Lessons from an Old Man in a Black Bathing Suit

"as if living to ninety were primarily the result of hard work or prayer..."

This week's New Yorker has a meditation on longevity by Michael Kinsley ’72, J.D. ’78. Kinsley wonders why society confers respect, and even bragging rights, on those who live to be very old, "as if living to ninety were primarily the result of hard work or prayer, rather than good genes and never getting run over by a truck." Read the piece—teasingly titled "Mine Is Longer Than Yours"—here.

Related topics

You might also like

The former economics concentrator brings his talent for crunching numbers to netminding.

Graduates John Lithgow, Bill Rauch, and Bess Wohl took home prizes on Sunday night.

In her memoir All That's Unseen, Emilee Hackney explores religion, friendship, and home.

Most popular

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.

The Harvard Kennedy School professor has led inquiries into the polarizing conflicts in the Middle East.

Phase A of the Allston project includes a hotel, residences, and a two-acre greenway.

Explore More From Current Issue

Singer performing on stage with a guitar, wearing a hat, and surrounded by band instruments.

Singer Elisa Smith’s whiskey-soaked voice and subversive feminism is part of the genre’s urban shift.

A blue refrigerator covered with animal pictures, notes, and drawings, surrounded by greenery.

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.

Star-filled night sky with the Milky Way arching over a rocky silhouette.

There’s a growing movement to curb light pollution. It starts on your front porch.