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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 little kids

A Case of the Human Condition: Four-Year-Old Girls — The Last Bastion of Pretty

March 27, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

four pretty preschool girls in tutus at the ballet barre. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Pink dresses. Powder blue dresses. Dresses with nosegays, kitty cats and sunbursts. Are little girls the last hold-outs for pretty these days? Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: The Center of the Universe? It’s a Little Beach in Michigan, of Course

January 30, 2010 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

A channel crosses a sand beach and empties into Lake Michigan. Photo by BF Newhall

If I were drawing a map of the world, its center would be the little beach in Michigan where the Bass Lake outlet flows into the great, blue Lake Michigan. Read more.

A (Contagious) Case of the Human Condition: How a Mother of Preschool Kids Outsmarts the Mighty Microbe

December 29, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Kindergarten girls playing a hand game. Photo by BF Newhall

I believe in microbes. Microbes are like God. You can’t hear them, taste them, smell them or see them with the naked eye. But you know they’re there. Lately, I’ve had more experiences with microbes than with God. I’ve been sick a lot. Read more.

Help! My Kids Aren’t Perfect After All

November 27, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

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.

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

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.

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

Why Can’t a Dad Be More Like a Mom? . . . Do We Really Want Them To Be?

July 27, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall

Men and housework and childcare. A man carries his affectionate toddler girl. Photo by Barbara Newhall

My friend Carol calls them “the little inequities.” She is talking about the small, countless ways that men fail to notice what needs to be done for their children. Read more.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

A Case of the Human Condition: Choose Me, Please!

Jury summons. Barbara Falconer Newhall was summoned for jury duty.. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Jury duty is a lot like fourth grade softball. Something in me wants to be on the team. If there is choosing going on, I want to be among the chosen. Read more.

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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!

Red chrysanthemums with yellow stripes. photo by bf newhall

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

A 7-year-old boy makes a face by stretching his mouth wide. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Small Boys: Reading, Writing — And Yucky

Red, red berries in a garden in autumn in the upper midwest. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Autumn in the Garden, When Sensible Plants Pack It In for the Winter . . . And a Healing Ankle

have-him-at-hello-sticker-greenwald

I Was Young and Single for Way Too Long — Why?

MORE DON'T MISS!

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