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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
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.
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
My Days Are Numbered — And So Are My Minutes
My days are numbered, so I’ve decided to be miserly about how I spend what’s left of them. Read more.
I Was Young and Single for Way Too Long — Why?
I was young and single for way too long. Why? Could a book I spotted at an airport bookstore finally give me some answers? Read more.
DON’T MISS!
A Dune on Lake Michigan: We Couldn’t Climb Eagle Top — So We Paid Homage From Afar
I emailed my cousin Jeanie. Did she want to visit some of our childhood haunts, like Eagle Top? Read more.
The Somethingists — They Don’t Believe in God, but They Do Believe in . . . Something
[caption id="attachment_1163" align="aligncenter" width="427"]
The Helix Nebula. NASA Photo.[/caption]
Good news for those of us – count me in – who aren’t at all sure of what God is like. It’s called Somethingism. Read more.
Oakland Tribune: The Trib Is Dead, Long Live the Tribbers
The Oakland Tribune is dead. But dozens of Trib staffers live on. On the California paper’s last day, they gathered for a wake. Read more.