Both while reading these articles and when visiting Mt. Pleasant Home, it became clear that a lack of purpose and feeling of importance was detrimental to both the mental and physical health of the elderly. Many disregard the elderly solely due to their age and their own bias towards age, without considering the many important experiences and skills an elderly person might have. Also, more often than not the interests and passions of the elderly are not cared about, as many are passionate about certain things but do not have the resources to continue with their passions. By not being able to do what they love and are passionate about, it decreases their sense of self-confidence, and greatly impacts their mental health. The experience of the elderly right now is not one that produces physically and mentally healthy people.

While at Mt. Pleasant Home and interviewing some of the residents there, the passions of the elderly were highlighted. Alice told me of her love of learning learn, her want to take classes, and her passion for teaching and advising young people. Al reminisced of his times as an entertainer and musician speaking of the "good old days" where he played the guitar and piano, and also sang. Both fondly remembered times in their life where they were able to pursue their passions, and greatly wish they were still able to. It is unfortunate that in our society today, we don't do as much to care for the mental health of the elderly and assist them in pursuing their passions.

To be honest I couldn't understand where the author was going with this chapter. The chapter was about the creative process but then he went right into dinosaurs. His writing briefly skimmed over all his thoughts so I was confused throughout the reading. But to make him look good Ill say that he was trying to portray the correct way to explain the creative process not to doing what you are supposed to do. I'm wondering if you guys (the coaches) were trying to show how your mind works as you age and if so I hope I stay sane for a while before I go crazy.

After reading this I really do not have a clear understanding of what it was about but I do have few specific take aways. In the first section the author talked about visualizing goals and very quickly he switched to a converstion with Michale Crichton about dinosaurs. I think this was a test to show how crazy old people can be when they tell stories and do anything else./

The way Wilson describes the creative process is very similar to the way many inventions have come about. It has a very interesting contrast to Nuvu's process. He proposes to start from the end, the final product, while at Nuvu we start with a prompt and are told our first idea is rarely the best. But he also might be proposing the opposite, "There is an imagined ending, and usually an imagined beginning, and a selection of bits and pieces that might fit in between" pg 74. The ending could refer to the solving of the problem, not the product. The bits and pieces could represent changes in the idea as information is obtained and prototypes are made, and the beginning could refer to the original idea, what you think the project will be.

Honestly, the author is pretty annoying. He sort of reminds me of neo-liberal. Anyway, as for his observations, I found them interesting, especially the way he connects the sci-fi concepts of Jurrasic Park stuff he's encountered in real life. I think that sci-fi is really important in this world. Sci-fi can bring attention to a lot of issues that may occur in the future. 

Sci-fi can also tackle some serious morality problems. As CRISPR tech develops, we will have a large genre of books about the morality of topics cloning and genetic modification.  Overall I think it's important to dream big.

But the author is a really annoying neo-liberal imo

To me, this writer was all over the place. He did connect his points to each other but it got me going in so many directions. He goes from talking about Jurassic worlds to talk about ants. The main point of this chapter is to get the reader to think about their future as he mentions this in the beginning. Although he says to think about yourself as a future scientist I think it can be taken generally.
I do not get this relates to thinking about your future. Towards the end he talks about how science and literature are both mind story's. He starts off telling us to think about our future. Then he goes to talk about an interaction he had. Then he talked about ants and science and concluded with science is a mind story. Some parts were interesting but some I just did not get

Despite people being able to live longer and longer, old age is still a pretty crummy situation. Technology still hasn't progressed enough to fully fight the symptoms of aging. While medical technology obviously made huge strides, the focus has mostly been on keeping people alive, as opposed to maintaining the quality of life. Essentially, you can pretty easily live to a ripe old age, but it won't be fun. In all likelihood, you'll spend the end of your life in discomfort, completely dependant on caretakers, unable to do the things you used to do or wish to do, and only able to survive from constant medical attention. Even if you do manage to age unscathed, you probably won't be able to utilize the wisdom you've acquired over the years due to ageism. All this was pretty clearly brought into reality when we visited the center. As illustrated when we went over the interviews, many of the residents had serious problems with their lack of independence and the relative lack of activity. Hopefully, the future will make life a bit easier for seniors, and allow them to do what they'd like.

