I grew up in the 1950’s when gender roles were strictly defined. My mother, like most women of the era, stayed at home, focusing on creating the perfect home and perfect children. My father, like Don Draper in “Mad Men,” spent long hours at the office, mainly seeing his kids at the dinner table and on weekends, when he wasn’t catching [...]
Pat Taub
Ram Dass: “If you think you’re enlightened, go spend a week with your family.” This quote came back to haunt me after spending Memorial Day weekend with my family. As my plane descended into Chicago’s O’Hare airport, I was filled with anticipation for my granddaughter’s high school graduation and for our first family reunion after [...]
Pat Taub
Granddaughter, Jane Last weekend I flew to Chicago to attend my granddaughter, Jane’s high school reunion in Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. My youngest son flew in from LA to join us. We hadn’t all been together since Covid descended on the country. The graduation ceremony was held in the school’s football field with family and friends [...]
Pat Taub
Given all the ageism and sexism smacking older women in the face aging can be a dismal state for many women. Mary Pipher to the rescue! In her book, Women Rowing North, Pipher makes the case for a happy old age: “Happiness depends on how we deal with what we are given.” Piper interviews older women from all walks of life who have triumphed [...]
Pat Taub
Ageism, defined as discrimination against the older adult, is very real in the lives of many, if not most, American women. The older woman loses her currency for no other reason than she looks her age. At work, her suggestions are frequently rejected; socially she is shunned because she no longer looks young; her adult children consider her [...]
Pat Taub
I propose that we enlarge Mother’s Day so that we honor not just our biological mothers but also our spiritual mothers. These are the teachers, neighbors, aunts, family friends and others whose influence made an indelible impression on us. Frequently these women didn’t have their own children, but lovingly nurtured and guided the children [...]
Pat Taub
“The Vixen” This week I devoured Francine Prose’s witty new novel, “The Vixen,” which takes place in the 1950’s and revolves around the infamous Rosenburg trial and execution, where Ethel and Julius Rosenburg were executed for passing along secrets to the Russians. The protagonist, young editor, Julius Putnam, is assigned a book [...]
Pat Taub
Spring is typically the time when we tidy up our living spaces by washing windows, sorting kitchen cupboards, and getting rid of clothes we no longer wear. What if we applied this same thinking to our interior lives? What if we engaged in spring-cleaning for the soul? What would that look like? It might involve reworking the formula in [...]
Pat Taub
When my oldest son became engaged, a luncheon was arranged to introduce me to his finance’s family. When I glanced around the table, I caught my future daughter-in-law’s sisters scrutinizing me. I experienced the uncomfortable sensation that I was being sized-up to determine the extent to which I’d be a problematic mother-in-law. I [...]
Pat Taub
Escapist Indulgences After a week of reading about the horrors in the Ukraine and watching a webinar on the necessity for peace talks over escalation, I had my fill of despair, so I turned to a light-hearted TV series and a witty novel about an eccentric family. Julia This new series on HBO Max is part of the current trend reviving the indomitable [...]
Pat Taub