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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
  • WIDOWED
  • FUNNY BUTTON

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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

Widowed: If I Visit His Grave, Will It Help?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

newhall-gravesite-colma

I said hello to Jon and his family, and then there was nothing more to do in this graveyard.  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

Maybe I Want a Facelift After All

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 12 Comments

window-with-houseplants

Facelifts that leave your cheeks looking like you’re facing into 100-mph headwinds are not for me. Or are they?  Read more.

Big News — Big Changes for This 2009 Website

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 16 Comments

Big Changes for This 2009 Website lawn-chair-on-deck

Two big changes for my — 2009! — website: a major redesign and a more spacious writing schedule for me.  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!

Cheap Thrills at the Glasmuseum Passau — Outrageous, Over-the-Top Decorative Glass.

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Decorative glass circa 1835-1845. Bohemia. Round plate with amber Painted glass with chinoiserie motifs. glasmuseum passau. photo by barbara newhall

Spotted at the labyrinthine Glasmuseum Passau — wonderfully outrageous, phantasmagoric decorative glass. Gotta share it with you. Take a look. Cheap thrills. Read more.

Living to 100 — And Then Some

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

 Living to 100 -- And Then Some david-and-ruth-falconer

Living to 100 — and then some: My grandmother lived till a few weeks short of her 100th birthday. My plan was to do the same.  Read more.

What to Do With Those Battered Old Baby Shoes? Hide Them in a Wall, of Course

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

baby-shoes-hidden-in-a-wall

Those battered old baby shoes? Hide them in a wall. It’s centuries old tradition that lets you declutter without giving up your dear old stuff.  Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Leap Year 1976 — The Day I Popped the Question

Barbara Falconer and Jon Newhall in a swimming pool circa 1975. Photo by Ruth Newhall

This is a Leap Year, and Monday is Leap Day. That means Jon and I will be celebrating the fortieth anniversary of the day I proposed marriage. 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!

The cover of Donald Trump book, "Think Big and Kick Ass."

Which Way America? Compassion With Francis? Or Vitriol With Trump?

author Barbara Falconer Newehall has stopped coloring and dying her hair so that the white hair now shows. Photo by Barbara Newhall

My Brand-New White Hair. It’s Real. It’s Scary. But I Kinda Like It

robert morse in season finale of mad men tv show dances and sings the best things in life are free with four pretty secretaries.

Comedian Robert Morse – Dead at 90. Very Much Alive at 36

Dave-McQueen-Zodiac

Dying. It’s What We Do These Days

MORE DON'T MISS!

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