I’ve chosen trailblazers in literature, music, painting, political activism and medicine. Many communities lost their own notable...
Death Journaling
GUEST POST by FRANCESCA LYNN ARNOLDY* My Death Journal is a gift for my beloveds that I have been lovingly creating for many years. It’s meant for my end of life—whenever that occurs. My family members know of its purpose and where it lives. My Death Journal contains mementos, messages, song lyrics, poetry, quotes, wishes for care if and [...]
Pat Taub
Recognize Self-Defeating Thinking
Aging can be so challenging for the older woman that it’s a wonder any of us enjoy a happy old age, but it’s within reach once we learn to recognize thinking patterns that box us in. It’s natural to indulge in thinking about good times in the past. Romancing the past can be problematic when it becomes obsessive and obscures the reality [...]
Pat Taub
Aging and Raging
GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “Here’s the check, sweetheart.” The handsome young waiter laid the little tray on the table. Seating me at a booth, he had started with, “I guess it’s just the two of us.” I felt a vague annoyance. Now, after his calling me “sweetie” twice before, annoyance was turning to anger, a familiar emotion [...]
Pat Taub
Remembering Tina Turner – Beyond Suffering
GUEST POST by JORINDE VAN DEN BERG As I climb the three flights of stairs up to our condo, I think to myself, “Neither dragging up my groceries nor my weary old bones is something I will miss when we move into our single-level home in the 55+ community next month.” Recently, I have started feeling as if my powers are waning and I can [...]
Pat Taub
Wise Women Speak
As a young woman, I never would have predicted that landing in my eighth decade would usher in the most content state of my life. I expected the challenges of being in an aging body would sour my mood. Instead, I finally grew up. I learned to reap the lessons from all my years of soul-searching, growing from romantic heartbreaks, career [...]
Pat Taub
Celebrating the Authentic Older Woman’s Face
This past week a brouhaha emerged over 81-year-old Martha Stewart’s spin as a swimsuit model for Sports Illustrated. While some woman applauded her courage at donning a bathing suit at 81, the majority condemned holding up- Martha’s air-brushed, plastic surgery enhanced face as a model for older women. Martha’s swimsuit turn highlights [...]
Pat Taub
The Stories We Tell Ourselves
We all have core stories we tell ourselves that keep us trapped in a negative narrative: “I can’t seem to speak up when my feelings are hurt; I have a hard time believing I’m good enough; I’m too old to be in a relationship.” Esther Perel, the popular relationship therapist, believes that the stories we tell ourselves are adaptive [...]
Pat Taub
Taking on the Male-Dominated Art World
The art world is seriously skewed towards male artists. Only 13 percent of artists in American museums are women, while only 15 percent are Black, Indigenous and People of Color. This dismal profile persists in spite of bold challenges by feminists, like the Guerrilla Girls, who emerged in 1985, donning guerrilla masks and staging women’s [...]
Pat Taub
Become A Poverty Abolitionist
GUEST POST by ELIZABETH LEONARD Did you know that at present approximately 140 million (!!) Americans live in poverty or one $400 crisis away from slipping into the financial abyss? In Waterville, Maine, where I have lived and worked for thirty years, I have been a local organizer with the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral [...]
Pat Taub
Finding Your Voice
Finding your voice is coming home to yourself, being true to what matters to you, and no longer suppressing your feelings. The noted Canadian psychiatrist, Gabor Mate, refers to finding your voice as acting with agency. In this recent book, “The Myth of Normal,” he contends that nice women, who do for others at the expense of their [...]
Pat Taub