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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
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About Barbara

Barbara Falconer Newhall at her home office desk getting ready to do final edits on her book, "Wrestling with God." Photo by Barbara Newhall

I’m Barbara Falconer Newhall and I’ve got a serious case of the human condition.

I’ve done it all: career, family, house, garden, and a prize-winning book, "Wrestling with God." The result: I'm a woman of years, lots of them, who can't help seeing things from the funny side.

Tucked away on this website are hundreds of riffs on life. I hope you’ll seek them out – and keep me company as I discover the humor, if not the meaning, in what life throws my way. Learn More

THE LATEST

Bob Woodward’s Sad and Dangerous Friendship (Journalism Students Take Note)

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

An essay about Bob Woodward’s sad and dangerous professional friendship could be required reading for journalism students.  Read more.

BARBARA’S BOOK

★ Publishers Weekly, starred review
Any seeker of any faith will be blessed to read the words of this fine author and observer. Read more.
"Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith" book cover with photo of author Barbara Falconer Newhall

An inveterate doubter for most of her adult life, journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall embarks upon a quest to find a way to believe in God in the twenty-first century.

The result is Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith, which details her search for the Divine in the lives of diverse Americans – from a fundamentalist Christian to a progressive Muslim to a Buddhist monk.


Seekers of all persuasions will feel represented here, from priests, ministers, and rabbis to engineers, physicists, and avowed non-believers . . . a riverflow of a book. — Phil Cousineau, host of PBS’s Global Spirit

Click to learn more about "Wrestling with God"

Recent Riffs on Life

Will I Still Be Loveable When I’ve Lost All My Marbles?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 14 Comments

Ten years from now, when I’ve lost some — all? — of my marbles, will I still be loveable? Will I even be me?  Read more.

A 1970s Counterculture Bash at Zodiac News Service. Were You There?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 11 Comments

It was a 1970s counterculture bash at Zodiac News Service. If you were there, pls help ID these party-goer pix. (Be patient. Lots of photos to upload!) Read more.

MORE RIFFS ON LIFE

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition

  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

  • My Ever-Changing Family

  • On Writing & Reading

Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

DON’T MISS!

Bob Woodward’s Sad and Dangerous Friendship (Journalism Students Take Note)

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

An essay about Bob Woodward’s sad and dangerous professional friendship could be required reading for journalism students.  Read more.

At the Hallmark Store — Teary-Eyed in the Sympathy Card Section

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

condolence cards in a Hallmark Store rack. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I keep a stash of greeting cards in my desk — birthday and anniversary cards to send to sisters-in-law, brothers, nephews and nieces as the dates come up. But that’s not what I needed on a recent afternoon. I needed sympathy cards. Two of them. Read more.

Yippee, an IPPY — “Wrestling with God” Wins the Gold

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

IPPY-awards Independed Publishers Book Awards

Great news! “Wrestling with God” has won a gold medal IPPY  in the annual Independent Publisher Book Awards. The category is Religion, Eastern-Western. Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Quarantine Hair: I’ve Got Curls All Over My Head. How Did That Happen? Sheltering at Home Week 22

I've-got-curls Barbara-falconer-newhall-with-fluffy-hair-2

Out of the blue, my hair has begun sprouting Shirley Temple ringlets. I’ve got curls, adorable curls. What the heck? I didn’t know my hair could curl.  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!

donald-trump-pointing

I’m Not Going to Rant About the Election Results. Here’s Why

Barbara-Falconer-1960s

Unmarried and (Probably) Pregnant in Mid-Century America

Jeff Greenwald, author of "Shopping for Buddhas," settled on purchasing this Buddha during his shopping serach in Nepal. It is the touching the Earth Buddha mudra. Photo by Barbara Newhall writers

Jeff Greenwald and Kevin Griffin — A Funny Buddhist and a Happy One

non-newhall-1968

My Husband Was Bald — And Then He Wasn’t

MORE DON'T MISS!

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