Category Archives: Human Longevity

This First Person column is the experience of Roxane Anderson, a 62-year-old social worker in Selkirk, Man.

For more information about CBC's First Person stories, please see theFAQ.

I turn a page in my day-timer to the next work week. At the top of "Monday,"I write "62" in red ink, to represent the remaining days I must work in orderto qualify for early retirement. The same number of years I have been on this Earth.

My banker says I should work until age 65. According to my iPhone countdown app, that's 1,172 days away! The 62 countdown sounds better.

Am I burnt out or just getting too old? Can I find my "reset"button to get me through to age 65?

I am a registered social worker working in disability services for the province of Manitoba, counting the days to retirement.

In recent years, my work has changed. Before, I was in the field on home visits, returning to the office at the day's end to chart my case notes. Today, I spend most of my time in the office on email and paperwork. The social disconnect is not a good fit.

It's hard to fit the workload inside a seven-and-a-half-hour day. There's always unfinished paperwork and unanswered emails. The back and forth on email is dizzying. Why doesn't anyone still use the phone? I'm told, "You work with millennials, that's how they function."

When I emailed a government service to get help finding a resource and phone number for a client, this was the reply: "Google is your friend."

What? My client doesn't have internet. That's why I reached out to get a working phone number. (I choose not to email back. There's no time.)

On the cusp of retirement, I am struggling to continue in social work. At 3a.m., I find myself waking up in a sweat, thinking about what is not doneand who is still waiting for services. Did I mitigate risk? Did I ensure that clients were safe and protected? What did I miss?

Driving to work, inside the privacy of my car, I can let go of the flood of tears. This helps to get through the day.

Maybe I don't fit in anymore. Since the pandemic, my work world has changed. There are fewer workers to meet the needs of more clients. My older colleagues retired.

Normally, I'm quite good at helping my clients stay positive and strong in meeting their personal goals. Social work is about building strong relationships. I used to do lots of home visits, working with clients and their families. But, today, not so much. Is that what I'm missing? The human contact? In trying to find hope for my clients, I'm struggling to generate hope in myself.

I fear I'm burning out. Is that from workload or from growing old?

When the work computer freezes, it's time for a reboot. I'm now trying to do that for myself, too.

I try to keep a healthy perspective. I trained to stave offcompassion fatigue. Consulted with other registered social workers. Got more exercise. Improved my diet. Worked on better sleep. I spend quality time with family and friends. I've shortened how I write my case notes. I make phone appointments to cut out travel time. I'm working smarter and harder.

In three years, I'll be 65 and in blissful retirement, yet I can't get through the next three workdays. This should be the best of times, not the worst of times, and right now, I feel like I'm failing.

Perhaps I'm dreading my option of early retirement. I'll lose my identity as a social worker. I won't be needed anymore.

Then there are financial worries. Rising inflation. A furnace replacement. New shingles on the house roof. Longevity runs in my family. Will my pension be enough to sustain me in a retirement home, with meals, activitiesand a monthly entertainment nightwhen I'm 80? When I'm 90?

This time next month, I'm scheduled for heart scans due to new pain in my chest. It's either angina-based on family history or work anxiety. I'll know soon if I have one or the other or a combination of both.

It's time for a reset. The countdown has started, and in 62 days, my heart may be in early retirement.

This column is part ofCBC's Opinion section.For more information about this section, please read thiseditor's blogand ourFAQ.

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I should look forward to early retirement, but I think I'm dreading it - CBC.ca

International Coffee Day 2022: Today is International Coffee Day. A steaming cup of joe is something many people consume to give their morning a quick boost. While its charm comes mainly from its smell and taste, coffee also comes with various health benefits. From increasing longevity to reducing risk of cancer, here is what studies have found over the years:

Coffee and Longevity

Drinking one cup of coffee per day, whether caffeinated or decaffeinated, is associated with a three per cent reduced risk of death, according to a review of 21 studies totalling more than 10 million participants. The review, published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics, also stated that drinking three cups of coffee per day is associated with a 13 per cent reduced risk of death.

Drinking coffee, caffeinated or decaffeinated, is associated with reduced risk for death from various causes, according to a study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). It was a multi-national cohort study conducted in 10 European countries, and analysed more than 500,000 people. The study was published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine in 2017.

A study conducted on over 400,000 people found that coffee consumption is associated with lower likelihood of death from disease. The study was published in The New England Journal of Medicine in 2012.

Coffee and Cancer

Drinking both caffeinated and decaffeinated coffee is associated with reduced risk of liver cancer, according to a meta analysis of human prospective studies. Coffee was found to be associated with reduced risk of hepatocellular carcinoma, including in those with pre-existing liver disease. The findings were published in the British Medical Journal.

Consumption of four cups of coffee per day is associated with a 10 per cent reduced risk of post-menopausal breast cancer, according to a study published in the journal Nutrients in 2018.

Coffee consumption is associated with a lower risk of colon cancer in women. According to a study published in the International Journal of Cancer in 2018, there is a 20 per cent reduced risk of colon cancer in women who drink more than three cups of coffee per day, compared to those who drink less than one or less.

Coffee and Diabetes

People who drink four or more cups of coffee per day have a 50 per cent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry in 2011.

Cafestol, a compound found in coffee, has been found to increase insulin secretion, reduce fasting glucose levels and improve insulin sensitivity in mice. Thus, cafestol could help stave off type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of Natural Products in 2017.

Coffee and Stroke

Coffee consumption can modestly reduce the risk of stroke among women, according to a survey conducted on more than 83,000 women over many years. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Heart Association in 2009.

Coffee is associated with reduced risk for death from various causes, including stroke, according to a study from the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The study analysed more than 500,000 people, and was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2017.

Tea and coffee consumption are inversely associated with risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke in the general population, according to a large-scale study in Japan, published in the journal Stroke in 2013.

Coffee and Kidney Health

Coffee consumption is associated with a reduced risk of chronic kidney disease, according to a study published in the Journal of Renal Nutrition in 2020.

Coffee and Mental Health

Coffee consumption is linked with a reduced risk of depression, according to an independent meta-analysis conducted by Dr Alan Leviton, Harvard Medical School.

Coffee has antioxidant effects. Since coffee has anti-oxidative properties, it helps reduce the blood levels of oxidative-stress indicators in people who have a major depressive disorder

Coffee also helps reduce the levels of inflammation-related proteins in depressed people.

Coffee also provides the gut microbiome with nutrients to metabolise coffee constituents into beneficial substances, and promotes a healthy microbiome.

ALSO READ | Can Coffee Waste Help Neuroscience? New Study Says Yes, Explains How

History of Coffee

Coffee cultivation and trade began on the Arabian Peninsula, and by the 15th century, coffee was grown in the Yemeni district of Arabia. By the 16th century, coffee was known in Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey.

In public coffee houses, which started appearing in cities across the Near East, coffee was called qahveh or khaneh.

By the 17th century, coffee made its way to Europe, and by the mid-17th century, there were more than 300 coffee houses in London.

The Indian Muslim saint Baba Budan, while returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca, brought seven coffee beans from the port of Mocha, Yemen to Mysore, India, by hiding them in his beard. He planted the seven seeds of coffee in the courtyard of his hermitage in Chikmagalur, Karnataka, and that became the birthplace and origin of coffee in India.

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International Coffee Day 2022: How The Beloved Brew Helps Fight Cancer, Kidney Disease And Depression - ABP Live

Corey Feldman and Jamison Newlander as The Frog Brothers in 'The Lost Boys.'

"Edgar Frog was the first time where I really had to create a character that was completely disconnected, completely separated from me as a human and becoming this other guy," recalled Corey Feldman as we discussed the iconic 80s teen vampire movie, The Lost Boys.

When he made it, the actor already had memorable performances in a string of classic movies under his belt, including The Goonies, Gremlins, and Stand by Me. However, his role as Edgar Frog, one half of The Frog Brothers, opposite Jamison Newlander as his brother Alan, gave him a string of unique experiences.

