determine the problem.”

Some medicines can cause side effects such as loss of appetite or dry mouth. Check with a doctor before giving a person with dementia vitamins or supplements, and learn the Heimlich maneuver so you are prepared in case of choking.

“Your ultimate goal in planning meals for a person with dementia should be to satisfy both their physical and emotional needs,” Drew says.

“A focus on independence, simple adjustments, and personal connection can help people continue to enjoy eating.” ■ For more information and ideas, visit alz.org/care or call 800.272.3900.

March / April 2017 15

What’s So Wrong With

HUMAN ERROR? You Never Know Where Your Mistakes Will Take You

n 1941, a Swiss engineer by the name of George de Mestral took a two-week game bird hunting getaway to the Jura Mountains on the border between Switzerland and France. After a long day of hiking through the woods and fields with his Irish Pointer, de Mestral noticed a number of burdock seedpods clinging to his trousers and his dog’s fur, and he struggled to remove the sticky, prickly burrs. What a mistake that walk was!

We all make mistakes. Our world is so complicated and our lives are so busy, it would be amazing if we did not. We can be forgetful, clumsy, confused, 16 American Senior

misdirected, and misinformed. We are often disorganized, perplexed, or puzzled, and we can make errors in both judgment and action. The biggest mistake of all, however, is when we assume that every flub, blunder, gaffe, or accident is a failure or a bad thing. In fact, our errors can be very good for us.

If we did the right thing all the time, never messing up or faltering, there would be no reason to change or grow. Instead, errors force us to slow down our actions, reexamine our motives, and study the process that led to the mistake so we don’t repeat it. Mistakes can spark our curiosity to

ILLUSTRATION BY M. MUSGROVE

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By Melissa Mayntz

learn more, just as de Mestral was curious about those tenacious burrs after his walk and decided to study them under the microscope.

Mistakes enrich our lives. If we make a mistake in a relationship, we learn more about our needs and desires and how to communicate better with others.

As we do so, we learn more about those important people in our lives and grow closer to family members and friends. We might also better realize when a relationship isn’t working, and while that may seem like a tremendous error, it helps us forge stronger relationships that will work with others.

As we make errors, we also make discoveries.

A student who makes a mistake may get guidance from a teacher or reread their notes and discover

and accidentally missing a photo we’d hoped to capture can lead to taking a photography class and learning more techniques to use to create even more beautiful photos.

Of course, if we were studying burrs, we might consult with textile experts, manufacturers, and seamstresses to learn more about how to recreate the seedpods’ unique structure and gripping properties.

We might even start experimenting with different materials, making even more errors along the way that help us refine our interest and sharpen our skills.

We aren’t the only ones to learn from our individual errors. The mistakes we make can become lessons for others in the stories we tell and the anecdotes we share with family members

EMBRACING OUR ERRORS IS THE VERY BEST THING WE CAN DO. new connections they hadn’t realized before. If we make a mistake while walking or driving and end up someplace new, we may discover a convenient shortcut or a favorite new spot to visit. An error with a recipe ingredient or cooking instructions may help us discover a new flavor combination we enjoy or a new favorite food to recreate. Or, as de Mestral discovered, we may learn more about how burrs stick to fur, cloth, and other materials, and how the structure of a burr is both efficient and strong.

Curiosity and learning is good for us and healthy for our brains. Forging new pathways among our neurons is a key factor in staving off memory loss, dementia, and other mental difficulties, and we have our mistakes to thank for providing that spark to create more memories. As we learn more, we also make even more connections, seeking out others to help us sate our curiosity. A case of mistaken identity with a feathered friend visiting the yard, for example, may lead to joining a birding group and engaging in a new hobby to learn about other birds. Or making a mistake with our camera

and friends. The nugget of information we gleaned from an inadvertent error can help others avoid the same mistake while going on to make different errors of their own, stretching their own lives in new and rewarding ways. As with de Mestral, his simple study of burrs went on to influence a range of industries including space exploration, agriculture, boating, military operations, toy manufacturing, crafts, clothing, luggage, footwear, sporting goods, and more.

Embracing our errors is the very best thing we can do. Don’t deny, hide, or feel ashamed of mistakes, but rather own up to them and use each one as an opportunity for growth, change, and discovery. George de Mestral could have simply groomed his dog and pulled the burrs off his trousers, discarding them quickly to hide the evidence of his mistake in walking through the prickly field. But if he had done that, he never would have invented VELCRO®. ■ Melissa Mayntz is a Florida-based freelance writer who doesn’t mind making a lot of mistakes, especially when they involve chocolate.

March / April 2017 17

D E T C E REJ FROM BAD IDEA TO GREAT IDEA

By Christina Burns

ANYONE CAN BE A CRITIC. Many of the important and successful ideas that have found their place within our modern culture—some that have completely changed the world—were initially rejected and ridiculed by experts and the public. From sports and technology to film and literature to common products, the right timing and persistence turned what may have otherwise become dismissed and forgotten into some of the greatest breakthroughs and breakouts.

FILM Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?

The music—that’s the big plus about this. ­— Harry Warner of Warner Brothers, 1927

Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire’s first screen test failed to impress MGM. He was turned down by the studio, which noted on a report card: “Can’t act.

Can’t sing. Slightly bald. Can dance a little.” Of course, Fred Astaire would prove them wrong and just a few years later, would become one of the studio’s biggest stars. He reportedly kept that report card as a memento to remind himself of where he started.

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Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo

Considered a relative flop upon its release, the 1958 movie Vertigo broke even at the box office but underperformed compared to many of Alfred Hitchcock’s other films. Hitchcock was frustrated with the mixed reception to his film, and blamed its failure on casting 50-year-old Jimmy Stewart as a convincing love interest to 25-yearold Kim Novak. Time would change all that, and today the film is considered one of the most influential American movies and Hitchcock’s most acclaimed masterpiece.

LITERATURE I discovered that rejections are not altogether a bad thing. They teach a writer to rely on his own judgment and to say in his heart of hearts, “To hell with you.”

­— Saul Bellow, writer

MOVIESTORE COLLECTION LTD / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, EVERETT COLLECTION, INC. / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, CBW / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, AP PHOTO

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone

Upon completing her manuscript for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Joanne Rowling searched for a literary agent. The first one rejected her, sending back a note saying, “My list is full. The folder you sent wouldn’t fit in the envelope,” so the contents were never returned.

The next literary agent, Christopher Little, accepted her manuscript and sent it to multiple publishers, where it was rejected by a dozen of them until Bloomsbury offered to publish it. Since the publisher anticipated that the target audience would be boys aged 9 to 11, Rowling was asked to use a more gender neutral name, going by the initials “J.K.”. The Harry Potter series has become the best-selling book series in history, selling over 500 million copies worldwide and read by all ages and genders.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

Before Chicken Soup for the Soul became a bestselling book and something of a social phenomenon, it’s authors Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen were motivational speakers.

