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Barbara Falconer Newhall

Veteran journalist Barbara Falconer Newhall riffs on life as she knows it.

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Need some levity? Read on!

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

August 14, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

[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.

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

July 27, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 4 Comments

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.

A Case of the Human Condition: I’m a Woman with a — Sprawling — Past

July 17, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

The trouble with painting inside your closets is — everything has to come out of them.
And then what do you do with all your beloved stuff?

Shepherd Bliss and Men’s Secrets — No Women Allowed

July 10, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 5 Comments

Drum circle drummer for mens movement. photo by Joe Perez

Men’s No. 1 secret, Shepherd Bliss told me, the one they want to keep from women — and other men — is that they, too, feel powerless. Read more.

A Case of the Human Condition: I Want to Kill My Snapdragons

June 26, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments

Maroon snapdragons growing in the yard of Barbara Falconer Newhall. Photo by Barbara Newhall

Those maroon snapdragons in my front yard are ugly. But they’re alive. Can I rip them out? Read more.

The Rhetorician in the White House — Or, How I Learned to Love the Passive Voice

June 22, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 1 Comment

Barack Obama at pyramids during 2009 cairo visit.

The passive sentence gets a bad rap — it’s weak, it’s vague, it’s passive. But sometimes a neatly turned passive sentence is just what our ever-shrinking world needs. Obama’s Cairo speech is an example. Read more.

Why Meditate — When I Could Be Sweeping the Garage?

June 15, 2009 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 3 Comments

I’ve tried meditating a few times – a very few times. Why would I want to sit inside my mind when I could be out in the front yard, snapping dead blossoms off the rhododendron, or in the garage, sweeping away the cobwebs?

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ON THE FUNNY SIDE

Shopping for a Mother-of-the-Groom Dress — Is That Me in the Mirror? Or Somebody’s Grandmother?

a long rack of fluffy white wedding gowns for sale at David's Bridal Salon, Pinole, CA. Photo by BF Newhall

My son is getting married. I’ll need a dress. A dress that makes me look terrific. It’s time to hit the department stores and bridal salons. 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!

Author Lauren Winnerchecks her cell phone at The Glen in Santa Fe in 2009. Photo by BF Newhall

. . . And Two Books I Did Read, Sorta — By Lauren Winner and Anne LaMott

The Feminine Feminist — An Oxymoron?

FALCONER-family-1940s

A Child Is Born — And So Is a Grandpa

Jon Newhall sitting on our deck quietly, seen through a window, with trees. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall

Why Meditate — When I Could Be Sweeping the Garage?

MORE DON'T MISS!

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