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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
THE LATEST
The Art of Rhetoric — If a Two-Year-Old Can Master It, So Can You
By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment
Even my toddler knew how to ply the art of rhetoric. It’s something we humans use every day, on each other, starting at an early age. 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.
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
Christmas Carols — Listen Here for the Real Thing
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 6 Comments
Tired of the safe, watered-down Christmas music now playing in shopping malls? Try these Christmas carols, the real ones. Read more.
The Darkening Days — And My Mother’s Last Hours
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 5 Comments
In the years since my mother’s death, I’ve often felt regret that my mother’s last hours with me weren’t more meaningful for her, and for me. Read more.
DON’T MISS!
The Darkening Days — And My Mother’s Last Hours
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 5 Comments
In the years since my mother’s death, I’ve often felt regret that my mother’s last hours with me weren’t more meaningful for her, and for me. Read more.
Will Donald Trump Be the Death of Me? Pardon My Rant as I Shelter in Place — and Wind Up Praying for the President. Day 11
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 19 Comments
Dying is bad enough. It’s another thing to contemplate dying because Donald Trump is in the White House. Read more.
Tint My Eyebrows? It’s an Existential Question
By Barbara Falconer Newhall 16 Comments
It’s an existential question I’ve been asking myself lately: do I go gentle into that good night — or do I tint my eyebrows? Read more.