I caught up with Feldman and Newlander to talk about their shared experience, the influence of 80s action heroes, and the birth of The Two Coreys.

Simon Thompson: You knew The Lost Boys would be a great movie but did you have any clue about its longevity or influence?

Jamison Newlander: It would have been impossible for me at 15 to assess that, but I noticed that little by little, everybody was getting excited about it. Joel Schumacher, the director, was enthusiastic about it; everyone was excited about what Joel was doing, and that built with each scene. That's how I assessed that. Something was going on; we were making something cool.

Thompson: Corey, by then, you'd already worked on a slew of great movies. Did this one feel unique in its own way?

Corey Feldman: By that point in my career, firstly, I was able to assess a script and know that it was great and had all the right chemistry and the right workings of a great movie, but also knowing the directors. When you're working with a great director and a great producer, you know it's going to be great. Although I didn't really know Joe's work as much, I was surprised to find out later that he was the guy who wrote The Wiz. That's pretty cool. He'd also worked with Woody Allen as a costume designer and done all these other things. I was also a bit jaded at the time because, as a kid, you don't know anything other than your own life experience, and for me, every movie I did went to number one at the box office, so I didn't know anything else. Richard Donner was supposed to direct it initially, and I figured we did The Goonies together, and this was kind of a vampire, little bit older version of The Goonies, so it would be another biggie. Then it evolved into something much different. That said, thinking that Richard Donner would be a part of it, I assumed it would be a number one film, and when Joel came in, I watched his work and how he operated, and I knew he really cared. He was very passionate. The director of photography, Michael Chapman, was brilliant and took hours to set up every single shot and the scope was amazing.

Thompson: Did you ever read for each other's roles?

Newlander: I think that Corey had the standing already in the industry with audiences that I think that it was natural that he would be the lead Frog, Edgar.

Feldman: The head Frog, pulling the strings (laughs). We have a rivalry about that. Those are always the right roles for us. When they passed the director's baton to Schumacher, the first time I met with him, he was like, 'Hey, listen, I think you're right for this, but you got to make some adjustments. I need you to grow your hair as long as you can. I need you to go and watch Sylvester Stallone, Chuck Norris, and Arnold Schwarzenegger movies, and I want you to formulate a character.' For me, it was a big departure. Until that point, I was a kid, and playing a kid, it was as natural as it could be. Stand by Me was the first time where I had to dig deep and pull out some really hard emotions that I'd been dealing with. Edgar Frog was the first time where I really had to create a character that was completely disconnected, completely separated from me as a human and becoming this other guy. I really dug getting into that and creating a character and manifesting this human. When they first connected me with Jamison, it was a day where they brought in several different potential Alans, and I was reading with all of them. It was kind of like, 'Where's the chemistry going to be?' As soon as Jamison and I read together, there was just this instant magic where I just knew that he took it very seriously. He's very dedicated.

Newlander: We did both take it very seriously.

(Left to right) Jamison Newlander, Corey Haim, and Corey Feldman in 'The Lost Boys.'

Thompson: Hearing you talk about playing The Frog Brothers, you do seem very earnest. In The Lost Boys, they always reminded me of the interlude characters in Shakespearean plays who can have levity but also a key role in laying the narrative.

Feldman: And that's the fun of it, isn't it? If we weren't taking it seriously, you probably wouldn't go along for the ride. You've got these two 14-year-old boys who are taking themselves so deadly seriously, even though the rest of the world is laughing at them and saying they're just kids, and you don't even know what the hell you're doing. It's that first meeting with the first vampire, that real confrontation where it's like, 'Okay, it's not just comic books and talking about it anymore. This is a real vampire, and we're about to get killed if we don't do what we say we were going to do.' There is that pivot in the movie. I think what makes it so much fun is watching these kids get invested in it.

Newlander: Joel really pushed us in that way to develop these characters. They're quite apart from what we were like in real life, and I thought it was really cool. He did say. 'Watch those movies,' and it made a real difference.

Thompson: I was going to ask if your references were the same.

Newlander: Yeah, but I think ultimately we found our own groove with it. Maybe I was a little more Chuck Norris, and Corey was more Stallone, but that's where it naturally landed. I think that's also because I was naturally very serious, which added to it.

Feldman: A funny anecdote is that I ended up meeting Stallone for the first time years after the film came out. I went to his house, I walked in, and he's got this giant statue of Rocky, and he was like, 'Come in. How are you doing? I was like, 'I'm excited to meet you because I played you. He goes, 'Oh, yeah, that's right. You did a pretty good job.' That's one of those amazing moments when you're meeting the guy you emulated for a role.

Thompson: Talking about amazing moments, The Lost Boys was where we witnessed the creation of The Two Coreys.

Newlander: I got to see that front and center from early on. That was a pivotal summer for the Coreys. It was amazing to watch that develop, and I was a part of that because we were all very close. Aside from being in a major motion picture, we had a very kid summer.

Feldman: We all got along really well and enjoyed each other's company, but Corey Haim and I had this crazy bond. Jamison and I are still like brothers, but our thing went on a whole other level with Corey and me. It started with what was poised to be a rivalry, given that a girl was involved. I was in love with this girl, and she didn't have eyes for me. She was talking about Corey Haim all the time, and I was like, 'Who is this guy?' and she was like, 'Oh, he's in the teen magazines. Don't you recognize him? He's always next to you on the pages.' I didn't know what she was talking about, so I'd go and look. Suddenly, Joel Schumacher is in the wardrobe fitting and on the phone with somebody, and he says, 'Oh, we've got the two Coreys...' and I'm like, 'Two Coreys? I'm just one guy.' I quickly found out Corey Haim was going to be in the movie, and I was like, 'Oh boy, how's this going to go?' We were both young actors, and we're both Jewish, we're both the same height, there's so much that similar. He calls me and leaves a message on my answering machine one day. I come home from school, and there's a message like, 'Hey, man, it's Corey Haim. What's up, buddy? Yo, we're going to be working together, man. It's really cool. I thought maybe we could get together and hit the beach or whatever.' I was amazed at how friendly and open he was, and he had this amazing energy. We instantly connected, we immediately bonded, and then we were pretty much inseparable.

The Lost Boys is available on 4K Ultra HD and Digital.

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Corey Feldman And Jamison Newlander Talk The Lost Boys And The Birth Of The Two Coreys - Forbes

There are many scientists who are pessmistic about how much life extension we can get from new antiaging medicine. The new treatments will be powerful enough to change what all of our DNA is doing. It will be powerful enough to clear out 90-99% of known aging damage. We should be to detect all disease and detect minute levels of damage as it just starts to build up or cause changes in tissue.

How long could we live if we were could just enable people to follow an optimal healthy lifestyle, prevent all preventable diseases, detect all diseases at their earliest stages.

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle, including eating a healthy diet, regular exercise and not smoking, could prolong life expectancy at age 50 by 14 years for women and just over 12 years for men, according to 2018 research in the American Heart Associations journal Circulation. Specifically, they looked at how the following five behaviors affected a persons longevity: not smoking, eating a healthy diet (diet score in the top 40 percent of each cohort), regularly exercising (30+ minutes a day of moderate to vigorous activity), keeping a healthy body weight (18.5-24.9 kg/m), and moderate alcohol consumption (5-15 g/day for women, 5-30 g/day for men).

Longevity is correlated with higher income. We would need to continue the decades long trend of the rest of the world catching up to the USA and Western Europe on per capita income.

The 38,000 people who live in Monaco have a per capita income in 2022 of about 193,000. Half of the live to over the age of 93.

New Jersey has about 850,000 Asians and Asian women in New Jersey live to about the Monaco life expectancy of 93 and Asian men in New Jersey live to an age of about 89.

We either help people to more easily follow these more optimal healthy lifestyles or remove the downsides and impacts from unhealthy behavior.

If we can give everyone the equivalent of optimal human genes then people will be able to live to 105-115. Clint Eastwood, his mother and grandfather all lived into their 90s. Queen Elizabeth and her mother lived or are living to about 100.

People blessed with the right genes live to 110-122 without any mental decline.

