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…
Arthur Szyk: Miniature Paintings and Modern Iluminations

He broke from contemporary Modernist ideals by avoiding abstraction in favor of figurative work. Szyk preferred to work in elaborate detail, recalling the intricate illumination present in medieval manuscripts, Near-Eastern miniature paintings and traditional Polish folk arts
The Question of Downsizing and The Three Deer

What if your ectoplasm ends up hovering over a squabble about whether to sell or store your maternal grandmother’s wedding present? What if no one has any interest in my prized first edition of Wallace Stegner’s collected short stories complete with a long inscription? So what, if no one wants that little nude? I forgive…
In Oregon, a New Health Care Debate Awaits

“I’m a big supporter of the bill because, at the end of the day, people do have to have a way to pay for health care. You do have to have financial access. But there’s nothing in the bill that’s going to control costs”
Ben Speaks: The Economic Outlook and Monetary and Fiscal Policy

The pace of economic recovery seems likely to be moderately stronger in 2011 than it was in 2010 … considerable time likely will be required before the unemployment rate has returned to a more normal level … average hourly earnings have risen only 1.6 percent … I hope that the Congress will seek reforms to…
Masterpiece Theater, Downton Abbey and the Return of Upstairs Downstairs

Who will be the new heir to the earldom? (Girls can’t inherit!) And what will happen to this distinguished estate, now in jeopardy? An attractive stranger captivates Mary before setting into motion a chain of events that put the fate of Downton Abbey on even less stable ground
Changing the Face of Medicine

Over the last 150 years, thousands of women have pursued a medical degree, have practiced medicine, conducted research, and lived full and rich lives. Their stories and their careers inspire each succeeding generation of women as they open doors, make new discoveries, and change the face of medicine.
Watch What Happens: The Effort to Repeal the Affordable Health Care Act

A stream of House Representatives have been heard in front of the House’s Committee on Rules concerning the Health Care Reform Act. The phrase ‘job killing’ is used repeatedly to characterize the act passed by the last Congress. It’s fascinating television which can be viewed as an archived program, also, as well as ‘live’
Shelley’s Ghost

This exhibition tells the story of a remarkable literary family: William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft, their daughter Mary, and Mary’s husband Percy Bysshe Shelley. In the course of their lives each of these writers accumulated an archive of letters, notebooks and literary papers. After their death, surviving family members pored over their manuscripts, publishing some…
Why Do Eyes Change Color?

Many people want to change something about themselves, such as improving their looks, their mind, their future. The question, “Can I change my eye color?”, was posed to me recently. As an optometrist I was surprised and, at the same time, yet not. Eye color does change sometimes in our lives, so why not try…
The Progress We’ve Made — and Haven’t Yet Made — on Child-Sex-Abuse Statutes of Limitations: 2010 Year in Review

Study after study has proven that victims typically need decades to get to the psychological place where they can come forward to tell their stories in court, and that therefore, short statutes of limitations mean there will be no justice at all.