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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
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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."

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

September 14, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[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

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

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

A Case of the Human Condition: Flowers Bursting From the Dirt — How Do They Do It?

August 31, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

pink camellia blossom california. photo by bf newhall

They emerge from mud, manure, leaf rot, earthworms, sow bugs. And they are beautiful. How do they do it? Read more.

A Generation of Preschoolers Trapped in Their Yards

August 28, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A suburban street without a sidewalk. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Jon and I loved our new house in the hills with the curving, no-sidewalks streets. But all that privacy and rural ambiance weren’t so great for raising kids. Read more.

Mad Men Exposes the ’60s Girdle — But Will She Get It Off in Time?

August 21, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

two women wearing 1960s Spirella Sarong girdle with sign "happiness is a flat tummy."

You can’t fool me. I know a girdle when I see one. A stewardess on Mad Men did a strip tease — but how was she going to get that girdle off without turning hot sex into farce? Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: He Never Called Me Back . . . Why?

August 21, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

book jacket for Why He Didn't Call You Back by Rachel Greenwald.

The book’s cover was fuchsia, its title blunt: “Why He Didn’t Call You Back.” Just what I needed years ago when I was young and single and wondering why so many guys would take me out once or twice — then disappear without explanation. Gone. Evaporated. Poof. Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

SXSW: Austin — A City With Its Soul on Its Sleeve

A statue of the Virgin Mary in blue and white clothes and outstretched arms in a front yard in Austin, TX. Photo by BF Newhall

 

Austin has the reputation of being not your typical Texas town — it’s more liberal and more secular than the rest of this Bible Belt state. Perceptions aside, there’s plenty of religion going on in Austin, and you can see it from the street. 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!

JON-NEWHALL-EDITING-COPY

Widowed: Marriage Mistakes — If I Could Have a Do-Over, Would I?

File:Partirdge & Blackwell.jpg (category Department stores in Michigan) & Blackwell Department Store in Detroit, Michigan Date 1910 Source Library of Congress-Prints & Photographs online catalog Author Detroit Publishing Company

A Lost Child in Wartime Detroit — A Headscarf Story

man-cooking-in-den

Our Remodel Has Kept Us Company — We’ll Miss the Carpenters, the Electricians and the Pile Drivers. Sheltering at Home Week 11

invasive-eucalyptus-in-california

Is It OK to Kill Stuff? Yes, If It’s a Mosquito or a Eucalyptus Tree

MORE DON'T MISS!

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