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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

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About Barbara

Barbara Falconer Newhall at her home office desk getting ready to do final edits on her book, "Wrestling with God." Photo by Barbara Newhall

I’m Barbara Falconer Newhall and I’ve got a serious case of the human condition.

I’ve done it all: career, family, house, garden, and a prize-winning book, "Wrestling with God." The result: I'm a woman of years, lots of them, who can't help seeing things from the funny side.

Tucked away on this website are hundreds of riffs on life. I hope you’ll seek them out – and keep me company as I discover the humor, if not the meaning, in what life throws my way. Learn More

THE LATEST

Widowed: If I Visit His Grave, Will It Help?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

newhall-gravesite-colma

I said hello to Jon and his family, and then there was nothing more to do in this graveyard.  Read more.

BARBARA’S BOOK

★ Publishers Weekly, starred review
Any seeker of any faith will be blessed to read the words of this fine author and observer. Read more.
"Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith" book cover with photo of author Barbara Falconer Newhall

An inveterate doubter for most of her adult life, journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall embarks upon a quest to find a way to believe in God in the twenty-first century.

The result is Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith, which details her search for the Divine in the lives of diverse Americans – from a fundamentalist Christian to a progressive Muslim to a Buddhist monk.


Seekers of all persuasions will feel represented here, from priests, ministers, and rabbis to engineers, physicists, and avowed non-believers . . . a riverflow of a book. — Phil Cousineau, host of PBS’s Global Spirit

Click to learn more about "Wrestling with God"

Recent Riffs on Life

Maybe I Want a Facelift After All

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 12 Comments

window-with-houseplants

Facelifts that leave your cheeks looking like you’re facing into 100-mph headwinds are not for me. Or are they?  Read more.

Big News — Big Changes for This 2009 Website

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 16 Comments

Big Changes for This 2009 Website lawn-chair-on-deck

Two big changes for my — 2009! — website: a major redesign and a more spacious writing schedule for me.  Read more.

MORE RIFFS ON LIFE

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition

  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

  • My Ever-Changing Family

  • On Writing & Reading

Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

DON’T MISS!

It’s Here! A Copy of “Wrestling with God” Has Arrived

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A copy of Barbara Falconer Newhall's paperback book Wrestling with God arrives at her doorstep by UPS. Photo by Barbara Newhall

 

It arrived on Monday. There it was right outside the front door. A small brown package. And inside — a copy of my book, “Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith.” Read more.

Yippee, an IPPY — “Wrestling with God” Wins the Gold

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

IPPY-awards Independed Publishers Book Awards

Great news! “Wrestling with God” has won a gold medal IPPY  in the annual Independent Publisher Book Awards. The category is Religion, Eastern-Western. Read more.

East Bay Heritage Quilters — Quilts, Dazzling Quilts

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Quilts and sewing supplies on display at the East Bay Heritgage Quilters show "Voices in Cloth 2016" in richmond, CA Photo by Barbara Newhall

Quilts and quilters were everywhere at the East Bay Heritage Quilters 2016 show Voices in Cloth in Richmond, California, last month. Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

The Ghost of 300 Million Drought-Killed Trees Hovers Over a Lake in Texas

Motorists get a glimps of the THIRST Ghost Tree temporary art installation from the Lamar Bridge in Austin, TX. Photo by BF Newhall

 

Some temporary art installations – you’re glad they’re temporary. But there’s an installation in Austin, Texas, right now that deserves its full ten weeks of fame.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition
  • My Ever-Changing Family
  • On Writing & Reading
  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

 
Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

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!

A green freeway sign on California's Interstate 5 South indicating Los Angeles. Photo by BF Newhall

Los Angeles — The Good, the Bad and the Truly Ugly

A dream about wrestling. Detail of a column in the Wurzburg Cathedral, shaped in a knot. Photo by Barbara Newhall

A Dream About Wrestling With — Uh, Who Was That Anyway?

light-from-window

I’m Thankful for a Window. It’s Small, but It Opens Onto . . . Everything

children's book reviewer barbara falconer newhall has tossed a children's book in the trash. Photo by BF Newhall

Do Books Have Rights? This One Didn’t. I Threw It in the Trash.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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