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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

Too Many Angry Diatribes. Not Enough Tact. Why?

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

Too any angry diatribes. Not enough tact. Why? please-slow-down-sign

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.

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

My Husband Was Bald — And Then He Wasn’t

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

jon-newhall-1968

With the covid shutdown, Jon stopped going to the hairdresser. Soon he wasn’t as bald as we thought he was.  Read more.

My Days Are Numbered — And So Are My Minutes

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 5 Comments

clock-12:01

My days are numbered, so I’ve decided to be miserly about how I spend what’s left of them.  Read more.

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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!

High School Revisited: The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same — Only Different

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

Seaholm High School Birmingham Michigan exterior. photo by BF Newhall

My old high school, deep in flyover country, has moved into the 21st century: The girls room is now the women’s room and the library the media room. Read more.

A New Roll-Out for ‘Wrestling with God’ — Just in Time for the Holidays

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 8 Comments

wresting-with-god-cover-newhall-2024

Big news! Today is the day. It’s a new roll-out for my prizewinning book “Wrestling with God.” Join the celebration. Buy a copy or two!  Read more.

The Olympic Sculpture Park — An Artful Stroll on Seattle’s Waterfront

By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

By Barbara Falconer Newhall Photographing Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park was fun. Even more fun was downloading all my wannabe works of photo art and poring over over them for hours on end.  Especially the photos I took of Teresita Fernandez’s magical, elusive glass wall, “Seattle Cloud Cover.” And Mark di Suvero’s steely “Schubert Sonata.” Which […]

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

A Child Is Born — And So Is a Grandpa

Berrypicking grandfather and grandson. Photo by BF Newhall

My friend Jake is a man in his prime. He does triathlons, reads good books, knows all the best hiking trails and drinks nice wines. Jake has never been anybody’s rickety old grandpa — until recently, when Jake’s daughter gave birth to a baby girl. 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!

Farmers-market

Widowed: Who Will Look After Me Now That Jon Is Gone?

American-flag-detail

The Fourth of July — With Liberty and Justice for All

A beach at Chimney Rock, Point Reyes, CA, is covered densely with elephant seal females and pups. Photo by BF Newhall

At Point Reyes: Wild Flowers . . . and Animals Wild and Tame

A totality disappointment: An eclipse chaser lies on the ground for a better view of the total eclipse August, 2017, St. Joseph, MO. Photo by Barbara Newhall

A Totality Disappointment in St. Joseph, Missouri

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