• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • WRESTLING WITH GOD BOOK
  • CONTACT

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

Main Content

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

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.

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

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.

Was My Mother a 1950s Tradwife?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 8 Comments

at-the-beach-in-the-1940s

My mother was a tradwife, a bona fide 1950s tradwife. That’s what she wanted. That’s what she got. 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!

I’m 83 and I’m Dumping My Bucket List

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

dumping out my bucket list the-breakers-newport

Sometime between the pandemic and my husband’s death I began dumping out the contents of my travel bucket list.  Read more.

Now’s Your Chance to Let Your Roots Grow Out. I Did It. Here’s Why — Sheltering at Home Week 4

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

let your roots grow out. woman-with-white-air-barbara-falconer-newhall

Let your roots grow out? Not an easy decision. But I was home sick with mono, too sick to go to the hairdresser. Now I love my glamorous new look. Read more.

My Chat With Gino Geraci — Here’s the Link

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

KRKS_FM talk show host and Christian pastor Gino Geraci hosts the Crosswalk radio show in Denver. Crosswalk photo.

If you missed my conversation last week with Gino Geraci on his KRKS-FM 94.7 Crosswalk radio show in Denver, here’s a link to the podcast. Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

Primary Sidebar

GET MY Riffs on Life BY EMAIL

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

We respect your privacy and do not share your email with anyone.

 

LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Comedian Robert Morse – Dead at 90. Very Much Alive at 36

comedian robert morse in a Clip from Man Men TV show showing Robert Morse singing and dancing with secretaries.

The last time I saw comedian Robert Morse he was a young guy, a fireball. It was 1967 and he was working the crowd on the set of a TV show.  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!

A frozen lake surrounded by trees, snow and animal track in the Midwest in winter. Photo by Barbara Newhall

A Midwestern Flower Garden — Beautifully Dead In the Dead of Winter

doctors-office-covid-measures

Five Years Ago This Month — Covid Shut Down Our World

Author, editor and cofounder of Salon.com Gary Kamiya smiles as he reads from his new book at Book Passage. Photo by BF Newhall

Gary Kamiya — A Fun Guy Sings a Love Song to San Francisco

twin-baby-boys

What to Say to a Widow

MORE DON'T MISS!

© 2009–2026 Barbara Falconer Newhall All rights reserved. · Log in