There have been features on Korean American women in Bergen County, New Jersey and their healthy lifestyle.

The Brookings Institution, the worlds middle class is growing quickly. 140 million people annually enter the status of middle class. In 5 years, this number can go up to 170 million. The worlds middle class is expected to increase to about 5.2 billion in 2030, or 65% of the planets population then.

The padndemic did stall the trend to a growing global middle class.

There are already some groups of millions of people who have life expectancy of 93-95 years of age. There is no reason that the world cannot have everyone at the per capita income of the current wealthiest countries. Currently 80% of the world has per capita income greater than the wealthiest countries in 1920. The inflation-adjusted highest per capita income in 1920 was about $3300.

There are full body scans that are currently expensive which could be used for consistent early cancer detection. There has even been work at MIT to detect tissue that will become cancerous 5 years before it becomes cancer. Have comprehensive pre-cancer detection is possible. Treating tissue or conditions before they become cancer will have 100% or nearly 100% treatment success.

Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.

Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.

A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.

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Proven Levels of Human Longevity | NextBigFuture.com

The National University Health System (NUHS) establishes the NUHS Centre for Healthy Longevity a world's first integrated pre-clinical and clinical ageing research institute that is poised to lead the Longevity Medicine field with clinical research to prolong healthspan by delay ageing.

SINGAPORE, Sept. 7, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Ageing is the climate change in medical science, where global societies are experiencing a sharp rise in the number of older adults relative to the rest of the population. Singapore will be the fastest country by 2025, with 25% of its population estimated to be above 65 years old by 2030. Although medical advancement has improved life expectancy among Singaporeans by 8.7 years to 84.8 years, one of the longest in the world; our healthy life expectancy, or healthspan, increased by only 7.2 years to 74.2 years. The grim reality is that Singaporeans are spending about 10 years of their twilight years in poor health. As the gap between life expectancy and health adjusted life expectancy increases, healthcare and caregiving costs will represent an unsustainable socioeconomic burden for society.

2 NUHS CHL has one clear mission: to enhance healthspan by five years in the Singapore population by slowing biological ageing. Its strategy is to embark on geroscience and longevity medicine-based approaches to achieve this mission. Geroscience and longevity medicine are paradigm-shifting concepts in research and medicine, that acknowledge species-conserved pathways of biological ageing, and view biological ageing as the greatest risk factor for chronic, age-related diseases. Proponents of geroscience/ longevity medicine also advocate the implementation of the use of biomarkers and interventions with the use of artificial intelligence to enhance healthspan.

3 Pre-clinical model organisms have traditionally been used in early pharmaceutical trials, but do not always translate successfully to human trials. NUHS CHL will use age-appropriate models for discovering mechanistic pathways that respond well to novel interventions, called geroprotectors. These treatments will then be translated into clinical human studies of CHL. Both clinical and pre-clinical divisions in the centre work iteratively to identify, refine and implement promising geroprotectors. The South-East Asian population has been traditionally understudied in clinical research. With the three major races, Chinese, Malay and Indian, numbering about 2.5 billion people and accounting for more than a quarter of humanity, results gleaned from the CHL's research will have significant global impact, particularly in Asia.

4 NUHS CHL is also the clinical and translational partner of the Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme (TRP) at NUS Medicine, whose research to slow ageing, and improve healthspan for the broader population has received generous funding ($5 million) from the Lien Foundation. Termed 'Hacking Ageing', the research initiative comprises three broad themes, which will contribute to the creation of an integrated biomarker-artificial-intelligence (AI) platform that will be the world's first in testing supplements and repurposed drugs combined with lifestyle interventions in the Asian population. This will allow for better early detection, risk stratification and development of personalised, preventive and therapeutic strategies to improve healthspan. Lee Poh Wah, CEO, Lien Foundation said, "Through the 'Hacking Ageing' initiatives, we hope to contribute to the national agenda to shift the healthcare paradigm from the present state of reactive 'sick care' towards a population health prevention approach. Socioeconomic factors are often at the root of health inequalities. As a society, we have a moral duty to ensure anti-ageing therapeutics are not confined to the realm of the rich and exacerbate existing disparities. Developing biomarkers and interventions that are accessible to all in the community, is necessary towards narrowing this gap and democratising healthy longevity. A takeaway from our Gym Tonic programme is that seniors want, and can, get strong on their own terms. Healthspan encompasses not just the physical but the cognitive and emotional dimensions too. We need to mainstream longevity science, and arm everyone with the knowledge and tools to extend the period of life spent in good health."

5 The first research theme funded under the 'Hacking Ageing' initiative is a series of clinical studies to test novel nutritional supplements and repurposed drugs to slow ageing in middle-aged adults (40-60 years). The second research theme is to use deep omics data to personalise these supplements and repurposed drugsand other interventions for optimal healthspan extension in middle-aged participants. The thirdresearch theme focuses on extending healthspan in older adults throughstrength training exercise, harnessing the Foundation's Gym Tonic community of seniors.

6 Professor Brian Keith Kennedy, internationally recognised for his research in the biology of ageing and for his work to translate research discoveries into new ways of delaying, detecting, and preventing human ageing and its associated diseases, is helming the Centre with co-director, Professor Andrea Britta Maier, a geriatrician by training and intensivist of chronic diseases. The 1,600 square feet Centre for Healthy Longevity (CHL) located at Alexandra Hospital and a laboratory at NUSMedicine, will conduct trials and execute validation studies with healthy participants from the age of 30 years old. The Centre will also develop and test these interventions using newly identified biomarkers of human ageing. Once the approaches are validated, the Centre will develop strategies that integrate a combination of nutritional, medicinal and exercise approaches for personalised adoption in the Singapore population. The ultimate goal is to bring the individual closer to his/her state of optimal peak performance during the entire lifespan (e.g. screening to start from 30 years of age).

7 CHL will be looking at blood-based biomarkers, probably the most investigated group due to a large amount of data accumulated in clinical trials.

8 "Developing new interventions to slow ageing and developing new biomarkers to measure ageing, are what we are trying to do here in Singapore through the new Centre," says Prof Kennedy, "and then, we can recommend inventions to see if they can slowly reverse aspects of ageing in the Asian population." Co-director, Professor Andrea Maier added, "The body's ability to fight diseases reduces dramatically with age. If we can address the physiological changes of ageing, we may be able to slow or stop the onset of disease. In three to five years, healthy longevity will not only exist as a lab-proven concept, but will become part of everyone's life."

She elaborated, "The aim of geroscience is to prevent age-related diseases like the occurrence of dementia, cancer, lung diseases, osteoarthritis or sarcopenia, all the diseases we know of. So next time, tell your GP, your biological age, not your chronological age, for a more targeted, customised and precise prognosis and treatment or intervention plan. This also gives the physician a better association with risk of outcomes one will not want to have like impairment and death."

Anyone who is keen to participate in the above various studies can contact [emailprotected] for more information.

SOURCE National University Health System (NUHS)

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Prolonging healthspan by delaying ageing -- NUHS opens Singapore's first Centre for Healthy Longevity to increase healthy lifespan of Singapore...

Its no secret that, on average, building companies last about 5-7 years. So what is the secret to success for home builders that have been in business for 10, 20, or even 30 years? I sat down with Tony Visconti, founder and owner of Bella Custom Homes, and Stacy Brotemarkle, vice president and interior designer, to find out.

A third-generation home builder, Tony has been in the home building and development industry for nearly 46 years. Stacy has been with the team since 2009 yet has more than 20 years of home-building and interior design experience. Although many boast they are the best in the business, the two shared with me a few secrets that they believe are the key ingredients to true success and longevity.

The team at BCH is dedicated to its clients which includes the good, the bad, and the ugly. As a fixed-price builder, Bella Custom Homes clients know their price going into the project. Their clients get a detailed set of specifications with everything going into their new home. This way its not a guessing game. Tony shares that everything is out in the open from the beginning.

If something goes wrong, we own it, Tony says. If they have questions, we tell them the truth. Nothing is sugarcoated.

