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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
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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."

Buddhist Writing — Wisdom or Chicken Shit?

September 28, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

jack kornfield. Photo by robert vente

Jack Kornfield and Sylvia Boorstein are two of my favorite Buddhist writers. But I don’t follow their advice entirely — I don’t meditate.

Buddhist Teacher Jack Kornfield on Sex, Drugs and Enlightenment

September 22, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

mt tamalpais marin county CA with blue sky

Want to know more about the sex lives of Buddhist teachers in America? Are you considering downing some ecstasy or a bit of mushroom to fast-track your spiritual growth? Wondering about that person in the meditation hall who seems to be having a psychotic break? Check out Jack Kornfield’s book.

Book Openers: A Heather Donahue Lexicon — Flopsweat and Larfy Defined

September 21, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

Heather Donahue's book jacket Grow Girl: How My LIfe After "The Blair Witch Project Went to Pot"

Here’s some help with the pot-growing argot in Heather Donahue’s book, "Grow Girl."

 

The Writing Room: Heather Donahue and Me – How I Got Hooked on a Pothead

September 16, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 7 Comments

Heather Donahue's book jacket Grow Girl: How My LIfe After "The Blair Witch Project Went to Pot"

I bought Heather Donahue’s book about marijuana farming, "Grow Girl," because she’s a writer friend of a writer friend of mine. This is what happened.

Sam Lamott Couldn’t Make It, but Anne Arrived With a Bouquet of Bons Mots

September 15, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

Anne Lamott. Photo by BF Newhall

Sam Lamott was too busy being an art student and the father of a 2-year-old to show up at a book signing for “Some Assembly Required,” the book he wrote with his mother, the best-selling author Anne Lamott. But Anne was present and had pithy things to say about writing — and being the mother of a 22-year-old father. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: Am I Scotch?* Or Midwestern?

August 27, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

DB Falconer dances the Virginia reel with daughter Barb, Camp Morrison, MI, 1949. Photo by Tinka Falconer

Genealogically speaking, I’m not that far removed from Scotland. My father’s father was born near Glasgow. But the complex – presumably – set of beliefs and customs he and his parents brought with them to the shores of Lake Michigan in 1873 are lost to me now. Tartans have given way to Levi’s. Haggis has succumbed to pizza and Chinese take-out. When I think about where I come from, I do not think of Scotland. I think of Michigan. Read More.

My Mother’s Goneness

May 13, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

Small tweed and leather purse. Photo by BF Newhall

My mother is gone, but when she died, she left a few things behind — a battered old purse, a small sofa she liked to call the loveseat. Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

I’m the Mother of the Groom – Now What Do I Do?

Bride looks at herself in mirror wearing vintage gown. Photo by BF Newhall

Aside from hosting the rehearsal dinner and showing up on the wedding day in a dress that is neither black nor white, one that obscures the multiple necks and iffy upper arms yet still manages to be pretty – what’s the mother of the groom supposed to do? Read More.

 

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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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!

author Barbara Falconer Newehall has stopped coloring and dying her hair so that the white hair now shows. Photo by Barbara Newhall

My Brand-New White Hair. It’s Real. It’s Scary. But I Kinda Like It

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

Impermanence: Everything Changes — And So Can I

A glamorous red-head close up

Grace Falconer Perlmutter Kleis — How to Be a Glamorous Gal at Age 98

6-year-old boy dressed as cowboy. photo by barbara newhall

A Case of the Human Condition: When a Six-Year-Old Flies Solo

MORE DON'T MISS!

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