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About Barbara
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
A 1970s Counterculture Bash at Zodiac News Service. Were You There?
It was a 1970s counterculture bash at Zodiac News Service. If you were there, pls help ID these party-goer pix. (Be patient. Lots of photos to upload!) 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.
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
Recent Riffs on Life
Widowed: Archiving My Husband and Zodiac, His Scrappy 1970s News Service
Can you archive a dead spouse? Can you stash them away in a temperature-controlled academic repository, to be preserved for centuries? Read more.
Happy Birthday, US of A. You Made It to 250.
Happy birthday, US of A! You made it to 250. A little the worse for wear, but still here. Read more.
DON’T MISS!
Widowed: I Called Tech Support and Got Ageism
I called tech support and got ageism. ‘Why don’t you get someone younger to help you?’ said the otherwise very nice techie. Read more.
Oh-Oh. Is Cabin Fever Setting In? — Sheltering at Home Day 6
Is cabin fever setting in at our house? Staying home and out of breathing distance of COVID-19 is driving me and mine into cranky arguments. Read more.
Would My Husband Like to Take My Name?
My fiance had no middle name. When we married, I asked, would he like to take my name to fill the empty spot in the middle of his? Read more.