Age Ain't Nothing But a Number: Black Women Explore Midlife
Finally, a collection that celebrates, considers, contemplates, even criticizes'midlife' from a black woman's point of view. Age Ain't Nothing but a Number ranges over every aspect of black women's lives: personal growth, family and friendship, love and sexuality, health, beauty, illness, spirituality, creativity, financial independence, work, and scores of other topics.\ Midlife today isn't your grandmother's'change of life.' Today, black women call hot flashes 'power surges,' and menopause,...
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Finally, a collection that celebrates, considers, contemplates, even criticizes'midlife' from a black woman's point of view. Age Ain't Nothing but a Number ranges over every aspect of black women's lives: personal growth, family and friendship, love and sexuality, health, beauty, illness, spirituality, creativity, financial independence, work, and scores of other topics.Midlife today isn't your grandmother's'change of life.' Today, black women call hot flashes 'power surges,' and menopause, the 'pause that refreshes.' These days, middle-aged women may be newlyweds or new mothers, as well as grandmothers or widows. They may experience the empty-nest syndrome and then the 'return-to-the-nest syndrome' as adult children move back home. They may navigate the field of Internet dating, travel the world, teach homeless women, take up pottery, or study international business.This anthology captures all of these aspects of midlife as experienced by some of the finest voices in African-American writing today. Featuring the work of Maya Angelou, J. California Cooper, Pearl Cleage, Nikki Giovanni, Susan L. Taylor, Alice Walker, and dozens of others, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number will make readers think, laugh, and cry and will be the perfect gift book for spring.Library JournalIn this anthology of essays, plus some fiction and poetry, 41 African American women share their sometimes humorous and sometimes painful experiences with middle age. Divided into four sections-"A New Attitude," "New Bones," "Roots," and "In Search of Satisfaction"-these works focus on relationships, health, spirituality, and other relevant topics. An English professor throws a ball rather than a party in honor of her 50th birthday, a poet says good-bye to her monthly cycle, two doctors discuss menopause myths, a broadcast journalist tells of the joys of adoption, and a woman's health activist comments on safe sex among seniors. Such writers as Nikki Giovanni, Diane Donaldson, Miriam Decosta-Willis, and Maya Angelou speak of the fear of aging, dealing with breast reduction surgery, facing the death of a spouse, and finding romance. Whether these women are celebrating or bemoaning the process of growing old, the result is a wonderful compilation. Recommended for women's collections and for public libraries.-Ann Burns "Library Journal" Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Introduction1A New Attitude: Personal Growth and SpiritualityWho Says an Older Woman Shouldn't Dance?5Age11The Affirmation14Journal (February 12, 1987)20Unlocking Midlife23Games24What I Learned on the Way to Getting Old: Don't Tell Your Age and Other Lessons26Midlife Blues31How to Fly into Fifty (Without a Fear of Flying)36The Ball of a Lifetime38In Search of Meaningful Work45Dreaming of Crones492New Bones: Health, Beauty, and Self-ImageNew bones57Choosing Longevity58Maneuvering through Menopause: A Rite of Passage61To my last period71Hair Matters at Midlife72Am I Ugly?78Banyan Trunk85from I Left My Back Door Open86Used91My Cups Used to Runneth Over92Middle-Age UFO983Roots: Family and Friendshipfrom A Day Late and a Dollar Short105Homegirl Reunion108Letting Go with Love114from The Women of Brewster Place125Babies??!!134Adoption: A Midlife Love Story137The Pathway Home140The Dance of Life147Full Circling154In the Heat of Shadow163Parents, Wives, and Womanhood: The Lessons We Never Learned1734In Search of Satisfaction: Romance and SexualityAge and Sexuality181Trust Me186Gray Pussy Hair189Safer Sex (before and) after Fifty190Plum Jelly in Hot Shiny Jars193It Might as Well Be Spring204The Company She Keeps210from Do-It-Yourself Rainbows212Love and Other Geometric Shapes219Contributors' Biographies221Editor's Acknowledgments229Credits231
\ Library JournalIn this anthology of essays, plus some fiction and poetry, 41 African American women share their sometimes humorous and sometimes painful experiences with middle age. Divided into four sections-"A New Attitude," "New Bones," "Roots," and "In Search of Satisfaction"-these works focus on relationships, health, spirituality, and other relevant topics. An English professor throws a ball rather than a party in honor of her 50th birthday, a poet says good-bye to her monthly cycle, two doctors discuss menopause myths, a broadcast journalist tells of the joys of adoption, and a woman's health activist comments on safe sex among seniors. Such writers as Nikki Giovanni, Diane Donaldson, Miriam Decosta-Willis, and Maya Angelou speak of the fear of aging, dealing with breast reduction surgery, facing the death of a spouse, and finding romance. Whether these women are celebrating or bemoaning the process of growing old, the result is a wonderful compilation. Recommended for women's collections and for public libraries.-Ann Burns "Library Journal" Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.\ \
