Show A4 NATION The Salt Lake Tribune America's Leisure Time More Valuable Yet Scarce ingly Scarce By David Flick DALLAS MORNING NEWS Andrew Weldy made the most of his summer vacation this year Weldy his wife Judy and their two children drove up to 700 miles a day On the day they stopped at Hoover Dam construction on a visitors center had backed up traffic 35 minutes into the desert But Weldy had no regrets This is the way I was brought up" he said "This is the way vacation is supposed to be" Mike Metzger has been there he's done that and he prefers a pool chair at the Wet N' Wild in Garland Texas "I'd rather go to a lot of little places than take two weeks and go to one big place like the Grand Canyon" said Metzger an engineer Minivacations are less expensive and take less planning he said like to sprinkle it throughout take some in summer some in fall some at the end of the year" Weldy and Metzger are not alone in wanting to make the most of their time off Leisure though often thought of simply as free time is the foundation of a large segment of the US economy Its economic Often the discussion begins with the Use of Time Project conducted by the Survey Research Center at the University of Maryland from 1965 to 1985 The study concluded that Americans in 1985 had on average about 40 hours a week of leisure time a gain of five hours over the previous 20 years Juliet Schor senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University does not believe it Some studies also conflict -People at all levels are working longer hours Managers are working longer but some industries have their employees on permanent overtime" she said She believes the University of Maryland study was based on an unrepresentative 1965 sample and noted that the results include workers who would gladly trade leisure time for a 40- job Other studies have shown that the number of workers holding multiple jobs has increased she said She also contends that the overtime worked by hourly employees is at an high By her calculation Americans work about 163 hours more per year than they did 20 years ago or about three hours more per part-tim- e hour-a-wee- k do" Allowing for variance in academic language his definition represents a rough consensus 0 Fir- - according to the University of Maryland study The study showed that although leisure time had increased over the course of two decades a third of the popu lation in 1985 said they "always" felt rushed Only a fourth of respondents had felt that way 20 years earlier Betty Morton a decorator from nearby Richardson Texas is among those who feel they get about half the vacation time they would like And she said she often feels unable to fully enjoy the two weeks she does take "You cani take off because when you come back you have to start your business up all over again" she said Her solution is to take off a few days at a time as does Metzger She said she would prefer to take vacation time all at once like mass-markete- Things to do tt f Money Choices Americans have a clear idea about how they want to spend their leisure time: Spend time with family By Leslie Barker isn't mowing his lawn or pedaling his exercise bicycle in the backyard he's probably in his garage That's where he spends his most pleasurable moments — tinkering with a broken bicycle repairing old appliances or fixing a lawn mower he picked up for a 15eo Companionship SS Having time to oneself Chance to learn new things 55116 433o7 Amusemententertainment Help other people 3rn Creativity Meet new people 29(1 song "It's a real pleasure to have 26 Exercise Excitement something to do to get up in the morning and do something that builds you up and keeps you busy" says Reedy who retired in 1980 as supervisor of construction at Rest land Memorial Park Reedy 79 is one of 524 million Americans over 55 Some still work for a paycheck others though retired stay so busy they hardly think of themselves as having leisure time About 1 million are raising grandchildren and laugh at the mere mention of free time And some spend their days looking forward only to meals and bed- SOURCE: 1993 Roper Organization survey from The Public Perspective Vol 5--4 MayJune 1994 25A 21(1t Cultural enrichment 20(14 IMSMI III ifik4NP Spare time How leisure time is spent by men and women 18 to 64 hours per week: 151 TV 49 43 Visiting Talking 28 1111 22 22 19 1110 Sportsoutdoors Hobbies Adult education Thinkingrelaxing Religion time "What we often forget" says Molly Bogen executive director 08 08 07 Clubsorganizations Radio 03 Cultural 401 Total 31 Traveling Reading of Senior Citizens of Greater Dallas "is that older people in this country are the most heterogenous age group there is Too often we stereotype — 'What are most older people doing?' — and we can't do that" What they are definitely doing is