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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
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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."

Theologian Harvey Cox: You Don’t Have to Believe to Be a Christian

December 12, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

Church bell tower, whitewashed church in the Greek Islands. Photo by BF Newhall

I’d like to recommend Harvey Cox’s newest book to all my non-believer friends. So many of the sophisticated, highly educated people I know labor under the assumption that they have to believe – to assent intellectually to – the factuality of traditional Christian teaching. They don’t. And here’s why: The idea of a fixed creed to which a true Christian must subscribe dates back, not to the life of Jesus, but to the emperor Constantine. Read more.

Help! My Kids Aren’t Perfect After All

November 27, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

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.

High School Revisited: The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same — Only Different

November 16, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

Seaholm High School Birmingham Michigan exterior. photo by BF Newhall

My old high school, deep in flyover country, has moved into the 21st century: The girls room is now the women’s room and the library the media room. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: I’ve Got a Dirty Little Secret — I (Still) Can’t Say No to Toys

November 2, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

ewok hut toy about 16 inches tall with ewok characters. Photo by BF Newhall

Some people can’t resist chocolate. For others, it’s clothes. Some folks, oddly enough, will spend $110,000 on a Ferrari with no back seat and hardly any trunk. Imagine that . . . For me as the mother of young children, toys were my weakness. Read more.

Do Books Have Rights? This One Didn’t. I Threw It in the Trash.

September 14, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 6 Comments

[caption id="attachment_9888" align="aligncenter" width="500"]children's book reviewer barbara falconer newhall has tossed a children's book in the trash. Photo by BF Newhall Into the trash with this adorable mousey book! Photo by BF. Newhall[/caption]

It was a book, a children’s book. But I dumped it in the garbage anyway. I threw it out the way I would toss out a dead flashlight battery or a slab of moldy cheddar. Read more.

John Shelby Spong: Christianity (Some of It) Is Bunk

September 11, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

John Shelby Spong book jacket, Eternal Life: A New Vision

Former Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong minces no words: It’s time to ditch the two principle beliefs of Western religion. First,
that God is other. And second, that we are alienated from God, guilty as hell, and in dire need of atonement. Read more.

Scrubbing the Floor With My Daughter Cinderella

September 4, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

cover of the vhs version of the disney movie, cinderella

There was no getting around it. Christina, who is 51/2, intended to wash our kitchen floor. She had been studying her “Cinderella” videotape for weeks, and now she wanted nothing more than to scrub. Read more

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Walk 1000 Miles Around Lake Michigan? She Did It — Now I Don’t Have To

Loreen hikes alongside Lake Michigan snow drifts. Niewenhuis photo

Walk around Lake Michigan . . . the whole thing. I’d start in late spring and finish up in the fall. And when I was done, I’d write a book about it. Lucky for me, Loreen Niewenhuis beat me to it.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

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  • A Case of the Human Condition
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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!

Artist Judy Seidel in her Berkeley studio, her colorful abstract paintings in the background. Photo by BF Newhall

Judy Seidel: Click Here for an Eyeful of Her Life-Affirming Paintings

Jon and Barbara Newhall at Getty Museum tram, 2012. Photo by Christina Newhall

A (Lengthy) Case of the Human Condition: Married 35 Years

The cover of The Best of KidSpirit OnLine, Vol. II, shows a intense sport bicyclist. Photo by Jack True.

KidSpirit OnLine: Where Young Souls Take On the Big–Old–Questions

The view from the bow of a ferry boat making its way through the San Juan Islands in summer. Photo by Barbara Newhall

San Juan Islands Flora: Or, I Cling, Therefore I Am

MORE DON'T MISS!

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