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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

  • A CASE OF THE HUMAN CONDITION
  • MY EVER-CHANGING FAMILY
  • WRITING & READING
  • MY ROCKY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
  • WIDOWED
  • FUNNY BUTTON

scottville michigan

A Case of the Human Condition: Would My Husband Like to Add My Name to His?

May 29, 2017 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Jon whose middle name is still not Falconer after 35 years of not being Jon Falconer Newhall -- cooking dinner for my birthday in 2011. He's still comfortable in the kitchen and at the supermarket. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall

When Jon and I married, I wanted to share a name with him and our future children. I took his last name. Would he like to take mine as his middle name? Read more.

Wisdom From My Father — Or, How to Sweep the Kitchen Floor

January 19, 2017 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

The red David Falconer barn of my father near Scottville, Michigan. Photo by Barbara Newhall

“Think about what you are doing,” my father told me. “Use your head.” His advice still applies in a 21st-century world neither of us could have imagined.  Read more.

In Judge Harbin-Forte’s Courtroom — Where Jury Duty Is an Exercise in Mindfulness

July 10, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

David and Ruth Falconer of Scotville, MI, and their 7 childen ca 1935. Photo by Falconer

What does a farm family in Michigan have in common with a courtroom in Hayward, California? A nearly forgotten social skill. Read more.

Geographic Mobility in America — Watching My Grown-Up Kids Disappear

January 9, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

College student enters airport with suitcases to go to Carleton College for his freshman year. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall

Most of my grandmother’s children – there were seven of them – lived out their lives within walking distance of their mother’s white frame house in Scottville, Michigan. Not my father. He moved away. So did I. So has my son. Read more.

The Scottville, Michigan, High School Football Team — 1929

July 20, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A photo of the Scottville, Michigan, High School Football Team — 1929

A Case of the Human Condition: I’m a Woman with a — Sprawling — Past

July 17, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

The trouble with painting inside your closets is — everything has to come out of them.
And then what do you do with all your beloved stuff?

A Case of the Human Condition: Would My Husband Like to Add My Name to His?

May 29, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Jon and I had been married nearly 12 years. It was time to pop the question again. I had taken his last name as mine. Would he like to add my maiden name to his?

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

The Writing Room: Heather Donahue and Me – How I Got Hooked on a Pothead

Heather Donahue's book jacket Grow Girl: How My LIfe After "The Blair Witch Project Went to Pot"

I bought Heather Donahue’s book about marijuana farming, "Grow Girl," because she’s a writer friend of a writer friend of mine. This is what happened.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition
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TO MY READERS

Please feel free to share links to my posts with one and all and to quote briefly from them in your own writing, remembering, of course, to attribute the quote to me and to provide a link back to this site.

My Oakland Tribune columns, btw, are reprinted by permission of the Trib. With the exception of review copies of books, I do not accept ads or freebies of any kind. Click on the "Contact" button if you have questions. Enjoy!

 

DON’T MISS!

Christina Newhall with cell phone. Photo by BF Newhall

When a Grown Daughter Doesn’t Call — Or, How to Overmother a Twenty-Something

I was important at the cast party for "The Untold Tales of Armistead Maupin, San Francisco, June 15, 2017. Barbara Falconer Newhall and Jonathan Groff of TV show "Looking." Photo by Jon Newhall

For One Night I Was Important Again. Thank You Armistead Maupin

woodland-skipper-butterfly

There’s a Pollinator in My Pollinator Garden

to-do-list

Widowed: The Meaning of Life? It’s on My To-Do List

MORE DON'T MISS!

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