Love in Later Life

By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, July 3, 2008.
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In an attempt to expand your romantic imagination, Word of Mouth takes on a topic neglected by our culture and science alike - love among the senior set.

Stories, songs and poems of youthful lust have guided us for millenia, but people live to be older now, creating new models for passionate love and desire once we hit our 60s, 70s, 80s, and beyond. What happens as boomers age and find themselves single? What happens to the family when a parent marries at 85?

Amanda Smith Barusch is a professor of gerontology at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand. Her new book is "Love Stories of Later Life: A Narrative Approach to Understanding Romance." She’s on sabbatical at the University of Utah, and joins Word of Mouth from KUER in Salt Lake City.

We also hear from seniors interested in finding love at Chicago's annual "Sweetheart’s Ball." Women usually outnumber men there by a ratio of 8 to 1. Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister of Long Haul Productions visited the ball to talk to some of the ladies there.

(Photo by Patrick)

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Word of Mouth is all about what's new. Online and on-air, the show looks at our fascinating and ever-changing world, and puts the latest ideas under a microscope. Word of Mouth investigates everything from science and technology, to health and the environment, to new trends in popular culture. The show airs Monday through Thursday at noon and is hosted by Virginia Prescott.

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