This show was originally produced and published on September 12, 2018
Show Overview
In Part One of this show, I talked with Andrew Belser, who is presently a professor of Movement, Voice, and Acting at Penn State University. Andrew is also the creator of an award winning video program called FaceAge that shows young and older adults interacting knee-to-knee, nose-to-nose almost, while studying and describing one another’s faces. It is a deeply moving work that challenges perceptions about what it means to be “old,” fosters introspection, and builds acceptance, awareness, and cross-generational connections. I had the chance to experience FaceAge in DC earlier this year, and it quite frankly moved me to tears.
In part one of my talk with Andrew, we heard him tell us what FaceAge is and about its power to affect perceptions. In the part two of our interview, which you are about to hear, Andrew tells us more about the neuroscience behind FaceAge, and a little bit about his personal story, and how an encounter with his older Uncle on a rooftop changed his life. So please join me in Part Two of my interview with Andrew Belser of FaceAge.
I encourage all of you to experience FaceAge in person if you can, and if you are interested in having FaceAge to your city, check out the show notes for a way to contact Greg Wolf, the former CEO of Humana, who coordinates FaceAge exhibitions. Greg is a great guy and he can tell you all about how FaceAge is more than just a video program, but also includes training for organizations that want to do more to promote intergenerational connections. A good thing, me thinks.
What you will learn in this show:
How memories are preserved in the body
The gift of his father’s death
How digitally aging his own face affected him
How we both feel about getting old
Cat Steven’s song “Father and Son”
Has aging taken the edge off him as an artist?
How do Mick Jagger and Roger Daltry of The Who keep going?
Pennsylvania Convention Center at National Meeting of LeadingAge
FaceAge as a platform for training
What Andrew has learned from millennials
How technology shapes the nervous system
How his sons would respond if they had to leave their phones at home
95% of marriage problems could be solved with knee-to-knee conversations
How close, personal, intimate relationships are essential to human thriving
How technology is contributing to the national rancor
About The Podcast
From 2014 to 2020, I produced 50 podcast shows about death, dying, and the afterlife. Every show featured an expert guest.
The original mission for the podcast was to:
Learn about death, a perfectly natural and unavoidable process, in a lively and open way so we are better able to accept it, plan for a beautiful one, and most importantly, embrace every precious moment of life as a miraculous gift to be savored and cherished.
About a year into the podcast, I began to notice a change in me. Rather than being morbid and creepy, I found the show brought me a distinct joy and a fullness to life. I started asking myself deep questions.
How would I live if I knew I only had six months left?
What changes would I make to my career, my relationships, my everyday choices?
Where would I like to travel? Who would I like to meet?
What peak life experiences do I envision enjoying but have yet to pursue? What are my dreams?
What fears prevent me from living my dream now?
Later, I was to learn that meditating on death is practiced by many Buddhists. Mindfulness of death can wake the heart.
After 50 shows, I changed the show’s name to “Dance Past Sunset” and produced a final 16 shows on how to live victoriously in the second half of life. I also made profound changes in how I lived, which you can read about in my book “Blue Skyways.”
