Sage Lens

len Dr. Len Kaye is the Director of the University of Maine Center on Aging and a professor at the University of Maine School of Social Work. Each issue, he writes about issues faced by countless seniors every day.

Sex, Love, & Intimacy: The Spice of Life

So, have I gotten your attention? I sure hope so, because I can think of no more important an activity to embrace in living a satisfying old age than nurturing your love life and your sexuality.

Here are the facts. It is important to know that:

Making Your Voice Heard

Remember the Gray Panthers? They were real troublemakers. Sometimes I wish we had more Gray Panthers in our midst.

In August of 1970, a group of five friends in Philadelphia, PA, (all of whom were retiring from national religious and social work organizations) met to look at the common problems faced by retirees; loss of income, loss of contact with associates and loss of one of our society's most distinguishing social roles, a job.

Planning Ahead to Make Your Home Livable

This may come as a shock to some of you, but I am not a native Mainer. Over the past 12 years since I moved to Maine I have come to love many things about this state.Bar Harbor in the fall, opening day at Gifford’s ice cream, and the way in which I was welcomed into the community even though I am “from away”. I even enjoy winter. I love the first snow fall each year and the way the trees hold the snow and frame the beautiful historic homes in residential Bangor.

In Search of the Fountain of Youth

I am regularly asked by friends, relatives, and even strangers: Where does one need to go to drink from the fountain of youth? Being a gerontologist (someone who studies the aging process and the experience of growing old), I guess it comes with the territory. It is not surprising that people want to know the secret to a long and satisfying life free of some of the changes and challenges that inevitably accompany the process of growing older.