Retirement?

I have a problem with retirement—not doing it—naming it. Why?

After I retired three years ago, after 40 years and with a secure post-employment income, some well meaning people asked me how I was filling up all of my free time now. I felt vaguely uncomfortable with these questions, so I decided to seek out why I felt this way. It seemed to me that the noun "retirement" carries a negative valence to me, and in the larger western society, so I decided to look for various reasons and definitions. I learned that, until the mid-20th century, people died within two years of formal retirement, and many people worked until the day they died. It seems then, say the historians, that retirement simply became synonymous with old age, frailty and impending death. Well, where are we now? I first looked at present definitions of the word "retirement."

The dictionary defines "retirement" as… to withdraw from action or danger; to retreat; to withdraw especially for privacy; to fall back: recede; withdraw from one's position or occupation. A thesaurus search came up with … to sleep, depart, leave, and give up work. Some retired academics use the term emerita or emeritus professor (however, some people outside of the academic setting don’t know what this means), though this word does not necessarily put a negative valence on retirement, I believe in general perception, it is. Today, the word "retirement" conjures up a negative rather than positive impression. Presently, retirement seems to conjure up loss, or moving away from society. The mainstream mind’s eye image of a “retired person” seems to be generally old, frail, and unproductive.

However, there is a glimmer of positive movement away from this image. For example, what is your mind’s eye image of baby boomers? Vital? Engaged? Powerful? Of course, the oldest of this population is now only 62; however as they age, it is possible that the "look" of the retired person will continue to be vital, engaged and powerful. Another positive turn is the term "early retirement." The Beatles immediately come to mind—so do people who made millions in the computer industry in the '80s and '90s, cashed in their stock and left. They also project: vital; engaged; powerful. And magazine ads for “retirement living” homes usually show active, attractive, over-50 men and women playing tennis or golf 

(the other extreme?).

So, I believe that there is the beginning of a shift in societal perceptions of what retirement means in our larger society. Perhaps some day soon, dictionaries will add "moving on" to its list of definitions of retirement.

I just wish people will stop asking me, "Now that you are retired, what do you do to keep busy?"

Amy Hittner

In Praise of Style

In Praise of Style

When Aretha Franklin came up to the podium to sing our national anthem at Barak Obama's inauguration, the crowd that I was watching the proceedings with gave out a loud cheer. In part it was because so many of us appreciate her music (RESPECT says it all) but in part it was because of the hat she wore. It was a large gray hat with an enormous bow in the front. It was reminiscent of the fabulous hats many African-American women wore to churches throughout the 20th century. If you are not familiar with the style, look at "Crowns: Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats" by Cunningham and Marberry which is a wonderful collection of pictures of women and their hats.

Michelle Obama also had a fashion statement that inauguration day in her yellow dress with a yellow long jacket. Regardless of what you thought about either the hat or the dress, both women were dressing in a way that stood out and said I am here to please my own sense of style. I am not wearing a dark pant suit and looking like a man with curves.

Don't get me wrong. If you like dark pant suits, wear them; and in fact I do. But I do love to see women in showy clothes that they feel comfortable in. I hope Michele Obama does not become known for only fashion statements and protecting her children -- traditional roles for the first lady. On inauguration day, both of these women were acting in traditional female roles, one as a wife and one as an entertainer. But hopefully their lively sense of style will also free political and professional women to express their own sense of style. Hillary Clinton wore colorful pant suits which broke a little with tradition and for which the press never tired of commenting on.

I am ready for America to accept that a stylish women can also be a serious women. Let's have some fun with our clothes while we get serious about our politics.