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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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  • MY ROCKY SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
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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."

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

September 21, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

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

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

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

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

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.

Purple Bearded Irises — Close Up and (Very) Personal

May 8, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[caption id="attachment_28388" align="aligncenter" width="500"]Irises -- An iris blossom close up. Purple. Photo by Barbara Newhall An iris blossom close up. Purple. Photo by Barbara Newhall[/caption]

There’s a heck of a lot of erotica going on inside an iris blossom. Stamen. Pistel. Haft. Claws. And, of course, those fuzzy, caterpillar-like beards. Read more.

The Writing Room: My Flesh Is Weary — Too Much Book-Writing, Not Enough Yoga

May 6, 2012 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

The cluttered desk and computer of a busy writer. Photo by BF Newhall.

Can you guess who wrote this? “Of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.” Hint: The writer’s been dead for at least two millenniums. Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Here Comes Another Year!

Here comes another year. Some of us have accumulated a lot of them. My glamorous Aunt Grace had racked up 98 years by the time she left the planet.  Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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  • A Case of the Human Condition
  • My Ever-Changing Family
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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!

recycling-can

My Pal the Recycling Bin

The bride was beautiful. A crystal headpiece set off Christina Newhall's short dark hair on her wedding day in May. Photo by Barbara Newhall

They Did It — They Got Married (And the Bride Was Beautiful)

jonathan-newhall-gravestone

Widowed: Shouldn’t I Be Over It by Now?

Two deep pink tulips bloom at Mountain View Cemetery, Oakland, CA. Photo by BF Newhall

Tulips and Sex — Writing as If Everyone I Know Were Dead

MORE DON'T MISS!

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