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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
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Archives for 2012

Sue Johnson’s Lamps and Shades — Works of Art From a Little Shop in Berkeley

November 9, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A hand-blown glass lamp by Lindsay Art Glass. Photo by BF Newhall

On Solano Avenue in the far north reaches of Berkeley, California, a modest storefront softly glows, luring me in every time I pass by. It’s Sue Johnson’s custom lamp and shade store.

Photo Op: Yosemite Rocks — And Sometimes It Rolls

November 2, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Glacial erratics piled on a sloping rock at Inyo National Forest, CA. Photo by BF Newhal

 

The big rocks and cliffs at Yosemite are spectacular, but so is the smaller stuff — the boulders, rocks, stones and pebbles that litter every inch of the 12,000-square-mile national park. I’m especially partial to the glacial erratics.

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

October 26, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Loreen hikes alongside Lake Michigan snow drifts. Niewenhuis photo

Walk around Lake Michigan . . . the whole thing. I’d start in late spring and finish up in the fall. And when I was done, I’d write a book about it. Lucky for me, Loreen Niewenhuis beat me to it.

Will Our Kids Grow Up to Be Cheaters Like Lance Armstrong?

October 20, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Peter Newhall looks up to catch the baseball. Photo by BF Newhall

Will my kids grow up to be cheaters? Is it possible to raise honest children in this Pete Rose-Bernie Madoff world — where something like 50 percent of students admit to cheating? Read More

Belief Is Seriously Overrated — You Don’t Have to Be a Believer to Believe

October 14, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Peter Newhall at St. Vincent Catholic church, Pentwater, MI. Photo by BF Newhall

Some of my family members were uneasy at the thought of standing up at my mother’s memorial mass to read from the Bible, a document they didn’t believe in. I told them I thought belief was seriously overrated.

The Somethingists — They Don’t Believe in God, but They Do Believe in . . . Something

October 10, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[caption id="attachment_1163" align="aligncenter" width="427"]The Helix Nebula. NASA Photo. The Helix Nebula. NASA Photo.[/caption]

Good news for those of us – count me in – who aren’t at all sure of what God is like. It’s called Somethingism. Read more.

The Rise of the “Nones” – Young Americans Are Doing Without Church

October 9, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Rose window from interior of the National Cathedral, Washinton, DC. Photo by BF Newhall

 

I was in Bethesda, Maryland, for the annual Religion Newswriters Association conference last weekend. Here’s what I found out about the religiously unaffiliated in America. Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

When a Grown Daughter Doesn’t Call — Or, How to Overmother a Twenty-Something

Christina Newhall with cell phone. Photo by BF Newhall

Christina hadn’t called. We had dropped her at the airport hours ago. The flight to Burbank takes only seventy minutes. She should be home by now. But Jon and I still hadn’t gotten the, “I’m home. The plane didn’t crash. My roommate remembered to pick me up, and we didn’t get mugged in the garage,” phone call. Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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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!

Jack Shoemaker of Counterpoint Press spoke at the Oct. 5 meeting of Left Coast Writers at Book Passage, Marin. Photo by Barbara Newhall.

Jack Shoemaker of Counterpoint Press Shares Fifty Years of Book Publishing Wisdom

Red, red berries in a garden in autumn in the upper midwest. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Autumn in the Garden, When Sensible Plants Pack It In for the Winter . . . And a Healing Ankle

A red and yellow detail of Dale Chihuly's glass sculpture "Mille Fiore" at the Chihuly Garden and Glass museum in Seattle. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Dale Chihuly’s Glass: Fine Art? Kitsch? Or Both?

An oversized red strawberry is bigger than the bowl of the spoon it rests on. Photo by BF Newhall

The Sad State of the Supermarket Strawberry

MORE DON'T MISS!

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