Finding inspiration from the true stories they had heard from their audiences, they compiled 101 of their favorite stories but publishers didn’t share their enthusiasm or a love for the

book’s catchy title. Every single one turned them down—123 in total—until they met Peter Vegso of Health Communications, Inc., a small self-help publisher in Florida. That first book grew into a publishing empire with now more than 250 books, becoming the best-selling trade paperback book series of all time.

POPULAR CULTURE Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.

­— Julie Andrews, actress

Kentucky Fried Chicken

Harland David Sanders, otherwise known as Colonel Sanders, was fired from a dozen jobs before becoming the owner of a filling station with a roadside restaurant. His patrons were treated to his home-cooked recipes, and his reputation eventually earned him the title of honorary Kentucky colonel by the governor.

That business would fail, in large part to the re-direction of car traffic once the interstate highway system was introduced, and at the age of 65, the Colonel was broke. He figured out a way to turn his “Original Recipe” for fried chicken made with 11 herbs and spices into a fast food item, and franchised his chicken recipe to restaurant owners.

The first Kentucky Fried Chicken franchise opened in Utah in 1952, and the Colonel’s image became intertwined with the fast food chain.

Pet Rocks

Gary Dahl was joking around with friends when he came up with the oddball concept for the ideal pet: a pet rock, which was March / April 2017 19

REJECTED low maintenance and inexpensive to care for, and had a great personality. Dahl spent the next two weeks writing a tongue-incheek book, The Care and Training of Your Pet Rock, a step-by-step guide full of puns and jokes for caring for your geological pet, including instructions for how to do tricks like rolling over and playing dead, and how to house train it. Accompanying the book was an actual rock, a Rosarita Beach stone. The Pet Rock was introduced at a fair in San Francisco and a new craze was born. Dahl sent out news releases of himself accompanied by a picture that showed him surrounded by boxes of his Pet Rocks. His wacky toy concept was considered ridiculous and its sudden popularity so surprising that Newsweek did a story on it, daily newspapers covered it, and Dahl appeared on The Tonight Show. All that publicity fueled its popularity, and a million rocks sold in just a few months.

The Slanket

Before you ever set eyes on that commercial for the Snuggie, there was the Slanket, the wearable blanket for adults. It all began in 1998 when Gary Clegg, then a college student, decided to cut a whole in his sleeping bag while watching

television so that he could have practical use of his arms. When he returned home for the holidays, he convinced his mother to make him his own wearable blanket. Fast forward to 2005, when Clegg got serious about his idea and decided to manufacture and market it. QVC sold it and made record sales. By late 2008, the Slanket became a cultural phenomenon, often ridiculed but ultimately popular with over four million sold by late 2009. The Snuggie would emerge two years later as a cheaper version of the Slanket, popularized by nationally televised commercials.

TECHNOLOGY Failure is only the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.

­— Henry Ford of Ford Motor Company

The Telephone

In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell was granted a patent for a method of transmitting sounds on a telegraph wire, now known as a telephone, and set about selling his invention. He offered to sell the rights to his patent to Western Union for $100,000, but the company turned down his proposal, citing that the device was merely a toy and served no real purpose. A few years later, Western Union’s president acknowledged that it was a major business blunder and told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $25 million, he would consider it a bargain. In the meantime, the Bell Telephone Company had been established, and soon they would dominate the entire market.

Xerox Machine

When Chester Carlson invented xerography, the process of photocopying, and eventually sold his product as the ubiquitous Xerox machine, the 20 American Senior

business world could finally say goodbye to carbon copies. He patented his method in 1937, but it took 22 years to see his invention come to life, enduring rejections from nearly two dozen companies including IBM, Kodak, and General Electric. In 1959, his Model 914 was finally introduced to the public. Many years later, Fortune called the 914 “the most successful product ever marketed in America measured by return on investment.”

KEYSTONE PICTURES USA / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO, LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY, KENNETH E. BEHRING CENTER, AP PHOTO/JOHN SWART

Apple Computers

Steve Wozniak was working for Hewlett-Packard when he hand-built his desktop computer as a side project. In 1976, his loyalty to his employer led him to offering the company the design for his Apple I. As the story goes, Wozniak’s “personal computer” was rejected five times by HewlettPackard. They believed only a hobbyist would be interested in it, not seeing why an ordinary person would need a computer with that particular form and functionality. Steve Jobs saw an opportunity and suggested that they design and sell just the circuit board so people could build their own computer with a keyboard and television set. This proved to be so successful that Jobs was eventually able to convince Wozniak to resign from HP and formed Apple Computer.

SPORTS Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.

­— Matt Biondi, former swimmer, eleven-time Olympic medalist

Stan Smith

As an adolescent, tennis champ Stan Smith was rejected from being a ball boy for a Davis Cup tennis match because event organizers felt he was

too clumsy and uncoordinated. Smith grew up and refined his coordination to become the no.

1 American tennis player, winning Wimbledon, the US Open, and eight Davis Cups. Surprisingly, Stan Smith may best be known for the iconic tennis shoes by Adidas bearing his name and face, which have remained in production since 1973 and become fashionable in the past few years.

Michael Jordan

Known as perhaps the best basketball player of all time, Michael Jordan didn’t make his high school varsity basketball team the first time he tried out in 1978. He was 15 years old and only 5ˇ10ˇˇ, not tall enough yet to get a coveted spot on the varsity team, so instead he played on the junior varsity team that year. His embarrassment would later fuel his motivation as an athlete. The following year he grew four inches and worked out constantly, earning a place on the varsity team and becoming their best player. In his senior year, he was named as a McDonald’s All American.

And the rest is history. ■ March / April 2017 21

22 American Senior

ISTOCK

think before you speak

it

By Seamus Mullarkey

seems that we spend a huge amount of our days communicating in various ways, yet, how often do we actually consider how and why we communicate with each other?

After all, language isn’t just simply used to indicate what we want.

Instead, our choice of words allows us to express nuance, to explore various sides of an argument, to clarify what people are saying, and to ask for others’ feedback—all things that go beyond simply expressing a desire, showing reluctance, or indicating disagreement.

Yet, have you ever sat with a favorite pet in comfortable silence? There is so much shared between you, all expressed by looks, gestures, and perhaps a limited range of sounds. Yet, close as you and Fido or Fluffy may be, it’s their inability to express themselves in words that forever places somewhat of a distance between you. Nevertheless, such quiet, non-verbal

communication can be extremely comforting.

