If you live alone, if your family is scattered far and wide, if you recently lost a partner or spouse, if you can’t afford the plane...
Home Alone
If you live alone, if your family is scattered far and wide, if you recently lost a partner or spouse, if you can’t afford the plane fare to visit family or to enjoy a holiday escape, you may be feeling miserable and lonely, making [...]
Pat Taub
COVID8
Then The Line Went Dead
GUEST POST by MICHAEL STEINMAN A self-confessed dinosaur, I have always liked telephone conversations, especially the old-fashioned kind: two friends, one (me) on a landline, perhaps drinking tea, leisurely describing events but more endearingly, feelings. The telephone handset made possible the kinds of intimacy one might be shy of having [...]
Pat Taub
Mask Wars, “Don’t Look Up,” Ann Patchett & More
Mask Wars in Portland, Maine I was sickened to read in today’s Portland Press Herald that the vociferous mask wars have heated up in my hometown of Portland, Maine. This week the City Council passed a resolution requiring masks in all public places. The councilman, Andrew Zarro, who sponsored the ordinance has received death threats, [...]
Pat Taub
Last Things, New Beginnings
GUEST POST by BARBARA BENGELS Do you remember what you were doing (or planning to do) when Covid shut down the world as we knew it? Were you teaching a class, standing in line at the supermarket, planning on seeing a play? Those were my plans; they’re still undone. How do we respond when taken-for-granted opportunities vanish? Well, [...]
Pat Taub
Rashid Tlaib, Carey Mulligan, Bernie Meme, a New Mask & More!
Rashid Tlaib Yesterday Rashida Tlaib, US Representative from Michigan, delivered a teary speech on the House floor, describing how she has been besieged with anti-Muslim hate mail and threats from her very first day in office. While she wasn’t at Congress during the January 6th coup, she felt traumatized by it, fearing she would have been [...]
Pat Taub
RIP Cicely Tyson, Vaccine, Sundance Film Festival & More!
Cicely Tyson Cicely Tyson, one of the greatest actresses of all time, died on January 28th at the age of 96. She refused to take parts that demeaned Black people and won a Tony, Emmys and, at 93, an honorary Oscar. I will always remember Cicely for The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman about a woman born into slavery, who lived to join [...]
Pat Taub
Election Insanity, “The Queen’s Gambit,” Fall in Maine & Much More!
Election Insanity Thanks to the Goddess that the Presidential election will soon be resolved, as the ballots from Pennsylvania and other battle ground states are expected to be counted very soon. Now we have to wait and see if Trump accepts the results. If not, I’m prepared to join any peaceful protests that ensue. A Biden win doesn’t [...]
Pat Taub
COVID in Maine, Gardens, “Offspring” & More!
Maine’s COVID Response This week the New York Times published a color-coded map of the US comparing states’ responses to COVID. I was gratified to see Maine in dark green, which corresponded to those states “trending well.” The only other states in this category are Vermont and New Hampshire. I remain grateful for our excellent [...]
Pat Taub
Love vs. Hate
This past July 4th was unlike any in American history. Americans were battling a deadly virus, which forced the cancellation of parades and public gatherings. At the same time, Americans were facing heightened divisions between the factions of hate and love. The President was the poster boy for hate, delivering two back-to-back racist speeches [...]
Pat Taub