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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Woman of Note, Heroism Award Recipient: Lynne Tracy, Consular Officer in Peshawar, Pakistan
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented a Heroism award to the US Consular Official: “As Lynne was being driven to work, gunmen launched an attack on her, shooting out her car’s two front tires and leaving the vehicle riddled with bullets. Thanks to her driver and her bodyguard’s quick thinking, Lynne escaped. She returned to…
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Questions about Endocrine Disruptors?
It was several years ago that our daughters raised our awareness about environmental concerns and the development of children lined to endocrine disruptors: tktkt. A recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof brought up this issue and led us to t…
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A Volume of Friendship: The Letters of Eleanor Roosevelt and Isabella Greenway 1904-1953
Long after her death in 1962, readers remain fascinated by Eleanor Roosevelt — her life, her comments, her views. Isabella Greenway is barely known outside of Arizona — the state she represented in Congress from 1933 to 1937 — but her fifty-year friendship with ER was longer than that of any other of ER’s many…
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Style: Shopping for the Fashionable, Different and Inexpensive Items at Kimono Kool
We’re always looking for inexpensive items for granddaughters, as well as ourselves. We bought shoelaces from Dandelion in San Francisco and thought we’d pass it along to our readers. Decades ago, we bought similar items made from kimono material that last forever and go with everything. We still have the same kimono items from decades…
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Something New: A Privacy Complaint Tool
The Center for Media and Democracy has introduced the Privacy Complaint Tool: “From time to time, you may encounter a Web site or an Internet-based product or service or an offline company that you believe is violating your privacy.”
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Current Reading: Doctors Overlook Signs of Child Abuse
Physicians often misdiagnose bone fractures caused by child abuse as accidental breaks, particularly if the child is male and the doctor is not a pediatrician, a new study found.
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Shop at the National Maritime Museum for Unique Gifts
For a truly unique gift, adopt a penguin and receive a gift tin with the following: After registration you will receive: •A personalised certificate displaying your name and your penguin’s name •A colour photograph of your chosen penguin.
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Shopping: FeelMoreHuman
We were intrigued by the name of this site and found that in addition to a stylish assemblage of interesting and green gifts, the site suggests charities to contribute to, local suppliers to contact. Eco-friendly gifts are arranged according to category and brand. Even pets are not left out as well as health and beauty.
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White House Photos and an Announcement of a New Commission
The White House presents a Photo of the Day and now with November closing, there’s a goodly supply, including a picture of close aide Reggie Love tossing a football to the President; Presidential Commission for Study of Bioethical Issues
