If you’re casting about for a way to take the edge off Trump’s wrecking ball, I heartily recommend the uplifting powers of a great...
Feminism10
Thank You’s I Never Got to Say
Poet Victoria Chang’s new book, “Dear Memory,” consists of letters to her deceased parents, asking them questions that have plagued her about her Chinese ancestry. Chang started me thinking about my own incomplete conversations with deceased relatives and close friends. I decided to write my own letters to the dearly departed, but with [...]
Pat Taub
Combatting Loneliness
“I hate coming home to an empty house. The silence can be deafening.” “I can go days without speaking to anyone except the clerk in the grocery store or my mail carrier.” “I rarely reach out to my friends when I’m feeling lonely because I’m too embarrassed to admit I’m lonely.” “My adult daughter tells me to [...]
Pat Taub
Badass Older Women Fed Up with Ageism
I’m seeing a new boldness among older women who are speaking out when ageist behavior is directed at them. These women are standing up for themselves and for all of us, when they challenge a culture that demeans them. Meet some of these badass women: Rachel, age 69, is a frequent traveler who at just 5’ struggles getting her suitcase into [...]
Pat Taub
It’s Never Too Late to Follow a Dream
I have a friend who’s been telling me for years that she’s going to take Italian lessons. Another friend has a long-standing dream to visit Japan. For just as long, every time I pass an art supply store I revisit my dream of taking up watercolors. We’re members of the late-in-life dream club whose engine is stalled. But it doesn’t [...]
Pat Taub
Taking on the Anti-Aging Movement
In a society that worships youth, my wrinkles, white hair, sagging breasts and flabby upper arms render me unacceptable. The anti-aging industry to the rescue! If I go in for plastic surgery, facial fillers, hair dye, beauty creams and medical supplements, I can defy nature, while stuffing the pockets of the anti-aging fat cats, on target [...]
Pat Taub
Abortion Nightmare
Thursday morning I woke up to the news of the new Texas abortion law, which denies abortions to the 7,000,000 women of child-bearing age in Texas. I was stunned and terrified. As I sipped my coffee, I reflected on my own abortion in the late 1970’s. I was married with two young children and had just taken a job as Director of Counseling [...]
Pat Taub
Texas Abortion Law, Culture Wars, A Hidden Treasure, Teenage Grands
Texas Abortion Law Like most women across America, I have been stunned by the new Texas abortion law, which the Supremes upheld. This horrible piece of legislation makes an abortion illegal after 6 weeks– most women don’t even know they’re pregnant this early! It gets worse: any Texan who knows of a woman seeking an abortion [...]
Pat Taub
What We Like About Getting Older
Research has found that older women are discovering that age has unanticipated rewards. Setting aside the usual physical symptoms like arthritis, decreased flexibility and stamina, the older woman sparkles in new ways. She frequently finds herself more content and more confident, while still full of dreams. Eager to capture individual [...]
Pat Taub
Mary Oliver: Poetry That Heals
I feel like I’m living inside the song, “Stop the World I Want to Get Off,” as I reel from our climate crisis, Afghanistan’s unraveling and a new Covid surge. Mary Oliver to the rescue! I pull one of her poetry books from my shelf, find a quiet place to stretch out and start to read. Oliver’s poems are balm for my soul. They settle [...]
Pat Taub
Friday the 13th, A New Diet, A New Book & More!
Friday the 13th Today is Friday the 13th, a date long regarded as signifying bad luck. However, this wasn’t always the case. In the Neolithic period, when many societies were goddess worshipping, Friday the 13th was sacred. It was known as “Venus Day,” because it represented the 13 lunar moon cycles and the average female has 13 [...]
Pat Taub