i want to live until i die

I’m so grateful to my good mate Daniella and her mom, Silvia, who generously agreed to pose for me so I could enter Changing the Narrative’s The REAL Photo Contest. “Although older adults play a variety of roles, including spouse, parent, grandparent and hobbyist, there is a critical gap in the number of images available that depict older adults contributing to their community, workplace and future generations.” 

GIVE US A VOTE!

MAGIC CAKES

Silvia Arraya, 62, decorates a beautiful display of hand-made cupcakes for her small business, Magic Cakes, based in Denver, Colorado. Silvia moved from Peru to the United States in 2010 when her granddaughter was born. After working as a baked goods decorating instructor for Wilton and Joann Fabric, she soon started getting requests to decorate cakes for birthdays, weddings and special occasions.

"I know someone is going to be happy when I make them a cake. It's good to be part of the happiness."

Jordan Casteel

Returning the Gaze

Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver

After Effect

FLAK

Your great mistake is to act the drama as if you were alone.  As if life were a progressive and cunning crime with no witness to the tiny hidden transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely, even you, at times, have felt the grand array; the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding out your solo voice. You must note the way the soap dish enables you, or the window latch grants you freedom. Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity. The stairs are your mentor of things to come, the doors have always been there to frighten you and invite you, and the tiny speaker in the phone is your dream-ladder to divinity. Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into the conversation. The kettle is singing even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots have left their arrogant aloofness and seen the good in you at last. All the birds and creatures of the world are unutterably themselves. Everything is waiting for you.