Stacy adds, Honesty, integrity, and transparency have been the cornerstones of Bella Custom Homes. Those have all contributed to our longevity in the custom luxury home building industry.

This applies to understanding the industry and economics of your business. Tony mentioned that many home builders spread themselves too thin in regards to the timeline of the build cycle.

You dont want to cram your calendar with builds right on top of each other. Spread it out so you have time to build, breathe, and start again. Maybe start out with one a month instead of once a week, Tony adds.

BCH saw the benefits of taking a risk during downturns. While it was low inventory, they saw an opportunity to take a risk and saw the payout in return. However, when facing inflation, it may be a better time to be more risk-averse. Its all about understanding give-and-take and the inner workings of your business.

For Bella Custom Homes, this means using licensed architects, engineers, designers, and an accounting firm to build out their team. You dont want to wind up in a bind because you didnt have the right team of professionals by your side.

Our architects are classically trained, Tony mentions. And some have even taught previously. So they arent usually wrong when giving advice to our clients. That is something we pride ourselves on. We want whats best for our clients.

Bella Custom Homes is known for its classical and timeless architecture, but they can build any style of home that you desire.

Something we value is having a talented team of craftsmen working on our projects Stacy adds. Regardless of the price point of a build, our clients are going to get the same framers, same trim carpenters, same flooring installers because this is the team that weve culminated and we trust to get the job done.

Typically, you are starting with a blank canvas when building a home. The home buyer may have a list of wants for the home, but its really up to the builder to add in that wow factor.

Weve had a lot of clients tell us that their homes are better than being on vacation, Tony says. Most of our clients love the romantic architectural features we add, which is just one way we like to exceed expectations.

In order to be successful, home builders should look at the process as fun, enjoyable, and exciting because they are getting the privilege of making lifelong memories for their clients. Successful builders dont take that opportunity for granted.

Backyards are a feature we really like to take advantage of, says Stacy. We love to create an oasis where it makes it feel like youre at a resort. So many of our clients like to entertain so creating a destination that really wows them is another way we exceed expectations.

Tony mentions that Murphys Law is a huge part of this business. When something can go wrong, it typically goes wrong. However, in order to be successful, you have to be on top of things and cant pretend mistakes dont happen.

Everybody is human, they will make mistakes, Stacy mentions. But the important thing to remember is that oftentimes, everything can be fixed or changed. And we are a team that is determined to make things right.

This is probably the No. 1 secret ingredient to the success and longevity of your business. Clients are looking to you, as a professional, for your expertise. In order to have happy clients, its best to put yourself in the position to educate them along the way and guide them in their decision-making process.

We want happy clients. We want them to feel like they are truly getting the quality of work that they are paying for, says Tony.

Bringing new ideas to the table and creating the homes design inspiration is the fun part for me, Stacy says, During the design process, you get the opportunity to brainstorm with your clients. It becomes a fun challenge to find a tangible visual to showcase the clients wants and wishes.

Both Tony and Stacy are very passionate about what they do. And it shows in how they treat their clients. Tony believes in the importance of being approachable and available to his clients. Additionally, Tony is a Graduate Master Builder while Stacy is a Certified Graduate Builder so both have a wealth of knowledge they love to share with their clients.

We never work a day in our lives, Tony says. This is a business that once youre in it, youre in it for life.

Were available to our clients at all times. From selecting a lot to attending architect meetings, were there, Stacy adds. We enjoy the process and want to help guide our clients throughout. We also provide perspective to our clients. They might not be thinking about the big picture or future plans, so we like to be that soundboard for them.

BCH has repeat clients and has even built through families. Referrals are our best marketing and we take great pride in that. The team is grateful for all the clients that have trusted them to build their dream homes thus far, as well as the relationships forged, and look forward to building many more as Bella Custom Homes enters its 30th year of business in 2023.

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What is the Secret to Longevity in Real Estate? - CandysDirt.com - Candy's Dirt

Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky discuss their approach to helping clients create a savings plan that makes sense for a successful future.

Listen to the interview on the Business Innovators Radio Network https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-jeff-stukey-jay-olshansky-ph-d-with-of-wealthspan-advisors-discussing-how-aging-science-impacts-retirement/

Wealthspan Advisors is a company that came into being because two scientists in the field of longevity study joined forces with two experienced financial advisors with a vision of helping people realize their most significant wealth and health by being aware of both and the impact each has on the other. By introducing aging science into the wealth planning conversation, they start with a foundation based on the clients unique attributes and build a unique plan for them. The plan focuses on their healthspan and the gap that may exist with the lifespan and healthspan of their spouse, if applicable. Its a conversation theyve likely never had and an experience theyve likely never heard of, but its instrumental in financial decision-making.

Aging science can play a crucial role in informing these decisions by helping to understand the physical and cognitive changes that occur with age. There are several factors to consider when planning for retirement, including health, lifestyle, and income. Aging science can help to understand better how these factors may change over time and what steps can be taken to mitigate any negative impacts. For example, research into aging has shown that physical abilities tend to decline. This can significantly impact the ability to continue working or enjoying leisure activities. However, there are ways to offset this decline through exercise and other healthy lifestyle choices. Similarly, cognitive decline is a natural part of aging, but some steps can be taken to protect the brain. Brain-training exercises, social activities, and a healthy diet are all important in maintaining cognitive function.

Aging science can also help to understand the financial implications of retirement. Overall, aging science can provide valuable insights into aging and the changes that occur over time. This information can inform decisions about retirement planning and help ensure a comfortable later life.

Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky say, Its our job to find out who you are, where you are, and what you want to accomplish so we can design a plan together to get you there. We will concentrate on several topics: risk management, distribution or income planning, RMD and tax planning, estate planning, and longevity planning. The financial products are only recommended because they will help you accomplish your goals thats the only thing that matters. As independent fiduciary advisors, we are held to a legal responsibility to make recommendations that are in your best interest with no conflicts of interest based on how we get paid. The fact that we are independent also means we dont have any proprietary products or company quotas we need to meet. So, you can rest assured that any recommendation concerning any financial product is made with your best interest in mind.

Get a copy of their book, Pursuing Wealthspan: How Science is Revolutionizing Wealth Management, visit: https://www.wealthspanadvisors.com/

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/embed/zNvfsSK-Jxw

About Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky, Ph.D

Jeff has been in the financial services business for over 20 years. Most of his time has been spent in executive-level roles helping train hundreds of financial advisors around the country on how to better plan for and serve their clients. He deeply understands financial planning and the financial products that can be used to create the desired outcome for clients. After watching his parents work hard, but struggle financially for most of his childhood and early adult life, Jeff set out to help clients become more educated and get better advice to help them grow and protect their wealth so they could live their best lives. Because of the experience gained over the last 20+ years, Jeff has been able to communicate well with clients, understand what they are trying to accomplish, and help put them in a position to really thrive in and throughout retirement.

Jay Olshansky received his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of Chicago in 1984. He is currently a Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Research Associate at the Center on Aging at the University of Chicago and at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Chief Scientist at Lapetus Solutions, Inc.The focus of his research to date has been on estimates of the upper limits to human longevity, exploring the health and public policy implications associated with individual and population aging, forecasts of the size, survival, and age structure of the population, pursuit of the scientific means to slow aging in people (The Longevity Dividend), and global implications of the re-emergence of infectious and parasitic diseases. Dr. Olshansky is on the Board of Directors of the American Federation of Aging Research.

Investment Advisory Services are offered through Wealthspan Investment Management, LLC, a state-registered investment adviser. The commentary is for informational purposes only and should not be deemed as a solicitation to invest, or increase investments in any Wealthspan Investment Management, LLC products, or affiliated products. The information contained herein is not intended to provide any investment advice or provide the basis for any investment decisions. Please consult a qualified professional before making decisions about your financial situation. Information and commentary provided by Wealthspan Investment Management, LLC are opinions and should not be construed as facts. There can be no guarantee that any of the described objectives can be achieved. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Media ContactCompany Name: Marketing Huddle, LLCContact Person: Mike Saunders, MBAEmail: Send EmailPhone: 7202323112Country: United StatesWebsite: https://www.AuthorityPositioningCoach.com

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Jeff Stukey & Jay Olshansky, Ph.D with Wealthspan Advisors, Interviewed on the Influential Entrepreneurs Podcast Discussing How Aging Science...

