Don Holt -- Crafting new metaphors for aging

Don Holt has had many adventures, over a long life – as a Marine, as a minister, as a social service professional, as an author. As Don turned 70, he began to think and write about the challenges of aging, trying to imagine this part of life in ways that had not been available to his parents. This interview excerpt sketches some of his ideas.

I like this piece as an example of how thought and life can sometimes be closely connected, how the most important circumstances of one’s life can give one the material for sustained thinking and the motive to engage in such thinking. I also like fact that this piece makes it so clear why thinking isn’t optional, how the process of re-imagining is central to living well. Conventional thinking contains traps leading to despair, to stasis, to unmitigated boredom. Don Holt provides one model for thinking one’s way out of such traps.

This show was cablecast on July 19, 2009.

The Bat of Minerva

For about 14 years, the Bat of Minerva, a regional cable show, has featured thoughtful people, including many scholars, talking about their life journeys, trajectories, stumblings. From these conversations, hints emerge about the landscape of the academy, the varieties of scholarly and thoughtful lives, and also about what kind of energy or passion or annoyance keeps people thinking and working, year after year.

In this anniversary interview, I discuss some of the motives for starting the Bat. The interviewer is Mary Callahan. My name is Peter Shea; I produce and direct The Bat of Minerva.