• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • WRESTLING WITH GOD BOOK
  • CONTACT

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

My Ever-Changing Family

Our family shrinks and grows. People die. People get born. People get mad and won't talk to you for a while. Kids grow up and find partners of their own, and pretty soon there are brand-new in-laws. And a grandchild or two.

Women — Can They Have It All?

May 27, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

women -- can they have it all, like singer-songwriter-jaspar-lepakWomen — can they have it all? Can a woman have the child and her dreams of a career? I say, yes, she can. Go for it!  Read more.

‘Tears of the Kingdom’ Alert: How a 1980s Nintendo Mom Lost Her Cool

May 13, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

tears-of-the-kingdom

Attention “Tears of the Kingdom” moms: A first-generation Nintendo mom confesses to unplugging her son’s Legend of Zelda game back in 1989.  Read more.

My Husband’s Name or Mine? I Need Them Both

February 18, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

my husband's name or mine? my maiden name has its stories, including a 1960s-girl-swimmer

My husband’s name or mine? I need them both — the name I was born with and the one I took the day I married.  Read more.

The Little Tug That Could — Cross an Ocean. Scott Newhall and the Eppleton Hall

January 21, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 6 Comments

scott-newhall-eppleton-hall-captain

Scott Newhall and the Eppleton Hall: A doughty San Francisco crew sails an English paddlewheel across the Atlantic and on to California.  Read more.

Scan Those Family Photos — Today!

October 8, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 11 Comments

scan family photos family-photos-in-boxes-by-year

I have a closet big enough to store 38 shoe boxes packed with photos and negatives. My kids do not. It’s time to scan those family photos. Read more.

Happily Married? One of You Is Going to Get Your Heart Broken

July 23, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 18 Comments

couple-on-michiga-beach -- happily married? One of you is going to get your heart broken

When I see a happy couple, long-married or newlywed, I want to say, “Happily married? One of you is going to get your heart broken some day.”  Read more.

What Makes Me Happy? Having a Happy Kid, of Course

July 2, 2022 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

what makes me happy.  Our-son-and-grandchild

What makes me happy? Catching one of my kids in a moment of real time happiness. Like my son holding his newborn for the first time.   Read more.

  • « Go to Previous Page
  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Page 6
  • Interim pages omitted …
  • Page 22
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

GET MY Riffs on Life BY EMAIL

True stories often told through a humorous lens–because you just can't make them up!

We respect your privacy and do not share your email with anyone.

 

LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Barbie — Sex Object or Blank Slate?

barbie-sex-object-or-blank-slate an-8-year-old-girl-living-out-her-fantasies-as-a-swordswoman

Barbie: A sex object? Or a blank slate for girls to project their dreams on? Neither, if your daughter wants a doll who can fight dragons.  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

 
Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

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!

Cover of the Sept. 1, 2016, Kirkus Review, which contains a review of "Wrestling with God" by Barbara Falconer Newhall

Kirkus Reviews ‘Wrestling with God’ This Month

Barbara Falconer Newhall's next book, she hopes, will include columns she wrote for a local newspaper back in the 1980s. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I’m Back! The Writer in Me Is Back With a Book Pitch

Man in his 30s lifts dumbells while semi reclined on bench. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Weight Lifting Can Kill You — Shall I Email the News to My Weight-Lifting Son?

The blue and white cover the 1992 Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manual.

Making Friends — Trying To — With the Dread Serial Comma

MORE DON'T MISS!

© 2009–2025 Barbara Falconer Newhall All rights reserved. · Log in