Queen Elizabeth IIs longevity alone places her in the pantheon of royal greats. At the time of her death, at Balmoral Castle today, she had served 70 years as Queenthe longest of any sovereign in the English monarchys 1,000-year history. But it is not simply her longevity that marks her for greatness, but her ability to stay relevant as the world changed around her.

She was the product of ancestral inheritance but was more popular than any of her prime ministers and remained head of state in countries around the world because of public support. She was in a sense a democratic Queen, a progressive conservative, an aristocratic multiculturalist.

Queen Elizabeth was a constitutional monarch, not a political leader with real powers, and one who was required to serve an ever-changing set of realms, peoples, institutions, and ideas that were no longer as obviously compatible as they had been when she ascended to the throne. The Queens great achievement was to honor the commitment she made to an imperial nation and its empire as a princess even as it became a multiethnic state and a Commonwealth.

When the Queen devoted her whole life to the service of Britains great imperial family, she meant it and honored it. And she did so in a way that brought more harmony than discord. Even as her nations influence shrank, the world embraced her.

In October 1940, a teenage Princess Elizabeth gave the first of what would be a lifetime of public speeches designed to move, embolden, and steady the nerves of an imperiled empire. At the time, the British empire was standing alone against Nazi Germany: France had been crushed, the Soviet Union had made a deal with Hitler, and the United States remained aloof from World War II. Elizabeth and her sister, Margaret, had traveled with their parents to record a message for the BBC that would be broadcast to the children of the empire, as well as children in the U.S.

The recording offers a glimpse of a time and place that is gone, as well as the first look at this representative of a new age, the age of Elizabeth. Hers would be an age not of world war and European empires, but of imperial retreat and American expansion; of the Cold War and the apparent end of history; of nationalism and globalization; of the space race and the internet.

For the 14-year-old princess, none of this was visible that day in 1940. The world that existed then faced the prospect of a Nazi-dominated Europe. Ostensibly, her message was to the children evacuated to the British countryside and to the Greater Britain that then existed beyond the seas, to evade German aerial bombardment of cities. In her clipped but childish tones, the young Elizabeth marvels at the lives being led in these far-flung corners of the world. All the new sights you must be seeing, and the adventures you must be having, she says, as if reading an exciting bedtime story. But then she turns to the central thrust of the message: a plea. I am sure that you, too, are often thinking of the Old Country. I know you wont forget us.

Read: How The Crown, and its clothes, transform power

Here was the vulnerability at the core of Princess Elizabeths address. The Old Country was in trouble and needed help. Princess Elizabeth had been enlisted to ask for it, to do her dutya task she would perform for decades to come.

During her reign, she weathered an array of crises, from her clashes with Margaret Thatcher to her mishandling of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. In doing so, she became the focus of something akin to a secular religion, the royalist historian David Starkey has noted, a form of British Shintoism, according to others such as Philip Murphy, a professor of British and Commonwealth history at the University of London.

Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor was born on April 21, 1926, as a princess to not simply a king but an emperor. She became Queen to a multitude of realms. A child of empire, European supremacy, and the old ordereven the old faith, Anglican Christianityshe came to see it as her solemn duty to represent all the peoples and religions of the Commonwealth.

This duty created friction during her reign, but it made her different from any other European monarch and, paradoxically, kept her modern. A great irony of Queen Elizabeth II is that the most penetrating criticism of her reign came not from the republican left but from the nationalist right, parts of which saw past her image of continuity and tradition to the deep change that her rule actually represented.

On Princess Elizabeths 21st birthday, she delivered a radio broadcast that would define her life. Addressing all the peoples of the British Commonwealth and Empire, and specifically the youth of the British family of nations, she asked for their permission to speak as their representative. Delivered from Cape Town, South Africa, this was not a message to England, or Britain, or even the United Kingdom, but to the already fading empire.

The message was designed to inspire, but also to begin a transition. The princess declared that just as England had saved Europe from Napoleonic domination in the 19th century, the British empire had saved the world from Hitler in the 20th. The task now before the empire was just as pressing, she said: It needed to save itself.

If we all go forward together with an unwavering faith, a high courage, and a quiet heart, Elizabeth said, we shall be able to make of this ancient commonwealth, which we all love so dearly, an even grander thing. In doing so, the princess, with a politicians sleight of hand, had endowed a relatively new construct, the British Commonwealth, with the myth of ancient roots. I declare before you all, she continued, that my whole life whether it be long or short, shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.

In 1947, such a commitment could still be made without embarrassment. Formally, India, the jewel in the British imperial crown, was not yet independent, though the legal process was under way and would become reality within months. The last vestiges of royal connection to Ireland had similarly not yet been cut. Soon, however, this apparently ancient family would undergo a revolution.

Read: The first Brexit was theological

In the early hours of February 6, 1952, King George VI, Elizabeths father, died in his sleep. She was in Kenya when she learned that she had become Queen. Prime Minister Winston Churchill broadcast the news, describing the Crown as the magic link, which unites our loosely bound but strongly interwoven commonwealth of nations. And yet, just five years after Elizabeths Cape Town address, the world had already changed to such an extent that to speak of a great imperial family, as Elizabeth had done, was no longer appropriate. By 1952, for example, India was not only independent, but a republic. This new Commonwealth comprised free and equal countries that voluntarily accepted Elizabeth as their symbolic heada role with no real power for an organization with no real status.

She was Queen, then, but of what?

Her father had been crowned George VI of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas, as well as Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India. By the time the young Elizabeth was crowned, the title Emperor of India was obsolete. Yet even this did not go far enough. She was proclaimed Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of this Realm and of all Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.

Although few paid much attention to the changes at the time, the new terminology caught the eye of one of the most influential and controversial British politicians of the postwar era, Enoch Powell. He had spotted that the new declaration contained within it imperial retreat and was dismayed. But this was not the real source of his furyit was that Britain had been subsumed into a multinational structure that it no longer led. In Britain, Elizabeth would be Queen of the United Kingdom, but elsewhere she would have different titles, granted by different countries: Queen of Australia in Australia, Queen of Canada in Canada, and so forth.

What Powell had seen was that this marked a sea change not only for the Queen, but for Britain itself. What had been a single empire with a single sovereign was no longernor was it even a British Commonwealth. In its place was simply a Commonwealth with different peoples, each equal to the others, including that of the Old Country, whether or not they took the Queen as their monarch.

In 1947, Princess Elizabeth had declared that she would give her whole life to the service of Britains great imperial family. When she became Queen, it was no longer clear what that really meant.

The change to the Queens title was, in fact, just another logical step down a road already taken. In 1948, Parliament had passed legislation revolutionizing the nature of British nationality itself, creating several separate citizenships within the empire. What had been a Greater Britain around the world, singular and indivisible, loyal to the King and empire, was no more. It had shrunk, leaving space for Canadian, Australian, and New Zealand nationalisms to flourish as separate identities, just as a Scotsman today can also be British.

The Queens title, therefore, was a sign of the coming age, a beacon in the fog of the 1950s lighting the way to the postimperial world that exists today.

For the ordinary Brit at home, glued to the television to watch the Queens coronation, much of this passed unnoticed. As Vernon Bogdanor writes in The Monarchy and the Constitution, the feelings of attachment to Britain in its former dominions, such as New Zealand and Canada, were taken for granted. In 1953, Australias prime minister, R. G. Menzies, spoke of the Queen passing on a crown that will always be the sign and proof that, wherever we may be in the world, we are one people. Menzies had in 1948 even said that the boundaries of Britain do not lie on the Kentish Coast, they are to be found at Cape York and Invercargill.

