This is what aging well looks like today

Longevity is no longer measured solely by medical and numerical milestones, but by resilience, purposeful movement and meaningful connections.

We cover aging a lot at Comstock’s, in part because our readership is aging. By 2040, the number of Californians age 65 and older is projected to rise by 59 percent — a shift that will impact every facet of society and commerce.

As living longer becomes more common, the question is how to extend quality of life. While there are some basic tenets, there’s no set answer — it looks different for everyone and is shaped by forces outside our control and not yet fully understood.

In 2024, I wrote a feature examining the more difficult realities of aging, particularly for the “sandwich generation” — those caring for a child and a parent at the same time. More recently, we explored how families are turning to aging life care consultants to navigate an increasingly complex system.

Aging can be aspirational and beautiful. It can also place financial strain on caregivers and support systems. As older generations redefine what’s possible, our systems and infrastructure must evolve to accommodate a profound demographic shift.

– Dakota Morlan, managing editor

Why Did This Small European Nation Open a Consulate in Sacramento?

In a quiet lot in Natomas sits an unassuming tan building with only a gold-plated sign and a red, yellow and blue flag indicating its significance. It may not look like much, but it’s of great importance to the foreign government that rents this space.

Adamo’s in Sacramento Delivers Handmade Pasta and Old-School Italian Charm

In the latest Seat at the Bar column, a solo diner chasing East Coast Italian flavors finds them closer to home than expected.

Literacy Was Optional for Rysa. It Shouldn’t Have Been. | Opinion

The assumption beneath it all is rarely spoken aloud but deeply entrenched: If a child cannot speak fluently, she cannot read meaningfully. Yet that assumption is wrong. Here is what we need to do to make sure students learn to read.

Recommendations from our staff:

Judy: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is dubbed the “nerd prom,” where serious journalists gather once a year to celebrate their profession and the First Amendment. As a news nerd who has worked in news my entire career, I was already watching Saturday night when a shooter entered the lobby of the Hilton Hotel in DC, where the dinner was taking place. I watched the breaking news for hours as the scene unfolded, texting my daughters and my teen grandson who were also watching. The main word used that night was surreal, and it was. It’s still hard to comprehend that the president of the United States, top administration officials who make up the line of succession in our country and the nation’s top journalists were all in the same room when an active shooter situation broke out. Thank God it was contained.

Jennifer: This week I read “Aves sin nido” (translated into English as “Birds Without a Nest”), an 1889 novel by Peruvian author Clorinda Matto de Turner. She is recognized as the first Latin American author to use her platform to advocate for Indigenous rights. Though it feels rather dated today, the novel made such big waves when it was published that it led to Matto de Turner’s excommunication from the Catholic Church. (She argued that priests abused their positions in small Peruvian towns to extract money and other favors from Native people.) It’s definitely worth a read, especially if you can find the 1996 English translation that restored some of the passages excised from the first 1904 English edition (including an episode with a train derailment that the translator thought didn’t add anything to the plot.)

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