In fact, there are those who would contend that our ability to put thoughts into words could pose obstacles: we tend to use words to obfuscate meaning—to either hide from others our true intent, or to rationalize a troubling reality.

This poses the question: why, of all the creatures on the planet, did humans develop such advanced linguistic ability? Otherwise put, how and when did humans start to communicate in this unique way?

An abundance of theories exist. There’s the notion that the first human words were echoes of animal cries, or that we imitated sounds made by the whacking of rudimentary tools on stone.

Isn’t it quite a fascinating quest to speculate what that very first phrase might have been? Could it have been an urgent “no,” a poignant “please,” or an enthusiastic “yes?” The romantics among us might like to imagine a phrase with seductive overtones such as “me Tarzan, you Jane!” Those March / April 2017 23

of a more cynical mindset might agree with Lily Tomlin—who conjectured that Man invented language “to satisfy his deep need to complain.”

On a more positive note, who among us could not be touched by the joy of a child uttering his or her first words? These elementary expressions such as “mama,” “dada,” or “baba,” are all ways for the infant to identify itself and bond with other family members. Of course, let’s not forget how quickly those first syllables are followed by a series of insistent “whats,” “whys”— and inevitably—“why nots?”

Disagreeing with others and voicing dissent is perhaps one of language’s most vital functions.

As we all know, freedom of speech is the widely held concept that we have an innate 24 American Senior

right to put contentious or contradictory opinions out there for all to hear. Yet, legal precedent also indicates that there can be limitations placed on free speech, such as for reasons of national security or so as not to cause panic by falsely yelling “Fire” in an enclosed space. Furthermore, most reasonable people would agree that we should not use language to provoke hate or incite violence. These limitations recognize the astounding power that words have—not only to express ourselves, but also to cause danger or to inflict lasting damage. Early on, parents teach children to “mind their language.” Kids are warned not to demean others, be malicious, or say things that are coarse or hateful. Such

guidance helps produce adults who are kind, considerate, and sincere about what they say— and what they don’t.

Speaking of sincerity, perhaps the most troubling linguistic phenomenon is when language becomes detached from true meaning.

Undoubtedly, the most powerful example would be in 1984, George Orwell’s powerful parable in which expressions of reality morph into what Orwell labels “doublespeak”.

In such a troubling scenario, selfish motives and evil deeds are concealed behind innocent-sounding phrases.

Through this manipulation of words, domination is made to seem like kindly protection, and misdeeds are glossed over with catchphrases. Ultimately,

ISTOCK

THINK BEFORE YOU SPEAK

JUST AS CHEMICAL COMPOUNDS CAN INJURE OR HEAL, WHAT WE SAY IMPROVES OR DAMAGES OUR WORLD. SO, LET’S FROM TIME TO TIME “THINK BEFORE WE SPEAK.” such authoritarian lingo re-labels brutality to sound like benevolence.

Yet, not all alternate forms of language have such a sinister intent. Use of certain unusual vocabulary identifies us as members of certain groups, whether it is hip teenagers demonstrating their rebellious credentials, or nostalgic adults reminiscing on phrases that are no longer in use like “later alligator.” Then there’s the affectionate use of regional phrases such as the southern “y’all” or the now archaic New York greeting “hey, youse guys” that indicate your fondness for a particular place.

Dropping foreign phrases into conversation can be a means to demonstrate your insider sophistication. Alternatively,

phrases such as “basta” or “gesundheit” might revive fond childhood memories of an immigrant grandparent.

While on the subject of foreign languages, there’s the question of how and when our multitude of different languages evolved. This study is known as philogy from the Greek for “knowledge of words”. The academic field of philogy can also include considering how the way people view the world is based on the particular language they speak—and the culture from which it derives.

For instance, does the Irish love of storytelling truly give them “the gift of the gab”? Does the WWII phrase “Keep Calm and Carry On” indicate that only the British can stay cool in a crisis?

It was Rudyard Kipling who

stated, “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Just as chemical compounds can injure or heal, what we say improves or damages our world. So, let’s from time to time “think before we speak”. Why not take some time to communicate more with those around you? Don’t just say what’s on your mind; encourage others to share their thoughts.

Above all, let’s not always try “to make a long story short” or “get right to the point”. Instead, let’s luxuriate in the glorious gift of language—expressing ourselves every day in ways that are individual and memorable. ■ Seamus Mullarkey is a New York City writer who doesn’t always think before he speaks (but he often wishes he did).

March / April 2017 25

ERIC BRAEDEN IS CHANNELING HAMLET

The Patriarch of Daytime Television Talks About His Fascinating Life

By Christina Burns

W

ith his chiseled features and athletic build, Eric Braeden cuts a debonair figure. Perhaps you’ve been watching him as the ruthless (yet beloved) villain Victor Newman on The Young and the Restless, or you may have simply noticed him gazing out from the daytime magazine covers that line the grocery store check-out (he has appeared on over 800 magazine covers, more than double the amount of any actor in daytime history).

While there is no doubt that Victor Newman has dominated daytime television for nearly four decades, there’s little about the character in common with the man who portrays him. Eric Braeden shares his experiences on The Young and The Restless and so much more in his new memoir, I’ll Be Damned.

In case you were wondering, that slightly affected European accent of his is German. Born in Bredenbeck, Germany as Hans Gudegast, he came into the world in the midst of chaos during World War II in 1941. Once the war ended and Germany went about trying to rebuild, he lived a loving and privileged childhood as the third of four boys until age 12 when his father, the town’s mayor, unexpectedly died. His father’s death was catastrophic—he lost his hero and the family lost all their financial security. He found comfort and escape in sports, specifically track and field, where he excelled.

Once Braeden was old enough to strike out on his own, he immigrated to the United States. He took odd jobs, including work in a mortuary and as a cattle rancher, until he landed at the University of Montana on a track 26 American Senior

and field scholarship. Fate stepped in when a friend asked him to join him in attempting to be the first to traverse a noted Lewis and Clark river known as The River of No Return. A documentary film crew captured some of their successful adventure, and then they were off to Los Angeles to sell their film. Once Braeden was in Hollywood, he split his time between building a career as an actor and as a professional soccer player on the Jewish-American soccer club Maccabi Los Angeles, which he played on for 13 years and won the 1973 national championship.

Braeden’s breakout role was in the World War IIcentered television series The Rat Patrol that aired on ABC from 1966–1968. His portrayal of the show’s Nazi villain Hans Dietrich won over American audiences who were accustomed to viewing German characters as strictly bad guys. In 1970, he started using the stage name Eric Braeden (a nod to his home town) when he took the starring role in the film Colossus: The Forbin Project. Following was a decade of guest appearances on shows including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Wonder Woman, Gunsmoke, and The Six Million Dollar Man . He appeared in more shows as a guest star than any other actor working in the 1960s and 70s. Early in his career, he was considered as James Bond, once Sean Connery was ready to leave the franchise. He went on to star in other landmark blockbusters including roles as Dr. Otto Hasslein in Escape from the Planet of the Apes and John Jacob Astor IV in James Cameron’s Titanic.

