While I’m an elder, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to dying, that is until my brother, who’s 20 months younger, announced in...
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
How Mentorship Helped Me Find My Way in My Seventies
GUEST POST by PAMELA VALOIS I met Jacomena Maybeck when I was thirty-seven and she was in her late seventies. She was tarring her roof, dressed in a halter top and shorts. I’d never met anyone like her. Our long friendship would help prepare me for my own winter years that I now find myself in, at age seventy-seven. In her memoir, Jacomena [...]
Pat Taub
Coping With Fears of Alzheimer’s
This weekend I watched the powerful film, “The Father,” starring Anthony Hopkins as an 80-year-old-man with Alzheimer’s, and Olivia Coleman, as his devoted middle-aged daughter. The film opens with a normal-appearing Hopkins in a well-appointed London flat listening to opera. But as soon as he interacts with his daughter, his confusion [...]
Pat Taub
Here Comes the Invisible Woman!
80 years have gone by and now it seems I’m not here at all. Here comes the invisible woman. I can’t recall when it first happened. Don’t know how I became so unseen. My tangible self was put on the shelf. Why do I feel so much less then I am? There’s so much more of me now. We might not have a choice, but we still have a voice. [...]
Pat Taub
Rashida Tlaib, An Online Play, A Gripping Mystery & More!
Rashida Tlaib’s Powerful Speech My heart is breaking at the news of the unceasing bombardment of Gaza by Israel. To date 40% of the 122 casualties are women and children, killed in their homes. Nor does Gaza have high tech alarms to warn its citizens of incoming Israeli bombs. Protesting Israel’s inhumane and disproportionate attack on [...]
Pat Taub
Working Artist: Cecile Pineda
GUEST POST by LISA SAVAGE In this pandemic we’ve witnessed a devolution of autonomy for working mothers scrambling to accommodate the loss of daycare while holding down their jobs. As moms still on average earn less than dads — even for the same work — it’s the moms who often reduced their hours to fill the childcare gap in [...]
Pat Taub
Neighborhood Sightings, A Great HBO Series, A Good Read & More!
Neighborhood Sightings I love it when my neighborhood walks yield unexpected delights. Here’s an example from this week: a compassionate door sign and modest pansy trio gracing the curb. A Neighborhood Take-Out [...]
Pat Taub
Healing A Mother Wound
Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and while it’s a joyful time to honor mothers, it can also be an unsettling occasion for those adult daughters with a pronounced mother wound. The holiday can reawaken a daughter’s memories of the maternal hurt she experienced growing up and which continues to affect her primary relationships. [...]
Pat Taub
Being 76
GUEST POST by EILEEN GRIFFIN I did not welcome my seventieth decade. With the arrival of my 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and even the 60s, I crossed each threshold with relief or anticipation or calm acceptance, but always ready. Not so with the 70s. On my 70th birthday, I wanted to open the door and holler “Go away, scat, you have the wrong house.” [...]
Pat Taub
The Older Woman Warrior
Who’s the older woman warrior? She’s the older woman, who believes in doing her part to make her community and the world a kinder, more just place. She cares deeply about the planet her children and grandchildren will inherit. She’s not afraid to stick her neck out. She figures she doesn’t have much to lose given her advanced age. [...]
Pat Taub