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About Barbara
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
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.
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
Recent Riffs on Life
Too Many Angry Diatribes. Not Enough Tact. Why?
On the air and in cyberspace: too many angry diatribes, not enough tact. Do we — you and I — really want to tone things down? Read more.
My Husband Was Bald — And Then He Wasn’t
With the covid shutdown, Jon stopped going to the hairdresser. Soon he wasn’t as bald as we thought he was. Read more.
DON’T MISS!
The Oakland Tribune Tower — A 1923 Structure With a Twenty-First Century View
As a reporter, I was never invited to the lofty heights of the Oakland Tribune Tower. On the paper’s last day of publication I finally got my chance. Read more.
Actor Robert Morse – Sweaty at 36, Sublime at 83
The last time I saw Robert Morse there were beads of sweat on his forehead. It was 1967 and he was working the crowd on the set of a local TV comedy show. Robert Morse was on. He was going for laughs and he was going for them with the intensity of a rocket launch. He was doing what mid-life folks do – he was striving.
Two Big Things to Do Before You Die (Your Dear Ones Will Thank You)
As I see it, there are two big, big things to do before you die. Take photos of yourself, lots of them. And write your own obituary. Read more.