Arriving Home I’m back home in Maine as of early Sunday morning when I returned from my winter escape to Palm Springs, CA. This was my first extended stay in the desert, which made me aware that I prefer the ocean to the desert. Even so Palm Springs has its own natural beauty with its exotic desert blooms, great hiking trails and soaring [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by LESLIE INMAN and ROXANNE JONES Were you prepared for what retirement was really like? Did you revel in your newfound freedom, or freak out over too much unstructured time? Did you struggle to feel relevant without a job title, or find new purpose by rekindling long-dormant passions? Do you love being retired—or loathe it? [...]
Pat Taub
Agnes Varda Leaves Us My heart is heavy having learned this morning that the enormously talented and break-through French filmmaker Agnes Varda died at age 90. She was the only woman director in the 1950’s French New Wave movement whose blend of fiction and nonfiction transformed films. Agnes’ playful twist on life made me a huge fan. [...]
Pat Taub
I think I will tear my hair out if one more person asks me, “How’s your bucket list coming alone?” The implication is that I’m running out of time to see Morocco, jump out of an airplane, learn Italian or any number of demanding feats. If I were to answer, “The hell with a bucket list!” in all likelihood I’d be [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “You are not mature enough to tell it like it is. Even that burden you leave to us children.” – Greta Thunberg, Swedish climate activist In all my years of activism, I had never heard anything like it. A shiver of nervous excitement ran through me. The high, piercing voice of a girl on a megaphone demanded: [...]
Pat Taub
Native American Films Last weekend I attended the Palm Springs Native American Film Fest, which opened with a documentary about the Native American Pulitzer Prize winning author and poet, Scott Momaday. Next I watched several short documentaries about life on the reservation, punctuated by poverty and deep familial bonds. I loved the film [...]
Pat Taub
Book Review: The Eating Instinct: Food Culture, Body Image, and Guilt in America by Virginia Sole-Smith GUEST POST BY JANE DOUGALL “For many of us food feels dangerous. We fear it. We regret it. And we categorize everything we eat as good or bad, with the ‘bad’ list always growing longer. No meat, no diary, no gluten—and, [...]
Pat Taub
International Women’s Day Today we celebrate International Women’s Day, a day that takes me back to the summer of 1995 when I was fortunate enough to attend the UN Women’s Conference in Beijing. I went as an NGO (Non Government Organization), attending eye-opening seminars and panels, where Third World women challenged their privileged [...]
Pat Taub
I have a friend who’s been telling me for years that she’s going to take Italian lessons. Another friend has a long-standing dream to visit Japan. For just as long every time I pass an art supply store I revisit my dream of taking up watercolors. We’re all members of the late-in-life dream club whose engine is stalled. But it doesn’t [...]
Pat Taub
Palm Springs Street Poet I love it when my walks land upon a bit of whimsy and creative fun. A week or so ago while wandering in downtown Palm Springs I spotted the “typewriter troubadour,” offering to type an original poem for $10. I was intrigued but not willing to spend that much money. The poet told me that this is his only job. [...]
Pat Taub