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...
Feminism10
#MeToo
Guest post by Mary Beth Danielson I’m not usually cranky. Then I got a cold. I rarely get colds. What’s going on? Of course I have #metoo incidents. Like most women I have several stories of harassment and, yes, one of assault. As self-aware women do, I’ve been poking at my crankiness. Why am I mad? Why does this rankle? I have [...]
Pat Taub
Friday, the 13th, Weinstein Victims, & Women Wage Peace
Friday, October 13th Here’s a bit of trivia about the unlucky status attached to the number 13. According to scholars of Women’s Spirituality the number 13 was purposely denigrated by the founders of the patriarchal religions to eradicate the influence of the Mother Goddess. In goddess worshipping cultures, the number 13 was often revered, [...]
Pat Taub
The 30-Day WOW Self-Care Plan
Hearing about the “Whole 30 Diet,” the latest health craze which consists of a 30 day adherence to a strict diet whose followers claim is life-changing, got me thinking, “What about a 30-day Self-Care Plan?” If you’re like me you tend to think of self-care when the chips are down. That’s when you schedule a massage or take a bubble [...]
Pat Taub
Can We Please Stop Hating Our Older Bodies!
When I set out to photograph images of older women to post on this blog, I never dreamed I’d meet with so much resistance. Two thirds of the women I asked to photograph turned me down. Sometimes it was a flat “No” uttered in motion as the woman hurried along. Other times I’ve received comments like: “I’m too old. Me? At my age! [...]
Pat Taub
Honoring Our Mother Line
Reading Deborah Tannen’s piece in last week’s New York Times entitled, “My Mother Speaks Through Me,” it dawned on me that as I age I’m becoming more and more like my mother. My younger self would have fumed at this comparison, but my older self honors it. My everyday life has been enriched by adopting some of my mother’s habits: [...]
Pat Taub
The Unbearable Suffering of Palestinian Mothers
I haven’t been able to stop thinking about a YouTube video I watched over the weekend, “How to be a Palestinian Supermom.” It features the Palestinian mother Manal Tamimi, describing her determination to provide a loving home for her children in the face of unrelenting Israeli oppression. Like most Palestinian mothers Manal never knows [...]
Pat Taub
Bastille Day, Cool Older Maine Women & Practicing Gratitude
Happy Bastille Day to All You Francophiles! I’ve had the good fortune to celebrate Bastille Day in France. I was just 19 and spending the summer in the small French town of Chambon-sur-Lignon in the French Alps. I was part of an international work camp helping out at a secondary school. The Bastille Day celebration went on into the wee hours [...]
Pat Taub
A Daughter-in-Law’s Take on Mothers-in-Law
by Edwige Charlot, Guest Blogger This post is a response to “Why Do Mothers-in-Law Get A Bad Rap?” published on WOW on June 20th . From my time as the girlfriend, I knew that if my then boyfriend and I ever got married I’d be marrying into his family. By the time we were engaged, I was already well versed in the mother- in-law [...]
Pat Taub
Winning Videos for Summer Watching
Maybe you’re on vacation facing an all-day rain, or you’re laid up with a summer cold, or you simply want to escape the maddening crowd to binge video, but you face too many choices. How to settle on a video that won’t have you restless ten minutes in? To help you I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite videos featuring strong [...]
Pat Taub
What’s a “Bad Feminist”?
In her bestseller, Bad Feminist, 40-year-old Roxane Gay calls herself a “bad feminist” because she likes Hip-hop music with sexist lyrics, “Law and Order” (which abounds in rape plots), anything pink, and Vogue. I assume Gay, a third wave feminist, consulted the second wave feminist playbook when drawing the conclusion that she’s [...]
Pat Taub