Jane Shortall

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…
How to Find Free Shipping Online Retailers

I buy a lot of things online. I like the convenience of having large objects — a lawnmower, reams of paper — delivered to my door. I like to avoid the hassle of running around malls looking for the perfect pair of boots. What I do not like is paying for shipping and handling.
How Can You Resist; The Royal Wedding Website

Regardless of recovering economies and Middle East crises, ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official Royal Wedding website celebrating the marriage of Prince William and Miss Catherine Middleton was launched today by St. James’s Palace. The website will follow the progress of designating dresses, tiaras, flowers, attendants and media coverage
Culture Watch – What We Aren’t Told and That Salandar Woman

Two trilogies: Women write about what they wish they had known earlier. These discussions are about how the fact of being female makes the lives of women differ from the lives of men at a deeper level.Our Stieg Larsson reviewer was suspicious and too stubborn to believe that anything so popular could be so good;…
NIH, Moderate Exercise May Improve Memory in Older Adults

While both groups examined showed an improvement on spatial memory tests, there was a significant correlation between increased hippocampus size and improved memory performance only for those in the walking group.
America’s Byways

Southern Louisiana is one of only a few locations worldwide with the unique formations known as cheniers, or wooded sandy ridges; enter the Ring of Fire on Alaska’s Marine Highway where you can explore 81 of America’s 86 volcanoes. There are ‘what to wear’ and safety tips, too.
To Read and To Write

Joan L. Cannon writes: POETRY is a big word, in both denotation and connotation. Hours of classroom time and reams of thesis papers have been wasted in the attempt to analyze, categorize, classify, and define it. Rhyme, rhythm, diction, subject … since before written language, from nonsense through ritual and history, folk songs, epics, in…
While the Oscars Present; Viewing Inspirations

Film viewing is becoming increasingly popular for the over 50 crowd, we understand, both in theaters and at home parties. In this continuing series, Block Cinema presents three new documentaries about visual art as well as beloved classics and underappreciated gems of film
On the Eve of Women’s History Month: Women of Protest, of the Land and Sea

It’s difficult in this age to imagine the courage needed to pursue a path to women voting. But the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian Institute are highlighting a number of those paths: Suffragists, Farmerettes and Naval Officers
Pew Reports: The Tea Party, Religion and Social Issues

A poll by the Pew Research Center and Forum on Religion & Public Life found that nearly half of Tea Party supporters (46%) had not heard of or did not have an opinion about “the conservative Christian movement sometimes known as the religious right”
Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day; Are 70% of Graduate Engineers Foreign?

Another way of looking at what a civil engineer does is to see it as a role of reducing complex ideas initiated by policymakers, chief executives, and other such people into concrete reality. And WEPAN works to transform culture in engineering education to attract, retain, and graduate women