33 (1).indd Anthropology & Aging Quarterly 2012: 33 (1) 4 President’s Message Lori L. Jervis, Ph.D. Department of Anthropology and Center for Applied Social Research University of Oklahoma Greetings, AAGErs! AAGE met twice this fall as usual, at the American Anthropological Association Meeting in Montreal, Quebec on November 19th, as well as at the Gerontological Society of America Meeting in Boston on November 20th, 2011. It is interesting serving an organization whose membership is divided (or torn?) between these two national organizations, whose annual meetings nearly always occur at the same time. If only we could be in two places at once! Samantha Solimeo, a long-time AAGE member, was voted President-Elect of the AAGE. She will assume the Presidency in Fall 2012. Congrats, Samantha! Our website continues to serve us well. Thanks to Robert Schrauf for keeping it going! Jason Danely has made a number of improvements that have improved the website’s aesthetic appeal. Speaking of technology, did you know that AAGE has an Anthropology and Gerontology Facebook page? Examples of recent postings: An article on the economic wellbeing among older Americans, a video on LGBT elders, and a posting on the AAA Aging and the Life Course Interest Group. This is another way for us to communicate with each other and share mutually beneficial information. Please join in, if you haven’t done so already. To keep doing what we are doing—and to do more for our members— takes funds. Getting those expired memberships renewed is a high priority for AAGE. If your membership has expired (or if this applies to someone you know), please renew. It only takes a few minutes at https://aage.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=0&club_id=497336. While you are at it, please update your profile in the membership directory. As for the future, we are thinking ahead to the next annual AAGE conference. If you think you might be interested in hosting the next annual AAGE conference or would like more information, please contact me at lori.jervis@ou.edu. Until next time! From the Editor Jason Danely, Ph.D. Department of Anthropology Rhode Island College The continued rise of interest in anthropological perspectives on aging and the life course presents incredible opportunities for the future of AAQ. As editor, I realize both the potentential and the challenge of staying at the center of new research and scholarly activities, which, like other fields, is increasingly global, digital and interdisciplinary. In consdieration of these factors, I have planted a few seeds of change for this year’s AAQ that I invite all of us to watch over as they spring up. These include: • New designs and accessibility options, including greater fluidity with the AAGE website • Diversification of submission categories to include new media, pedagogy, interviews and dialogues • Expansion of the editorial board to accomodate more and diverse submissions • More issues dedicated to special topics in aging and anthropology • Public, searchable online access to selected content through our website • Increased graphics content, especially photographs of AAGE members These changes will be gradually phased in over the next two years. In the meantime, AAQ will continue to bring members regular content, such as commentaries and reviews; field, research and conference reports; and carefully reviewed articles from both junior and senior scholars around the world. The current issue contains some great examples of this, with a detailed report on aging in Native American communites and two timely book reviews. I will also be introducing new members of the AAQ editorial board beginning with this issue, and encourage everyone to continue submitting content for them to look at. Looking forward to an exciting 2012 at AAQ!