Eventually, the accolades arrived. In 1989, Braeden was chosen as the only actor on the newly formed German American Advisory Board,

LESLEY BOHM

ERIC BRAEDEN RELAXING AT HOME IN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

which included Dr. Henry Kissinger, Katherine Graham, Alexander Haig, Steffi Graf, and Paul Volcker. In 1998 he won the Daytime Emmy for his portrayal of Victor Newman and received The People’s Choice Award as “Favorite Actor in a Daytime Drama Series”. In 2007, he earned his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first German actor since Marlene Dietrich to receive that honor. That day he was surrounded

by longtime friends including Esther Williams, Bill Maher, George Kennedy, Jesse Ventura, his castmates from The Young and The Restless, and last but not least, his wife Dale and son Christian.

Braeden sat down with American Senior to discuss coming to America, his career and the rise to his alter ego, Victor Newman, his passions for history, politics, and Shakespeare, and his greatest achievement in life.  March / April 2017 27

ERIC BRAEDEN

LEFT TO RIGHT: WITH BARBARA STEELE IN THE MOVIE OF THE WEEK, HONEYMOON WITH A STRANGER, 1969. A STILL FROM THE FILM, COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT, 1969. GUEST STARRING IN THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN, 1973.

28 American Senior

about. I was a little boy from a village in northern Germany and yet, we had a team that beat all these big towns like Frankfurt and Berlin. From early on it imbued me with a sense of being able to conquer that.

AS Early on before you came to the US, you had a wealthy, well-connected girlfriend and you were successful in sports.

You could have stayed in Germany and done something impressive with your life. Why did you leave?

EB It was never merely enough for me. Upon reflection, I think from early on I knew I was not made for ordinary, by-the-book bourgeois success. I really didn’t give a damn about that. I always had these dreams of doing larger-than-life things. I think that had to do with growing up in the countryside under very tough circumstances. I needed to get out of the confines of a very provincial life and full of conflict because of my father’s

early death. I’m not surprised that I ended up in acting or in some form of art to express my deep feelings of anger, frustration, and questioning. I’m very much a Hamlet figure. The wonderful thing is I fell into a profession where I could express a lot of that.

AS When you first moved to the US, you tried to join the Marines. If you had passed that test, you would have likely gone into Vietnam, and then your entire trajectory would have been very different.

EB Yes, that’s true, isn’t it? I grew up in a tough background, fistfights all the time. I grew up in sports, and I was good at it.

I thought, “The Marines, that sounds like a hell of an idea,” and I would become a citizen very quickly. That interested me.

AS So you were interested in becoming an American and came to the United States to immigrate here?

ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES, PHOTO 12 / ALAMY STOCK PHOTO.

American Senior Reading your memoir, it’s fair to say that your life has been fateful. How did you manage to navigate yourself from a small village in Germany and eventually into Hollywood?

Eric Braeden Every phase of my life, I must say, probably had a normal amount of trepidation about whether I was going to make it or not. From sports, or genetics, or my upbringing, I’ve always been accompanied by an enormous faith and drive in what I could do. It’s a process of overcoming that fear and acknowledging it. There is always that sense of defiance—I don’t know where I have that from—and also that sense of knowing that I can accomplish it and it comes from sports. That’s why sports are so important.

To become German youth champion in discus, javelin, and shot put with my team, in a country that produces a lot of good athletes, is unusual that it’s almost preposterous to think

ABC PHOTO ARCHIVES/ABC VIA GETTY IMAGES, MONTY BRINTON/CBS ©2004 CBS BROADCASTING, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, MONTY BRINTON/CBS ©2004 CBS BROADCASTING, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, PHOTO BY ANDY LYONS /ALLSPORT

LEFT TO RIGHT: THE ROCK’N SOCCER CELEBRITY GAME, PART OF THE MLS ALL-STAR WEEKEND AT DISNEY’S WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS PARK IN ORLANDO, FLORIDA, 1998. WITH MELODY THOMAS SCOTT AS NIKKI AND VICTOR NEWMAN ON THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, 2004. THE 2,342ND STAR ON THE HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME, 2007.

EB Yes. As many in my generation, the post-War generation, I was very impressed by American culture. You must remember that after the War, our heroes were Louis Armstrong and Lionel Hampton. My personal hero was Parry O’Brien, who was the most successful shot putter in America at the time and he introduced the Parry O’Brien style of shot putting. I studied his film very carefully to develop a good technique, which obviously helped. And then I read a lot of stories about the American West. There was an enormously successful writer called Karl May who wrote stories of the American West with such attention to detail that he could not have known but he read books by Alexander von Humboldt, who explored the American West. And Karl May read those carefully and then adapted them and wrote wonderful stories about confrontations of cowboys and

Indians. I was always fascinated by those [books]. So America had a deep attraction to me.

And then I saw Julius Caesar with Marlon Brando where he played Marc Antony, and I thought “Oh!” My mother saw Gone With the Wind with Clark Gable at least 13 times. And Elvis Presley loomed large in teenage imaginations because of the very sexy rock n’ roll dancing and all that stuff. And I remember Louis Armstrong more than anyone. He would perform in the 1950s in Kiel and other German cities, and people loved him, loved him! All that had a subliminal effect on me.

AS Then you went to Montana State (now called University of Montana)…

EB I had a girlfriend named Dorothy McBride and through her, I met Bob McKinnon. He was a Hemingway type—very bright but also very tough. He had traversed rivers in America and he wanted to go up and

down The River of No Return and he asked me to join him. I asked what the upshot would be. He said there was going to be a documentary film with sponsorship by Johnson Motors and Alcoa Aluminum and with the documentary film we’d go to California. So I said, “I’m in!”

Anything to get out of Montana because Montana was tough for me—after working as a cowboy, I then got a scholarship at the university in track and field but that only paid tuition, so to earn a living I worked in a lumber mill from 6:00 to 2:00 in the morning, and I slept on average about 4 to 5 hours. The first lecture was at 8:00 in the morning.

The River of No Return is Idaho’s Salmon River, a river full of rapids. The speed of the water increases exponentially. So you fight against it, you drive at it. The trick is to get through the rapid and not get thrown. The times that I almost died—which was three times—was going against the rapid. The power is enormous.

March / April 2017 29

ERIC BRAEDEN AS And there was no one around? Did the documentary film crew only meet you at certain points?

