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...
Memorable Winter Reads
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 read. Reading is more than an escape. It can provide inspiration for charting a course in these [...]
Pat Taub
Gaza10
It All Comes Down to Kindness
It is a bit embarrassing to have been concerned with the human problem all one’s life and find at the end that one has no more to offer by way of advice than ‘try to be a little kinder.’ –Aldous Huxley In 2025, kindness is in short supply. The mind-numbing genocide in Gaza is in its 15th month. Trump’s appointments [...]
Pat Taub
Trailblazing Women We Lost in 2024
I’ve chosen trailblazers in literature, music, painting, political activism and medicine. Many communities lost their own notable women last year, whom you might want to include in your personal remembrances. Alice Munro (1931-2024) An acclaimed Canadian short story writer who won almost every literary award including the Booker [...]
Pat Taub
The Good Samaritan
This Christmas season prominent religious leaders like Pope Francis and Rev. Munther Isaac, Palestinian pastor in Bethlehem, call on us to put into practice the parable of the Good Samaritan, as it applies to Gaza. In a show of compassion for Gaza, the Pope’s nativity scene shows Baby Jesus with a Palestinian keffiyeh. Rev. Isaac’s church, [...]
Pat Taub
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