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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

My Ever-Changing Family

Meet my changing, shrinking, growing family. Here you'll find stories of married life, little kids, grown-up kids, the empty nest, cousins and ancestors, aging parents, and the view from the second half of life.

How Selective Service Made a Man of My Son — Without Even Trying

February 23, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

The 1998 Selective Service pamphlet -- I left it at the post office.

In a few weeks my son would be eighteen, time to sign up for Selective Service. I’d filled out forms for him for years, but this was different. This piece of paper could send him off to war. Read more.

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True stories often told through a humorous lens–because you just can't make them up!

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Retired Is a State of Mind — Six Ways to Know If You’re There Yet

A trail alongside Bon Tempe Lake in Marin county, California. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Retired is a state of mind. Not a state of paycheck or work schedule or commute or how much time you spend at the office. Read more.

MORE "ON THE FUNNY SIDE"

CATEGORIES

  • A Case of the Human Condition
  • My Ever-Changing Family
  • On Writing & Reading
  • My Rocky Spiritual Journey

 
Need some levity? Push my Funny Button!

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!

Stalk of overgrown dracena marginata cut back -- on an angle -- so that the stalk can grow new leaves. Photo by Barbara Newhall

The Dracena Is Dead. Long Live the Dracena

"Garden Party," by Amy Roman Vassar, San Francisco. A floral commen on Frank Stella's "Lettre sur les aveuglesII, 1974. At the de Young Museum Bouquets to Art 2017. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Bouquets to Art 2017 — Seduced by Those Quirky, Charming Boxed Bouquets

Out-Takes From a Small Town Police Blotter Reveal a Serious Case of the Human Condition

Orange metal chairs in a row at the Olympic Sculpture Park, Seattle. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Olympic Sculpture Park Photos — Cool Art, Really Cool Park

MORE DON'T MISS!

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