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...
Home Alone
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 fare to visit family or to enjoy a holiday escape, you may be feeling miserable and lonely, making [...]
Pat Taub
Gaza10
What Will Our Priorities Be?
GUEST POST by TOM SANTULLI I woke up Thanksgiving morning thinking of Picasso’s astounding and revolutionary masterpiece, “Guernica.” It depicts horrors in the Spanish Civil War. What would you see if he painted, “Thanksgiving 2024?” In the US: 700,000 unhoused waiting in soup kitchen lines. 37 million in poverty, many [...]
Pat Taub
Why I’m Voting for Jill Stein
Next Tuesday we will elect a new President. This election year, a significant number of people are rejecting the two major party’s candidates, turning to Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party. This week’s WOW blog features Stein supporters who describe why she is their choice. I am voting for #SteinWare2024 as a way of signaling my opposition [...]
Pat Taub
Are You Man Enough to Overlook Genocide?
GUEST POST by LISA SAVAGE The astonishingly tone deaf PAC ad on behalf of Harris-Walz, “Man Enough”, really has to be seen to be believed. About 99% of viewers are convinced the ad is satire, with many commenting: “Saturday Night Live is funny again!” But alas, it’s not SNL. Stereotypes played by actors that likely never sat on [...]
Pat Taub
Dazed and Confused
I’m left dazed and confused by the responses of friends and family members who say, in spite of their reservations about Biden’s support for Israel’s unrelenting attack on Gaza, they will vote for him to stop Trump, insisting Trump will obliterate our democracy. Let’s take a close look at the anemic democracy Biden supporters are defending. [...]
Pat Taub
The New Anti-War Elder Activists
Protests against the genocide in Gaza have become intergenerational on an unprecedented scale. When I marched against the war in Vietnam, a grey-haired protester was a rare sighting. Many elders at the time shared the view of my then 70-something neighbor who commented, “I’ve done my part. It’s up to the younger generation now.” [...]
Pat Taub
Moving Out of My Funk
I was in a week long funk brought on by the starvation in Gaza, procrastination over filing my taxes, and a stalled writing project. As I sat brooding, a little voice whispered that I should visit the Portland Art Museum. As an art lover and modest collector, I often find art museums restorative. Fresh out of other ideas, I obeyed that [...]
Pat Taub
Practicing Kindness to Overcome Despair
Despair has become my unwelcome visitor. Every time I read about the deteriorating conditions of life in Gaza my stomach churns. Tears come easily. This weekend I took myself to task, realizing I better come up with a strategy ASAP or I will be swallowed up by my despair over Gaza. Suddenly I remembered what worked for me in the past. [...]
Pat Taub
“Please Tell Our Story. Please Pray for Us.” Dr. Jehad Hasanain
GUEST POST BY SALLY BOWDEN-SCHAIBLE Dr. Jehad Hasanain is a friend and has been for nearly five years. Jehad is an emergency room physician with a young family and has lived in Gaza all his life. For a week now, he has been sending messages whenever he can, describing the horrors of death, injuries, displacement. Providing humanitarian [...]
Pat Taub
Her Name is Layan
GUEST POST by SALLY BOWDEN-SCHAIBLE (adapted from correspondence with Dr. Jehad Hasanain*) Her name is Layan, meaning “sweetness and ease” in the Arabic language. A 10-year-old girl, the youngest of her siblings, she has long dark brown hair held back from her smiling face with a headband and barrettes. Her smile reaches her even [...]
Pat Taub
Father’s Day, A Great New Podcast, A Netflix Thriller & More!
Father’s Day This Sunday I will mark Father’s Day, remembering both my father who died in May 1994 and my oldest son, father to two spirited teens, Jane and Max. The role of fathers has changed dramatically over three generations. My father was the traditional ‘50s Dad, rarely at home, working long hours as an attorney and never [...]
Pat Taub