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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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Barbara’s Riffs on Life

A Case of the Human Condition: Feminine, Feminist Pink

April 27, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

Girls wear pink, but grown women like this one opt for daring spike heels. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Christina likes pink. Given a choice, my five-year-old daughter will take the pink balloon, the pink panties, the pink baseball bat. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: When Your Six-Year-Old Wants to Talk Money

April 20, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 12 Comments

A six-year-old boy dressed as a cowboy for halloween. Photo by Barbara Newhall

My six-year-old wanted an allowance. Jon and I debated. Fifty cents a week? 75? “Let’s not talk in cents,” said Peter. “Let’s talk in dollars.” Read more.

Writing Room: The Punch Line Always Goes Last

April 17, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

Everyone knows that the punch line goes at the end of a joke, not the beginning. A mystery writer knows to set the story up and get all the necessary events and clues in place before revealing that the pizza delivery guy did it. The same is true of a paragraph and a sentence.

GodsBigBlog: Native American Tori Isner — Want to Find Holy? Go Look at a Rock

April 10, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

Army vet Tori Isner traces her roots to the Eastern Band of Cherokee of North Carolina. She’s an adopted Lakota Sioux who currently lives in Texas. “Go look at the ocean. That’s Creator. That’s beauty.”

Simone Weil on Prayer — First, Pay Attention. Book Openers

April 6, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

retablo-chimayo-joseph

Simone Weil’s life was a short one, but her startling insights into the nature of God and God’s relationship to humanity pertain today.  Read more.

The Writing Room: Is Less More? Or Is More More?

April 3, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

What’s wrong with this sentence? “It was a letter from my lover; my heart thumped, my stomach sank, my breath stopped, and my hands shook as I opened it.”

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Shanghai Chic — It’s All About the Shoes in This Skyscraping Town of 24 Million

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Young people are flocking to swashbuckling, get-rich-quick Shanghai. Come back soon to see what they’re wearing on their feet. I’m just back from a two-week blitz tour of China and am off to Austin for a Religion Newswriters Association conference tomorrow. There will be plenty to share when I get back. […]

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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!

cabin-fever-at-home

Oh-Oh. Is Cabin Fever Setting In? — Sheltering at Home Day 6

Author Barbara Falconer Newhall with the four calico crazy quilts she designed for the four grandchildren she hopes she'll have. Photo by Jon Newhall

The Baby Quilts Are Ready — Now All We Need Are the Babies

Jasmin Darznik, author of "The Good Daughter" | Photo by Sarah Cramer Shields

The Writing Room: Writing Tips from Jasmin Darznik of “Good Daughter” Fame

A page from the Bleichrode prayer book published in Berlin, 1923, showing the first lines of the Mourner's Kaddish in Hebrew script. Photos by BF Newhall

An Episcopalian Says Kaddish for Her Jewish Aunt

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