Boomer Life

Retirement Barbie: Imagine that

I was at the gym Monday talking with my fellow exercisers at the Y in their 50s, 60s, and 70s, following the opening of the Barbie movie (which none of us had seen), noting that Barbie, in people years, would be facing retirement soon, as she was “born” in 1959. Born in 1959, she can retire at 66 years, 10 months. READ MORE

Boomer Life

I’m on Team Barbie, and not for the reason you think

In the 1950s, her creator, Ruth Handler, noticed that her son, Kenneth (Get it: Ken) played with toy guns, trucks, and soldiers, while daughter Barbara (“Barbie”) played with baby dolls, enforcing the idea that little girls would grow up to be mothers and housewives. A prescient Handler wanted to develop a doll that would allow little girls to believe they could do and be anything. Hander and her husband Elliott with friend Harold “Matt” Matson created Mattel and there was no looking back. Daughter Barbara took part in the ceremony immortalizing Barbie’s (full name: Barbara Millicent Roberts) hand and footprints in cement on Hollywood Boulevard in 2002. READ MORE

Boomer Life

Boomer Life: What’s in a name?

Even before the annual report of top names for 2022 was released by the Social Security Administration, I had been hearing names of youngsters that harkened back many decades: Evelyn, Hazel, Agnes, Dahlia, Lisbeth and Mae. Or Abraham, Archie, Bruno, Clark, Hunter.  What goes around comes around, I guess. READ MORE