Hi, this is Vanessa, your ENLIGHTENMENT salon host.

I’m excited to talk with Stacy Torres, professor of sociology from UC San Francisco, about her just-published book, At Home in The City, which shows how people aged 60 and older struggle, survive, and thrive in twenty-first-century urban America.

To understand elders' experiences of aging in place, Torres spent five years with longtime New York City residents as they coped with health setbacks, depression, gentrification, financial struggles, the accumulated losses of neighbors, friends, and family, and other everyday challenges. She chronicles how a nondescript bakery in Manhattan served as a public living room, providing company to ease loneliness and a sympathetic ear to witness the monumental and mundane struggles of late life.

The sensitive portrait Torres paints moves us beyond stereotypes of older people as either rich and pampered or downtrodden and frail to capture the multilayered complexity of late life.
 
We’ll talk with Torres about how Western culture frames aging, seniority and the natural process of growing old, and see what insight she can give about how people can find support, flex their resilience, and assert their importance in their communities as they age.

Bring your own questions — no topic is too small or dumb to ask about.

Capitol Books will be bringing copies of Torres’ books for her to sign and for you to purchase.

NEED TO KNOWS
* Ruhstaller BSMT has a variety of beers on tap, as well as wine, kombucha and sparkling water, and for this special Sunday brunch talk, they’ll be offering mimosas. I’ll be providing complimentary bagels and schmears, but please feel free to BYO food.

* While Ruhstaller is typically closed on Sundays, it will be open for this talk, so ignore what Google Maps/Apple Maps says about hours of operation.

Claim your seat - Register here on our Eventbrite page.