MEA

Everyone deserves a makeover from time to time. Thanks to IDEO vet and MEA alum Jenn Maer’s leadership, the Modern Elder Academy has a spankin’ brand new website, logo, and brand identity.

Back in October, I wrote this blog post on why lifelong learning was an abstract concept that needed a physical home. This kind of adult learning seemed to be a DIY thing: it’s your responsibility to figure out how to adopt a beginner’s mind to allow curiosity to become your elixir for life. But, it didn’t feel like it was taking hold as a foundational way of being in adulthood.

When the 9/11 tragedy happened, it was 6 am in San Francisco. I was awoken by a panicked call from my friend Janine who was on the east coast and could barely speak. I spent the day in my bathrobe in our construction zone of a home with my partner Donald and a couple dozen construction workers glued to the TV. The day is seared into my heart as everything changed so suddenly, horrifically.

Uprising was planted into the soil of the United States of America. It seeps into the water, permeates the air, and is ultimately ingested by each body that feeds off its land. The moment of now is simply the result of a harvest planted over 400 years ago.To quell the rage, plant new seeds.

In a world awash in websites and screen time, the value of IRL (In Real Life) connection will become more apparent in the next year. At the same time, new habits have formed, and how we do business may have become forever altered.

People ask me, “Am I optimistic about the future?” I guess it depends upon how we define “future?” When United Airlines announces yesterday that airline traffic in the first two weeks of April was down 97% from last year and the airline now expects to fly fewer passengers in all of May than it flew in a single day during the same month last year, I freak.

This is a fitting title for this guest post from Sean as we officially closed the Modern Elder Academy for five weeks starting today as our 50th cohort said goodbye to our remote beachfront Baja campus.

The genesis of the Modern Elder Academy comes from my close friends Ben and Vanessa, who spent the holidays with us in my new Baja home three years ago. They stayed longer than the rest of us and then wrote to see if they could stay an extra week.

I know a catalyst when I see one. Having been on the Boards of Burning Man, the Esalen Institute, and Glide Memorial Church, I saw how these singular locations led to more global transformational festivals, personal growth retreat centers, and urban progressively-minded churches.

“I think as one grows older, one is appallingly exposed to wearing life instead of living it. Habit, physical deterioration and a slower digestion of our experiences, all tend to make one look on one’s dear life as a garment, a dressing gown, a raincoat, a uniform, buttoned on with recurrent daily (tasks)...