GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “It is possible that you do not receive many emails at all, in which case I am very jealous…” “A Simpler...
I WAS THERE! WASHINGTON, DC, 1/21/17
I was on my feet for seven hours; almost half of that time was standing in place waiting for the march to start. The massive crowd made it impossible to move in one direction or another. This was a small price to pay for being among the 500,000 marchers who had come to Washington to send a message to President Trump on his first day in office. [...]
Pat Taub
WHY THE SUFFRAGETTES MATTER
Women all over the country are knitting pink hats, retrieving their best walking shoes and making signs in preparation for Saturday’s march for women’s rights and social justice, but it will not be the first time a huge mobilization of women has marched at a Presidential inauguration. A little over a 100 years ago, on March 3, 1913, the [...]
Pat Taub
WHY CAN’T I ASK FOR HELP?
In my 7th decade I’ve overcome some significant hurdles; I’ve become braver and more confident, but when it comes to asking for help, I freeze. Two summers ago I developed pneumonia. My strength was sapped, but rather than call a friend to pick up my meds or do a grocery run, I pushed myself to the limit. It took all the energy I could [...]
Pat Taub
OLD HAIR, Guest Post by Lisa Savage
This year I took the plunge; just before turning 60, I gave in to old hair. I was inspired by Janet Weil whose essay on going gray was one of WOW’s most popular posts in 2016. My story is of course a bit different. A history of my hair would go something like this. Long braids with plaid bows tied to them lasted through kindergarten in Maine [...]
Pat Taub
Salvaging Hope in Messy Times
It’s getting closer and closer! Trump’s occupancy of 1800 Pennsylvania Avenue is less than a month away! Many of us are worrying ourselves sick over a nation under President Trump. A friend offers this perspective: “We are at an existential moment in our evolution as a species. “We’re in between stories: while one story is old and [...]
Pat Taub
Popular WOW Posts in 2016
For my end of the year post I thought it would be fun to offer highlights from some of the posts that were popular with my readers in 2016. The Joys of Living Alone (August 23rd) From the post: Older women living alone relish the independence to come and go as they like, to cook or not to cook, to read in the middle of the night, to take [...]
Pat Taub
10 Women Who Rocked the Globe in 2016!
Let’s get a perspective on 2016. Let’s not let Donald Trump’s victory cancel out this year’s progressive changes! On a national scale we can celebrate the successes of Standing Rock and Black Lives Matter. While their struggles face ongoing obstacles, their movements are here to stay. In the United States women are mobilizing for a [...]
Pat Taub
Strategies for Taking on Trump World
As my sufferings mounted I soon realized that there were two ways that I could respond: either to react with bitterness or seek to transform the suffering into a creative force. I decided to follow the latter course. —Martin Luther King, Jr. King’s words spoken some 50 years ago describe the crossroads facing [...]
Pat Taub
The Women of Standing Rock
Native American women are the heart and soul of the almost eight-month-old protest against the Dakota Access Pipeline. The Standing Rock movement was birthed on April 1st by a small group of women from the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. They set up a tent on the proposed pipeline route to protest its construction on sacred Native American burial [...]
Pat Taub
Surviving Trump World
The other night I had a dream where I was escorted into a sprawling tree house compound. It’s open sides allowed the residents to engage freely with one another. I felt welcomed, but was troubled by the thin, unsubstantial flooring. When I moved about it felt like the foundation could give way at any minute, hurling me down to earth. [...]
Pat Taub