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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: Archiving My Husband and Zodiac, His Scrappy 1970s News Service

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

Zodiac-News-Service-Nov-11-12-1972

Can you archive a dead spouse? Can you stash them away in a temperature-controlled academic repository, to be preserved for centuries?  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

Happy Birthday, US of A. You Made It to 250.

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

happy birthday us of a. 250 American-flag-flying-against-the-sky-250

Happy birthday, US of A! You made it to 250. A little the worse for wear, but still here.  Read more.

Sixteen Years Left to Live. How Many Bowls of Froot Loops Is That?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

froot-loops-at-my-grocery-store

In the sixteen years I’ve got left, how many of the gotta-do items on my to-do list will I get done?  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!

At the Sawtooth Building: Earrings for Thirty-Six Bucks . . . And Other Hand-Made Pleasures

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A colorful assymetrical art quilt and a quilt with black fleurs du mal against a white background by Donna Duguay of Berkeley, CA. Photo by BF Newhall

 

Susan Brooks was in her studio selling handmade earrings priced in the three-figures category the other day. I was not tempted. I’m tightening my belt these days. Instead . . . Read more.

Zelensky’s TV Show — What ‘Servant of the People’ Says About Ukraine

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

zelensky's tv show servant-of-the-people-riding-bike

Volodymyr Zelensky’s TV show — a comedy — explains a lot. Like why the Ukrainian people did not roll over and play dead for Putin. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: Flowers Bursting From the Dirt — How Do They Do It?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

pink camellia blossom california. photo by bf newhall

They emerge from mud, manure, leaf rot, earthworms, sow bugs. And they are beautiful. How do they do it? Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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True stories often told through a humorous lens–because you just can't make them up!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

A Newspaper Story With My Name on It — That I Didn’t Have to Write

A newsrack in Oakland California showing papers by Bay Area News Group, which ran a story on May 10, 2015. It's an interview with Barbara Falconer Newhall, author, by Georgia Howe. Photo by Barbara Newhall

For once I was the interviewee and someone else was doing the hard work of conducting the interview. A newspaper reporter was asking my about my new book, “Wrestling with God.” Read more.

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!

Tinka Falconer's gravesite. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall

Found: Big Bucks in My Sock Drawer. Lost: My Mother

Orange metal chairs in a row at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Olympic Sculpture Park Photos — Cool Art, Really Cool Park

Loreen Niewenhuis trekking across sand beach. Niewenhuis photo.

Walk 1000 Miles Around Lake Michigan? She Did It — Now I Don’t Have To

watering-the-Christmas-tree

Widowed: Or, How to Wrestle a Christmas Tree Into Its Stand Without Calling the Neighbors for Help

MORE DON'T MISS!

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