Kitra Cahana lives in Arizona, but her family is all in Montreal- currently the COVID-19 epicenter of Canada. Her sister is finishing up her second year as a nursing student, about to go to the frontline; her mother is a social worker in a residence for olders; and her father is disabled and living in a large long-term care centre. From thousands of miles away, Kitra is staying directly connected to her father’s wellbeing during this turbulent time. Since March, she has become increasingly aware of not only her father’s struggles, but also the overall challenges long-term care has been facing for a long long time.

‘Age queer’. For those in the aging field, this phrase might seem uncomfortable, and for my friends who identify as queer, the phrase might be confusing. Inverting the words might make the concept a bit more clear: queer age.

It is an answer to the ‘ageless’, ‘age is just a number’, age denial discourse the media is saturated with. It is a relief in the tug of war between young and old. It validates the messiness of the politics of aging. ‘Queer’ has been reappropriated by those whom the slur was used against and it has transformed into a field of study, a way of being, and a cultural phenomena all of its own.

So what exactly is age queer? 

I had the honor of writing an article with my colleague Kyrié on why we do what we do for 3rd Act Magazine. Check it out here!

I am excited to introduce oldschool.info, a collection of finely curated resources to explain, explore, address, and eradicate ageism. It is a project I have been working on with Ashton Applewhite of thischairrocks.com and Kyrié Carpenter of croneintraining.com. There are books, presentations, activities, videos, blogs and more. It is still in beta mode, so feedback is greatly appreciated. Or if you have or know of a resource you think belongs on Old School, send it along! And spread the word!

In a recent conversation, my good friend Noah brought up the tendency of industrialized capitalist cultures to isolate age groups, which eventually leads to each age group othering (or, perceiving as ‘other’) anyone born before or after them. When younger people inevitably become the older outsiders, it is common to begin neglecting the ritual of celebrating their births. Only some hold on to the tradition after their peers stop, and even fewer folks actually publicly profess their age in these instances. Milestone birthday parties seem to only be granted to those who have the social agency to afford to reveal their age.