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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

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‘Tears of the Kingdom’ Alert: How a 1980s Nintendo Mom Lost Her Cool

May 13, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

tears-of-the-kingdom

The Big “Tears of the Kingdom” Release

As the latest Nintendo game, ‘Tears of the Kingdom,” finds its way into Switches all over the country this weekend, a first-generation Nintendo Mom recalls how, in a fit of exasperation, she pulled the plug on the original Legend of Zelda game back in 1989 — to her son’s dismay.

How will twenty-first century moms and dads deal with the lure of “Tears of the Kingdom, which just might be the best Legend of Zelda game ever?

 

Confessions of a Nintendo Mom — The Day I Unplugged My Eight-Year-Old Son

Ten-year-old Peter Newhall with monitor showing Final Fantasy game he has just won. Photo by BF Newhall
April 30,1989. “Like any normal person with a job, two kids and a front yard full of weeds, I had been sleeping in on a Sunday morning – until the sound of Jon and Peter playing the new Nintendo woke me up. I burst in on them. “HEY. YOU WOKE ME UP.” No answer. So enraptured were they with their dratted boomerangs and Oktoroks they didn’t care that they had wrecked my beautiful Sunday morning sleep-in. I stomped back to bed, covered my head and cried.”  Read more.

Filed Under: My Ever-Changing Family

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

SXSW: Quirky, Lovable Austin, Texas

Cartoon of LBJ showing off his scar in the Johnson Presidential LIbrary in Austin, TX. Photo by BF Newhall

Austin, Texas, is quirky – in a good way. During a recent visit, every bridge, park and intersection I encountered in this Central Texas city made me smile. 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!

 

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