I was in the New York times last Wednesday. It turned out not what I thought it would be.
Here’s the background. In June my wife Lucy Rose Fischer and I were the speakers in a podcast entitled: How Retirement Can Be the Best Years of Your Life. This was part of an ongoing series called “Revolutionize Retirement “which is run by author, psychologist, and life coach Dori Mintzer.
A month later I received a telephone call from a freelance contributor to the New York times. She was collecting information on how seniors were coping with the pandemic, especially if they can’t travel, see their grandchildren, or socialize.
The word “coping” raises a red flag with me. I see it as my personal mission to encourage people to find ways to thrive, not just cope. So I lectured her for nearly an hour about how heterogeneous seniors are. Many seniors choose a wide variety of activities, including Zooming with friends, pursuing hobbies, and working – for pay or not. Many are creative, contribute to society in a number of ways, and are busy with productive activities now.
I told her that I had written a book on this topic and was developing a new career. She assured me that she would mention both of those. I had visions of an article about me, possibly appearing in a prominent location in the newspaper.
Two months went by. The journalist sent me an email that an article would appear in the online edition of the Times. The article was very careful to mention how old I was and that I had moved downtown. There was no mention of my work or book. Interviews with a dozen other people were included in the article.
So my 15 minutes of fame came and went. I was thrilled and disappointed at the same time.
I think that if I had prepared for the meeting thinking more carefully about what they would want to write about and then discussed more newsworthy topics, the outcome might have been somewhat different.
Here is a link to the article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/07/business/retirement/pandemic-life-seniors.html?searchResultPosition=1
Have you had your own 15 minutes of fame? What was that like for you?