Book Reviews

Rose Madeline Mula: If You Can’t Stand the Heat

Rose Madeline Mula Writes: “It was with considerable trepidation, therefore, that I entered the kitchen of my hostess, the legendary actress, Joan Fontaine, one long-ago Thanksgiving morning, to offer my assistance. Acting was not Miss Fontaine’s only talent. Not by a long shot. She was also a hole-in-one golfer, a prize-winning fisherwoman, a hot air…
An Undocumented Childhood by Rose Madeline Mula

Rose Mula Writes: Some people never leave home without their American Express card; I never leave home without a camera. Digitized pictures of the twenty-five countries and forty-plus states of America that I’ve visited since my first tour of exotic New Hampshire constantly flash on my computer monitors and digital frames throughout my home, helping…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mind’s eye can still see the face of the Children’s Librarian, although I have long since forgotten her name. We will be wise to continue to back up our knowledge of history and literature and art and science with hard copy. She kept up with my reading level, suggesting writers and…
Julia Sneden Wrote: If The Shoe Fits … You Can Bet It’s Not Fashionable

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mother was a mini Imelda Marcos. She kept upwards of 40 pairs of shoes well into her 80’s, and was crushed when she had to give up high heels following a heart attack at the age of 89. Her sole criterion in buying shoes was style, not comfort, and she was…
Joan L.Cannon Wrote: A Family Inheritance: More Than ‘Things’ … Emblems of Our Lives

Joan Cannon wrote: As one advances in years, one accumulates possessions the way a caddis fly larva accumulates grit. The glue that makes us carry it all along with us is in a way self-secreted as well. However, it’s psychic rather than physical — emotional rather than material. Perhaps the most obvious example is a…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks

Julia Sneden wrote: At the age of 37, I started a new career as a kindergarten teacher. My first day on the job, the lead teacher, who was in her 70’s and scared me every bit as much as she scared the children, watched me writing a note. “You’ll have to change the way you…
Joan Cannon Writes: Finding the Right Excuse; Committing Words to Paper Because …

Joan Cannon Writes: Think of the poets and novelists and playwrights whose words sink into the consciousness of thousands and even millions and remain there, as emblems, guides, beacons of hope or warnings of disasters, and the excuse (as if one is needed) presents itself. Maybe there’s information or a revelation for some unknown viewer…
Joan Cannon Asked: What is a Book Club? An Old-Fashioned Book Report? A Program Given By an Author? What Is the Accepted Practice?

Joan L. Cannnon wrote: A year or so ago, I was invited to attend a tea given by the combined membership of all the book clubs in the town where I now live. A presentation was scheduled for the proprietor of the much-loved local independent book store cum gift shop. She is a legend in…
Who Was Marjory Stoneman Douglas? Had a High School Named After Her, A Defender of the Everglades, Feminist, Short Story Writer and A Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient

It was 1917 and the First World War was raging in Europe. The Navy had sent a ship from Key West to Miami to enlist men and women into the Naval Reserve. Marjory went to cover the story of a local woman she heard about, who was to be the first woman to enlist. As…
Taxpayers Don’t Want to Pay for Lawmakers’ Sexual Misdeeds, But Alternatives Pose Problems: Allegations of Wrongdoing Went Away After Victims Received Payouts From Public Funds

Legislatures are often on the hook for the bad behavior of lawmakers because, like other employers, they are responsible under the Civil Rights Act for creating a workplace that is free from harassment and discrimination. Employers that don’t attempt to prevent harassment — and report and investigate claims when they arise — can be held…
CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention): 6 Things You Need to Know About This Flu Season

Definitely try to avoid close contact with sick people. If you do get sick, limit contact with others as much as possible to keep from infecting them. Stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone without the use of fever-reducing drugs (unless you need medical care or other necessities). Make sure you…
My Mother’s Cookbook, Winter Soups: Tomato, Cheese, Potato and Bretonne Bean

Margaret Cullison writes: My mother used few shortcuts when preparing food because she preferred the “real thing” to convenience foods that became more readily available in the mid-1940s. The popularity of canned soups was well established by that time. Quick dishes that relied for flavor on canned mushroom soup or dehydrated onion soup were much…
Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s Dreamers (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) Record-breaking Speech

House Session, Part 1 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) gave an uninterrupted speech of over eight hours, saying she would not leave the floor until Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) agreed to allow a vote on a bill that addresses the plight of undocumented migrants who arrived in the U.S. as children, also known as…
*FOIA Response from HUD Reveals 646% Increase in Foreclosures against Seniors in 2016; HUD Must Do Better Monitoring Servicers When They Report “Non-occupancy” As Reason For Foreclosing

In January 2017, the California Reinvestment Coalition and Jacksonville Area Legal Aid submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, seeking data about reverse mortgage foreclosures in HUD’s Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, and about a new HUD program meant to keep widowed and widower non-borrowing spouses in…
Issues Addressed in Congress: Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and the Opioid Crisis Hearings

Bills introduced: Rep. Jackie Speier: A bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the American women who joined the workforce during World War II, providing the vehicles, weaponry, and ammunition to win the war, that were referred to as “Rosie the Riveter,” in recognition of their contributions to the National the inspiration they…
Reading Recommendations from Radcliffe’s Fellows and SeniorWomen’s Editor

The 2017–2018 cohort of Radcliffe fellows include scholars, scientists, artists, and writers. Below, a selection of Radcliffe fellows share books that inspired their research, activated their imaginations, and sparked their enjoyment. My own list of books to be read includes one on American Women Code Breakers, a Robert A. Caro third volume of his Lyndon…
A Plea for Imagination: Once There Was a Time When It Was an Anomaly to See Gratuitous Brutality

Joan Cannon wrote: George Eliot said (in Middlemarch) “… we do not expect people to be moved by what is not unusual. That element of tragedy which lies in the very fact of frequency, has not yet wrought itself into the coarse emotion of mankind; and perhaps our frames could hardly bear much of it.…
Two Stories: Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. to Partner on US Employee Healthcare; As Trump Attacks the Federal Health Law, Some States Try to Shore it Up

Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced today that they are partnering on ways to address healthcare for their US employees, with the aim of improving employee satisfaction and reducing costs. The three companies, which bring their scale and complementary expertise to this long-term effort, will pursue this objective through an independent company…