breaking ground Theirs is the first generation to have the choices the time and often the money to fill their retirement years with an endless assortment of activities In past decades only a few years separated the beginning of retirement and the end of life Now that people are healthier and living longer those who choose to stop working sometimes spend as much as a quarter-centur- y retired Although reading cooking and gardening rank as seniors' top three activities nationally cording to the American Association of Retired Persons many older adults only begin with these They might take college courses or watch TV play tennis or dominoes work full time or go on a cruise For Edina Stevens and her husband Cecil retirement did not turn out as they had planned Fourteen years ago their newborn grandson came to live with them when his parents could no longer care for him "We tend to stay very busy and when we're not busy we're glad to sit down and put our feet up" she says Many seniors choose to stay busy by volunteering An estimated 14 million others would love to volunteer but are just waiting to be asked Those who do get involved are likely to be healthier and happier than those who don't according to the AARP "The key to successful aging is engagement" says Jim Thompson director of program coordination for the organi7ation "People when they retire will play golf or fish or pursue a hobby vigorously for a year or two Then most find for one reason or another they have to be drawn into something that makes more substantive use of their time or events SOURCE: American Demographics 1993 r Knight-Ridde- sure time "In an earlier time you left the office and closed the door and people couldn't get to you Now the boundaries are more permeable and there are people who feel they can never get away from their jobs" he said On the other hand he said "you look in California's Silicon Valley — companies are set up in parks where you can jog and there are recreation facilities right on the premises where you can exercise in the middle of the workday All they expect in return is brilliant work" Although such arrangements are considered to be on the cutting edge of progressive management they reflect a relationship between work and leisure that has prevailed for most of human fan "It's hard to say this passive spectatorship is bad If a person is maximizing escapism if that's all they're doing with their leisure time then that is an unfortunate life But if they work hard and take some time off and do nothing it's not a bad thing" he said Stearns takes the middle ground in the debate over whether leisure time is increasing or decreasing The question may be hard to answer he said because the line between work and play is not so finely wrought as it once d was This also is the opinion of Richard Peterson professor of sociology at Vanderbilt University who noted that innovations such as flextime and mobile telephones dishave blurred the tinctions between work and lei ' once-shar- p Playing for a Living: Americans Work Hard to Make Their Passions Pay By Mark McDonald DALLAS MORNING "play"? In his book Waiting for the Weekend Witold Rybczynski says "Most outdoor sports once simply muddled through are now undertaken with a high degree of NEWS This is what is important to know about Ken Coles life: A riv er runs through it -The river is the Deschutes in Oregon or the Rio Grande in New IbIexico or the Mountain Fork in Oklahoma It is quite simply any bit of water that carries fish Cole 42 owns a successful graphics business in Dallas but his heart is almost always on a river somewhere And he wants to turn his pastime into full time: He planning to become a backpbuntry fishing guide in northern New Mexico - Like many Americans Ken Cole is crossing the line — or at g The University of Maryland Use of Time Project showed that between 1965 and 1985 the leisure time that American adults devoted to outdoor sports increased by almost 50 percent And some studies show that this trend has continued during the past decade But at what point does our increased leisure become work? Are we forfeiting the quality of 7 litEl S52 EU- !1101104040N101011Alitt1011-3716- 19 '75 '83 '87 '91 SOURCE: 1993 Roper Organization survey from The Public PerspKtve Vol 54 MayJune 1994 Knight-Ridde- t) casting schools and learned to tie his own flies has become yuppie-hiin recent years in large part because of Robert Redfords cinematic valentine "A River Runs Through It" And though Ken Cole appreciates the romance and spiritual possibilities of he is no weekend dilettante He gets his feet wet He gets his hands dirty And most important he's serious about making a future out of his passion "Oh this isn't a fantasy" he says Were not talking mythology here Ifs going to happen" It is difficult to statistically gauge the