While I’m an elder, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to dying, that is until my brother, who’s 20 months younger, announced in...
Short Takes
Ketanji Brown Jackson, Ukraine, A Great Documentary & Novel & More!
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Just when one thinks the racist, sexist Republican Senators couldn’t stoop any lower with their mean, baseless behavior, they proved us wrong this week in the ugly way they questioned Judge Jackson during her confirmation hearings to be a Supreme Court Justice. Throughout the questioning Judge Jackson remained [...]
Pat Taub
Ukraine, Two Brilliant Films, Hillary Mantel & More!
Ukraine Horrors As the war in the Ukraine escalates and brings all kinds of horrors, like the possibility of a nuclear plant being struck emitting dangerous levels of radiation, and untold numbers of innocent deaths, my heart is heavy. While we need to rally around the Ukrainians, I long for less war talk and more efforts at diplomacy. For [...]
Pat Taub
Granddaughter Jane, A Sweet Film, A Great Read & More!
Granddaughter Jane Today my granddaughter, Jane, is 18 years old! It seems like yesterday that my son called me with the news of her birth. I was living in Key West, which made David think I could somehow access Cuban cigars for him to pass out. He knew they were illegal in the States but challenged me. I went into a few seedy bars, [...]
Pat Taub
Key West, Two Great Films, A Brilliant Novel & More!
Key West Lucky me, I’m still enjoying my Key West break from Maine’s crappy winter punctuated by icy roads and sidewalks. Last week my youngest son paid a brief visit. We walked a lot, beached a little and ate like the locals, feasting on Cuban sandwiches, conch fritters and the ubiquitous Key Lime pie. After sampling a few pies, we [...]
Pat Taub
Key West, Octavia Butler, Macbeth & More!
Key West Vacation My winter escape to Key West continues, for which I remain grateful. While the Northeast is hunkering down for the biggest snowfall of the season, Key Westers are grumbling about Sunday’s weather forecast, which predicts a high of only 58! Miami could see temps in the 30’s. It’s all relative. On a walk yesterday [...]
Pat Taub
Key West Vacation, Overworked Nurses, A Great Read & More!
Key West Vacation I feel very fortunate to have escaped the tundra for a few months to land in Key West. Because Florida is very lackadaisical about masks, thanks to Gov. DeSantis, I’m mostly laying low in my rental, and taking daily walks in the sun to restore my spirits. Here are a few Key West images, which capture the spirit of this [...]
Pat Taub
Mask Wars, “Don’t Look Up,” Ann Patchett & More
Mask Wars in Portland, Maine I was sickened to read in today’s Portland Press Herald that the vociferous mask wars have heated up in my hometown of Portland, Maine. This week the City Council passed a resolution requiring masks in all public places. The councilman, Andrew Zarro, who sponsored the ordinance has received death threats, [...]
Pat Taub
A Christmas Orphan, Joan Didion, “Being the Ricardos” & More
Being A Christmas Orphan The surging Omicron virus had me scuttling my holiday plans to fly to Chicago to spend Christmas with my oldest son and his family. It was a hard decision, but it feels like a case of “Better safe than sorry.” Like many families, who are separated this year due to Covid, we will Zoom or FaceTime on Christmas [...]
Pat Taub
Abortion Nightmare, Josephine Baker, A Great Read, & Remembering Joanne Shenandoah
Abortion Nightmare! This week the Supreme Court held a hearing on a challenge to Mississippi’s draconian abortion law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The Court’s conservative majority indicated a willingness to uphold the Mississippi law. In a very “A Handmaid’s Tale” moment, Justice Amy Cone Barrett suggested [...]
Pat Taub
Mary Robinson, “Women and Nature,” “Passing” & More
Mary Robinson at COP26, Glasgow This week at the Glasgow UN Climate Conference, Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and the current chair of The Elders at the UN, took aim at world leaders, who unlike poorer countries, are not in “crisis mode.” During a BBC interview she broke down, speaking through tears, beset with worry [...]
Pat Taub