Notes From the Front Lines of Old Age
Now What is a revealing, witty series of reflections on living while old.
Butler offers the reader a welcome glimpse into the richness, foolishness, limitations, bravado, and freedom of a vividly lived 88-year-old life.
“…Sandra Butler serves her familiar fierce Torah of Jewish humor and queer feminist wisdom along with unapologetic vulnerability about the physical, emotional, political, and spiritual complexities of aging. As she writes, ‘My preference has always been to talk through my life, and not wait till the end to murmur a declaration or two.‘ Sandy peels back the veil and talks directly to the reader about potent aspects of old age that are often avoided, such as sexuality, death, truth and lies, and multigenerational mothering and daughtering. Relationships with friends, comrades, daughters, and ancestors will be moved, challenged, and inspired by the stories in this volume, which I receive as a loving gift and powerful addition to her series of personal memoirs. Amen Selah!”
—Karen Lee Erlichman, D.Min, LCSW is a psychotherapist, spiritual director, writer and mentor.
From balky knees and balkier institutions to late-life friendships, continuing resistance against fools and knaves, and gratitude for each brand-new morning of unexpected joy, Butler writes the truth of old age exactly as she lives it: vividly, imperfectly, on her own terms. These clear-eyed observations 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.
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Praise for Now What?:
“Rare is the writer who tells the truth and is even funny. Sandra Butler, a true original is an old queer woman who moved in her eighties to live in Tucson, Arizona, where she miraculously managed to create a new life. and tell us all about it in a captivating book. Amazingly now, she gives us another wonderful book about what life on the frontlines of old age looks like. Hers is a blueprint for us all to live with humor and joy, no matter what.”
— Esther Cohen, Writer, teacher, cultural activist. esthercohen.com
“In Now What, Sandra Butler presents us with both reflections on her long life as a feminist activist and a model of aging with determined dignity, unflinching honesty, and gently ironic humor. The third in her journey from ‘young-old’ to ‘old-old,’ this book is an advance scout’s guide for those of us in our perplexing 70s, whose bodies, minds, and community ties have begun to shape-shift. Butler’s account is a welcome model for mindful aging and a testament to truth-telling as a source of freedom for the teller and her readers.”
— Rivkah Walton, Founding Director, Institute for Contemporary Midrash;
Board Chair, Shtetl 2.0: Northwest Philly Jews & Friends Aging in Community
“Now What? Notes From The Front Lines of Old Age spoke to me. It provoked me to think, reflect on my own memories, do some Google research, and laugh out loud. I feel so much more informed and much less alone. I urge you to read Now What? so that you will, too.”
— Ellen P. Chapnick, Former Dean for Social Justice Initiatives at Columbia Law School; Co-founder of Canvassing Connectors