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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
  • WIDOWED
  • FUNNY BUTTON

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."

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.

Noah Lukeman on the Colon, That Most Majestic of Punctuation Marks . . .

August 14, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="374"]Noah Lukeman portrait. Noah Lukeman[/caption]

Ever since I read Noah Lukeman’s treatise on the comma in a 2006 issue of The Writer’s Chronicle, I have been a fan. A devotee. No, let’s face it, a groupie. Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

I Brake for Floor Plans — I Like to See How Those Other People Live

Floor plan of condo on East 86 Street, Manhattan, with three bedrooms and 3.5 baths.

It’s Sunday morning. I pull the New York Times Magazine from the fat stack of newspapers on the breakfast table, fully intending to read the informative, thought-provoking articles inside. But I get no farther than page two, because that’s where the real estate ads are – the ones with the floor plans. Read more.

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!

Ceramic cake by Richard Shaw -- "Bride and Ship, 2003." Photo by BF Newhall

Ceramics Envy at the Berkeley Art Center — I Want to Get My Hands into that Earthy, Messy, Squishy Clay

religion-bookshelf

The Top Religion Stories of 2025 — From Religion News Association

A granite boulder in Yosemite's high country. Photo by BF Newhall.

Photo Op: Yosemite Rocks — And Sometimes It Rolls

retablo-chimayo-joseph

Hanging Pictures: Too Much Art. Not Enough Wall Space. Sheltering at Home Week 24

MORE DON'T MISS!

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