Ten Questions For: Sari Botton

An interview with the writer and editor making us rethink aging.

Hello readers, and welcome to Ten Questions For, an interview series with interesting and inspiring (mostly) women: creatives, activists, entrepreneurs, and other people who are doing good work in this world.

Today, we’re hearing from Sari Botton, the founder and editor-in-chief of Oldster Magazine, a publication that “explores what it means to travel through time in a human body—of any gender, at every phase of life.” Oldster’s message is both simple and radical: By virtue of living in a human body, we are all aging, all the time, at all stages of our lives. What would it look like if we talked about aging as a fundamental part of being alive, rather than as a state to fear or stave off, or an era in which one has crossed over the arbitrary line between “old” and “young”? Every time I open an email from Oldster, I am forced to rethink, reevaluate, redefine.

Sari’s approach is one of open doors. There is no gatekeeping around who is old enough to be an oldster, and no single narrative around aging. There is only curiosity: What does aging mean?

Now, here’s Sari.

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Jill: Tell us a little bit about what you do, and about Oldster Magazine in particular. What is it? Who is it for? Why did you start it? 

Sari: Oldster Magazine was an extension of a series called “Fine Lines” that I’d launched and edited at Longreads, where I was the essays editor for five years (I left there in June 2020). Both “Fine Lines” and Oldster grew out of my fascination with age, aging, and which milestones we are “supposed to” meet when. It’s something I’ve been obsessed with since I was 10 and, at my bowling birthday party, my uncle said, “Well, you’ll never be one digit again.” The idea that I’d just stepped through a door blew my little pre-teen mind. I have also always been out of step with my peers, either doing major life things too early or too late (or not at all, such as never having kids), which has informed my curiosity and fascination with age and aging.

I’d say the core audience for Oldster is Gen X, older Millennials, and younger Boomers. But really it’s for everyone. And I’ve got many readers and contributors from The Silent Generation. And now and then I hear from people in their 30s about how moved they are by what I publish. I started Oldster because after leaving Longreads, I knew I wasn’t done with the topic. But I struggled to find a new name. 

On the morning of August 31, 2021, I woke from a dream in which I’d started a magazine called Oldster. I promptly made a joke about it on Twitter. Then I thought, Wait…that’s actually kind of a good idea. Later that day I launched it. It immediately caught on. I think I’ve tapped into something that people are thinking about.

Jill: Why is your work, and Oldster, important in the world? (Yes, it’s ok to brag about yourself). 

Sari: Oldster Magazine’s slogan is: “Exploring what it means to travel through time in a human body, at every phase of life.” It’s the only aging-related publication I know of that’s not limited in its coverage or subject matter by age group or gender; to me, everyone who is alive and getting older is an oldster. 

That’s because Oldster is driven by my mission to destigmatize and normalize aging by showing it’s something we’re all going through, all the time. To that end, I’m including everyone in an ongoing, multi-generational conversation about getting older. 

I hear from younger readers that they are inspired and heartened by what they read from older contributors. And I hear from older contributors that they are moved by what they read from younger contributors. I get a lot of emails like this one: "I haven’t allowed myself to delve into aging, but realizing I’ve been avoiding it and reading the content in your emails helped me to see that the perspectives and experiences of others who are wiser and more thoughtful than I am will help me navigate this journey."

I’m looking at aging along a spectrum, because it is life-long. How many times, even at points in childhood, have we all thought, “Oh, wow, I’m really old now.” Or, “I’ve hit this really grown up juncture.” All the life-cycle events we pass through have meaning to us, and define for us where we are in the timeline of our lives, and where we stand relative to others. Those events look one way to us as we are inching up to them, and another way when we are moving beyond them. To me, from every angle, it’s all so intriguing.

I’ve also never understood why we make fun of people for getting older, why birthday cards make jokes about aging. I honestly don’t get the joke. And I want to push back against it.