If you’re casting about for a way to take the edge off Trump’s wrecking ball, I heartily recommend the uplifting powers of a great...
Activism
Struggling to Find Balance In A Deeply Troubling World
Chaos is a seductress, but peace is the real power.—Diamond-Michael Scott Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, contends that Trump is intentionally creating chaos to unmoor us and advance his oligarchy agenda. The more we are stuck in shock and awe, the easier it is for Trump to advance his Right-wing agenda. Caitlin Johnstone [...]
Pat Taub
In Memory of Cecile Richards (1957-2025): Guidelines for Trouble Makers
Cecile Richards died on Monday, January 20, 2025. She was the courageous President of Planned Parenthood from 2006-2018, when the organization was under sharp attack by conservatives. She helped fend off attacks to cut its funding and efforts to restrict access to abortions. In her memory I’m reposting my May, 2018 WOW post, which [...]
Pat Taub
What Will Our Priorities Be?
GUEST POST by TOM SANTULLI I woke up Thanksgiving morning thinking of Picasso’s astounding and revolutionary masterpiece, “Guernica.” It depicts horrors in the Spanish Civil War. What would you see if he painted, “Thanksgiving 2024?” In the US: 700,000 unhoused waiting in soup kitchen lines. 37 million in poverty, many [...]
Pat Taub
Talking to Penny Rosenwasser, Jewish Voice for Peace Activist
Initially my plan in interviewing Penny Rosenwasser, a founding board member of Jewish Voice for Peace, was to highlight the work of JVP. But I got more than I bargained for. Not only did I end up with a detailed understanding of JVP, but I received a courageous story of how an insecure young Jewish girl became a national and international [...]
Pat Taub
The New Anti-War Elder Activists
Protests against the genocide in Gaza have become intergenerational on an unprecedented scale. When I marched against the war in Vietnam, a grey-haired protester was a rare sighting. Many elders at the time shared the view of my then 70-something neighbor who commented, “I’ve done my part. It’s up to the younger generation now.” [...]
Pat Taub
Can Radical Empathy Turn the Tide?
I spent the Labor Day weekend at my country retreat in midcoast Maine where I own a cottage on a quiet country road sprinkled with modest homes. I make a practice of taking daily walks on this road, which I like to think of as my walking meditations. On Saturday I stopped in my tracks after noticing a flag at a home’s entrance. The words [...]
Pat Taub
Living in Scary Times
“I’m terrified the escalating war in the Ukraine will become nuclear.” “I’m frightened of the climate my children/grandchildren will inherit.” “It’s so depressing to see abortion rights being chipped away.” These are among the comments I hear from friends, who, like me, worry about the future. We live in scary times. [...]
Pat Taub
Rest 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 Taub
Our Missing Hearts
This past weekend I devoured Celeste Ng’s dystopian, suspense novel, “Our Missing Hearts.” When I finished the book, I sat quietly, reflecting, arriving at the troubling conclusion that the dark world Ng describes is at our door. In Ng’s story, Asian Americans are scapegoated. As our government’s verbal attacks on China increase, [...]
Pat Taub
We Won’t Go Back!
Friday morning, I was driving with the car radio on, blissfully contemplating my summer weekend when my reverie was interrupted by a news flash that the Supreme Court had declared Roe v. Wade unconstitutional. I screamed in outrage before erupting into tears, crying for college friends who had back-alley abortions when abortions were illegal. [...]
Pat Taub