Category: AGING

The Building as Character

This was originally posted on November 5, 2018   Memoir Writer’s Journey   November 5, 2018  By Kathy Pooler The Building as Character by Memoirist Marianna Crane   “Home is a shelter from storms—all sorts of storms.” —William J. Bennett     As a family nurse practitioner, I read Marianna Crane’s memoir with great interest…… Continue reading The Building as Character

Announcing Publication Day: Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic

 Immediate Release  RETIRED RALEIGH GERONTOLOGICAL NURSE PRACTITIONER’S IMPORTANT MEMOIR OFFERS LESSONS FOR TODAY  Retired nurse practitioner and Raleigh resident Marianna Crane’s memoir, Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic: A Nurse Practitioner Remembers, has earned kudos for its depiction of the early days of gerontological nursing. Windy City Reviews called the book “important” and Kirkus Reviews praised…… Continue reading Announcing Publication Day: Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic

Countdown to Publication Date: One Week

I have three readings scheduled at local books stores in the next few weeks. I will send out an e-vite tomorrow. It’s both a stressful and exciting time. I have to remind myself to “have fun.” The latest review of my book: Chicago Writers Association, Windy City Reviews: Stories From The Tenth Floor Clinic. Marianna…… Continue reading Countdown to Publication Date: One Week

Kirkus Review

My book, Stories from the Tenth-Floor Clinic, received a positive Kirkus Review. A good review a best seller does not make. I have been busy, along with my publicist, lining up ways to promote the book. I find none of this easy. In retrospect, writing the book may have been the easy part. “In this…… Continue reading Kirkus Review

New Love in Old Age

I wanted to post an upbeat aspect of aging after my last one focused on death. While we can’t deny that the ultimate conclusion of aging is death, there are many diversions along the aging journey that turn out to be a surprise and delight. I, for example, would never have predicted that after I…… Continue reading New Love in Old Age

Dream Deferred 

Dream Deferred  by Langston Hughes   What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up Like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore– And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over– like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does…… Continue reading Dream Deferred 

Nurse at the Switchboard

Ten of us from a class of 44 traveled to Cape May, New Jersey to attend our 55th nursing reunion. We first met as young Catholic teens in the late ’50s enrolled in the diploma program at Saint Peter’s School of Nursing in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Hard to believe we are now in our…… Continue reading Nurse at the Switchboard

Out of the Blue (aka Mr. Foley)

My story was published in Pulse: Stories from the Heart of Medicine on August 18, 2017 Out of the Blue Friday, 18 August 2017 Marianna Crane ~ As I sit in the exam room waiting for my first patient of the afternoon, the phone rings. It rings four more times before I realize that Amanda…… Continue reading Out of the Blue (aka Mr. Foley)

Netflix Show Gets Aging Right

I am thrilled that the third season of Netflix’s Grace and Frankie is finally here. As one of the first gerontological nurse practitioners to be certified by the ANA back in the 60s and now a 70-something woman, I am depressed that the very same stereotyping and dismissal of the aged I first encountered is…… Continue reading Netflix Show Gets Aging Right