Ferida Wolff

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…
Janet Yellen: Financial Stability a Decade After the Onset of the Crisis

Because of the reforms that strengthened our financial system, and with support from monetary and other policies, credit is available on good terms, and lending has advanced broadly in line with economic activity in recent years, contributing to today’s strong economy. At the same time, reforms have boosted the resilience of the financial system. Banks…
The Cantor Arts Center, Sally Fairchild and Sargent’s Women, A New Book About the Artist

A new book about John Singer Sargent and the women he painted: “Like characters in an Edith Wharton novel, these women challenged society’s restrictions, risking public shame and ostracism. All had forbidden love affairs; Lucia bravely supported her family despite illness, while Elsie explored Spiritualism, defying her overbearing father. Finally, the headstrong Isabella outmaneuvered the…
A UC Berkeley PhD Candidate in Computer Science Creates a Step toward Fighting Human Trafficking: Sex Ads are Linked to Bitcoin Data

Websites for online classified ads selling sex are widely used by human traffickers, but law enforcement efforts to trace and disband human trafficking rings are hindered by the pseudonymous nature of adult ads, the tendency of ring leaders to employ multiple phone numbers and email addresses to avoid detection and the difficulty in determining which…
The Creativity Sweeps: Everything Those Teachers Did, They Did With Flair; They Knew No Bounds

Julia Sneden wrote: A couple of the teachers dragooned some of the mothers to bring their sewing machines to school, to sew up “dinosaur pillows” which were patterned from the children’s huge drawings on unfolded newspaper. For the most part, the teachers scorned published educational programs and workbooks that made boring the process of learning,…
EPA Chief Planning To Scrap an Obama-era Rule to Curb Discharges of Lead, Arsenic and Mercury from Power Plants Into Sources of Drinking Water

In the face of opposition by the power industry, Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is planning to scrap an Obama-era rule to curb discharges of lead, arsenic and mercury from power plants into sources of drinking water. The Environme…
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center: Blood Test Spots Tumor-derived DNA In People With Early-stage Cancer

In a bid to detect cancers early and in a noninvasive way, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report they have developed a test that spots tiny amounts of cancer-specific DNA in blood and have used it to accurately identify more than half of 138 people with relatively early-stage colorectal, breast, lung and…
The Center for Investigative Reporting: Trump Administration Suddenly Pulls Plug on Teen Pregnancy Programs

Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price and other top Trump appointees are outspoken opponents of federal funding for birth control, advocating abstinence rather than contraceptives to control teen pregnancies. Among the programs that lost their funding: the Choctaw Nation’s efforts to combat teen pregnancy in Oklahoma, Johns Hopkins’ work with adolescent Apaches in Arizona,…
Public Lands From Which to View the Eclipse: Yaquina Head,Great Smoky Mountains, Grand Teton,Homestead, Clarks River Wildlife Refuge

Get your maps. Some public lands are remote areas along unmaintained roads and are often inter-mingled with private land, so know where you’re going. Contact your local Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, US Fish and Wildlife Service, or Forest Service offices for camping and jurisdiction maps. Before you head out, make sure you…
Scout Report: Amboyna Conspiracy Trial, Eclipse, Using Social Media, Pangaea, Portrait Gallery Activities, Haiku, Community-College Employer Connection, Jewish Warsaw and More

Internet Scout’s Research Group’s weekly marvelous discoveries: In February 1623, a group of Dutch officials accused a team of English merchants and Japanese mercenaries of conspiring to capture a castle on Amboyna, a small island in what is now part of Indonesia. The island was central to the booming spice trade, which had fueled an…
Kaiser Family Foundation Health Tracking Poll – August 2017: The Politics of ACA Repeal and Replace Efforts

About 10.3 million people have health insurance that they purchased through the ACA exchanges or marketplaces, where people who don’t get insurance through their employer can shop for insurance and compare prices and benefits. Seven in ten (69 percent) say it is more important for President Trump and Republicans’ next steps on health care to…