Art and Museums

Art and Museums stories for senior women and others

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…
Attorney General Merrick Garland Testifies: Seventeen Federal Agencies Recognize Decade of Federal Progress Addressing Elder Abuse

“Research shows that at least one in 10 older adults who live in the community experiences some form of maltreatment each year — and this is likely an undercount, because only one in 14 cases is reported. People who experience abuse have higher rates of depression, hospitalization, and institutionalization — and they are more likely…
Jo Freeman Writes: The 2024 Libertarian National Convention as Seen Through Feminist Eyes

Jo Freeman Writes: “I saw few female faces in the delegate ballroom. From counting faces, I estimated that women were only 20 percent of the delegates. A couple women sitting behind credentialing tables said they thought it was closer to 30 percent. Unlike the two major parties, the LP does not require half women or…
Jo Freeman Writes: Kennedy vs. Trump at the Libertarian National Convention

“Despite an unappealing raspy voice, (Robert F.) Kennedy made an appealing speech to libertarians. He had clearly identified those issues on which he and libertarians agreed, without saying that he was a libertarian. He also said he would go after both Trump and Biden, but spent 90 percent of his time going after Trump. He…
Pub Med: Traversing the Menopause: Changes in Energy Expenditure and Body Composition

“It has been shown that treatment with hormone replacement therapy prevents the increase in the rate of abdominal adipose tissue accumulation that was noted with the menopause. Thus, it appears that the loss of ovarian function induces a reduction in resting metabolic rate, physical activity energy expenditure, fat-free mass, and an increase in fat mass…
Tribute to Madeline Albright: The Highest – Ranking Woman in the Country at the Time She Served In the Administration

“While Albright was the highest-ranking woman in the country at the time she served in the administration, she was not in the presidential line of succession because she was born in Czechoslovakia … She saw the US as the “indispensable nation” when it came to using diplomacy backed by the use of force to defend democratic…
National Portrait Gallery Presents “Brilliant Exiles: American Women in Paris, 1900–1939″

“By bringing the experiences of American women to the fore, ‘Brilliant Exiles’ provides a counternarrative to conventional histories of Americans in Paris that focus on the interwar period and the ‘Lost Generation’ of men such as Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald,” said curator Robyn Asleson. “The exhibition will highlight alternative approaches to modernism developed…
Jo Freeman On Silent Cavalry: How Union Soldiers from Alabama Helped Sherman Burn Atlanta and Then Got Written Out of History by Howell Raines

Jo Freeman Writes: This book is about Raines’ effort to put together a jigsaw puzzle about Union sentiment in Alabama, beginning with his family. Raised in Birmingham, Raines’ ancestral roots are in Winston County in NW Alabama, famous for the legend of the Free State of Winston. According to the legend, a mass meeting was…
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco Deliver Remarks at ATF’s Inaugural Gun Violence Survivors’ Summit

“Today’s discussions and dedication of the Faces of Gun Violence Exhibit this afternoon reflect a deep and abiding commitment by the women and men of the ATF to victims and survivors of gun violence. I’m grateful to the ATF and to all of you for being here — especially those who have lost loved ones…
US Food and Drug Administration, DA: Counterfeit Version of Botox Found in Multiple States

“FDA is alerting health care professionals and consumers that unsafe counterfeit versions of Botox (botulinum toxin) have been found in multiple states and administered to consumers for cosmetic purposes. FDA is aware of adverse events, including hospitalizations, linked to the counterfeit Botox. Symptoms included blurred or double vision, difficulty swallowing, dry mouth, constipation, incontinence, shortness…
Women’s Congressional Policy Institute: Ensuring Equity for Women Veterans at the VA, Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023

Child Protection: The House is scheduled to consider S. 2051, the Missing Children’s Assistance Reauthorization Act of 2023; Hearing: “The Role of Child Care Small Businesses in Supporting Parents and the American Workforce;” On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs will hold a hearing, “Caring for All Who Have Borne the Battle: Ensuring Equity…