From the December 1943 issue: The education of a queen

Indeed, on the occasion of Queen Elizabeth IIs coronation, there seemed little reason to doubt the strength of this great global nation. The day before, the New Zealander Edmund Hillary had conquered Mount Everest with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, planting the Union Jack on its peak. Welcoming the news, New Zealands prime minister declared how proud he was that an Englishman had been the rst to climb the worlds highest mountain. During the Queens first royal tour of the Commonwealth, in 195354, she visited 13 countries, including Bermuda, Jamaica, Sri Lanka, Australia, and New Zealand, covering more than 40,000 miles in six months. In Australia, 67 million people turned out to see her, amounting to about 75 percent of the countrys population.

Only now is it possible to see the slow unwinding of this Greater British identity during the age of Elizabeth. An early glimpse came during her first visit to India and Pakistan as Queen, in 1961. Despite being head of the Commonwealth, of which India was a member, the Queen was invited only in her capacity as Queen of the United Kingdom. To do otherwise might have implied the existence in some degree of authority residing in Her Majesty over the Republic of India, Philip Murphy points out in Monarchy and the End of Empire. When the Commonwealth bumped up against the hard reality of Britains place in the postimperial world, there was no question that the Commonwealth had to stand aside.

It was scarcely appreciated then, but the Queens coronationthat great triumph of Britishness at the peak of its powerswas what signified the retreat. A moment of deep continuity for the Old Country was actually a moment of quiet revolution, turning Britain inward and setting a course that it would travel for the rest of her reign, culminating in a threat to the very future of Britain by the time of her death, with support for secession growing in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Britons did not know it at the time of her ascent, but they were once again an island people. Only their Queen was global.

In retrospect, it was absurd to think that the Queen could be both British and global, sharing herself equally among her various realms. How can one person be Queen of the United Kingdom one moment and Queen of Australia the next, as well as head of a Commonwealth? In time, the practical reality revealed itselfthe Queen was primarily Queen of the United Kingdom.

From 1952 to her death, she would meet 13 of the 14 U.S. presidents elected in that time (Lyndon B. Johnson being the exception). She did so as Britains head of statein effect, Queen of the Old Country hiding in imperial clothes, representing a state that, in U.S. Secretary of State Dean Achesons infamous put-down, had lost an empire but not yet found a role.

Read: The Queen Mothers odd letters

Through the 1960s and early 70s, following Britains humiliation at Suez, the country sought to tilt away from the empire toward its special relationship with the United States and membership in the new European Community. Globally, this shift in priorities meant sacrificing imperial power for imagined influence over the new empire that had replaced Britain: the United States. In Europe, it meant sacrificing trade with the Commonwealth for markets on its doorstep. For many in Britain, this was a hard choice, given support for the old imperial connections, particularly to the Greater British dominions (or, more cynically, to the white Commonwealth) of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.

Yet successive British governments knew which direction they wanted to go in. In Africa, for example, Britain, unlike France, encouraged its former colonies not only to become independent, but to become republics. The loss of the empire was seen as a price worth paying for greater influence, and the Queen supported recognition of African nationalism. In 1960, when British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan remarked in a speech from South Africa that the wind of change is blowing through this continent, signaling the inevitability of decolonization, Elizabeth took the unusual step of indicating her personal approval of Macmillans words, Murphy records. Shortly after the speech, Macmillan received a telegram with a message from London that the Queen was very interested and much impressed by the Prime Ministers speech. Four years later, the process of decolonization in East, West, and Central Africa was largely complete.

However, tensions between her role as global Queen and national Queen were inevitableand duly came. Because the Queen was atop neither an empire nor an international body with a constitution like, say, the European Union, her title as head of the Commonwealth was unclear, unwritten, and, crucially, unlinked to her position as head of state in Britain or anywhere else. What happened if her two roles clashed?

In 1952, when the British dominions were part of an imagined Greater Britain oroutside the Indian subcontinentthe subjects of a still-vast empire, there was little scope for such a clash. By the 1960s, as the empire continued to be swept away, there was a very real prospect of friction.

The danger, as Powell had pointed out, was that in creating the fiction of the Commonwealth, the Queen risked losing the support of her people at home by appearing to have split loyalties. As the 1960s turned into the 70s and 80s, this prophecy seemed to be coming true. In an article in 1964, Powell spoke of the resentment of British people seeing their sovereign playing an alien part as one of the characters in the Commonwealth charade. The imperial monarchy, to which the Queen had devoted her life, appeared to be threatening the national monarchy.

Tensions really began to be felt when the Conservative Party in Britain elected as its leader a Powellite in the form of Margaret Thatcher, who seemed to have little time for the Commonwealth and even less sympathy for the policies of some of its more radical members. According to Murphys Monarchy and the End of Empire, Thatcher and her closest advisers joked that the acronym CHOGMfor the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetingstood for Compulsory Hand-Outs for Greedy Mendicants.

In the Queens 1983 Christmas message, four years after Thatcher came to power, she appeared to champion the policies of Indias prime minister, Indira Gandhi, over those of her own government, adding that despite the progress that had been made on the subcontinent, the greatest problem in the world today remains the gap between rich and poor countries, and we shall not begin to close this gap until we hear less about nationalism and more about interdependence.

From the magazine: How to write about royalty

This was not a message from the Thatcherite script and its Cold War mentality. Powell said that the intervention suggested the Queen had the interests and affairs of other countries in other continents as much, or more, at heart than those of her own people.

Another clash between the global and national Queen came in 1986, when a number of countries were threatening to boycott the Commonwealth Games in protest of Thatchers opposition to sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Britain had been isolated on the issue, with the Queen notably avoiding taking Britains side. Sonny Ramphal, the Guyanese Commonwealth secretary-general, later recalled that if the Queen hadnt been there we might have gone on the rocks.

Later that year, a series of articles began to appear in the British press revealing a rift between the Queen and her prime minister over the Commonwealth. A profile of Prince Charles in The Economist suggested that his views were considerably to the left of Thatchers. An article in the newspaper Today then suggested that the Queen was worried the division over sanctions could break up the Commonwealth, and had even urged Thatcher to change her views. Similar pieces appeared in The Times and The Daily Telegraph. Finally, The Sunday Times led its front page with the headline Queen Dismayed by Uncaring Thatcher, calling her The African Queen.

Such revelations, which came close to constitutional-crisis territory, centered on the Queens split loyalties to Commonwealth and nation. Powell had warned that this split would make her look more concerned for the Commonwealth than for Britain. The Queen had become a champion of global multiculturalism at home and abroad. Almost by accident, she had become modern.

In some senses, Queen Elizabeth II leaves an ambiguous legacy. She stands above almost all of Britains British monarchs, but was one who oversaw a drastic shrinkage in the monarchys power, prestige, and influence. Such a legacy, however, does not do the Queen justice.

At the funeral of the former Israeli leader Shimon Peres in 2016, thenU.S. President Barack Obama likened him to some of the other giants of the 20th century. Obama, whose father was a Kenyan government official born in what was then part of the British empire, chose to name two figures: Nelson Mandela and Queen Elizabeth II.

The Queens role in the Commonwealth might have been a device to hide the reality of the British empires decline, but she did not believe so. The irony is that in doing her duty to this imperial shadow in the same way she did her duty to Britain, she was better able to symbolize a modern, multicultural Britain and the world of the 21st century than logic might suggest was possible for an aristocratic European princess. Indeed, she is more popular in many African Commonwealth countries today than the former white dominions, which may soon choose to become republics and long ago stopped seeing themselves as British.

Yet her death has given rise to a sense of unease. Her eldest son, Charles, seems an unlikely figure for the British Shintoism that built up around his mother. Whatever his merits, such has been the nature of his life, lived in the glare of the modern worldof Diana and Camilla, The Crown and the tabloidsthat it looks impossible to re-create the kind of worship that attached itself to the Queen.

Read: What Meghan Markle means for the royal family

Generations have known nothing but the Queen. She became almost above reproach, an icon on a wall, a symbol. Charles, by contrast, is human and flawed and distinctly reproachable. With the Queen goes the monarchys protective shield. Can the next generation escape the tarnish of racism leveled by Harry and Meghan, or the scandals of Prince Andrew?

