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...
Thinking About Death
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 a recent late-night phone call that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (To preserve my brother’s [...]
Pat Taub
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Let Me Off the Anti-Aging Merry-Go-Round!
I get it. I’m not supposed to grow old because I live in a society that worships youth. My wrinkles, gray hair, sagging breasts, and flabby upper arms render me unacceptable. The anti-aging industry to the rescue. Up-to-the-minute plastic surgery procedures, facial fillers, beauty creams and medical supplements offer remedies that play [...]
Pat Taub
Boos for Joe, Mean-Spirited US at the UN, Aretha & More!
Joe Biden Strikes Out This week Joe Biden threw his hat in the 2020 presidential ring. As part of his effort to erase his troubled past he phoned Anita Hill to apologize for his unfair treatment of her during the Clarence Thomas sexual harassment hearings, which Biden chaired. Hill wasn’t having any of Biden’s half-apology, commenting [...]
Pat Taub
Home Alone at 70-Something
GUEST POST by TESSA CALVERT-LINNELL Close the front door behind me, then turn on the lights and put the shopping away. Nothing will move in this house – not a chair or a spoon – unless at the touch of my hand. Nothing breathes but me – except for a few plants in pots and the occasional spider, because I’m one of millions of [...]
Pat Taub
Green New Deal Video, Kate and Oscar, Queer Eye & More
A Brilliant Green New Deal Video The Internet is burning up with a wonderful graphic video endorsing the Green New Deal. The video illustrates the many positive things we can do to save our planet from extinction. I think it got over 4 million hits on the first day! The video is narrated by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and drawn by the award [...]
Pat Taub
Aging With Eyes Wide Open
There seem to be three basic ways most of us adapt to aging: with our eyes shut, with our eyes half open, or with our eyes wide open. The first group consists of those in denial about aging, like women who protest, “Don’t ever call me old!” The second group is where most of us fall; some days we acknowledge our aging and plan for [...]
Pat Taub
Julian Assange, Signs of Spring, Living with Cancer & More!
Julian Assange My heart is heavy with the imprisonment of Julian Assange and what it portends for freedom of the press. If Assange is extradited to the US he will no doubt be tortured and placed in solitary confinement, which is just another form of torture, sending the message to reporters everywhere that their sources will be compromised. Whistle [...]
Pat Taub
Older, Wiser, Shorter… and Still Writing Poetry
GUEST POST by JANE SESKIN For more than forty years I’ve made poems. They’ve seen me through illness, fear, anger and grief-work. They’ve filled me with delight, happiness, joy and laughter. Poetry has been a way to observe and take pictures without a camera. Making poems helps me witness and notate the days. The poems have been comfort [...]
Pat Taub
Back Home, Bad Boeing, Bad Biden & More!
Arriving Home I’m back home in Maine as of early Sunday morning when I returned from my winter escape to Palm Springs, CA. This was my first extended stay in the desert, which made me aware that I prefer the ocean to the desert. Even so Palm Springs has its own natural beauty with its exotic desert blooms, great hiking trails and soaring [...]
Pat Taub
Retired Women: An Invitation to Be Heard and Help Others Through the Transition
GUEST POST by LESLIE INMAN and ROXANNE JONES Were you prepared for what retirement was really like? Did you revel in your newfound freedom, or freak out over too much unstructured time? Did you struggle to feel relevant without a job title, or find new purpose by rekindling long-dormant passions? Do you love being retired—or loathe it? [...]
Pat Taub