I propose that we enlarge Mother’s Day to honor not just our biological mothers but our spiritual mothers as well. They are the...
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.
Badass Older Women Tackling Ageism
I’m seeing a new boldness among older women who are talking back when ageist behavior is directed at them. These women are standing up for themselves and for all of us when they challenge a culture that demeans the older woman. Allow me to introduce some of these badass women: Rachel, age 69, is a frequent traveler who at just 5’ struggles [...]
Pat Taub
Visiting Manhattan, Ilhan and Rashiad, “Why They Marched” & More
New York City Memories Last weekend I visited Manhattan where I met up with an old friend. We visited art museums, saw two excellent off-Broadway plays, ate well and developed blisters walking from the Village to Uptown. Here are some favorite images from my trip. Mojada, the Play A highlight of my New York visit was seeing [...]
Pat Taub
Is a Renegade Retirement Right for You?
GUEST POST by SUSAN SAINT-ROSSY If you were super rich, and had all the support you wanted from family, friends, and society (no matter what), what bold thing(s) would you choose to do with the next phase of your life? This may sound like a frivolous question, but for some women, it is THE essential question in retirement. Finding the [...]
Pat Taub
Big Apple Weekend, Cecile Richards Visit, Remembering Toni Morrison & More!
Manhattan Bound I’m off to the Big Apple this weekend to meet up with an old friend from Key West, where I lived briefly in the early 2000’s. I’m looking forward to immersing myself in art and off-Broadway plays as I take a newsbreak from all the escalating bad news here and abroad. Art museums in particular have always been a solace. [...]
Pat Taub
Struggling with Feeling Powerless
A dear friend bolted through my front door on Sunday morning, distraught, blurting out, “I have this awful knot in my stomach. Two mass shootings in 24 hours with 29 dead! If I hear one more official respond to the tune of ‘you’re in our thoughts and prayers,’ I think I’ll lose it.” I tried to console her but I was as shell-shocked [...]
Pat Taub
Magic, Remembering James Baldwin, My Garden & More!
A Bit of Magic I still believe in magic, like this sighting from my downtown Portland window. Imagine my surprise when I pulled my blinds the other morning to spot a bunch of polka-dotted balloons tied to a fire hydrant right outside my window. I’m sure there’s a rational explanation but I prefer to believe, since I love polka dots [...]
Pat Taub
Practicing Kindness to Lift the Darkness
Each new racist tweet from the Orange Monster, each new horrifying account of migrant children in detention, each new dire climate change warning plunges me deeper into despair. To survive I go about my days pushing my despair underground. Last week a stranger’s simple act of kindness pulled me into the light, shifting my perspective. My [...]
Pat Taub
To ”Bibimania!” – Aging à la française
GUEST POST by JORINDE VAN DEN BERG I am an aging Dutch-American woman, who has visited France regularly for about half a century. When I moved to the U.S., I noticed the ambiguous portrayal of French women in the American media: a love-hate relationship vacillating between sheer adoration and jealousy of those “froggies” (not my words!) [...]
Pat Taub
No Sex for Me
During a recent Sunday brunch with two single women friends both, like me, in their ‘70’s the conversation turned to sex, but not in the same way it did when we were decades younger, sharing juicy tidbits about our sex lives. This time the conversation centered on how sex had lost its appeal. One friend, B confessed to losing interest [...]
Pat Taub
Fierce Role Models, Summer Sightings, The War on Migrant Families
Fierce Role Models While the world is rapidly going to hell in a hand basket I find hope in the brave young women taking a stand for their beliefs. Megan Rapinoe, the star US Women’s soccer player has repeatedly spoken out, insisting that professional women’s soccer receive the same pay as their male counterparts. Rapinoe addressed [...]
Pat Taub