The burning question emerges from the economics of making a living: How we can manage to get by if our working days are past and we need care? How are we as a society---the United States in particular---going to address this, and who will pay? There are many ways to approach the problem: for example, how to support family caregivers; how to ensure older people remain integrated with the community and how to create thoughtful models of assisted living; how to structure the necessary insurance; and how to fund all of these things. These questions touch on racial equity, immigration, urban planning, and many other issues.

After many years of writing fiction and screenplays, I decided to go to college after all (The New School for Public Engagement) and see where it led. It led to the questions above. I went on to earn a master's degree in health policy and management from the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. Now I am a research associate at Brookdale Center for Healthy Aging at Hunter College, where I work on projects in the areas of cumulative disadvantage, HIV and aging, and sexuality and gender diversity.

In my previous incarnation, I published fiction, essays, and magazine articles. For Ancestry magazine, I wrote about public health threats in the 19th century; attic finds that inspired people to learn about previous residents of their homes; the role of serendipity in genealogical research; and Mark Lemberger's years of detective work to find out who killed his aunt, little Annie Lemberger, in 1911 (see clips).