Culture Watch
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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Splitting the MMS Into Two, Call for Investigation of Oil Drilling Safety and Shutting Down the Atlantis Platform
“We also request that MMS describe how a regulation that requires offshore operators to maintain certain engineering documents, but does not require that those documents be complete or accurate, is appropriately protective of human health and the environment.”
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Who Manages Oil Resources in the Gulf of Mexico? Investigating the MMS Culture
Finally, our investigation revealed an organizational culture lacking acceptance of government ethical standards, inappropriate personal behaviors, and a program without the necessary internal controls in place to prevent future unethical or unlawful behavior.
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Economic Snapshot: Unmarried Women Continue to See High Unemployment
Long-term unemployment compounds older workers’ economic uncertainty. Older workers and divorced, widowed, or separated women may face their own set of challenges in their job searches.
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Walk This Way Exhibit; Shoes include a Manolo, a pair of slap-sole shoes and a pair worn by Marilyn Monroe
Slap-sole shoes: White leather upper, toe and instep covered with salmon silk embroidered with silver yarns, wires and spangles in conventional motif; narrow lappets with white and salmon silk ties with tassels cross behind and tie through pointed tongue; silver bobbin lace across instep, at top, lappets.
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Woman of Note: Elena Kagan on the Status of Women in the Law
Two years ago, we celebrated fifty years of women at Harvard Law School. That event drew close to 1,300 people, making it the largest alumni gathering in the Law School’s history. Such a celebration has special meaning in light of the huge obstacles faced by past generations of women – obstacles that now might seem…
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A Bouquet of Monets
If you’re interested in painting techniques, in 2006 NPR launched “a mini-series on how art is affected by available technology” and began with “the link between collapsible tin tubes and some of the world’s best-loved paintings”. Monet’s well known biographer, Prof. Paul Tucker, imparts some details of the process as well as an amusing bit…
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The Increased Importance Of The Violence Against Women Act In A Time Of Economic Crisis
“Economic insecurity is among the most formidable obstacles for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. Abusers often retain their control through economic dependence, sabotaging a victim’s credit history or her ability to work productively.ke it harder for victims to escape a violent situation.”