Despite the growing population of adults over the age of 60, people still hold ageist views towards such a significant portion of society. While they are in a part of their life where one could have a lot of self inflection and growth as well as benefit society as a whole with the knowledge and skills they gained over decades of working, they are instead just left by the younger generation to sit until the grim reaper comes. During the trip to Mt. Pleasant we met Alice who wanted to grow herself through education and wanted to share her information with others, but she lacked the confidence to do that and even many other daily tasks. People who could be growing themselves and others are neglected. Then there was Al, who had to give up on his passion for music and playing instruments because he had no one to teach him, and when he tried to practice he was pressured into stopping so younger people could play.

These ageist views lead to a lack of decision making and empowerment over your life, the statistic of the mortality rate going from 15% to 30% depending on whether you had been given authority over your life is frightening. Many of the people we interviewed had motivation and passion but hadn’t been given the opportunity to take advantage of that motivation. Such a big part of their life which could be used to positively impact more people than just themselves has turned into an interminate waiting room.

Making Aging Positive spoke of the growth in how long people are living and the effects of stimulation (mental and physical) on the body. It was very interesting to read of the two groups and how they were affected differently due to the circumstances they were put in. How meaningful experiences and joy can greatly change someone's life, allowing them to live longer and have a healthier life. It also gave an outlook on how the world sees elderly people and how they really show be perceived. The world stops looking at the elderly as people with knowledge and experience and more as fragile objects that can’t do for themselves. Some except that mentality while others fight against it.

As they are our elders it’s very dishearting to see and hear of the marginalization of our elders as they are our parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. They deserve respect and to be seen for the scholars and survivors-of-life that they are. As society continues to get older and surpassing their life expectancy we have to create jobs and activities that meaningful to them so they are fulfilled and healthy.

Today was a great experience seeing how some accept their lives or how others are deeply saddened and depressed based on what their lives have become. I really enjoyed talking to Alice as she shared knowledge about her life and her many experiences in life. It paralleled speaking to Al as he had a lot of pains and hardships with his circumstance. He was more focused on the problems (the scarring on his eyes, not getting the medication he needs, etc) and all the things that don’t allow him to do (ie: read). Overall it was a great experience as they had a lot of interesting stories to share that was very interesting. You could tell that some liked the “monotony” of their lives while others did not. Some felt stimulated despite their issues while others feel into a more depressive state.

During my reading of "An Aging World: 2015" I realized just by how much the population of older people is going to grow. The report states that by 2050 over 1.6 billion people are projected to be over the age of 65. I think that more needs to be done to incorporate older people into society and take from their knowledge. Those of previous generations have a ton of wisdom from the past that could play a key role in current events. As the numbers of seniors continue to rise, this is going to be more critical than ever. I do not agree with the idea that people should just be put into a retirement home, for they have so much more to add to a world.

During my conversation with Priscilla, a 77-year-old woman living in the Mt. Pleasant home, she shared many of the reasons for why she chose to move into a home. At around 73 years old, she was living with her granddaughter in her home. After a coming out of a 7-month coma, she found herself without a home. She chose to come to Mt. Pleasant to work on herself and make her last years happy. She mentioned how her whole life has been full of taking care of others, now was her time to have fun and be carefree.

I did, however, find it hard to believe that many of the seniors are helpless when it comes to some problems. For example, Betty, another senior living at the home is a wheelchair user. She got a second-hand wheelchair that veers to the right, hindering her movements significantly. The fix could be a screw too tight, something that no one will fix, and something that she can not fix herself. I believe there should be more communication, empowering seniors to overcome problems like these.