A New Wonderful Documentary Last night I watched the Zoom premier of Natasha Mayers: an Un-Still Life, an exhilarating documentary about this beloved Maine artist. For decades Natasha has been creating political satire along with amazing three-dimensional images for local protests and 4th of July parades. She’s been arrested numerous times [...]
Pat Taub
As inauguration day approaches, many of us are on pins and needles, worried that the Ultra Right that staged the Capital insurrection will create more violence when Biden is inaugurated. Washington resembles a third world country with 20,000 National Guard members everywhere the eye can see, and the White House newly cordoned off with metal [...]
Pat Taub
With Halloween right around the corner, it’s an appropriate time to reflect on the origin of witches, and to understand how the village wise woman was turned into a representation of evil, becoming a “witch.” We have to travel back to the 1500’s in Western Europe, when women healers and midwives played a central role in village after [...]
Pat Taub
In his best-selling book, “Happiness is a Choice You Make,” the author, John Leland makes the intriguing claim, “If you want to be happy, think like an old person.” I was skeptical of Leland’s thesis, lacking role models for old people who were happy. My paternal grandmother railed at her live-in help; my maternal grandmother became [...]
Pat Taub
Unsettling News Stories Lately reading the news inserts me into the Beatles song, “I read the news today, oh boy.” One disturbing report after another, the latest is the forced hysterectomies of women in an ICE detention center in Georgia. If it weren’t for brave whistleblower, Dawn Wooten, a nurse at the center, we might never have [...]
Pat Taub
You might be thinking, “What are you talking about? Apologies are my way of showing respect lest I appear insensitive or rude.” I’m not suggesting that there isn’t a place for apology in our lives, but most women apologize ad nauseum, which puts them at a disadvantage. When we constantly say, “I’m sorry” for a perceived upset [...]
Pat Taub
John Lewis This week belonged to the memory of John Lewis, who died on July 17th. I watched footage of the 25-year-old Lewis, being beaten within an inch of his life, when crossing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama in a march for voting rights. Lewis made one final crossing of the bridge in a horse-drawn carriage holding his flag-draped [...]
Pat Taub
What 4thof July? I don’t think any of us could have imagined a 4thof July like the one we are celebrating, or not celebrating, this year. No family gatherings, picnics or fireworks except for those who are ignoring social distancing. For Blacks the 4th is not a holiday to be celebrated, since, unlike the early white settlers who rejoiced [...]
Pat Taub
Laughter as a Coping Method While COVID is no laughing matter, especially as the deaths soar, and our medical workers are woefully ill equipped with protective gear, laughing can help to discharge our frustrations. Here’s a link to a very funny Instagram short video of a woman cooking and dancing at the same time. Her exuberance is catching [...]
Pat Taub
Thanksgiving Memories This Thanksgiving my oldest son, his wife and two teenage kids flew into Portland from Chicago to spend Thanksgiving with me. After cooking for two days, I didn’t dare clock the time it took to gobble down our turkey dinner, lest I tear my hair out over the discrepancy between cooking and eating. That aside, it was [...]
Pat Taub