Beyond Britain, will Australia and New Zealand and Canada accept Charles as their King, as they did Elizabeth in 1952? And what of the Queens other great love, the Commonwealth? It has already agreed to let Charles inherit his mothers leadership. But how long can such an institution really survive? In an era of Black Lives Matter and imperial guilt, can an African child once again be pictured kneeling before some distant European monarch, as happened for the Queens diamond jubilee, in 2012?

None of these questions is answerable for now. Much rests on Charles himself. Can he show the lifelong restraint of his mother, the dignity and duty, the reserve and careful calculation? Will events blow him off course?

When King George VI died, Winston Churchill paid tribute to him in the House of Commons, before turning to his new Queen. So far I have spoken of the past, but with the new reign we must all feel our contact with the future, the prime minister said. She comes to the throne at a time when a tormented mankind stands uncertainly poised between world catastrophe and a golden age. For Churchill, such a golden age was possible only with a true and lasting peace. He then concluded: Let us hope and pray that the accession to our ancient throne of Queen Elizabeth II may be the signal for such a brightening salvation of the human scene.

Looking back on her reign, it is clear that the age of Elizabeth really was golden: an age of extraordinary prosperity, European peace, human rights, and the collapse of Soviet tyranny. Queen Elizabeth IIthe Queenwas one of the great symbols of that age, though not a creator of it, a servant rather than a master. But if her legacy is anything, it is that symbols and service matter, even as what they symbolize and serve bend and bow to meet the new reality.

Read the original:
The Queen of the World - The Atlantic

Im the one in the white hat, Norman Lear announces as he and his producing partner, Brent Miller, several decades his junior, appear in Zoom boxes in late August.

At 100, the newly minted centurion, as he proudly describes himself, still appreciates a laugh. After all, the white hat has been the signature of Lears aesthetic for the vast majority of his career which, at one point, included having seven series on the air and a weekly audience of more than 120 million. A sitcom savant, as Lear has been dubbed over the years, hes responsible for such barrier-breaking, cultural behemoths as All in the Family, Good Times, Maude and The Jeffersons.

Many of his shows, part of a catalog now largely owned by Sony Pictures Television, have been reimagined, as One Day at a Time was for Netflix and Pop TV, or revisited, as The Facts of Life and Good Times were for Live in Front of a Studio Audience, an Emmy-winning collaboration between Lear and Jimmy Kimmel for ABC. On Sept. 22, the same network will air Norman Lear: 100 Years of Music and Laughter, a star-studded special commemorating Lears latest milestone, which he celebrated in July with family at his farm in Vermont.

The THR Icon, whos also a World War II combat veteran, a major philanthropist, a father of six (and grandfather of four) and the oldest Emmy winner in history, insisted that Miller join him as he opened up about the glorious fights at his childhood dinner table, the battles he waged with network censors and the career renaissance hes experiencing at age 100.

First and foremost, happy birthday. How does one celebrate 100?

NORMAN LEAR By getting up in the morning. (Laughs.) And getting a call from Brent.

That says, Lets get busy, weve got a million shows to produce?

BRENT MILLER Other way around. Its more that hes telling me that we have a million shows.

LEAR We do have a lot in the works. (Laughter.)

Norman, I know over and next are popular words in your lexicon, but I have to believe a milestone like that, which will be celebrated with a TV special, forces some level of reflection

LEAR Im interrupting to say that the over and next leads to the hammock in the middle, which is living in the moment. And the fact of this moment is it has taken me every split second of a hundred years to get to this moment, and it has taken every split second of your life to hear me say that.

Descriptors like icon and legend now accompany your name. Looking back, do you recall when in your career you first felt successful or, at the very least, secure?

LEAR Absolutely. It was when I first realized that my kids didnt have to worry about going to college. That was the first time I thought, Im comfortable in my life.

One of your legacies is your willingness or appetite to consistently challenge the gatekeepers when it came to your vision. Where did that courage come from?

LEAR To the degree that I know where it could have come from, I think its a love of America. When I was a kid, I think we understood more about who we were and what we meant without thinking we were Gods chosen. And I am a combat veteran, I flew a great many missions in World War II, and I think that love of country has changed. We dont think of it the same way now theres a right and a left and there isnt sufficient community.

There are a great many stories of you saying some variation on, You change that in my script and Ill walk. How close do you feel you got to that point?

LEAR Early on, there were moments like the network insisting that Archie [Bunker, of All in the Family] couldnt say whatever it was, and I thought it was simply silly. And not because I wouldnt or couldnt give in, but because I thought that if I do, Im going to be the victim of too many of these. It was easy for me to say, If that line is deleted, I will not be here tomorrow. I remember on one show, driving home thinking it was over and learning when I got home that they hadnt deleted the line.

Were you not nervous in those moments?

LEAR The network was concerned that [viewers] would find such and such evil, and I thought I understood the American people better than I was hearing from the guy on the second floor at the CBS building in L.A. speaking for the guys on the fifth and the seventh floor, who were speaking for people in New York on other floors.

You are reviving several of your shows. What did you learn from the One Day at a Time experience that youll apply to the next ones?

LEAR Want to speak to that, Brent?

MILLER Mike Royce and Gloria Caldern Kellett captured the essence of the original show, but it was 180 degrees different. So, it wasnt rebooted. It was reimagined, and not just because it was the family of brown people. It ended up being this arranged marriage because we brought Gloria and Mike together and they got along so well and complemented each other so well. I think the experience that we walk away with is maybe we should get into the business of finding husbands and wives together. (Laughs.)

LEAR But life is a collaboration. In partners, I had a Bud Yorkin and a Jerry Perenchio and a Hal Gaba and an Alan Horn. We do nothing alone. Were talking now because theres a Brent Miller in my life.

Norman, Id love to hear more from you about the advice youd dole out to writers in your rooms. Ive heard nuggets like, It isnt important that the roast is ruined and the boss is coming to dinner.

LEAR Thats exactly what Id say to writers. No more The roast is ruined and the boss is coming to dinner. No more Mom dented the car, we cant let Dad know. My instruction to the writers was to pay attention to whats happening to your wife, to your kids, to the family. Think about the neighbors up, down and across the street. Reflect on those problems when you come into work every day. Thats what we did. And sometimes those problems included the problems of families that were arguing politically, and sometimes they included the economics of the family or their difficulties in getting along.

You tackled things that, even today, would be seen as edgy or risky. Did you see it as such?

LEAR I grew up in a family that argued about a lot of things, and these were just another group of arguments. I believe in listening hard to everybodys point of view and accepting when you agree, but also going with your own conviction. Young writers have asked me for a great many years for advice, and thats my advice each and every time: Listen hard, accept what you might agree with, and then go with your conviction.

Youve forged relationships with younger showrunners like Seth MacFarlane, Kenya Barris, Matt Stone and Trey Parker.

LEAR Oh, I love those guys. I hear from them, but they dont require my advice about anything. As friends, we mean something to one another, and we all learn from one another. But Im so glad were talking about collaborations, all of the Schillers and Weiskopfs [Maude writers Bob Schiller and Bob Weiskopf] and [All in the Family producer] Mort Lachmans in my life and all of the young ones today. As someone who believes that music and laughter, especially laughter, adds time to ones life, I am convinced that everyone weve been talking about added some time to my life.

Marta Kauffman is among those who have acknowledged in recent years that shows like Friends werent more diverse because TV as a whole wasnt diverse back then, but your work seems to defy this in that it was very inclusive. Why was it important to you?

LEAR It came from appreciation of talent. Esther Rolle playing Florida on Maude just knocked me out, so much so that we brought her husband into a show and cast John Amos. Or Marla Gibbs on The Jeffersons. We had these glorious performers who added time to my life through laughter. I couldnt not be aware that they were the first shows starring African American performers, but the motivation was the talent.

Youre referencing shows with Black casts, but you also had shows featuring gay men or single moms at a time when such things were hardly the norm on TV. What sort of resistance did you face?

