Current Reading

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 Collection of The Folly Cove Designers, 1941 – 1969, Cape Ann Museum, Gloucester, Massachusetts

Between 1941 and 1955, the Folly Cove Designers participated in 16 museum exhibitions. They also supplied designs to a number of well known wholesalers and retailers including Lord & Taylor, F. Schumacher, Rich’s of Atlanta and Skinner Silks. In 1948 the Designers expanded their operations into a barn owned by the Demetrios family in Folly…
Victoria and Albert Museum: On Point, Royal Academy of Dance at 100

With over 60 original objects, including costumes, designs and posters, alongside a wealth of photographs and film material, this display traces the prestigious dance academy’s roots and influence, from its founding in 1920 through to its ground-breaking work to make dance accessible for all today. Curated by the V&A with the RAD, the display explores…
Jo Freeman Reviews Stories from Trailblazing Women Lawyers: Lives in the Law by Jill Norgren

“This book is primarily based on one hundred oral histories of outstanding women lawyers commissioned by the American Bar Association’s Commission on Women in the Profession. Impressed by Norgren’s other books on women lawyers, two members of the Commission offered to make the transcripts available if she would write another book. Norgren explores childhood influences,…
Diane Girard Writes: Survival Against the Odds; The Hardy Charm of The Independent Book Store

What makes the store a charming and hardy survivor? Mostly, it’s the people who own it and who work in it. They truly care about books and they know books and writers. They make recommendations based on what a customer likes to read and if a book is not in stock, they can order it,…
Pew Trusts, Stateline: Poverty Grows Despite Economic Recovery; Left Behind

Even as average personal incomes rose during the pandemic largely because of government aid, millions of people who didn’t receive such help have fallen into poverty, struggling to pay for food and other basic expenses. That group, trying to get by with the help of local charities, may have been excluded from the federal payments…
Economic Research, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Shift in Confidence and Fear Could Prevent Consumers From Rebounding to Their Investment and Spending Habits

“The negative economic effects of the pandemic come from two sources: capital obsolescence and belief scarring. The pandemic and lockdowns forced consumers to work and consume differently, which can generate persistent changes in tastes and habits for years to come. Capital obsolescence reflects this long-lasting change in the economic value of installed capital. For example,…
Kristin Nord Writes: When Skating Away WAS the Way

Kristin Nord: How I loved my white skates with the turquoise pompoms, and in later years as an adult, the black skates with the Matisse-inspired orange rubber guards for my sharpened blades. There is in my mind’s eye, even now, maybe nothing so nice as tightening up my laces, and setting off for a spin…
Trump Administration Again Slashes Endangered Species Act Protections to Benefit Polluters Economic interests to Outweigh Science in Habitat Decisions

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) finalized a rule change that alters the process for designating critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act. This will weaken the ability to designate critical habitat for at-risk species and prioritize economics over science. The rule gives increased weight in decision making to developers to prioritize oil and…
Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Focusing on Nature is a Way to Step Out of Daily Worries, Be Lifted by Its Beauty or Delightfully Surprised by An Unusual Encounter

Ferida Wolff writes: What used to be in the background of our busy lives has come to be more prominent in our awareness as we become more locally aware. Focusing on nature is a way to step out of our daily worries and be lifted by its beauty or be delightfully surprised by an unusual…
‘Awe Walks’ Boost Emotional Well-Being: Broader Smiles in Participants’ Selfies Made Shift in Perspective Visible

In the study older adults who took weekly 15-minute “awe walks” for eight weeks reported increased positive emotions and less distress in their daily lives. This shift was reflected in “selfies” participants took on their weekly walks, in which an increasing focus on their surroundings rather than themselves was paralleled by measurably broader smiles by…