Upcoming Family Visit As I write I’m awaiting the visit of my oldest son, David, wife, Mel and kids, Jane (13) and Max (12) en route to Portland from Chicago to spend the New Year’s weekend with me. The bitter cold will limit our outdoor activities. I dug up a jigsaw puzzle and a checker game. Can I persuade the iPhone-addicted grandkids [...]
Pat Taub
As horrific as 2017 was, it offered a silver lining: successful women-led movements from the year’s opening DC Women’s March to the year’s end #metoo campaign bolster hope for 2018. A new emboldened sisterhood is emerging. Older women are part of this sisterhood, raising their voices to rail against ageism and sexism and to claim their [...]
Pat Taub
Guest Post by Walker Thornton I hate asking for help. There is no one specific reason—a mix of not wanting to seem weak or vulnerable, and fearing I’ll be turned down. I was raised in the South, by a very traditional mother who wanted a pretty, sweet daughter. I was taught boys didn’t like girls who were assertive or too talkative. I [...]
Pat Taub
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, 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
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
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
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
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
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