Jill Norgren

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…
FactCheck Examines ‘The Life of Julia,’ Corrected

We find some bogus assumptions in the Obama campaign’s fable about a fictional woman. The infographic depicts a fictional woman whose life from age 3 to 67 is better under the president’s policies than under those of Republican Mitt Romney. But in reality, the contrasts are not so stark or simple as the Obama team…
A Small Hurrah! Most of April’s Modest Job Gains Go to Women

The largest job gains for women in April came in professional and business services, which include temporary help services, private education and health, and leisure and hospitality. Women also gained jobs in the manufacturing sector.
Making Your Phone Work: Just-in-time Information through Mobile Conections

We’ve observed an uptick in cell phone use for research purposes recently, including confirmation of the owner’s accuracy in a conversation with friends. “Let me check that (on my phone)”. They’re also looking up times that events will start, nearby restaurants, objects on view at a musem, shopping nearby and so on.
Willem van Aelst, A Member of the Golden Age of Dutch Painting

Over two dozen of his detailed, vibrant paintings are on view, filled with sumptuous fabrics, elegant stone tables, ripe fruit, artfully arranged hunting trophies and brilliant platters, cups, watches, armor and more
TSA Reveals Passenger Complaints … Four Years Later

From intrusive pat-downs to body scans to perceived profiling, the Transportation Security Administration always seems to be the target of complaints. It took the TSA almost four years to tell Pro Publica what people complained about — in 2008.
Stagebridge: A Performing Arts Camp for 50 and Over

Stagebridge uses the performing arts to change the way people view or experience aging. For the last 30 years, our innovative workshops and critically acclaimed performances have had a dramatic impact on a wide range of communities.
“Torches of Freedom”: How Big Tobacco Targets Women and Adolescent Girls

Cigarette advertising has suggested that smoking will make women thinner, more self-confident and independent, and more fashionable, sophisticated, and cool. These tricks of the tobacco trade have remained surprisingly consistent despite changing beliefs about smoking and women’s rights.
Joan Cannon: Suspense, Motives, Reactions, and Emotions: How Do Authors Do It?

There are fiction writers who are able to tease out tangled skeins of suspense into balls that can be unrolled logically and delightfully from the first loose end to the heart at the center, and can smooth out the last kink.
Elaine’s Caregiving Series: Paint by Number

Elaine Soloway writes: “I wasn’t jealous when Tommy beamed as he led Julie on a tour of our house. He was showing off his paintings and smiled at her, like a teen smitten with a cheerleader. But when my husband revealed something to this art therapist he had not shared with me, I felt envious.”
Private Health Insurance: Estimates of Individuals with Pre-Existing Conditions Range from 36 Million to 122 Million

Hypertension was the most commonly reported medical condition among adults that could result in a health insurer denying coverage, requiring higher-than-average premiums, or restricting coverage. Mental health disorders and diabetes were the second and third.