Culture Watch

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…
A Contest for Ages 7 – 18, The Exquisite Prompt Writing Challenge

Reading Rockets and AdLit.org are looking for young, creative writers and filmmakers to participate in our Exquisite Prompt “Write It, Film It” Summer Video Contest.
Reader’s Delight

Mamiko Otsubo’s enigmatic masks collaged from the pages and covers of art history books, Donna Ruff’s Rorschach-like patterns burned on the pages of Freud, Tom Burckhardt’s re-purposed book covers used as grounds for his fanciful paintings, and Yohei Nishimura’s kiln-fired de-accessioned books, shrunken and shriveled into fragile and lightweight wasp’s nests of bound leaves and…
Heart Song; Thoughts on loss

She was an in-law, a chum of 45 years, someone I loved. It is going to be very hard to forego the bi-monthly phone conversations in which we shared family news. We used to talk about our splendid children. These days, we talked mostly about our splendid grandchildren.
Tips for Transportation: If you’re a senior driver, or a short driver or both

“When it comes to finding the right cars for seniors, we recommend vehicles that offer easy access, good visibility, a roomy driving position and comfortable seats,” David Champion, senior director of Consumer Reports Automotive Test Center in East Haddam, Connecticut.
Reversing Vandalism

Many have created something beautiful from the shreds of a ruined book. Others added humor to the situation. Most impressive is the wide variety of responses. Using basically the same raw materials, artists have contributed an unexpectedly diverse range of expression as they participate in proselytizing the importance of reversing vandalism.
FindLaw’s Googling Potential Jurors: The Legal and Ethical Issues Arising from the Use of the Internet in Voir Dire

“Many lawyers and jury-selection experts recommend that attorneys ask each jury panelist (that is, each potential juror) about blogging, use of social-networking sites, use of microblogging services, exposure to news-media content on the Internet, and the like.”
The Sure Thing, Or My Search For a New Gynecologist

He had freckles, the oversized hands of a half-grown puppy, and a grin that transformed him into a clone of my son, the sophomore frat boy. Even the bold testimony from an office wall papered with laudatory certificates couldn’t convince me to place my female future in the hands of Huckleberry Finn. Reluctantly, I noted:…
Too Much of a Good Thing

Every morning, I spend at least five minutes trying to decide which shoes to wear — and nine times out of ten I simply don the ones I wore the day before. I’m retired. I don’t have to impress anyone, so what does it matter? Later, if I decide to get some exercise, I have…
Scandal! The Financial Crime Exhibit and Shopping for Gifts

The Museum of American Finance is presenting an exhibit that chronicles the most notorious of American financial scandals as well as featuring unique gifts in the Museum shop such as the Pink Zipper Bank.
Current Reading, Plus-Size Wars

Ginia Bellafante has written an article long waited for, a review of the “little effort to reflect the realities of the customers’ proportions.” Perhaps manufacturers and advertisers might notice the ever-enlarging numbers of clothes left on the rack at the end of the season, , seemingly designed for the tween population rather than the women…