Pat Taub
I spent Memorial Day Weekend in Manhattan, where older women energy abounded. It felt like the Goddess was guiding me, sensing I needed inspiration for my own aging. I took in art exhibits and a play featuring older women and enjoyed pick-up conversations with older women I met along the way.
Claire on Madison Ave. (She agreed to be photographed but I couldn’t coax a smile.)
I saw a spectacular sculpture exhibit at the Met Breuer, featuring strong images of the aging female body. Walking the streets I passed old women stylishly dressed, often assisted by canes or walkers, signifying that a love of fashion doesn’t have to be sacrificed with age or disability. I chatted with two remarkable 90-year-olds at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The icing on the cake was seeing 82 year-old Glenda Jackson star in Broadway in “Three Tall Women.”
The nude older women represented in the Met Breuer’s sculpture show (Like Life: Sculpture, Color and the Body) are honestly depicted with sagging breasts and flabby bodies while remaining powerful. I don’t remember seeing so many images of older female forms in previous art exhibits.
Twins,” a favorite from the Met Breuer show
From the Met Breuer I walked the few blocks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. After wading through the mobs of Saturday visitors, I took refuge on a bench in the basement. Seated opposite me where two very old women thoroughly absorbed in their conversation. Drawn to their energy I asked them if I could take their photo, explaining that I write a blog for older women.
The women cheerfully consented while volunteering their ages of 96 and 90, as if wanting to impress me with the fact they’ve lived this long and continue to enjoy full lives. The women, Bea, 96 and Randi, 90 (“The Baby”) told me they’ve been friends for 67 years.
Bea and Randi in animated conversation as I discovered them.
The two friends met in a protest line in 1951 standing up for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were accused of being Russian spies in a case that drew worldwide attention. These impressive nonagenarians continue to protest for peace and justice. Randi showed me a photo of herself in a recent march holding one end of a banner for climate justice.
I shared my own activist history while admitting I’m in despair over the current political scene. Bea, who gets around with a walker, insisted that sitting on the sidelines is never an option. My meeting with Randi and Bea left me high for the rest of the day.
Sunday I saw the riveting Broadway play, “Three Tall Women,” starring Glenda Jackson, 82, Laurie Metcalf, 62, and Allison Pill, 26. We had splurged on orchestra row seats, which enhanced the intensity of the play. I could see the actresses’ every facial expression, enjoying the malleable ways Jackson transformed from cynical anger to despair in a matter of seconds.
Allison Pill, Glenda Jackson and Laurie Metcalf in “Three Tall Women”
“Three Tall Women” by Edward Albee is a portrayal of his difficult mother represented in her youth, at middle age and in old age. The three women are simply referred to as A, B, and C, played respectively by Jackson, Metcalf and Pill. In the second and third acts the women are all on stage together, reflecting on their different eras, moving from the youthful optimism of C to the martial disappointments accrued by B to A’s cynical assessment of her life, where she regards death as a relief from disappointment.
Following the play we dined at Prune, a tiny, unpretentious Village restaurant where the tables are so close together that you typically end up talking to neighboring diners. We were seated next to four women who, like us, had just seen the play. We chatted with them throughout our meal, reaching a consensus on the importance of tying up the emotional loose ends in life to avoid the tragic death of A’s character.
Prune’s cramped interior that enhances meeting fellow diners.
