I will never forget the moment I met a 93 year old guy Delois Alcorn. It was last fall and he was in the midst of his weekly workout at The Power of Shoppe in Echo Park. The retired aerospace engineer, then 92, wore a tight T-shirt that read, “Be strong. Be resilient. Be yourself” as he strapped himself to the leg press machine.
Alcorn stretched out his legs, closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He then began to slowly and firmly push the 312 pounds forward with his legs for several repetitions. (In contrast, I am many decades younger, physically fit, and currently hitting 220 pounds on the leg press.) Alcorn was inspiring to say the least.
Like 71-year-old pole dancer Mary Serritella, whom my colleague Deborah Netburn wrote about last year. Performing under the name Mary Caryl, Serritella contorts her body into poses called “Chopstick”, “Jade Split” and “Black Sun Split” while twirling around a silver pole to disco music.
In May of this year, I wrote about a group of relatively older “vertical skateboarders.” Death Racer413who believe that a dangerous sport is their key to longevity. They are not ninety-year-olds – most are between 50 and 60 years old – but they perform dangerous stunts in the air, some already reaching retirement age. They claim that the adrenaline rush keeps their brains sharp.
Of course, aging comes with inevitable physical decline and other problems. But people like Alcorn, Serritella and the Death Racers are pushing back against ageist stereotypes about how we should live and play as we get older.
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