EB That camera guy came only on one mile of the river. The other areas were not accessible.

AS Where is the documentary now?

EB At home. It’s called The Riverbusters. Maybe I should post it. It was done on the mile of the river that was the least dangerous part. So we took [the documentary] to Los Angeles, and they showed it on all kinds of television shows in LA. It was a thing to have conquered The River of No Return. LIFE magazine wanted to do a story but they couldn’t because we came back too late. We got $500 each and I stayed in LA. The rest is a long history.

AS Then you met your wife, and you’ve been together for fifty years. That’s the antithesis of Victor Newman, isn’t it?

EB I met her in 1963. I’ve been married to an extraordinarily supportive woman who gave me a wonderful son, who I am very proud of, very close to. His birth was arguably the most exciting time in my life. He’s directing a film as we speak, that he wrote starring Gerald Butler and the rapper 50 Cent, which will come out in October or November. I’m going to work with him on his film, Den of Thieves, in a small cameo role because he asked me to. He’s a very good writer and he did all this without using any of 30 American Senior

my connections. His success is more important to me than my own success.

AS Can we discuss your career as a professional soccer player?

EB I won the US championships with the [Los Angeles] Maccabees. They won the US national cup five times and I won it with them the first time in 1973. So I played Nazis during the week, and wore the Star of David on Sundays when I played with the Maccabees.

AS So you played professional soccer while you were cultivating your acting career. What would you define as your big break?

EB My big break was going from Soldier 1 to Soldier 2 and guest starring in Combat! [in 1962].

That was my first big break. I remember other actors and some directors telling me to stay with it; that encouragement was there from early on. That led to other guest star roles including Mission Impossible, where I played a Shakespeare quoting Russian CBS DAYTIME CELEBRATES BEING #1 FOR 30 YEARS WITH A “CLASS PHOTO,” 2017.

spy who kissed Barbara Bain for the first time. And that was in turn seen by George Shaefer in New York, and he wanted me for a play with Geraldine Page, Clarence Williams III and the German actor Curt Jurgens at the Eugene O’Neill theater. So I did that play and I was asked to stay on Broadway but meanwhile I had done the pilot for The Rat Patrol. So, I had to go back to film The Rat Patrol, which was in the south of Spain.

Then, I did more guest starring roles than almost any other actor in Hollywood in the 60s and 70s, everything from The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to Gunsmoke to The F.B.I. AS You were that guy.

EB Precisely. The bad guy. Then I was doing a film with Raquel Welch and Burt Reynolds and an offer came in to do a screen test for Universal Pictures.

My wife and I shared a huge flat with Fernando Lamas and Esther Williams, and a call came in that Lew Wasserman, the head of Universal Studios, wanted me for the lead in this

wonderful to see. Or, when I go to Harlem, “Hey Victor, man, you’re cold as ice!”

AS Victor Newman is someone you’ve lived with for 37 years.

Is he another person you know?

EB I never talk about Victor, it doesn’t even come into my head unless I’m working or people come up to me in the street.

ART STREIBER/CBS ©2017 CBS BROADCASTING, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

film but he wanted me to change my name. Lew Wasserman of German-Jewish background, and he insisted that I change my German name with the argument that no actor with a German name would star in an American film. So I had to chew on that for a while.

AS So do you think that if you didn’t change your name, you would be as successful as you are?

EB Who knows. My wife encouraged me to do it. She had heard my frustration about the German image in America being dictated largely by stereotypical images perpetuated by Hollywood, understandably so but nevertheless. I was proud of my name, proud of where I’m from. Finally we hit upon a name that stems from the village that I grew up in, Bredenbeck.

AS How is it when people confuse you with your character, Victor Newman?

EB People stop me on the street all the time. It goes from the streets of Paris where the arrogant French walk by and suddenly stop, “Hello, Victor! Mon dieu! Ca va?” It’s

AS So you don’t have dreams that you are suddenly Victor?

EB None! None! The only dreams I had for a while were when I did Richard III and Hamlet and Macbeth. There you have so much to remember.

AS You’re referring to the time when you performed fourteen Shakespearean monologues.

EB Yes. The most beautiful, profound language is by Shakespeare. It’s just incredible.

What a genius. You really appreciate the genius when you do the plays. [He recites a monologue from Richard III: “Now is the winter of our discontent…” Then a Hamlet speech.] The language is just extraordinary. And the sad thing about Shakespeare is that only as an actor, or a director, or an academic, do you really, really understand it. The most pessimistic in all of Shakespeare is [he recites the famous soliloquy from Macbeth]: To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death.

Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more.

It is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury Signifying nothing.

AS Why did you decide to write your book now?

EB To be honest with you, I was very reluctant to do it. There are moments when I don’t want to talk about myself at all.

I used to always have dreams about just being a carpenter, of doing something with my hands, that doesn’t have anything to do with myself.

But that’s only momentary.

And I wouldn’t be good at it. So why write my book now? Well, a lot of people, including my wife and my son, who are very important in my life, asked me to write my story.

AS Victor Newman is known for saying “I’ll be damned,” which became your book’s title.

So do you say, “I’ll be damned” all the time?

EB A lot. Yes, and it’s a good title [for the book], because it’s so true. I was just a young boy, just turned 18 when at 6:00 in the morning I saw the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of New York, coming from a village in Germany to the 34th Street docks. And I said, “Wow, to this.” ■ March / April 2017 31

ISTOCK

32 American Senior

THE FORGOTTEN

S

By Tobi Adams • Photographs by Julien McRoberts

cattered across the hilltops of Mono County, California lies the remains of the town of Bodie. When gold was discovered there in 1859, people braved incredibly difficult conditions for the chance to strike it rich. The town grew quickly. Twenty years later, Bodie had a population of 8,500 men, women, and children. Homes, schools, churches, and businesses were built.

Eventually, both gold and silver were mined and the town continued to grow and prosper through the 1870s and 1880s, producing more than $35 million in those precious metals. Bodie’s mining district included 30 mines and nine stamp mills. Eventually the town grew to more than 10,000 people.

While some did strike it rich, most barely got by on those windswept, snowy hills. Life was dangerous in the mines and many were killed in fires and collapses. In addition to the miners, merchants, and families, Bodie attracted a rough element. Accounts describe the town as a wild, lawless place— gunfights, gambling, and prostitution ran rampant in the many saloons, houses of ill repute, and opium dens. This was truly the Wild West.

The boom didn’t last long. Less successful mines began to close and by 1900, the population

started to dwindle although mining continued in the hills until the 1940s. Eventually, the town was totally abandoned and is now a California State Historical Park.

