Trent English Literature Professor, Dr. Sally Chivers, focuses most of her research on aging and age studies through literature. In her new podcast, Wrinkle Radio, she dissects how we stigmatize aging because of our fear surrounding the natural processes our bodies go through. The podcast has been a working project to bring to light these issues to a broader audience, the format allows for a certain accessibility that other mediums like academic papers cannot reach. Aging is a process that follows all of us over time and Chivers wants a larger population than just academia to have a discourse about what it looks like.

I had the pleasure of chatting over Zoom with Chivers about the different elements of aging. Chivers stated that one of the most frightening aspects we have been told through the Western societal narrative is the one of “the deserving senior.” Chivers states that “the deserving senior” is one who “we should take care of [...](and I hope the sarcasm comes through here) because they have worked to build this nation.” Chivers points out, “who does that leave out? It leaves out people who couldn’t work for whatever reason, it leaves out people who may have immigrated in order to take care of ‘our seniors’, it leaves out entire Indigenous communities.” There is fear around aging because it is not equal for all people. Aging can be something beautiful for some if their bodies maintain a certain physicality and agility, but for most, if they do not fit into the parameters of “the deserving senior,” then it can be a struggle to think about what life will look like as time moves forward. Chivers goes on to say, “it also brings this idea of exchange, a kind of marketplace and that if you haven’t paid into the system through sweat and through money and through whatever, then what, what is supposed to happen to you?”

Chivers's intention is not to create more fear around aging. She wants to have these discussions because when we do, we can remove the sense of fear and dread. By talking about the inequalities around aging, we can have the opportunity to figure out why these problems exist and how to fix them. Because aging is a natural process, there should be no hierarchy of support depending on how much was “exchanged” in one’s earlier life. That is why Chivers explains that we need to talk about the social issues surrounding aging. There is this disposition that “aging is only white, it’s only middle class, and it is a way of shutting down dialogue.” Through her podcast, Chivers wants to reach audiences of all ages so that these conversations can be heard and the fear around aging  diminished. 

You can find Wrinkle Radio on any streaming platform where you listen to podcasts. Sally Chivers intends to upload a new podcast every month because she believes in quality over quantity. There is a lot of time and research placed in every podcast with interviews. She has an insightful and hopeful tone throughout the podcast to bring on how aging needs to be regularly discussed in our day to day lives. 

There is also a new Aging Studies Graduate program at Trent. This is a growing field and the program is intended to be interdisciplinary so that it brings to light the variety of experiences people have as they age. Applications for the program close March 1^st.