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...
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.
A WIDOW’S JOURNEY: Part 1
Guest Post by Elaine McGillicuddy (First in a two-part series by Elaine on living as a widow) For me, the process of dealing with my grief through the loss of my beloved husband was through writing. I felt compelled to preserve Francis’ words, and what we experienced together during the 100 days from the date of the cancer diagnosis until [...]
Pat Taub
Finding Your Retirement Compass
By Luisa Deprez, Guest Blogger How do you do something you have never done before? How do you realign your life – completely – after moving out of well-established routines of over 40 years? How do you grasp the idea that you are no longer on another’s time clock? That the one you now have is completely yours, to do with [...]
Pat Taub
The Golden Girls c. 2016: Cooperative Housing for Older Women
Now that I’m in my seventh decade I’m starting to think about how I want to live when I’m really old. That day will come for me–and for all of us–when I won’t be steady on my feet, when aches and pains will rule, and when I’ll want the company of like-minded souls close at hand. Additionally I’ll want easy access to [...]
Pat Taub
Why Young Women Choose Bernie Over Hillary: Analyzing Gloria Steinem’s “Joke”
By Evelyn Gilman, Guest Blogger “When you’re young, you’re thinking, ‘Where are the boys?’ The boys are with Bernie.” — Gloria Steinem on “Real Time with Bill Maher.” Gloria Steinem’s comment was a joke, or an attempt at one, but it also reveals more than her trying to be funny on a TV talk show. To make an analogy, [...]
Pat Taub
Awake at 2:30 AM!
It seems that almost every older woman I know, myself included, has sleep problems. Insomnia is the new hot topic. Sleep tips abound on the Internet and in popular women’s magazines. For most of us the problem isn’t so much falling asleep but waking up in the wee hours of the morning and not being able to get back to sleep. Conventional [...]
Pat Taub
Two Great Winter Reads: “My Name is Lucy Barton” and “Excellent Daughters”
Portland, Maine, my hometown, is famous for lobster dinners, craft beer and the ubiquitous appearance of LL Bean boots, but, for those who live here, it’s equally well known as a city of readers. In this spirit I’m championing two great reads to enjoy while snuggled up next to your wood stove with a cup of tea. My first pick is Elizabeth [...]
Pat Taub
Sorting Out My Religious Confusion: A Conversation with Rev. Jeanette Good
I’ve been around the bend and back on my spiritual journey. As a child I attended church with my family. It was more of a social event than a meaningful religious one. I wasn’t taught to pray nor was God mentioned in my household. When I married and had children of my own my ex-husband I and joined the Unitarian Church. It fit our agnostic [...]
Pat Taub
Mrs. Hughes of Downton Abbey: The Older Woman’s Body Shame
In the opening episode of Downton Abbey’s Season Six, middle-aged Mrs. Hughes is anxiety ridden at the prospect of being seen naked (and presumably having sex) when she marries her finance, Mr. Carson. The year is 1925 but older women’s body shame persists in 2016. It may even be worse today given the mounting cultural obsession with looking [...]
Pat Taub
A Thumbs Up for “Transparent,” a new Amazon Prime Series
My favorite part of winter in Maine is the excuse to hibernate, make soup, dig into my pile of unread books, and, best of all, binge on online shows, which is how I kicked in the New Year. After reading rave reviews of “Transparent” in The New Yorker, I decided to give it a chance. I was instantly smitten with this new Amazon Prime series [...]
Pat Taub
Book Review: Vivian Gornick, “The Odd Woman and the City” (An Older Woman’s Life Review)
This Christmas I received the new memoir by Vivian Gornick, The Odd Woman and the City. (The city in question is Manhattan.) It’s a book I’ve been eager to read, being a Gornick fan of many years. I read the young Gornick when she wrote for The Village Voice, documenting fiery protests of Second Wave Feminists. Later I read her mother-daughter [...]
Pat Taub