The road to Bodie is still impassible in the winter. It is 13 miles from the highway and the last three miles are dirt. The only thing of note I passed on the way was a herd of sheep and the shepherd who brought them there. It struck me how incredibly isolated the town is and how difficult it would have been to get there in the 1800s. The remote location probably explains why people left so many of their possessions behind when they moved on.

While less than 10% of the buildings from Bodie’s heyday still remain, they are preserved in a state of “arrested decay,” and many homes and businesses are still fully furnished with the possessions of the pioneer families who lived there. Homes have beds and clothing, the schoolhouse has desks and books, and the hotel has its pool table. Legend has it that Bodie is haunted and those visitors who take “souvenirs” from their trip there are visited by bad luck. The visitor center has many letters from remorseful visitors who regret their behavior and some have sent the items back.

March / April 2017 33

AMERICAN WEST

Bodie isn’t the only town of the period you can still visit. Other remains of our pioneer past still exist in remote areas and in various stages of decay. Not all of these towns are totally abandoned— many are considered “living ghost towns” and have small populations of modern day pioneers who appreciate the remote, peaceful locations and the history of the area. Artists, writers, and descendants of the settlers from long ago are caring for towns like Randsburg, Johannesburg, and Keeler in California.

The Nevada desert also has living ghost towns worth exploring. More modern housing now surrounds Virginia City’s downtown but the wild horses still roam freely through the streets to the delight of both residents and tourists. Settlers flocked to the area following the discovery of the Comstock Lode of silver ore in 1859.

Thousands traveled there (including Mark Twain) in the hope of making a fortune in the mines. Today, many of the old buildings are open to visitors.

Smaller and more remote settlements like Belmont, Dayton, and Gold Hill dot the area and are an interesting mix of the new and old. Tonopah, the seat of Nye County, Nevada is just about halfway between Las Vegas and Reno. Taking a tour of the old Mizpah mine provides a fascinating glimpse into the world of our pioneer settlers and an education in the science of mining. The Mizpah Hotel has been thoughtfully preserved and updated for comfort, and is located near the base of the mined hills and the old cemetery. Many of the headstones are of those lost in mine fires and collapses while pursuing their dreams.

A visit to the old settlements of the West reminds us how difficult life was for the pioneer families and how different our lives are today. ■ 34 American Senior

GOLDPOINT, NEVADA

FIRST PAGE: Rusted mining pans adorn the wall of one of the town's buildings. ▼ Abandoned miners cabins

BODIE, CALIFORNIA Town church

VIRGINIA CITY, NEVADA

Samples of old barbed wire â–¼ A rusted car from the 1920s is a reminder of the past.

March / April 2017 35

AMERICAN WEST

RANDSBERG, CALIFORNIA Old barber shop

36 American Senior

TONOPAH, NEVADA  An example of what the living quarters of the early miners lived in.

INSET: An abandoned Mizpah Mine

DAYTON, NEVADA  Old saloon

BELMONT, NEVADA

▲ Original courier station and homes

March / April 2017 37

BOOKS

I’D DIE FOR YOU: AND OTHER LOST STORIES

THE HOUSE OF MEMORY: REFLECTIONS OF YOUTH AND WAR

F. Scott Fitzgerald did not design the stories in I’d Die For You as a collection. Most were submitted individually to major magazines during the 1930s and accepted for publication during Fitzgerald’s lifetime, but were never printed. Some were written as movie scenarios and sent to studios or producers, but not filmed. Others are stories that could not be sold because their subject matter or style departed from what editors expected of Fitzgerald. They date from the earliest days of Fitzgerald’s career to the last. They come from various sources, from libraries to private collections, including those of Fitzgerald’s family.

“I’d Die For You,” the collection’s title story, is drawn from Fitzgerald’s stays in the mountains of North Carolina when his health, and that of his wife Zelda, was falling apart. Most of these collected stories come from this time period, during the middle and late 1930s, though the collection spans Fitzgerald’s career from 1920 to the end of his life.

Some of the eighteen stories were physically lost, coming to light only in the past few years.

All were lost, in one sense or another: lost in the painful shuffle of the difficulties of Fitzgerald’s life in the middle 1930s; lost to readers because contemporary editors did not understand or accept what he was trying to write; lost because archives are like that, and good things can wait patiently in libraries for many centuries sometimes.

The author of more than sixty books on Turkey, Greece, biographical figures, and the history of science, John Freely has now written an engaging, funny, and tender memoir of coming of age during the Depression and World War II that is by turns full of wonder, humor, and gratitude.

Born in Brooklyn to Irish immigrants, Freely went to Ireland with his mother when he was five years old. Western Ireland was impoverished by the times but rich in beauty and intriguing people, and it opened in him a lifelong desire to see the world and its inhabitants. When he was seven, he returned to Brooklyn, and the antics of an adolescent boy played out on streets filled with character and characters. He vividly recollects his childhood homes with surprising clarity and rich detail, capturing Brooklyn and Western Ireland in the 1920s through early 1940s.

Freely joined the US Navy when he was 17 years old, serving in the China/Burma/India theater during World War II. His was an unusual wartime experience—while bringing supplies and ammunition over the Stilwell-Burma Road to Chiang Kai-shek’s Chinese guerrilla forces, he served alongside them during the last weeks of WWII in the Tibetan borderlands of China. It was a period of tragedy as well as growth, and is a satisfying read as you wander into Freely’s colorful and eventful past.

BY F. SCOTT FITZGERALD

38 American Senior

BY JOHN FREELY

SOUTH AND WEST: FROM A NOTEBOOK

CAVE DWELLERS: A NOVEL

You may have heard something of best-selling author Joan Didion’s newest book—both Time and The New York Times Book Review have named it as one of the most anticipated books for this year.

Didion has always kept notebooks: of overheard dialogue, observations, interviews, drafts of essays, and articles. “South” refers to one such notebook that traces a road trip she took with her husband John Gregory Dunne in June 1970, through Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama.

She interviews prominent local figures, describes motels, diners, a deserted reptile farm, a visit with Walker Percy, and a ladies’ brunch at the Mississippi Broadcasters’ Convention. She writes about the stifling heat, the almost viscous pace of life, the sulfurous light, and the preoccupation with race, class, and heritage she finds in the small towns they pass through.

“West” refers to the “California Notes” that began as an assignment from Rolling Stone on the Patty Hearst trial of 1976. Though Didion never wrote the piece, watching the trial and being in San Francisco triggered thoughts about the city, its social hierarchy, the Hearsts, and her own upbringing in Sacramento. Here is the beginning of her thinking about the West, its landscape, the western women who were heroic for her, and her own lineage (all of which would appear later in her acclaimed 2003 book, Where I Was From).

