I’ve chosen trailblazers in literature, music, painting, political activism and medicine. Many communities lost their own notable...
Please Don’t Let Me Get Alzheimer’s!
When I teach “Women and Aging,” I start off by asking the participants to fill out an Aging Inventory. One of the questions is, “What is your greatest fear about aging?” Invariably 85% of the class, or higher, will answer, “Developing Alzheimer’s.” There is ample evidence to support my students’ fear of developing Alzheimer’s. [...]
Pat Taub
Challenging the NYT essay, “Aging and the Beauty Dilemma”
This past Sunday’s New York Times (9/25/16) ran the essay “Aging and the Beauty Dilemma” by Debora Spar, the President of Barnard College. Spar who is 56 (a youngster compared to the average WOW reader who is around 65) confesses to her ambivalence over plastic surgery. She admits it’s at odds with her feminist beliefs, but finds it [...]
Pat Taub
Braving the Death and Dying Conversation
In the new heart-warming Indie film, “Other People, “ we watch a close-knit family gather around their dying mother in her last year of life. The film captures the discomfort and awkwardness with which most American family’s deal with death and dying. There is a powerful hospital scene where the mother screams, after vomiting into [...]
Pat Taub
AGING MALE PUPPY SEEKS FEMALE AGING PUPPY (ONLINE) FOR LOVE
This week’s post is written by a treasured male friend with whom I have exchanged online dating escapades. I’m hoping that WOW’s largely female readers will benefit from this male perspective. Please feel free to offer your responses in the comment section below or on the WOW facebook page. After eighteen months of online dating, I now [...]
Pat Taub
Be A Crone: Be A Woman of Wisdom and Power!
Increasingly contemporary women, post menopausal and older, are referring to themselves as “Crones,” harkening back to the era of women’s spirituality–a time that preceded patriarchy and Christianity. This era is often called “The Age of the Goddess.” It was most predominant in ancient Crete where a peaceful women-lead [...]
Pat Taub
Book Review: “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism” by Ashton Applewhite
Finally the publishing industry is catching on to the fact that America’s swelling aging population isn’t aging like their parents and grandparents and want literature that reflects this new way of growing old. Older women and men want to be affirmed and not negated in their old age. Ashton Applewhite’s new book, This Chair Rocks: A [...]
Pat Taub
Flashback Friday: Remembering the Suffragettes!
Americans quickly forget their history. Contemporary feminism didn’t spring forth like a Phoenix from the ashes. As we celebrate the anniversary of the passage of women’s right to vote, let’s pause and honor the women who dedicated their lives to this cause— the indomitable Suffragettes. They paved the way for 21st century feminists, [...]
Pat Taub
The Joys of Living Alone as an Older Woman
Some 25 years ago I heard a lecture by Jean Shinona Bolen, the San Francisco Jungian psychiatrist and author of books on women and the goddess. In her talk Bolen commented, ‘The best kept secret in most women’s circles is that the happiest woman in the group is the 67 year old grandmother.’ At the time I couldn’t image being “happy” [...]
Pat Taub
A Must Read Book: “All the Single Ladies” by Rebecca Traister
I spent last weekend glued to the nonfiction best seller, All the Single Ladies, a brilliant Feminist study by Rebecca Traister. It deconstructs how single women from Civil War heroines like Clara Barton to leading Suffragettes to today’s young women in their 20’s and 30’s have delayed or rejected marriage in order to escape its restrictions [...]
Pat Taub
The Heartache of Losing Close Friends
Perhaps the aspect of aging I find most difficult is losing dear friends–friends I had planning on spending time with into my dotage. In this post I’m paying homage to them, grateful for our close connection and for the invaluable lessons they gave me. Diana died just a few months shy of her 60th birthday; Zoe was 63 and Ray was 69. [...]
Pat Taub