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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
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Barbara Falconer Newhall

The Hagia Sophia: Where Christianity and Islam Coexist — and Clash

May 8, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 26 Comments

The Hagia Sophia -- Madonna with roundels, Muhammad & Allah. Photo by BF Newhall

As an American Christian, I’d never known how it feels to have my faith’s most cherished symbols obliterated by a colonizing force. Until I entered the Hagia Sophia. Read more.

Why I Can’t Write My Memoir — Not the Part About My Mom Anyway

May 4, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

Leg cast for a woman, 92, with broken hip. Photo by BF Newhall

Driving home the other day from just one of countless visits to my mom at the hospital, I had to ask myself , why aren’t I writing about her? Read more.

Small Boys: Reading, Writing — And Yucky

April 24, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

A 7-year-old boy makes a yucky  face by stretching his mouth wide. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Let’s face it. Kids, some kids, naturally love raunchy jokes and faces. There’s one living at my house who loves everything yucky. Read more.

Wait for Me! (Keeping up With the Twenty-Somethings)

April 17, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 5 Comments

wait for me, I cried out to the speedy young woman dressed in pink and gray running clothes as she sped ahead of me. Photo by Barbara Newhall

 I was a tiny preschooler, pumping away on my tricycle, near tears because the big kids were leaving me behind. Today, I was a lot older — and left in the dust again. Read more. 

The Trouble With Daffodils — and My Writing

April 11, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 9 Comments

Solo yellow and white daffodil. Photo by BF Newhall

The trouble with daffodils is they have no subtext. They are all cheer and sparkle and optimism. They are avatars of perky. They get on my nerves. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: When a Six-Year-Old Flies Solo

April 3, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 5 Comments

6-year-old boy dressed as cowboy. photo by barbara newhall

My mother-in-law was on the phone. Could my 6-year-old son Peter come to Southern California for a week’s visit with her? “A week?” I thought. Could I get along without my little son for a whole week? Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: Four-Year-Old Girls — The Last Bastion of Pretty

March 27, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

four pretty preschool girls in tutus at the ballet barre. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Pink dresses. Powder blue dresses. Dresses with nosegays, kitty cats and sunbursts. Are little girls the last hold-outs for pretty these days? Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

I Confess. In 2020, I Washed the Potatoes. With Soap

sanitizing-mail-during-pandemic

It was April, 2020. The pandemic was underway and you couldn’t be too careful about what you let into your house, including your groceries. Which is why I washed the potatoes, with soap.  Read more.

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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!

Olompali State Historic Park, CA, trees dying against a blue sky. Photo by Barbara Newhall.

Death Is the Only Guarantee

bride-and-brother

I Miss My Grown-Up Children — More Than I Can Say. Sheltering at Home Week 30

lavender-stalk

My Years Are Numbered. Give Me Those Blossoms — Now

Image of Jesus Christ from the Hagia Sophia. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I Searched for Jesus, and Here’s What I Found

MORE DON'T MISS!

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