LEAR The only resistance was the difficulty getting them on the air. But it was the womens movement, which was called the womens movement, that inspired what became Bonnie Franklins role on One Day at a Time. There were too few women in starring roles especially strong performers, talented and able women in professions and in motherhood. It was a gift to be able to respond to that.

Theres a lot of conversation in Hollywood of late about who can tell what story, and Im curious what you make of that discussion and how you navigated telling stories about different races and cultures in your career.

LEAR Im reminded of a moment that happened to take place on Good Times. It might have taken place at The Jeffersons in another way, but the cast [of Good Times], the Black cast or a couple of them, had a problem with a line or an attitude or something and then relied on the fact that they were Black and I was not to make their argument. I often agreed, and we worked it out. But when I didnt, and I remember this one incident when I sat down with several of the African American actors and said, Look, Im not Black. Ive heard you, Ive made these changes many times. But, in this case, Im relying on the fact that although Im not Black, Im a man, Im a father, Im a brother, Im an uncle, Im a cousin, Im a male, and we share far more than the difference of our skin color and Im making the decision on [behalf] of all these other people [that I represent], and I have to disagree. Were going to go this way. And they understood.

In your memoir you wrote, Of all the characters Ive created and cast, the one who resembles me most is Maude. Im curious why you feel that way, and were you aware of it as you were writing the show?

LEAR I thought of Maude as a horseshit liberal. She was altogether liberal, but she knew far less than she should know to support her point of view. I felt that way about myself. I think about [All in the Family castmember] Rob Reiner, who I obviously adore, who knew everything he was talking about. He was solidly informed on all the things that he was supporting. I cant tell you how much I admired that because, like Maude, I thought of myself as a horseshit liberal.

Did you bring pieces of you to other characters?

LEAR There were pieces of my knowledge of the foolishness of the human condition in all of them. The foolishness of the human condition has amused me since I was 9. My father went to prison and my mother was selling the furniture. I was going to live with my grandparents, and somebody who was going to buy my fathers red leather chair put his hand on my shoulder at 9 years of age and said, Norman, youre the man of the house now. I understood something from that moment or maybe later, when I reflected on that moment about the foolishness of the human condition.

I imagine, in that moment, there were tears.

LEAR Yes. Im watching this chair that I sat with my dad in so many hundreds of times over my [childhood], and now this horses ass is buying it.

Ive heard you describe yourself around that time as an outsider looking in, and Im wondering how that feeling informed your work?

LEAR I lived in a family that lived at the end of their nerves and often roared at each other. Thanksgiving parties, when people came in from Boston because we lived in Hartford, often ended in these giant arguments. [There was a] love at the center of the family, but there were these glorious arguments, and they were at the top of their voices and at the end of their nerves. Thats the way I always used to describe them. And I enjoyed it.

You did?

LEAR Yeah, that was part of what represented family to me.

You made a decision in the late 1970s that you would step down from day-to-day producing duties on your many, many shows, a job you passed along to Alan Horn. In your memoir, you present the decision as matter-of-fact, but I suspect it wasnt so easy.

LEAR I was never alone in this. I had great compatriots and partners and collaborators, and it came out of us. I am not denying I was the team leader, but I could not have done it without the team. It wasnt hard at all [to step down]. It was time to move on.

Have you always known when that time comes?

LEAR Yes. Im thinking it right now in regard to this interview. (Laughs.)

Fair enough. I did want to ask you about Maudes abortion episode, which has been referenced aplenty in the wake of Roe v. Wades reversal. Im curious if you think, in 2022, youd be able to air that episode.

LEAR I dont think theres anything I would have to do differently. I think everything we talked about then would be relevant now. Maudes story at that time could be Maudes today. And it ended with Maude having made up her mind to have the abortion, and the extraordinary Bea Arthur as Maude saying to Walter, her husband, played by the extraordinary Bill Macy, Am I doing the right thing? Ill never forget his last line, and this is exactly the way I feel about it: Maude, in the privacy of this bedroom and the privacy of our lives, were doing the right thing. In the privacy of ones life, one makes those decisions. A woman, its her body, and I say that as the father of five daughters.

How serious are you about revisiting it for the next installment of Live in Front of a Studio Audience, assuming you get to do more?

MILLER If we end up doing another one, its certainly one to explore. Its not only one of the most influential episodes of television of all time, its the 50th anniversary. Based on everything with the Supreme Court, it feels like, why not?

Before we go, is there anything I havent asked that you wish I had?

MILLER I would just say one last thing. On Normans 100th birthday, we did get a call, right as he was sitting down to dinner, that [Amazon] Freevee was going to greenlight our new series [Clean Slate] with Laverne Cox and George Wallace. And I dont think thats ever been done before, a man gets a new series greenlit on his 100th birthday. And in addition to that, its the first [sitcom] that has ever had a trans character as the center point, and the fact that its once again Norman doing that just excites me.

With good reason. I feel like each one of the past few birthdays has come with a green light or a new deal. Guess youre going to have to keep having birthdays, Norman.

LEAR Wait until you see 104. (Laughter.)

Cant wait. I also hope we get to do this again at 101, then 102 and 103 an annual check-in.

LEAR Oh, Ill be here.

Interview edited for length and clarity.

This story first appeared in the Sept. 6 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.

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THR Icon: At 100, Norman Lear Looks Back (And Ahead) at Whats Changed Since the Maude Abortion Episode - Hollywood Reporter

As an individual who is constantly carrying around a notebook and pen, I must admit I never gave much thought to where ink comes from. Despite its wide-ranging use the world, my association with it has been from a practical you write something down to remember it approach. Ink is much more than that though, as director Brian D. Johnsons striking documentary The Colour of Ink highlights it is a tool that binds humans, history, cultures, and the environment together in fascinating ways.

Johnsons guide into the expansive and compelling world of ink is Jason Logan, a master inkmaker who creates unique inks for a whose who of famous artists and writers. Founder of the Toronto Ink Company, Logan forages unconventional materials, everything from acorns to rust to berries and more, to create one-of-a-kind colours for his clients. A creative mad scientist of sort, he will go above and beyond to meet his clients specific ink request, even if means incorporating magnetic materials or animal blood.

Logans materials may be unconventional, but the results they produce are remarkable. Watching the inkmaker testing his creations on a piece of paper, hoping to see what textures and patterns it will produce are just as mesmerizing as listening to him explain how he sourced the ingredients. Propelled by the wonderful cinematography of Nicholas de Pencier, each new ink that is shown feels like a new revelation. It allows one to embody the same sense of wonderment and unpredictability that has fueled Logans passion for ink.

Similar to an artist who is unsure of how the blank canvas in front of them will be transformed, it is the sense of discovery and in ability to explain the unknown that makes his products so popular. In one sequence, when speaking to famed writer Margaret Atwood, Logan admits that he does not know if the red ink he gave her will fade away or changer change colour over time. While this instability might give some heart attacks, it poses an intriguing challenge for some of his clients. There is an equally humorous and tense scene in the film where famed Japanese calligraphy artist Koji Kakinuma is testing a special black ink he requested from Logan, only to find that the mixture keeps turning red. How he tackles this issue is just as compelling to observe as the human size paint brush he is planning to use for his next project.

Traveling the globe to speak with various artists, such as New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck, and fellow inkmakers (including tattoo artist Roxx), The Colour of Ink offers in-depth historical context of ink and the human connection it forges. By giving each colour and shade in the film its own segment, Johnson dives deeply into the history and various cultural significances attached in intriguing ways. This includes the healing powers that some inks are said to provide and the health risks that others have posed when certain chemicals are incorporated.

Overflowing with a wealth of information to consume, one of the most surprising things about Johnsons film is the genuine sense of community it stirs. Whether charting Logans upbring, exploring other inkmakers processes, or focusing on a particular artists health issues, the human element is always present. These connections help to emphasize the importance and longevity of ink to our past, present, and future. The Colour of Ink is a captivating and eye-opening work that will have you looking at ink in a colourful new light.

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TIFF 2022: The Colour of Ink Review - ThatShelf.com