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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

DON'T MISS!

I've written hundreds and hundreds of posts over the years. To help you find your way to the best of the best, I've tagged my favorites "Don't Miss!" Scroll down here to find them.

Another way to locate Riffs on Life that you might enjoy is to click above on your favorite category – "My Ever-Changing Family," perhaps, or "Funny Button." You can also use the search box located way up top to hunt for stories by topic. There's fun reading at "garden," "aging," "kids" and, of course, "Jon."

TV or Not TV: The Week We Turned Off Our 1980s Go-To Screen

November 25, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

TV or not TV? boy-with-stick

TV or Not TV? In 1987 the go-to screen for exasperated moms looking for a way to distract rambunctious kids was — the television set.  Read more.

Change Happens. It Just Does

November 11, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A flowering trees buds out in February 2013 in California. Photo by BF Newhall

I’m Old. And Here’s What I Like About That

October 21, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

I'm old king-ferdinand-II-Leon

I’m old. And what I like most about that is — I’m not in the thick of things anymore. I don’t have to be. I’ve got other things to do.  Read more.

Is Hamas Evil? Is Anybody Evil? Am I? Are You?

October 14, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

joe-biden-speaks-Is-anybody-evil

Is anybody truly evil? Is Hamas? Am I? Are you? Or are we humans evolved — created? — to be sometimes kind, sometimes cruel?  Read more.

A Name for Grandma

September 30, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

a name for grandma

What’s a good name for a grandma? No cute nicknames for me. If I was to be a grandmother, I wanted the time-honored title that goes with it.  Read more.

We Humans Are Ineffable

September 23, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

toddlers-1941

People are a little like God. You know who they are, but that “who” can’t be captured or summed up in words. We humans are ineffable.  Read more.

Grief — Love With No Place to Go

September 16, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

grief is love with no place to go preschooler-with-duckie

Grief changes from day to day. For me right now, without my husband alongside me, grief is love with no place to go.  Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Help! My Kids Aren’t Perfect After All

Little girl with broken arm & chicken pox marks. Photo by BF Newhall

The kids were still pre-schoolers at the time, and it had been another night of sleep deprivation for me. “Tell me it gets easier,” I said to my friend Nancy. “Well, actually it gets harder,” she replied. Nancy has a daughter three years older than Peter. She keeps me briefed on the parenting realities ahead. Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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  • A Case of the Human Condition
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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!

Oakland artist Hannah Woebkenberg sits in front of a sculpture she made of pantyhose. Photo by BF Newhall

Oakland’s Jingletown: Arts, Crafts, Cool Kitsch — And Cookies

A Case of the Human Condition: The Center of the Universe? It’s a Little Beach in Michigan, of Course

Tinka Falconer in a flowered dress arms akimbo, 1940's. Photo by DB Falconer

Little Girl Lost — My Mother’s Magical Babushka

adoptive-family

A Baby to Adopt — The Letter That Made It Happen Forty Years Ago

MORE DON'T MISS!

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