Cecile Richards died on Monday, January 20, 2025. She was the courageous President of Planned Parenthood from 2006-2018, when the organization...
How I Learned to Embrace Poetry
Because of the way I was introduced to poetry, it took me awhile to develop an appreciation for poetry. In middle school I was forced to memorize classic poems like Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken.” I remember standing in front of my 8th grade class, woodenly reciting the poem, then sitting down and that was that. Frost’s poem wasn’t [...]
Pat TaubCreating Love
“There is hardly any activity, any enterprise, which is started with such tremendous hopes and expectations, and yet, which fails so regularly, as love.” — The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm On this Valentine’s Day, let’s pause and reflect on love beyond exchanging Valentine’s cards, chocolates, and flowers. With intention and [...]
Pat TaubMaking Peace with Our Aging Bodies
Currently I’m vacationing in Key West, where I’m surrounded by young women, parading their toned stomachs in midriff tops. In response, I’m practicing positive self-talk to avoid falling prey to the cultural message that rejects the older woman’s body, which is no longer taut. Curious to learn how other older women feel about their [...]
Pat TaubAdding Joy to Your Life
Human tensions are running high these days. We’re facing global warming, an escalating war in Ukraine, racial tensions, and economic hardships. While we can’t control how life challenges us, we can control how we respond. If we pause and put the world’s problems on the back burner, we can make room for joy. But how, you must be wondering? [...]
Pat TaubWhen Your Adult Child Rejects You
“Out of the blue I received an email from my daughter saying she never wants to see me again.” “My son is very distant. When I reach out, he is verbally abusive, lobbing hurtful remarks that penetrate my very being.” “My daughter and I had a loving connection until she married. Now she makes excuses whenever I ask to visit her [...]
Pat TaubRest is Resistance
Tricia Hersey, author of Rest is Resistance, makes the bold claim, “Rest saved my life.” Hersey’s book was a Christmas present from my younger brother. We come from a family of workaholics, where our father labored in his office for long hours, while our mother exhausted herself with her endless household chores. We were taught that [...]
Pat TaubI Cane, I Saw, I Conquered
GUEST POST by MICHAEL STEINMAN I’ve never been a sprinter. And in the past decade, some friends have commented on my odd forward motion. “You walk funny. Are you OK?” You could say I limp, or perhaps hobble. A woman I was dating told me that she was “concerned” about “my mobility issues,” to which [...]
Pat TaubTrailblazing Women We Lost in 2022
January Maria Ewing, 71 Ewing, an opera singer in the ‘70’s and 80’s, helped to transform the role of opera singers by incorporating acting skills into her roles rather than simply stand and sing. Her daughter, actress and film maker, Rebecca Hall, referencing her mother’s racial ambiguity, made the critically acclaimed film, “Passing,” [...]
Pat TaubWhere Have All the Peace Workers Gone?
One of the biggest news stories of 2022 was the Ukraine-Russian war. On a daily basis, the American public was flooded with heart-breaking stories of how Ukraine’s citizens were suffering. Americans fell in line. Blue and yellow flags streamed from front porches, shops, restaurants, churches, and synagogues. Every single Congressperson [...]
Pat TaubLoving Connections at the Holidays
The most loving Christmases in my adult life occurred in unusual circumstances. There was the Christmas I spent in Key West with my two college-aged sons. That year I longed for a holiday where my sons weren’t stressed from being shuttled between my home and their father’s. Knowing my mother’s condo sat empty during the holidays, I [...]
Pat Taub