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...
Short Takes
Halloween, Mia Mottley, “The Nutmeg’s Curse” & More
Halloween My spirited 17 y.o. granddaughter from Oak Park, Il. dressed as the Grim Reaper for Halloween. Her costume symbolizes the concerns of so many young people, who are desperately worried about their future during these times of climate emergency. Videos from Glasgow show throngs of young climate activists cramming city blocks around [...]
Pat Taub
Domestic Violence Month, Wes Anderson Film, Respecting the Homeless & More!
Domestic Violence Month October is Domestic Violence Awareness month, which coincides with a new Netflix series, Maid, about an impoverished young woman, who, with her toddler daughter, flees her abusive husband. Initially she rejects seeing herself as a victim of domestic violence because, while her husband smashed in walls and verbally abused [...]
Pat Taub
Sister Megan Rice, Writing Challenge, “Sex Education” & More
Sister Megan Rice, Celebrated Peace Activist When I tuned into “Democracy Now,” earlier this week and heard Amy Goodman announce the death of peace activist Sister Megan Rice at 91, I was jolted into remembering that Sr. Megan had stayed with me in my Portland home three years ago when she was in town as a guest speaker for Peace Action [...]
Pat Taub
My Brother Visits, Cecile Richards, Book and Film Tips & More!
A Visit from My Brother Earlier this week my brother, Curry, who’s 20 months younger than me, visited me in Portland. He’s a retired Civil Liberties lawyer who lives in Asheville with his second wife. Curry and I walked, talked and ate out a lot, while lamenting over the future our kids and grands face as climate change accelerates. [...]
Pat Taub
Texas Abortion Law, Culture Wars, A Hidden Treasure, Teenage Grands
Texas Abortion Law Like most women across America, I have been stunned by the new Texas abortion law, which the Supremes upheld. This horrible piece of legislation makes an abortion illegal after 6 weeks– most women don’t even know they’re pregnant this early! It gets worse: any Texan who knows of a woman seeking an abortion [...]
Pat Taub
Friday the 13th, A New Diet, A New Book & More!
Friday the 13th Today is Friday the 13th, a date long regarded as signifying bad luck. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the Neolithic period, when many societies were goddess worshipping, Friday the 13th was sacred. It was known as “Venus Day,” because it represented the 13 lunar moon cycles and the average female has 13 [...]
Pat Taub
Sexism at the Olympics, “Pose,” “Roadrunner”, & More!
Sexism at the Olympics What year are we living in? Apparently the Tokyo Olympic Committee thinks we’re still in the Dark Ages as they went about punishing an athlete for wanting to breast feed; another because she is blind and deaf and in need of a guide; or fining Norway’s women’s beach handball players for wearing shorts rather [...]
Pat Taub
A Visit from the Grands, Writing My Family History, 2 Films & More!
Grands Visit Last week, my two grands, Jane, 17 and her brother Max, almost 16, flew from Chicago to Portland to visit me. It was our first time together since Christmas, 2019. Since then Max has grown to 6 feet. Jane’s funky-thrift shop look is now off the charts. We had fun even though the cold and rain pre-empted beach time. [...]
Pat Taub
Father’s Day, A Great New Podcast, A Netflix Thriller & More!
Father’s Day This Sunday I will mark Father’s Day, remembering both my father who died in May 1994 and my oldest son, father to two spirited teens, Jane and Max. The role of fathers has changed dramatically over three generations. My father was the traditional ‘50s Dad, rarely at home, working long hours as an attorney and never [...]
Pat Taub
Memorial Day Weekend in NYC, “The Booksellers,” & Carol Anderson
Memorial Day in Manhattan Alice Neel Last weekend I traveled to New York City to take in art and New York’s scenic walks. The weekend’s pounding rain curtailed some of my plans, but my mission to see the Alice Neel Exhibit at the Met was not thwarted by the rain. Below is the painting, “Marxist Girl,” from 1972. Neel, a life long [...]
Pat Taub