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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: Archiving My Husband and Zodiac, His Scrappy 1970s News Service

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

Zodiac-News-Service-Nov-11-12-1972

Can you archive a dead spouse? Can you stash them away in a temperature-controlled academic repository, to be preserved for centuries?  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

Happy Birthday, US of A. You Made It to 250.

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

happy birthday us of a. 250 American-flag-flying-against-the-sky-250

Happy birthday, US of A! You made it to 250. A little the worse for wear, but still here.  Read more.

Sixteen Years Left to Live. How Many Bowls of Froot Loops Is That?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

froot-loops-at-my-grocery-store

In the sixteen years I’ve got left, how many of the gotta-do items on my to-do list will I get done?  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!

Kirkus Reviews ‘Wrestling with God’ This Month

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Cover of the Sept. 1, 2016, Kirkus Review, which contains a review of "Wrestling with God" by Barbara Falconer Newhall

Kirkus reviews ‘Wrestling with God: Stories of Doubt and Faith” in its print edition this month. Read more.

The Baby Quilts Are Ready — Now All We Need Are the Babies

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Author Barbara Falconer Newhall with the four calico crazy quilts she designed for the four grandchildren she hopes she'll have. Photo by Jon Newhall

Grandchild No. One is due in February, and I’ve managed to finish the baby quilt in plenty of time . . . Make that four baby quilts. Read more.

Inside Pentwater’s Antler Bar — A Beer Too Many

By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Bar, Pentwater, Michigan, with an antler for a doorknob. Photo by Barbara Newhall

I went inside the Antler Bar in Pentwater, Michigan, and there I had one too many. Read more.

MORE DON'T MISS!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Widowed: Advice From Beyond the Grave — Party On!

wedding-shower-gifts advice from a dead husband

How to mark the anniversary of Jon’s death? A visit to the cemetery seemed in order. Then along came some advice from my dead husband.  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!

grace-kleis-barbara-falconer-newhall

Sexy at Any Age — Tips From My 98-Year-Old Aunt Grace

The slender stalks of a dracena marginata growing too talk for their living room setting. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Help! My Dracena Marginata Has Hit the Ceiling — What Can I Do?

plaid-nightshirt

The Truth About Widows — We Cry a Lot

a stack of copies of "Go Set a Watchman" by Harper Lee in a bookstore. photo by barbara newhall

Atticus Finch — Meet Mother Emanuel

MORE DON'T MISS!

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