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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.

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.

A Case of the Human Condition: Spring’s Here — And So Is That Guy With His Camera

March 19, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

  By Barbara Falconer Newhall He shows up every spring. Some years we see him. Some years we don’t. He shows up at our house just as dozens of daffodils are showing their bright, ridiculously optimistic faces all over the neighborhood and the show-offy star magnolia in our front yard is glorious with blossoms. Every year he arrives […]

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

A Forgotten Gift From My Teenaged Daughter — No Good After December 31

A three-by-five card on which a 12-year-old promises to yard work as a gift to her mother. Photo by BF Newhall

Look what reorganizing my stationery drawers turned up: Coupons from my then 13-year-old daughter Christina promising to do chores around the house — including yard work, for heaven’s sake. 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!

 

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