Old, Bold and Unfiltered
Sandra Butler writes the truth of old age exactly as she lives it: vividly, imperfectly, on her own terms. With candor, bite, and a generous dose of humor, she offers clear-eyed observations that refuse syrup and sentiment. Instead, they offer the relief of recognition— and the freedom that comes from naming what we’re not supposed to say out loud.
Butler wrestles with balky knees and balkier institutions, forges late-life friendships, and continues her resistance against fools and knaves, with gratitude for each new morning and its unexpected gifts.
For every person who is old, becoming old, or loving someone who is “Now What?” is a companion and a dare:keep telling the truth, keep choosing your life, and keep going.
Welcome.
This site is a collection of my writing over the past 50 years, offering the reader a sense of where I’ve been and the concerns that have drawn my personal and political attention.
Now What? Notes from the Front Lines of Old Age is the third in a series of memoirs, the first written when I was a mere 81, the second at 83, and the current book written in my 87th year. What’s next remains to be seen!
Enjoy. Don’t be a stranger. Be in touch.
Recent Press
- Persimmon Tree piece:
Enough Already! How old do I have to be before I can put an end to my lifelong task of trying to improve? - HuffPost piece:
I Have Been Lying To My Grown Children For Years. Here’s What They Don’t Know About My Life. - KXCI Interview
Listen to Sandra on KXCI’s Broad Perspectives (Nov. 3, 2024).
Previous Books:
Leaving Home at 83
It’s a ‘zine! It’s a movie! It’s a sit-com! Actually, it’s an intimate glimpse into Sandra Butler’s personal journal as an 83-year-old queer Jewish feminist activist leaving her Bay Area home to
live close to her daughters in the Red State of Arizona.
The Kitchen is Closed: And Other Benefits of Being Old
In this funny and intensely personal collection of essays, Butler chronicles her experience moving from aging to old.
With its sharp humor and refreshing honesty, The Kitchen Is Closed is a must-read for aging women, eldercare workers, and adult children who want to gain a fuller sense of their mother’s life.
It Never Ends: Mothering Middle-aged Daughters
Being a mother is rarely easy. Being an aging mother with a middle-aged daughter presents its own complexities, challenges, and rewards.
This book explores this experience, opening the path to further conversation about the difficulties and richness of this time.
Cancer in Two Voices
“This landmark feminist perspective on breast cancer…is an indictment of the medical profession’s casual attitude to women’s illness, an also a touching chronicle of two women in their forties grappling intellectually and emotionally with premature death.”
– Publishers Weekly (1988)
Conspiracy of Silence
In 1978, this book was published and became a cornerstone in the activist/feminist movement to end sexual assault.
“…The raw impact is enormous.”
– Publishers Weekly (1979)