Issues Links

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…
Touring the White House … and Eleanor Roosevelt’s Dinnergate

A new interactive White House kitchen tour recalls to mind Eleanor Roosevelt’s own ‘Dinnergate’. An FDR anti-epicurean affair related in Gourmet magazine revealed a cook’s high-handed ways made the White House staff loathe her and it was soon apparent that apart from dessert, the meals she oversaw were going to be dreadful.
Loïs Mailou Jones: A Life in Vibrant Color

Her lush oil paintings of the French countryside and traditional fruit and flower still lifes highlight her skillful observation of nature. The influence of philosopher Alain Locke, who encouraged Jones to draw inspiration from African art, is evident in many of her later works.
Nature, a Blog, and Me

The plan was that once a week I would write about some aspect of nature that I saw around me. I called it Ferida’s Backyard. I figured that should make it easy. All I had to do was look out my kitchen window to find a subject. But, as happens with most things that seem…
Caroline and Mary Harrison’s Inaugural Gowns

Although the dress was kept in such a low light level, the exposure to natural and bright artificial lights over many years caused irreversible deterioration of the fabric and fading of the colors. The portion of the skirt made with weighted silk became so weakened over time that it breaks nearly any time it is…
Sandra Day O’Connor is Passionate About Civics Education

“You might be surprised that I’m promoting civics using online media. I’m not an expert. But even a retired cowgirl like me knows that we need to use these tools to educate if we are going to inspire and interest today’s young people.
The 2010 Election: What Does it Mean for Women?

Not only are there ten million more women than men registered to vote, but women turn out to vote at higher rates than men. This is true for every racial/ethnic group for which data are available. This difference has sometimes given the Democratic candidate a winning edge. Expect the Republicans to try to suppress the…
Pro-Publica’s Investigation, Dollars for Docs: Who’s On Pharma’s Top-Paid List?

In the medical world, there’s much debate about whether physicians should be paid to promote the products of drug firms at all. Critics of such talks say companies are using doctors as celebrity spokespeople, exploiting their prestige to deliver what is essentially a drug sales rep’s pitch.
Gift Shopping – Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store

We’ve decided upon practical and appealing gifts for the holidays, things that the recipients will use and not disappear into closets and drawers. Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store seems to match those requirements. For instance: Reusable cloth pouche…
Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture

Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture will consider such themes as the role of sexual difference in depicting modern Americans, how artists have explored the definition of sexuality and gender, how major themes in modern art — especially abstraction — were influenced by this form of marginalization and how art reflected society’s changing attitudes
Meet The Dolls: The Miniature World of Faith Bradford; Holiday Present Suggestion

In a new book, Museum curator William L. Bird Jr. brings The Dolls’ House to life and that of it’s owner, Faith Bradford, a woman of note. Explore the five-story, 23-room miniature home. As Bird describes in the book, it was “a floating object, stand-alone attraction, a house without a home.”