MILLERTON — On July 13, 2024, 75-year-old Paul Perkins of Millerton won the USA National American Drug Free Powerlifting Federation competition in Boston, Massachusetts.
Perkins wants others to know that they can be active and fit at any age. “I am living proof that it can be done because I am 75 and still going strong,” he said.
Whatever exercise you choose, the key is to “make yourself do it every day,” Perkins said. “Even if you don’t feel like it. It has to become part of your lifestyle, like brushing your teeth.”
Paul Perkins became interested in powerlifting when he was looking for something to change his own routine. He also runs and loves to surf.
“Powerlifting has introduced me to a whole new set of exercises,” Perkins said.
Perkins belongs to Gold’s Gym, but during the COVID-19 pandemic Perkins converted a bay of his three-car garage into a gym.
Perkins has a routine that he follows every day. He begins with an hour of warm-ups. “Warming up is especially important as you age,” he said. He favors “dynamic stretching” which takes muscles and joints through their full range of motion. He goes on to interval training, in which for example, he might run for four minutes and then walk four minutes, and train with weights.
He points to Dr. Jeffery Life who wrote “Mastering Life Plan,” Bill Phillips who wrote “Body for Life,” Chris Heria of YouTube, and Dr. Mike Israetel, author of “Scientific Principles of Strength Training” as inspiration.
Perkins eats a few small meals a day beginning with a breakfast of Greek yogurt and fruit, then a lunch of egg whites for protein and rice. Dinner is usually a salad and at least once a week salmon for Omega-3’s, with small snacks like an apple between.
He said of the powerlifting competition where he won in the 150-pound deadlift category, “It was one of the best experiences in life.” He “still gets goosebumps thinking about it.” Not only did he have his family cheering him on, but other competitors and spectators cheered too. “The comradery is stunning.”
The rules are strict in powerlifting. Each competitor must compete in the “Squat,” holding a weighted barbell across the shoulders, squatting with it, and returning to standing position; “Bench Press,” lifting the weights while laying down on a bench; and “Dead Lifting,” picking the weights off the floor to a standing position. Competitors are weighed in and judges look at your clothes, “even your underwear,” said Perkins. Competitors can win a category or have the best score in all three for the overall win. Judges are on all sides watching each competitor as they lift the weights.
For Paul Perkins, his message is one of “health and longevity.” He stresses there are “no magic pills” and that “they simply don’t exist and do not take the place of boring, daily, consistent hard work and common sense.”
Perkins points to what research has found as “five fundamental lifestyle behaviors” to achieve longevity: “1. Exercise regularly. 2. Eat a nutritious diet. 3. Avoid cigarettes and limit alcohol consumption. 4. Sleep eight hours a night regularly 5. Nurture meaningful relationships.”
Perkins has set his sights on the World Drug Free Powerlifting Federation Competition which takes place in November in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
In Boston Corners, 74-year-old powerlifter Mike Burch has been busy breaking records. In fact, he has broken twelve for his age group in three years. He has his sights set on the World Powerlifting Associations World Championship on Sept. 28. in Oakville, Conn.
Mike Burch, now 74, of Boston Corners, competing at the American Powerlifting Competition. Mike has been lifting since he was six years old and has never stopped. Photo provided
Burch has been powerlifting since the 1950’s. He began weight lifting as a child to help with his lung capacity when he was diagnosed with asthma. He has continued ever since and was top ranked in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s.
“I’m the only one still out there of all I lifted against in the 60’s and 70’s.” Burch commented. Burch has never stopped lifting weights although he did stop competing for a while. He began again when his grandson, Eli, encouraged him to get back into it. His grandson now competes and trains with his grandfather.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Each piece makes a gift, a note or even a Christmas tree seem more personal, more considered, and more connected to humanity. Since then, demand for her personalized, hand-lettered tags, ornaments and cards has only grown, appearing in mailboxes across the region and at shops like the Cornwall Whale and Marton & Davis in Chatham, New York. Her precision is remarkable, and to watch her create these one-of-a-kind pieces is an art all unto itself.
In recent months, we’ve seen a deluge of stories on digital replacement. Data managers, bankers and even therapists are being replaced by computer programs in mass waves of layoffs. But what many still find surprising about the proliferation of nonhuman competitors in the job market is how it’s affecting the arts. Illustrators, animators, photographers, musicians and even on-screen actors are being supplanted by bots touted as “artificial intelligence agents.”
But calligraphy — and handwriting in general — has been in the crosshairs of mechanical progress for centuries. There was a time, if you can believe it, when writing anything required ink, paper and sometimes even a living, breathing human scribe. No typewriters, no word processors, no voice-to-text programs.
Then came Gutenberg’s printing press. Sure, it changed the world for the better, ensuring a greater distribution of ideas, and helping spark some of the most important political movements in history. But it also marked one of the first moments when technology replaced the artistic work of the human hand. Over the centuries, printers, designers and technologists have continued to innovate. Today, with Photoshop or Illustrator, an entire universe of alphabets exists, from ornate and embellished to precise and futuristic — all designed to replace the human hand.
Melissa Gamwell, crafting custom Valentine’s Day cards in her office in Cornwall. Kevin Greenberg
Yet, despite this centuries-long assault from technology, Gamwell has found her own way to thrive. Largely self-taught, she combines her drawing and industrial design background with an old-school New England childhood in Maine that involved “very tangible, hands-on, creative problem-solving using many materials.” Raised by “parents who loved antiquarian books, often filled with hand-written dedications,” hers was the kind of upbringing in which “traditional practices were cherished and flaunted” — a time and place with “hand-painted lettering on churches, street signage, the stones in beautiful churchyard cemeteries, and log books.”
Those early impressions have stayed with her, heightening her appreciation of sometimes overlooked details.
“There’s so much ephemera floating around with traces of beautiful handwriting to see everywhere, even now in Connecticut,” she said.
Even in a digital age, she keeps technology at a distance.
“You will not find ChatGPT on my phone, and you will usually not find my phone on me,” she said. Instead, she opts for a notebook, a scrap of paper or the back of a receipt. Sometimes, she goes even further, gathering black walnuts from trees on her property to make the specialized ink for her practice.
Gamwell’s approach to her craft is also philosophical. “There is no better feeling than working through something with your own brain and your own hands, even if you find it less exemplary than you would hope. And it only uses the water you’re already consuming. Do you need to convey an idea? Draw it, however horrific or childish. Write it, even if you never learned proper grammar — because you’ve always had programs do it,” she said.
“Sometimes I think that everything I like is ‘historic’ but it’s really that I just find more value in the traditional methods, which are still alive and well, and desperately in need of stewards for the future.”
After nearly 400 years of pressure, it’s encouraging to see handwriting — an art form that once seemed destined for obsolescence — still thriving, one careful stroke at a time. And thanks to Gamwell, perhaps there’s a new generation of observers, collectors and future calligraphers ready to carry it forward.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his wife, artist Lane Arthur, in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
