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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

Barbara Falconer Newhall

A Case of the Human Condition: A Half Century Later I’m Still a Size 10 . . . OK, 12

May 29, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Two teenager girls in Bermuda shorts, 1950s. Photo by DG Falconer

I wore a size 10 in high school way back in 1959 and a size 12 in college. That was twenty plus pounds ago, but I can still squeeze into size 10 (or 12) jeans. Am I remembering my young self all wrong? Read more.

A Manners-Challenged Kid Who Became the Apple of His Grandma’s Eye

May 22, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Small children with grandmother on Lake Michigan beach. Photo by BF Newhall.

“Move,” said my 6-year-old son Peter to his grandmother. “I want to get by.” My mother looked up from her book and gave my son a hard look. Read more.

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

May 8, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

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

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

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

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

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.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Is It OK to Kill Stuff? Yes, If It’s a Mosquito or a Eucalyptus Tree

invasive-eucalyptus-in-california

Is it OK to kill stuff? I couldn’t kill the spider lurking in my shower. But I can kill invasive eucalyptus trees and dive-bombing mosquitoes.  Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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  • A Case of the Human Condition
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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!

jon-Newhall-at-Signal

He’s Not Bald After All. Thank You, Covid-19. Sheltering at Home Week 28

Huston Smith at Sagrada bookstore, oakland, ca. 2009. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Religion Scholar Huston Smith at 93 — ‘Be Happy!’

A glamorous red-head close up

Grace Falconer Perlmutter Kleis — How to Be a Glamorous Gal at Age 98

heather donahue author of "grow girl." photo by michele clement

Book Openers: A Heather Donahue Lexicon — Flopsweat and Larfy Defined

MORE DON'T MISS!

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