It’s 2050 and my great granddaughter opens my journal to November 16, 2025: Citizens of Gaza are trapped in water-soaked makeshift tents. Shivering children wade in mud up to their knees; their mothers wail, “This is worse than death.” There are few men left. I’m consumed with worry that these children will freeze to death as Israel [...]
Pat Taub
GUEST POST by TONI KIEF I’m a writer. During the pandemic, I learned what writer’s block truly meant. So out of frustration, I took an online class, and David Sedaris said I should walk. I found that silly, but then I took another class where Dan Brown told us to walk. So, I started walking. I live in a growing small town, where [...]
Pat Taub
This past weekend I saw Raoul Peck’s powerful new documentary, “Orwell: 2+2=5.” It was inspired by George Orwell’s novel, “1984,” depicting a dystopian future where a totalitarian regime called the Party controls every aspect of life. Peck’s film is intended as a wake-up call for America. He draws parallels [...]
Pat Taub
Did you know, if you’re an older woman, you possess superpowers? On first reading this, you might feel baffled. Many older women have grown used to feeling diminished through the cultural messages which define us in terms of our aging bodies. But we’re much more than our wrinkles, reduced flexibility, puffy tummies and gray hairs. [...]
Pat Taub
I’ve always tried to find reasons to be hopeful when the world is dark. But after reading Substack posts by Caitlin Johnstone and Jena Brown, who describe love as central to their resistance, I decided to try prioritizing love over hope in my own activism. Unlike hope which can be amorphous and intangible, like hoping for the best in people, [...]
Pat Taub
In our new upside-down world, Britain wins the dubious honor for taking terrorism to an absurd level, arresting hundreds of their elderly for terrorism simply for holding signs in support of Palestine Action, newly proscribed as a terrorist organization under the Terrorism Act of 2000. Succumbing to Zionist pressure, Palestine Action was labeled [...]
Pat Taub
One of the positives of aging is living an unhurried life with ample down time, offering opportunities for reflection. These moments have led me to conceive of aging in a spiritual context, giving my life new meaning. What do I mean by spiritual aging? It’s reframing ordinary moments as sacred, casting a gratitude perspective on relationships [...]
Pat Taub
This past weekend I traveled from my home in Portland, Maine to Oneonta, New York to attend the 90th birthday party of a dear friend I have known for 50 years. I wasn’t prepared for the time travel my visit set off. I kept bouncing around from the present to the past to the future and back again. I met Dave, the birthday celebrant, when [...]
Pat Taub
Almost two years into Israel’s genocide in Gaza, 60,000 have died, not counting all those buried under the rubble. Among the causalities: 1,000 men, women and children gunned down while racing to grab meager boxes of food, along with the deliberate murders of 1,000 doctors and nurses and 232 journalists. Now things have cruelly escalated. [...]
Pat Taub
In our increasingly unsettled times, I treasure my close female friends who offer support and solace for navigating the road ahead. When I told a friend I was blogging about women’s friendships, she good-naturedly commented, “If grown women had pajama parties, they wouldn’t need therapists.” She was referring to the close connections [...]
Pat Taub