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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’s Riffs on Life

The Human Need to Name Things — While Standing in a Patch of Weeds

February 8, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

The Human Need to Name Things

We can’t help ourselves. We like to name things. We have a human need to name things, including the colors of the weeds in a weed patch.  Read more.

Kids Leave Home. They Just Do

February 1, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

kids leave home Scottville-michigan-house

Kids leave home. That’s how it often is in our oversized, mobile nation. We pack up and move across the country with impunity, leaving our families and origins behind.  Read more.

My Son Is in the Hospital With Appendicitis 2,000 Miles Away. How Do I Mother Him From Here?

January 25, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

my son in hospital with appendicitis 2000 miles away

My son Is in the hospital with appendicitis 2,000 miles away. He’s 28 years old and living on his own. How do I mother him from here?

Happily Retired? Take the Quiz

January 25, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

happily-retired-doing-crossword

Retired, I’ve decided, is an attitude. It’s a state of mind, a state of equanimity. You can have that attitude whether you’re still working or you’ve clocked your last forty-hour work-week.  Read more.

Am I an Artist? Or Am I a Brand?

January 18, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

am i an artist or am i a brand barbara-falconer-newhall-writer-FB-page

What kind of writer am I anyway? When I sit down to the keyboard, is it to write something beautiful — or something that will sell?  Am I an artist? Or am I a brand?  Read more.

Widowed: My Husband’s Stuff Is Still Here. I’ve Got My Reasons

January 11, 2025 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

widowed my husbands stuff obsolete-tech-books

Marriage is mostly about presence, about being there. Jon’s not here anymore. But his belongings are.  Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

The (Two-Year-Old) Rhetorician at Our House

Two-year-old girl enjoys her bottle in her crib with blankies. Photo by BF Newhall

What’s rhetoric? I’ve always thought of it as the high-flown language of politics. But really, it’s something we humans do all the time, and that includes the two-year-old humans among us.

 

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-on-his-deck

Widowed: ‘What Is Grief, If Not Love Persevering?’

Branches of a monterey pine in California are seen against a blue sky with clouds. Photo by BF Newhall

Photo Op: When the Sun Shines Sideways

dilapidated-side-yard

Fixing Up That Homely Old Side Yard — At Last

View from the Tower of the Oakland, California, Tribune. The Clorox Building, the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Builing. Photos by Barbara Newhall

The Oakland Tribune Tower — A 1923 Structure With a Twenty-First Century View

MORE DON'T MISS!

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