It is late 1937 when the young Nazi lieutenant Oskar Langweil is recruited to the cause of overthrowing Adolf Hitler while attending a party at the lavish home of a baroness.

Next, a high-ranking officer in Germany’s counterintelligence agency brings Oskar into the fold because of their mutual involvement in a patriotic youth league, and soon dispatches him to Washington, DC to seek support on a perilous mission. Despite his best efforts, Oskar is compromised and must immediately find a way to sneak back into Germany unnoticed.

A childhood friend introduces him to Lena, a Socialist and fellow ex-patriot, and they hatch a plan to have Oskar pose as her husband as they cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship filled with Nazis and fellow travelers. But bad luck follows them at every turn, and they find themselves messily entangled with the son of a US senator, a White Russian princess, a disgraced journalist, an aging brigadier, and a gay SS officer, becoming “the most wanted people in the Third Reich.”

This is a gripping novel of historical espionage about an eleventh-hour attempt by members of the German elite to unseat Hitler, and the endlessly complex consequences that ensue. Grant delivers a true spy thriller that is entertaining and deeply satisfying as the novel races toward its explosive conclusion.

BY JOAN DIDION

BY RICHARD GRANT

March / April 2017 39

FUN & GAMES CROSSWORD 1

2

3

4

7

5

6

ACROSS

1. Her (3) 3. Conjures up (7) 7. Belief system (5) 8. Central African river (5) 9. Exceed (3, 4) 11. Periphery (3) 12. Sorrow (3) 13. Puzzling (7) 15. Disney’s flying elephant (5) 17. As one, in music (5) 18. Examines and amends (7) 19. Naval SAS counterpart (inits) (3)

8

9

10

12

13

11

14

16

15

17

18

19

DOWN

1. Make a promise (5) 2. Improve (7) 3. Passports (abbr) (3) 4. Sovereign’s stand-in (7) 5. Family (3) 6. Tempest (5) 10. Empty (7) 11. Turns (7) 12. Type of waterbird (5) 14. Fasteners (5) 16. W orld’s first pop video channel (inits) (3) 17. T hey might be 4K, now (abbr) (3)

WORD SEARCH Points of a Horse N L M N K H T U N T S E H C O

L A E E U L A E T M U Z Z L E

S C Y S L O C H I M A N E I L

K O T N A O E E L E L T O I E

W F E I K E H P O S L Y T Z O

CHESTNUT EAR 40 American Senior ELBOW EYE

R A N O C E T T I A I B O H T

W O T L O H E K H L E E O E A

C R H C L L E L O F R H R W I

S L O Y E E T A R C U E C E O

S R C N R S P M D T F N W A N

O T O E O C E U H O Y D N O O

LOINS LOWER LIP MANE MUZZLE

N S I O F P E R O A T K E A L

E Y E F E E O H A F I C M Z Z

E W L C L A A L N A N O E E L

O N E K T E N R L L M H C H T

POINTS OF A HORSE CHESTNUT EAR ELBOW EYE FORELOCK HEAD HOCK HOOF LOINS LOWER LIPMANE MUZZLE NECK NOSE STIFLE THROAT

Solutions on page 46 SUDOKU

Sudoku—also known as Number Place—is a logic-based, combinatorial number-placement puzzle.

The aim of Sudoku is to enter a number from 1 through 9 in each cell of a grid. Each row, column, and region must contain only one instance of each number.

3 2 7

3 6 1 2 5

4 3 9 8 3 5 4 9 LETTER SOUP

Can you rearrange the floating letters below to spell out different words related to flowers? Each letter should be used exactly once in the resulting set.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

E N EO FL

7 1 8

5 2 8 4 9

6 2 8 1 7 2 9 4

N O I SS RO E UO R WL N T

V G YE L PA M IA O

March / April 2017 41

Find these objects hidden in the big picture.

Snake

Banana

Magnet

Artist’s brush

Fish 42

Answers on page 47

Candle

Slice of Toast

Baseball Bat

ART BY KELLY KENNEDY

Ring

PRIMATE PUZZLE

Find each word in the grid below by moving from square to square—in any direction. A square can be used in more than one word, but never more than once in the same word. Then write the unused letters, from left to right and top to bottom, to find your key word. We did one for you.

AFRICA APE BANANA FOREST HAIRY

Write the unused letters in order.

M O H L E

C A F O T

A I R Y S

O N A E A

N C P N B

The Gentleman Gorilla

KEY WORD: _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Answers on page 47

E

The mystery villain separated Count Yoga from his yoga mat! Find the only path through the maze from START to FINISH. Then write down the letters you passed through in order. That’s your key word.

T

M

A

K

R

E

Y

Count Yoga

H START

ART BY R. SIKORYA, © 2017 HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

MAZE CRAZE

P FINISH

Find These Words

S

S T

D O

Write the letters you passed through in order.

KEY WORD: _ _ _ _ _

A

P R

N Answers on page 47

43

ASTROLOGY MARCH / APRIL 2017

ARIES (March 21–April 19)

The coming months are filled with great potential for you. Not only is the Sun in Aries but it is also joined by Venus (in retrograde), Mercury, and Uranus. This may be the kind of potential that completely shifts your view of where you are headed. Areas that might display the most opportunity are personal re-direction, or how you spend your time on a daily basis. As the leader of the entire zodiac, you may be the one who cannot wait to get out of the gate and make some headway. Impulsive and erratic, you may act too quickly, which might force you to reconsider. Don’t ponder too long. Sometimes your gut instincts are spot on.

TAURUS (April 20–May 20)

You could be in the throes of some fairly substantial transitions in your life during this period. Transitions may sound daunting but consider what that might look like. Perhaps a new family member is on the way? Remember a transition is moving from one state to another, and rather than run to the negative stop, heartily consider the forward-looking events that could just as easily unfold. You might find that you would have shifted significantly in the most wonderful ways over this period. Rejoice.

GEMINI (May 21–June 21)

The next two months are going to find you in the spotlight regarding groups and business associates. While you might not have direct insight into those areas, consider what that might entail. For example, you could be involved in a group process that involves community organizers or heading up a new reading group. You may be quite the connector as your gift for gab finds you front and center as the great communicator. This lively and exhilarating period may bring out the best in you. If you can use this powerful influence to aid in your creative output, you may be quite pleased with the results.

44 American Senior

CANCER (June 22–July 22)

You may be witnessing a great deal of activity in your daily occupation. (Remember that occupation describes how you spend your time and not necessarily your employment.) You could be in for an out-of-the-blue experience during this period, which could include secret conversations or other tidbits that add a certain dramatic quality to this area of your life. Remember, you are the sensitive one so try and couch your reaction with that in mind. You need not be stung by a flippant comment. Simply roll with the conversation and see what can come your way by offering up your best based on your instincts.

