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…
Six Patient Behaviors That Drive Doctors Nuts

“Another patient had stopped a diuretic she used with a blood-pressure medication, just because she didn’t like the side effect of more urination during the day,” he said. “When she came in, her blood pressure was over 200.”
Hard Copy

“At the South any voter who owns five slaves equals politically three northern gentlemen like myself, who feel no whit inferior to the best of their chivalry though he own a thousand slaves”
Women of Note – WASPs, a missing chapter in the history of the Air Force

‘You and more than 900 of your sisters have shown you can fly wingtip to wingtip with your brothers. I salute you . . . We of the Army Air Force are proud of you. We will never forget our debt to you.’
Lunch With a Legend

Editor’s Note: Recently, The New York Times ran an article on Ray Bradbury and his lifelong enthusiasm for “halls of books.” We thought that peg enough of a reason to reprise an article by a departed and enthusiastic supporter of seniorwomen.com, Jean Po…
The Disturbing Afterlife of Discarded Digital Devices

“at an open-air market in Ghana, where hard drives from the United States and elsewhere are being resold, sometimes to criminal gangs who mine them for credit card data, Social Security numbers and other identifying information”
Browsing a Collection of Decorative Objects & Tattooing

A locket’s miniature bears the inscription, Nelson For Ever Huzza; the back of an ivory brooch bears the name and date ‘Emma Hamilton 1803’; and King George V in 1882 is given a dragon tattoo in Japan
How To … ?

Joan L. Cannon writes: Have you noticed the upswing in the numbers of books on how to live well, richly, generously, spiritually, fulfilled … and on and on? I wouldn’t dare to presume to know what would be useful for strangers. I’d make a terrible miss…
Does It Pay to Be Smart, Attractive, or Confident (or All Three)? A study explores “Relationships Among General Mental Ability, Physical Attractiveness, Core Self-Evaluations, and Income”

Yet, although the inside clearly counts, a plethora of empirical research has demonstrated that when it comes to income, attractiveness makes a difference too.
Liz Lerman’s Dance Exchange

“Shakespeare revealed intense, intimate, and moving relationships through his sonnets. This collection of contemporary dances transforms his words into explosive movement and vibrant video images.”
The Art of Babbling

Brice Marden informs about his painting, Cold Mountain, the NYPL highlights its Art Deco Paul Poiret fashion images and Paul Law lectures on The Abundant Childhood: Nature, Creativity & Health