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My Web Designer, Texas & Polka Dots

Pat TaubPat Taub

My Brilliant Web Designer

This week I had one of my periodic meetings with my brilliant web designer, Edwige Charlot. When I started WOW two years ago I knew virtually nothing about designing a blog or pitching it. Working closely with Edwige we settled on a design I love and one that continues to receive many compliments. She’s also been invaluable in helping me to refine my outreach. We often get sidetracked into a discussion of progressive politics, which may be inevitable when two politically concerned women get together. Edwige’s millennial perspective has greatly enriched my own.

Pat Taub, WOW Blog, Portland, Maine

Edwige in her office

Poor Texas!

My heart breaks for all the Texans who lost their homes and even family members. Like Katrina, Harvey has proved especially difficult for low-income families, many of whom do not have hurricane insurance. I’ve been heartened by the stories of people helping one another, both locally and across the country. They are a reminder that compassion, in spite of #45’s mean-spirited executive orders, is very much with us. I donated relief money to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy.

 

Street Sighting of An Interesting Older Woman

I’m becoming more comfortable stopping older women I don’t know to ask if I can photograph them for my blog. Usually they are flattered, but other times they refuse and hurry along without offering an explanation. I suspect they don’t feel good about their aging selves, which saddens me. This week though when I approached Jill, a visitor from Manhattan, she was quick to agree to being photographed. As a fan of polka dots I was in polka dot heaven over her ensemble. Hopefully she’ll will it to the Polka Dot Museum

Pat Taub, WOW Blog, Portland, Maine

Jill from Manhattan in downtown Portland

Co-Leading A White Privilege Discussion Series

My Portland church, The United Church of Christ, asked me to co-lead a discussion series on white privilege. One of my friends finds this amusing since I live a privileged life. True enough, but as a lifelong activist, I want to understand white privilege and do my part to help others increase their awareness of how being born white has opened doors usually not available to people of color. Wednesday evening over pizza, my co-facilitator, Alyssa Lodewick, Associate Director of BTS (Bangor Theological Seminary) and I met to map out the six-week series, which starts mid-October. We’re off to a good start and humbled about the enormity of our undertaking.

Pat Taub, WOW Blog, Portland, Maine

Alyssa and I after our first planning session

Pat Taub is a family therapist, writer and activist and life-long feminist. She hopes that WOW will start a conversation among other older women who are fed up with the ageism and sexism in our culture and are looking for cohorts to affirm their value as an older woman.

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