LEO (July 23–Aug. 22)

What a great time for you to hit the road. Travel in just about any form may deliver you with unbelievable surprises. Consider conversations with strangers that take off like a house on fire. Or, how about coincidental events that seem incredibly familiar and yet there may be no reason for that since you may be walking in unfamiliar territory. These same themes also resonate out through education and even spirituality. Reading and research are key areas for exploration if you are not up for boarding an airplane or ocean liner. You can garner just as much as an armchair traveller as you can by moving through new vistas.

VIRGO (Aug. 23–Sept. 22)

This should be a good time to investigate some of your financial holdings. Remember the devil is in the details so take the time to drill down and see what comes of your research. Unusual activities and surprises are quite likely but that does not imply a loss. In fact, it might present just the opposite. Areas to aim your focus might be large organizational investments or money that could be inherited or passed on through some legal entity. Basically, this may be funds from an outside source. Stocks, bonds, and other investment sources may be the ones to deliver.

by Chris Flisher

LIBRA (Sept. 23–Oct. 22)

Overall this has been a pretty public year for you. In many ways, your public persona has been well received and you have been generally feeling the power of Jupiter as it moves through Libra. This powerful planet tends towards abundance and good fortune, but it can also amplify events as well. This period of time may find you involved with some new love interest or perhaps a surprise from a significant other. There is much to be excited about here as conversations and surprises become the norm. You may be aglow and it would be wise to savor the times. Hallelujah.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23–Nov. 21)

During this period of time, the cosmos is urging you towards helping others. This marvelous feeling of giving back resonates throughout all aspects of your life and may very well boost your sense of well-being. There is nothing that feels better than giving to others and the thanks that come back are self-affirming, if not surprising. It is the surprise factor that may be the most compelling as you are able to step in and take charge in a new and meaningful way. If you are not already involved in such activities, you might consider pursuing it, especially if your efforts involve a boost to your health. It’s a win-win.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22–Dec. 21)

What lovely surprises could await you during this time frame? Children and all of their innocence may be areas that delight and surprise you. Do you have another family member, perhaps unexpected, on the way? Or, how about a creative project that involves children? Both scenarios are quite likely and they may arise simply out of nowhere. This warm and creative theme may be the frosting on a cake of connection with little ones. We all know what a unique and pleasing presence a young child brings to our sometimes fractious world. You may find this quite by surprise and welcome them with open arms and open heart.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22–Jan. 19)

Even though you may feel the pressure to change in some responsible manner, you might also be quite pleased to see events unfold that allow you to do just that. Look to your domestic scene for the action to present itself. It is the home and the family that holds the promise of unexpected surprises. Could a son or daughter get a promotion or transfer that brings them back to your locale? These are the types of events that are probable under these skies. By extension, also consider new family members. Any time your home base becomes enhanced or altered by events, it is an opportunity to bond together and deepen your connection with each other.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20–Feb. 18)

Keep your attention on siblings during this period. You may have unexpected news or visits from them. Perhaps your family is growing and the news is shared amongst you all. Or, maybe you are in the process of doing some deep familial research that reveals a startling discovery. Investigation about family matters or simply just investigation may be the one area that provides the unusual stories or facts. If you stumble upon such information you might be inclined to document it for a future generation.

PISCES (Feb. 19–March 20)

Expect to see some unusual surprises regarding your investments during this time. Rather than jump to a negative conclusion, stop and consider what that might look like in the long run. Maybe you hit the jackpot on a prize stock offering or you discover an inheritance or other windfall. Look to large organizations to come to your aid in this matter. Tax breaks, financial rewards, or payouts from insurance companies, municipalities, or other institutions are also highly favored. Conversations with trusted advisors might reveal what’s in store but act with caution or on the advice of a known source.

March / April 2017 45

SOLUTIONS CROSSWORD S

H

W E

T

A R

WORD SEARCH

E

I

N

D

I

S

C

H

O

N

A U

W O

V

O

K I

O

N

N

O

V

C

A

E

C

E R

R

O

O P

U

T

U M B

O

T

E

T

U

V

E

S

S

V

I

S

E

O

I

M

I

C

A

D

E

G

R

R Y

S T

E

A

R

E

U

T

L T

I P

B

S

3 7 8 1 6 4 2 5 9

4 9 5 2 8 3 7 1 6

46 American Senior

L A E E U L A E T M U Z Z L E

S C Y S L O C H I M A N E I L

K O T N A O E E L E L T O I E

W F E I K E H P O S L Y T Z O

R A N O C E T T I A I B O H T

W O T L O H E K H L E E O E A

LETTER SOUP

SUDOKU

6 2 1 7 9 5 4 3 8

N L M N K H T U N T S E H C O

1 3 6 5 7 9 8 4 2

8 4 7 3 2 1 9 6 5

9 5 2 8 4 6 1 7 3

5 6 9 4 1 2 3 8 7

7 1 3 9 5 8 6 2 4

2 8 4 6 3 7 5 9 1

1. VIOLET 2. PEONY 3. SUNFLOWER 4. MAGNOLIA 5. ROSE

C R H C L L E L O F R H R W I

S L O Y E E T A R C U E C E O

S R C N R S P M D T F N W A N

O T O E O C E U H O Y D N O O

N S I O F P E R O A T K E A L

E Y E F E E O H A F I C M Z Z

E W L C L A A L N A N O E E L

O N E K T E N R L L M H C H T

HIDDEN PICTURES

PRIMATE PUZZLE

M O H L E

C A F O T

A I R Y S

O N A E A

N C P N B

The Key word is MONOCLE.

MAZE CRAZE

Magazines for every age!

E

T

M

A

K

START

Ages

0-2 Ages

R

E

NEW!

Y

H S

FINISH

P

2-6

In Spanish and English

S T

D O

A Ages

2-6

P R

The Key word is STORY.

N

Highlights.com/Friends

15 AD-HXM0315.indd 1

Ages

6-12 1-800-627-1976

1/16/15 2:09 PM

March / April 2017 47

LAST LAUGH

“A toast to Everyman and the human condition and Lauren Bacall.”

48 American Senior

SIDNEY HARRIS, THE NEW YORKER COLLECTION/THE CARTOON BANK, LEO CULLUM, THE NEW YORKER COLLECTION/THE CARTOON BANK

“I attribute it to human error.

But then I attribute everything to human error.”

Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s isn’t easy.

Reaching us is.

If you care for someone with Alzheimer’s disease, memory loss or dementia, you are not alone. We’re here day or night — whenever you need us — offering reliable information and support.

Free 24/7 Helpline: 800.272.3900 Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregiver Center: alz.org/care

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