Next Avenue Editors' Picks of 2018
Our best essays, how-to guides and feature stories from the past year
We published hundreds and hundreds of stories this year in the areas of health, money, work and purpose, living, caregiving and technology — all with the mission of serving older adults through the power of public media. Among our four editors, they chose these standout stories that rose to the top in terms of quality writing and reporting, impact, advice and learning:
Jonathan Rauch, author of ‘The Happiness Curve,’ on the surprising scientific research showing why we get happier in our 50s and 60s.
—Richard Eisenberg, Managing Editor and Senior Editor of Money and Work & Purpose channels
The lingering impact of grief was a revelation to writer and psychologist Jackson Rainer as he marked the second anniversary of the death of his wife, Karen.
—Julie Pfitzinger, Senior Editor for Features
Kevyn Burger covers an important health care topic combining real-life experience and insights from professionals to help people deal with the problem.
—Edie Grossfield, Health and Caregiving Editor
'To Survive on This Shore,' a book of photographs of, and interviews with, older transgender adults provides representation previously unseen for this community. I interviewed the photographer and social worker behind the project.
—Grace Birnstengel, Editor
I wrote a personal essay about why I caught up with friends from my childhood and why I suggest you do, too.
—Richard Eisenberg, Managing Editor and Senior Editor of Money and Work & Purpose channels
In the 1970s, writer Leslie Hunter-Gadsden and her mother helped break the color barrier while dealing with racial discrimination in their New York apartment building.
—Grace Birnstengel, Editor
Inspired by her father, who became a prolific writer in the last years of his life, instructor Angela Burton told me “we need to make sense of our lives as we age,” and now offers popular Feet to the Fire Writers’ Workshops at senior residences in and around Louisville, Ky.
—Julie Pfitzinger, Senior Editor for Features
You may find the subject of dying scary or depressing, but Amy Florian offers a compassionate and comforting take that could be helpful to you if one of your loved ones is dying.
—Edie Grossfield, Health and Caregiving Editor
I interviewed New York Times reporter John Schwartz about his new book describing the year he got his financial life in order in his late 50s and his advice for the rest of us.
—Richard Eisenberg, Managing Editor and Senior Editor of Money and Work & Purpose channels
Writer Ann Jackowitz described how taking a step outside her comfort zone literally and figuratively helped her see things in a new way.
—Julie Pfitzinger, Senior Editor for Features
