Elaine Soloway

Elaine Soloway’s Author Page

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…
Still Learning: Lessons From a Lifetime in the Classroom — September Song

Julia Sneden wrote: I discovered the rewards of watching my own offspring learn. I was not, I hasten to add, home schooling them. I was just being their mother. But parents are a child’s first teachers, and they’re probably the most important ones. By the time my youngest son was ready for school, I decided…
Regret is a Gambler’s Curse: “If you don’t feel any regret, you are getting close to the world of addictive or antisocial behavior”

“Right after making a choice and right before finding out about the outcome, the brain is replaying and revisiting nearly every feature of what happened during the previous decision,” said senior author Ming Hsu, an associate professor in the Haas School of Business and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at UC Berkeley. “Instead of ‘I just…
Mortality in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria: Funded by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Others

“From the survey data, we estimated a mortality rate of 14.3 deaths (95% confidence interval [CI], 9.8 to 18.9) per 1000 persons from September 20 through December 31, 2017. This rate yielded a total of 4645 excess deaths during this period (95% CI, 793 to 8498), equivalent to a 62% increase in the mortality rate…
Two Exhibits: Veiled Meanings, Fashioning Jewish Dress and Contemporary Muslim Fashions

“The Contemporary Jewish Museum is pleased to present the first West Coast showing of this magnificent exhibition of costumes and textiles made and worn by people of Jewish heritage all around the world,” says Lori Starr, Executive Director, The CJM. “Visitors will delight in the beauty and craftsmanship of these garments, but will also truly…
The Source for Women’s Issues in Congress: Hearings Ahead: Better Data and Better Outcome Reducing Maternal Mortality in the US

Senator Kamala Harris introduced a bill to support states in their work to end preventable morbidity and mortality in maternity care* by using evidence-based quality improvement to protect the health of mothers during pregnancy, childbirth, and in the postpartum period, and to reduce neonatal and infant mortality*, to eliminate racial disparities in maternal health outcomes.…
The Making of Masterpiece Theater’s The Miniaturist and Petronella Oortman’s Dolls’ House in Amsterdam’s Rijksmusum

Author Jesse Burton’s inspiration for The Miniaturist was a dollhouse that the author saw on display in Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum* when she was on vacation. Made in 1689 for the real Petronella Oortman, the dollhouse was a detailed, elaborate, and precise replica of the Dutch woman’s own home. Fascinated by the exquisite furnishings for a doll’s…
Shaping America at the American Precision Museum: How the Machinists and Tool Builders Influence American History

“Our exhibit, Shaping America, explores how the machinists and tool builders of this region’s ‘Precision Valley’ influenced the course of American history, helping drive rapid industrialization, the emergence of the United States as a world power, and the development of our consumer culture. The Tool Revolution tells the story of innovators in Windsor, Vermont, in…
Often Referred To, Rarely Consulted: The 25th Amendment to the US Constitution; But The Constitutionality of Presidential Succession Has Been Challenged, Too

This Amendment saw multiple use during the 1970s and resulted for the first time in our history in the accession to the Presidency and Vice–Presidency of two men who had not faced the voters in a national election. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned on October 10, 1973, and President Nixon nominated Gerald R. Ford of…
Ruby Violet Payne-Scott’s Work Was Recognized as the Mathematical Foundation of Future Research in Radio Astronomy but Then She Married

On 8 September 1944 at the district registrar’s office, Ashfield, Payne-Scott married William Holman Hall, a telephone mechanic. In 1950 CSIRO management officially heard of her marriage. Since public service rules at the time required women to resign upon marriage, she lost her permanent position and became a temporary employee — a loss of status…
Nomination of the Honorable Brett M. Kavanaugh to be an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; Nomination Hearing

Some background on Brett Kavanaugh’s 2006 hearing on C-Span: “Mr. Kavanaugh testified at a hearing on his nomination as a judge on U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. Among the issues he addressed were his qualifications and service as White House counsel, his rating by the American Bar Association, and various…