phenomenon but the anecdotal evidence is everywhere Fitness guru Larry North for work" Jesse Patino's rise was less obvious perhaps and took somewhat longer but he too has successfully turned his recreational passion — golf — into a career Patin° 46 picked up his first golf club when he was 22 The game would remain a serious hobby for Patin° for about 20 years as he worked as a drywall carpenter He had plenty of natural ability and spent thousands of hours at the Sunset Golf Center but he never took a lesson He just played Then two years ago the Oak Cliff father of four took the plunge He quit the construction business and began to play in regional tournaments and the satellite tours which amount to the p g Fly-fishin- fly-fishi- k turning-leisure-intowor- ny But Jack Sharp's passion clearly does not lie with the hoses rakes and paint that the Sharps have sold for three generations Instead his passion is obvious on the pieces of yellow legal pad that cover the desk in his office at the Oak Lawn store — scribbled notes about batting lineups and pitching rotations "I get calls here at the office all the time and I'll be talking baseball and my dad's over there just shaking his head He'll say 'Can you take a moment for the hardware business?' "But that's the way it is I don't play golf I don't play tennis I don't go to the lake I don't have any other hobby Maybe I'm just trying to convince myself this isn't a hobby It's an obsession" Sharp Hardware sponsors a team of 8- - and while Sharp himself coaches college and former professional players team On another in the Dallas Amateur Baseball Association He helps with another team of top teen-ag- e players and he also coaches his daughter's fourth-grad- e softball team "There's always a ballgame somewhere" he says A42" 4 ti 4 ' 1- -- 0 i-)! O - k711:'1-1-- tV' a- - r 777 ' 4 i ‘444-'''''t'°1j'4'- - - ' '''14 n 'jko I -- ' 41 ' r il L " e t444a-pstop0440 t ta:10-- 114 r Ili1111:0 -- - - - g fij - ' B IM i P m- : 1 kita cm Poworhouss Loft on Fairway Master Suit whlet Tub Vaulted Ceilings Main Floor Laundry Private Deck arid Completety Landscaped Brick and Stucco - -- I r 4 East approx 4 mtia firgt t - ar 4- Choose yo - f 9 emu - fLittia Acorn Restaurant) - ' - a '''- ecolorel m — ' 77----- 10 J:1772- ' " I: - 77 r---- — 1- -1-I APProx 1675 firOshed sdft bathe 2 bedrooms - Pmn i iamommor 2502 total I 2-- -- -- - $ e I JULY 10Til & 1ULT Pr 2:::--0- i"44it 1 r zrr -- APPrOx1287 finished sq11- - igain floor living 2574 total baths 114'Ild 4 II k tsy04 S il Cd ktk AUCT1011 C?OUP V41(1 "Vt LI:v ' - 1 BUY BEFORE AUGUST 1ST PRICE INCREASEL7 Garne ' -- '7 7 — i-- - 1- r- - ''taE--i i pm it -- 72al --- — LT ' - Planned Unit Diessloponsnt with Clubhouse and Pool South to Pew Ed 261 Froth SLC - ‘ :40Jr-- Z ''''''' ' 'e41 !" ?4 "THE OAKS" ' - UP - -- I ' im i 01 lit Fzr csA 34-- 4- Air i 111f i0001' : - - - : erA 1 :rooe-4-e- l ' 00 Tzlt4769 - o r" A 3 Nt- -t cAr- ' to -- -I 3 t SIkreo it 4 - 14-t- - 'i lit'itoMi4m441!0"":434 - Census Still while the wealth is concentrated in seniors as a whole it's in the wallets of only a small percentage Others may have high net worth because they own their homes but in reality are short on cash Still people over age 50 account for 80 percent of all the luxury travel in America Through the National Senior Sports Association many take tennis and golf trips to such exotic locales as Scotland and Hawaii They visit 37 countries to study through Elderhostel a continuing-educatio- n program for seniors at universities around the world 6 CUSTOM GARDEN HOMES ON SPANISH OAKS GOLF COURSE r -77'16- - - )74- t 5 - 1 Many also have money as well as time Households headed by someone over 65 hold substantially more in assets than those headed by someone younger according to the US Bureau of the store-sponsor- IH------ 4E'-- skills" : - c1 T—E Af r gy stream biology He went to pitter-patte- - a 11 fly-fishi- 1 - - 36 311(1 minor leagues of professional golf He made $64000 last year and this year qualified for the GTE Byron Nelson Classic The Sharp family has been in the Dallas hardware business since 1921 and Jack Sharp III is now vice president of the compa- teen-age- RI Work is the important thi 0 backhands For Cole his play is about to become his work: He wants to be out of KC Graphics in the next three years "I know I won't make the money I do now but more and more that's becoming secondary I'm not looking to be a captain of busindustry in the iness" Cole's epiphany came 212 years ago on a high mountain creek in New Mexico when he caught his first trout on a fly rod took him on a hares-ea-r nymph out from under a log At first I thought I was snagged but then he took off upstream He was just a little rainbow maybe 8 inches but he was big enough to r make my heart go set me off what that's guess — catching that one little trout" Cole started carrying his fly rods in his car so he could practice casting if he found himself near a particularly inviting pool or pond He began to take long weekends to go fishing Then came longer wilderness treks his fly rod lashed to his backpack His regular ski and canoe trips also began to have a little fishing thrown in He read books on climate geolo boundaries — between work and leisure He keeps two fly rods in his car "at all times" and has installed a bench at work "just in case the urge strikes" And he constantly is juggling his work schedule to accommodate his fishing trips "Work" he says without apology "is a way to pay for my I 5e He suggests that we used to play tennis Now we work on our least seriously blurring the fly-tyin- American's views on leisure time: seriousness" 2 example has become something of a cottage industry unto himr self As a North now 33 began lifting weights as recreation Then when he turned up the volume on his lifting he began to muscle his way into the sport of competitive bodybuilding Before long he was taking on clients who wanted him as a per sonal trainer As his client list grew so did his reputation and he now has his own gym in Highland Park Village Then there's his new fitness book the weekly radio show the TV thing the North Plate (low-fameals in restaurants all over town "And the best thing is it's still my recreation and my hobby" North says "I love it It's never Work vs leisure NEWS DALLAS — If Robert L Reedy J65 Relaxation Carnegie-M- We Idy -- DALLAS MORNING in the leisure industry is electronic gadgetry which can render expensive even the simplest of life's pleasures Critics such as Schor argue that the boom in recreation spending does not indicate an increase in free time but merely means that busy people are trying to substitute consumerism for genuine leisure And it gets to the stickiest of issues: Are some forms of leisure superior to others? "Leisure if it's going to be any good has to have the same intensity that we bring to the best of our work If people need rest let them rest" said Gerald Fain professor of education at Boston University "They need pleasure I'm not against pleasure but don't confuse it with leisure" He criticized the "passive enenterjoyment of tainment" typified by watching television as "indistinguishable from taking drugs" Genuine leisure requires an active engagement of the intellect and senses he said Its goal is fulfillment not gratification Peter Stearns dean of humanities and social science at ellon University in Pittsburgh is easier on the passive week In any case Americans often feel as if they have less free time 7 4 coalition president said the biggest trend e ill i Derrick Crandall part-tim- e all-tim- weight almost equals the $311 billion gross national product of Australia according to the most recent available figures Its study occupies the working hours of a large body of specialists in business and on campus Surveys have found that Americans increasingly value leisure and increasingly fear that they have less of it Though some consider the problems of discretionary time a modern conceit Aristotle its contemplated implications in the 4th century BC "It is commonly believed that happiness depends on leisure" Aristotle wrote Yet experts often are deeply divided about even the most basic aspects of leisure time: How much we have and how we use it "What I tell my students" said Charles B Rotman of Babson College near Boston "is that leisure is what you're doing when you're not being paid for what you usually ly For First Time Retirees Have Leisure time activities "You can get rested up after a few days but you come back and you feel hassled again" she said "It's not like having four weeks" In any case Americans have come to value what time they have An ongoing survey begun by the Roper Organization in 1975 initially found that 48 percent of respondents said work was more important to them than leisure compared with 36 percent who said leisure was more important The question was repeated each year and the percentages remained steady until the late 1980s Then attitudes switched By 1993 42 percent said they valued leisure more than work compared with 31 percent who said work was more important Leisure may be free but it is not cheap According to the American Recreation Coalition annual sales of recreation goods and services exceeded $300 billion in 1990 the most recent figures available That figure was growing faster than the total gross national product of the United States among experts They agree on almost nothing else Even such a basic question as how much leisure time the average person has is debated intense- Sunday July 24 1994 JOLENE STUBS 372-206- KATHLEEN KOYLE 3 372-111- 6 g I S 288-929- 9 I Ia i - - - - ? o p- r- ' |