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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

A Case of the Human Condition

I’m Barbara Falconer Newhall and I’ve got an incurable Case of the Human Condition. And since you do too, I’m counting on you to laugh and cry along with me as I riff on life as we know it . . . Below you'll read about my creaky, old fifties house, my forays into home gardening, my shopping stories, my spectacularly low-fashion wardrobe -- and more.

How to Tell if You’re a Writer

March 25, 2011 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A writer is someone who . . .

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.

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. 

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

April 3, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

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

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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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Widowed: The Perfect Husband. The Perfect Christmas Tree

widowed-the-perfect-husband-the-perfect-christmas-tree/

Widowed: The perfect husband? The perfect Christmas tree? I started a list of all the things that annoyed me about Jon. But I lost the list.  Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition
  • My Ever-Changing Family
  • On Writing & Reading
  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

 
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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!

A pretty girl, Christina Newhall, has shaved her head bald and still looks pretty. Photo by Tim Beedle

She’s Shaved Her Head Bald — Is Our Daughter Headed for the Dark Side?

catherine-tinka-dickinson-falconer

A Name for Grandma

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

Huston Smith Dies at 97: A Mentor to Me . . . and Millions

Oval portrait of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, ca. 1825. Courtesy Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan

The Lost Poems of Jane Johnston Schoolcraft — A Native Michigan Voice Rediscovered

MORE DON'T MISS!

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