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…
Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: The Hibiscus Family Tree and Puzzling Times

Ferida Wolff writes: Each year the hibiscus plants in our yard seem to be finished. Other flowers come and go and still, no hint of the hibiscus coming back. And then… The leaves start to pop up from the seemingly non-fertile earth. And once they do, the plants are on their way to growing the…
Jo Freeman Writes: Anti-Lynching Bill Still Can’t Pass Congress

Jo Freeman writes: The first anti-lynching bill to get out of committee was introduced in April 1918. Known as the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, it passed the House in 1922 but was filibustered by Southern Senators. For the next forty years nearly 200 anti-lynching bills were introduced into almost every Congress and occasionally passed by the…
Supreme Court Surprises The Public in LGBTQ Ruling: What is Sex Discrimination?

Three leading precedents confirm what the statute’s plain terms suggest. In Phillips v. Martin Marietta Corp., 400 U. S. 542, a company was held to have violated Title VII by refusing to hire women with young children, despite the fact that the discrimination also depended on being a parent of young children and the fact…
While Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels in the Atmosphere Cause Great Concern Worldwide, Most of Us Pay Little Attention to Risks Posed by CO2 Changes Indoors

How do the new sensors work? They’re easy to operate — in fact there is nothing to operate. They indicate changing CO2 levels by changing color, like pH strips we are familiar with. If the color indicates a high level of CO2 the person would know that they need to open a window, go outside…
Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi And Donald Trump Last Year

The 38th Annual National Peace Officers’ Memorial Service was held on the West Front of the US Capitol to honor 158 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty in 2018. President Donald Trump gave the keynote address. In attendance were House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, US Attorney General William…
Stateline: Many Faithful Say It’s Time to Gather. Some Governors Disagree

Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom has represented 14 churches in lawsuits and assisted more than 2,500 churches and ministries. First Liberty Institute, based outside of Dallas, Texas, received more than a hundred requests for legal help in the first half of May, significantly more than the few dozen they would have expected so far this…
GAO Report: Veterans Affairs’ Acquisition Management: Supply Chain Management and COVID-19 Response

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) has taken some steps in recent years to modernize its processes to acquire hundreds of millions of dollars-worth of medical supplies annually. However, implementation delays for key initiatives, including a new, enterprise-wide inventory management system, limit VA’s ability to have an agile, responsive supply chain. Prior to the Coronavirus…
June 8, 2020: Daily Updates On the Emerging Novel Coronavirus From the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

“In terms of materials, the WHO now recommends that cloth masks be made out of at least 3 layers of different materials, ideally an inner layer of absorbent material (e.g., cotton), a middle layer of non-woven material (e.g., polypropylene), and an outer layer of non-absorbent material (e.g., polyester). WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized…
Jo Freeman: A Tale of Three Protests – in Brooklyn

Jo Freeman writes of the scene: “There were more white protestors than there were white cops. The white shirt NYPDs were mostly white and the blue shirts were mostly non-white (but diverse non-white). The former are the older generation, who have risen to positions of authority.” “There were a lot of women on both sides.…
Small Asteroid Flew by Earth …at a Distance of Approximately 3.2 million Miles

NASA Editor’s note, June 5, 2020: Asteroid 2002 NN4 will safely pass by the Earth on June 6 at a distance of approximately 3.2 million miles (5.1 milliion kilometers), about 13 times further away from the Earth than the Moon is. There is no danger the asteroid will hit the Earth. As they orbit the…