Barbara Falconer Newhall

Stalking Superman

February 13, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

There he was. In the flesh. Tall and slender and muscled and oh-so-handsome. Sigh. It was Superman. The Man of Steel of my girlhood fantasies. My dream man. Read more.

Making Friends — Trying To — With the Dread Serial Comma

February 6, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

My book contract says that I’m to deliver my book manuscript “in conformity with the provisions in ‘The Chicago Manual of Style.’” That means that, at long last, I’m finally going head-to-head with the serial comma. Read more.

Little Girl Lost — My Mother’s Magical Babushka

January 30, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

When I was three or four years old, my mother took me shopping at a big department store in downtown Detroit. It might have been Crowley’s or Kern’s or Hudson’s. Shoppers crowded the aisles and soon, my mother and I got separated and I found myself alone. Read more.

Armistead Maupin: The Man Who Wrote the Quintessential San Francisco Novel — On a Newspaper Deadline

January 23, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Army’s assignment was to show up at the offices of the San Francisco Chronicle every weekday morning and produce seven hundred words, give or take. The challenging part was this: Unlike most newspaper journalists, Army did not sit down to his Selectric typewriter fortified with a fat notebook of stats and quotes. Army’s job was not to report the news. It was to make it up. Read more.

SXSW: The Funky Charms of East Austin, Texas

January 16, 2014 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Deep in the heart of Texas is a neighborhood that has everything it takes to be a first-rate hipster haven — street art, food trucks, farmers markets, coffee shops, parks, affordable (so far) housing, artists’ studios, walkability — and, most important, a carefree, offbeat vibe. Read more.