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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
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Barbara's Sheltering At Home Journal

The deadly COVID-19 had arrived in the San Francisco Bay Area, and county authorities were telling us to shelter at home. Husband Jon and I were pushing 80. We were definitely in the at-risk group. So we hunkered down in our house on the hill. To work off my ever-increasing anxiety, I did what writers do – I wrote. The result: this Sheltering at Home journal.

Sheltering at Home Revisited: The Virus Arrives

March 16, 2024 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

covid-19-warning

Sheltering at home revisited: The virus arrives, the shutdowns go into effect, and we find out how much our “mere” acquaintances mean to us.  Read more.

Kegeling With Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin — Tales From the Pandemic Shutdown

May 20, 2023 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

michael-douglas-alan-arkin men kegel

I didn’t know men could kegel until I saw actors Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin discussing their kegels in Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method,”  Read more.

I Hated My Pandemic Hair. A Daughter to the Rescue. Sheltering at Home

May 15, 2021 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 10 Comments


covid-haircut

My daughter had never cut anyone’s hair, ever. But my flyaway pandemic hair needed cutting. So I took a chance. The results were smashing. Read more.

Our Post-Pandemic Lifestyle: More Cobwebs? Less Time in the Kitchen? Sheltering at Home Week 35

November 14, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

post-pandemic-lifestyle  patio-dining-set

Short and simple meals for guests. Casual grooming. Relaxed housekeeping. Is this the post-pandemic lifestyle that awaits us? I hope so.  Read more.

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

May 28, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

our remodel has kept us company

With the coronavirus sequestering us at home, our remodel has kept us company. It’s brought living, breathing — masked — people into our house. Read  more.

I’m Bored. No, It’s Worse Than That. I’m Boring. Sheltering at Home Week 10

May 24, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall 2 Comments

I'm boring. But I haven't always been. old-woman-pole-dancing

I’d love to chat with the neighbor I spot on the street. But nothing’s happening in my locked-down life. I’ve got no gossip, no big news. I’m boring. Read more.

My Pretty New Clothes — Shall I Just Wear Them Around the House? Sheltering at Home Week 10

May 21, 2020 By Barbara Falconer Newhall Leave a Comment

pretty-new-clothes

My pretty new clothes. I bought them last fall. They’re just hanging in my closet. Shall I take them out and wear them to scrub pots and deadhead azaleas? Read more.

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LET’S CONNECT

ON THE FUNNY SIDE

What’s Rhetoric? Let My Two-Year-Old Enlighten You

My daughter Christina discovered the art of rhetoric when she was being weaned from baby bottle to plastic cup. She’d say, “I want milk and I don’t want it in a cup” — an elegant illocutionary statement that usually got her what she wanted, her bottle.

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!

 

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books on shelf by john gardener, sands hall, strunk and white, noah lukeman, robert mckee, theodore m bernstein, stephen koch, susan shaughnessy. Photo by Barbara Falconer Newhall

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gallery-goers view Nancy Selvin's works in gouache on paper at the Light Room, Berkeley, CA, 11-2013. Photo by BF Newhall

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