Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.
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."
Author-publisher Brooke Warner says turning an idea into a published book is easier and more respectable than ever. Anyone with a little cash and lots of time can do it. But getting your book into the hands of paying readers — that’s something else. Read more.
Jon and I took the kids to Istanbul back in 2009. What we experienced was a energetic culture with a rich past, great food and beautiful people. Read more.
Write another book? I don’t mind the writing. What’s giving me pause is the grueling, humiliating work of promoting the darned thing once I’ve written it. Author Rob Bell had some advice. Read more.
As a reporter, I was never invited to the lofty heights of the Oakland Tribune Tower. On the paper’s last day of publication I finally got my chance. Read more.
Jesus was a loser who couldn’t keep his hair out of his eyes. That’s satirist Scott Dikkers channeling Donald Trump in his new — very funny — book “Trump’s America: The Loser’s Guide.” Read more.
“Wrestling with God” is a finalist in an international competition named for the American longshoreman-philosopher Eric Hoffer. Read more.
The 108-story Willis Tower is my husband’s kind of place. I first noticed Jon’s acrophilia early in our romance, when we took a trip to Europe. Read more.