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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 4 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!

Widowed: Our Love Is Immortal (Seriously!)

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

wedding-vows

Jon may be gone, but our love is immortal. Hear me out. I promise I’m not going to get all cheesy and sentimental on you.  Read more.

Write Another Book? I Dunno . . .

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

The Bay Area Book Festival was held June 4 & 5, 2016 in Berkeley, California. Rob Bell signed copies of his "How to Be Here." He talked about -- write another book? Photo by Barbara Newhall

Write another book? I don’t mind the writing. What’s giving me pause is the grueling, humiliating work of promoting the darned thing once I’ve written it. Author Rob Bell had some advice. Read more.

An Episcopalian Says Kaddish for Her Jewish Aunt

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Brookside Cemetery in Amber Township, west of Scottville, MI. Headstones in foreground, farmland and busy Highway 10 in background. Photo by BF Newhall

 

My Aunt Grace, who died in January, was Jewish. Most everyone else in her family had remained Christian or had moved on to atheism, secularism or indifference. The question was, how does a bunch of Christians and agnostics say a parting prayer for a Jew? 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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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Airbnb — When a Home Away From Home Gets Way Too Homey

It's no Airbnb, but rather a real Bed and Breakfast, cluttered but clean and cozy. Candlewyck House, Pentwater, MI. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Airbnb is supposed to be a good deal — homey and cheap. But maybe, really I’d be better off in a real bed and breakfast like this one. 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 stuffed moose or elk hangs on the wall of the Antler Bar, Pentwater, Michigan. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Inside Pentwater’s Antler Bar — A Beer Too Many

Solo yellow and white daffodil. Photo by BF Newhall

The Trouble With Daffodils — and My Writing

secret-garden-space

Widowed: I’m Planting a Secret Garden Outside My Office

A dark hallway in a 1950s California ranch house obscures the beautiful canyon view available in the living room. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Too Many Walls — and Not Enough Bathrooms — at Our House

MORE DON'T MISS!

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