My summer reading recommendations have books for every taste: spellbinding stories, mystery, memoir, humor, and a walking guide. FICTION The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout Strout’s latest novel is one of her best: the [...]
Pat Taub
Like many women I’ve spent endless hours analyzing my relationship with my mother, giving only a passing nod to my father-daughter relationship, which impacted my independent strivings and my relationships with men. As Father’s Day approaches, it’s an opportune time to reflect on my relationship with my father. I grew up in [...]
Pat Taub
Contemporary beauty standards celebrate the older woman whose aging lines have been erased by cosmetic surgery, making her look years younger. Stretched out faces have become ubiquitous, no longer confined to film stars and celebrities; middle-income women are lining up for procedures from Botox to full face lifts, or traveling overseas [...]
Pat Taub
Two and a half years ago, you phoned, upending me with your words, “I have a terminal illness.” After we hung up, I wept, cursing the universe for saddling you with a difficult diagnosis. You’ve beaten the odds, surprising your doctors by living fully: attending senior college classes; maintaining membership on community boards and [...]
Pat Taub
“Grief is the price you pay for love.” Amy Bloom When I was young funeral attendance was largely confined to grandparents and ancient uncles and aunts. As an elder, funerals and memorial services routinely fill my calendar. In spite of death’s regularity, I remain awkward around a grief-stricken friend or relative. My discomfort is [...]
Pat Taub
I’d gotten used to fooling nature; people frequently assumed I was ten years younger than my age. Overnight that changed. Store clerks, strangers, and family members began recasting me as a little old lady needing assistance. At Walgreens, in search of a shower cap, I approached a clerk for help. The pleasant young woman escorted me [...]
Pat Taub
This past weekend I watched the film, “Rental Family,” set in contemporary Tokyo. Brendan Fraser plays an American actor, whose acting roles have dried up. In desperation he signs on with a Japanese “rental family” agency where actors are hired to assume family roles. Frazer’s roles, as Philip, include: the groom to a closeted lesbian [...]
Pat Taub
Several years ago, I participated in a National Geographic “people to people” tour to Cuba. Now that Trump’s oil embargo is threatening Cuba’s very survival, I’m sharing my memories of Cuba for those unacquainted with its amazing people. Everywhere I went Cubans were open and warm, eager to share their impressions of daily [...]
Pat Taub
In our increasingly dark times, despair is a seductive force. Many of us have been deeply affected by the 170 Iranian schoolgirls murdered by US bombs; ICE’s inhumane detention centers; and an increasingly unhinged President who is oblivious to how his policies are threatening WW lll. The list is long, but if we limit our focus to the darkness, [...]
Pat Taub
I’m in a dream where I’m trapped. I’m running through a long hall, looking for an escape from the perpetual bombings that leveled Gaza and now aim for the same carnage in Lebanon and Iran, where 170 school girls were murdered by US bombs. For a brief moment the bombs let up, when my attention is diverted to ICE thugs kidnapping my brown-skinned [...]
Pat Taub
During Women’s History Month, the tendency is to celebrate famous women in the arts and politics, often ignoring those less famous women who have made an indelible impression on our lives. This year I’m celebrating Women’s History Month by sending love notes to family members, neighbors, teachers and others to whom I owe a debt [...]
Pat Taub