If you live alone, if your family is scattered far and wide, if you recently lost a partner or spouse, if you can’t afford the plane...
About
Pat Taub
“Women’s Older Wisdom” (WOW) was born out of my frustration locating online resources to help manage my life as an older woman. Time and again when I googled “older women,” I discovered barely a reference to women in their 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. It was as if they didn’t exist.
When older women do blog it’s typically on the theme of “age is only a number, or you’re only as old as you feel.” I don’t find this philosophy either realistic or helpful. I know I’m getting old because my body is slowing down, my face is accumulating wrinkles, and my memory isn’t as sharp, while dear friends and relatives are dying on me.
I’m confident that there are lots of women, like me, who long to have old age accepted and honored, rather than engaging in an uphill battle to stay young: women who want to talk about the realities of growing old.
It’s my dream that WOW will offer a place for older women to exchange personal experiences, wisdom, humor, and resources so that we can age with dignity and not feel so alone in the process.
About Pat Taub
Pat has been a life-long Feminist, dating back to the movement’s second wave. She went on her first protest march some 40 years ago while pregnant with her oldest son.
For almost eight years, Pat wrote the popular advice column,Coping,for the Syracuse, NY newspapers. She moved on to found and host the award-winning program, “Women’s Voices,” broadcast on the NPR affiliate station, WAER in Syracuse, NY.
Pat lived her dream to attend the UN Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995. Learning about the difficulties facing third world women both humbled her and sparked her commitment to aiding their causes. In 2001 when Pat moved from Syracuse to Key West, the Syracuse branch of NOW (National Organization for Women) honored Pat for her work as a community activist on behalf of women.
Pat taught courses in Women’s Spirituality at the Chautauqua Institute from 1991-1998. She is a former board member of Greenfire, a women’s spiritual retreat center in midcoast Maine.
Pat wrote the mother-daughter memoir,The Mother of My Inventiondescribing her conflictual relationship with her mother. Writing the memoir made it possible for Pat to develop a new empathy for her mother’s life. This led to workshops and classes with the title, “Discovering Our Mother’s Stories.”
Currently Pat teaches “Women and Aging” at OLLI at the University of Southern Maine and is the Portland, Maine coordinator for CodePink, a national women’s peace and justice organization.
Join the conversation by joining our group on Facebook or by commenting on any post.
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.