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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
Widowed: My Husband’s Stuff Is Still Here. I’ve Got My Reasons
Marriage is mostly about presence, about being there. Jon’s not here anymore. But his belongings are. 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
Huston Smith on the Most Important Thing You Can Do in 2025
After nearly a century devoted to the study of life and truth and the meaning of it all, religion scholar Huston Smith had some advice for his fans. Read more.
The Art of Rhetoric — If a Two-Year-Old Can Master It, So Can You
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.
DON’T MISS!
I’m a Meat-Eating Loser – I Didn’t Win the New York Times Ethicist Contest
I’m a meat-eating loser. I didn’t win the “Why It’s OK to Eat Meat” essay contest the New York Times Magazine put on a few weeks ago. But I’m OK with that. Read more.
To the Himalayas and Back — In a Day and Duty Free
Bay Area residents — it’s not too late to catch this year’s Himalayan Fair at Live Oak Park in Berkeley. Today’s the second and last day of the annual celebration of the cultures of Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and North India — and a terrific shopping opportunity.
My Computer is Dead, Long Live My Omputer
I went away for the weekend, and when I showed up in my writing room on Monday morning my laptop had crashed. “It’s not your fault,” said the computer repair guy. “Computers are machines. Machines break.“