The story of women journalists in Gaza requires a new definition of courage. Many of these women are under 30. Several are young...
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
People I’m Thankful For
This Thanksgiving I’m giving thanks to people who have acted with courage and compassion. Some in a big way and others in small everyday actions that warmed my heart. Among those to whom I offer a big thanks is Ursula Slavick, a Portland, Maine resident and member of a women’s peace group to which I belong. Ursula died at age 87 on [...]
Pat Taub
“Can’t we all just get along?”
This was Rodney King’s plea in 1992, when he was physically assaulted by the LA cops during that year’s race riots. Thirty-two years later American society still struggles to “get along.” Now it appears that Trump’s re-election has intensified our differences. I’ve been surprised at the rancor among gentle people, like the women [...]
Pat Taub
Post-Election Despair
It’s been just one week since Trump won the Presidential election, catapulting many into despair, terrified of his campaign pledges to deport millions and roll back human rights, like making abortions illegal nationwide. Upon hearing the election results, a few friends reported they were too depressed to find the energy to leave their homes. [...]
Pat Taub
The Olive Tree
GUEST POST by TOM SANTULLI The olive tree outside my door and I met in a nursery eleven years ago. She was seven inches tall, in a one-gallon pot. Since then, she’s outgrown pots, and lived in a garden plot for a few years. Now, four feet tall – a proud juvenile in her twenty-five-gallon pot, appreciated in that casual way into [...]
Pat Taub
Why I’m Voting for Jill Stein
Next Tuesday we will elect a new President. This election year, a significant number of people are rejecting the two major party’s candidates, turning to Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. This week’s WOW blog features Stein supporters who describe why she is their choice. I am voting for #SteinWare2024 as a way of signaling my opposition [...]
Pat Taub
Are You Man Enough to Overlook Genocide?
GUEST POST by LISA SAVAGE The astonishingly tone deaf PAC ad on behalf of Harris-Walz, “Man Enough”, really has to be seen to be believed. About 99% of viewers are convinced the ad is satire, with many commenting: “Saturday Night Live is funny again!” But alas, it’s not SNL. Stereotypes played by actors that likely never sat on [...]
Pat Taub
Waking Up to the Threat of Nuclear War
“It could not have come at a better time,” Joseph Gerson, longtime peace and disarmament activist, responding to the Hibakusha as the winner of the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize, awarded for their activism directed at banning nuclear weapons. Gerson’ s comment contained the hope that the Hibakusha’s peace prize will reignite a focus on [...]
Pat Taub
Thank You’s I Never Got to Deliver
What if you had a chance to pose lingering questions to important people in your life who are now deceased? Poet Victoria Chang did this very thing, writing letters to her deceased parents, which she compiled into the book, “Dear Memory.” Chang, in trying to come to terms with her sketchy knowledge of her parents’ upbringing [...]
Pat Taub
What Happened to Us?
GUEST POST by MARY DUNN One hundred years ago in 1924 a Zionist paramilitary defense force, the Haganah, proclaimed the role of protecting the newly formed communities of Jewish settlers in Palestine. Their slogan, “Judaea was lost by blood and fire and will rise again by blood and fire” continues to direct Zionist ideology all these years [...]
Pat Taub