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…
CultureWatch Reviews: City of Fortune

Anyone who is interested in the history of the Mediterranean will find this book, with its detailed recounting of the political, economic, and religious power struggles during a period of about five hundred years (c. 1000 AD to the 1500’s), quite fascinating. So will anyone who has ever fallen in love with Venice, and has…
Public Divided Over Birth Control Insurance Mandate

Six-in-ten Americans have heard about the proposed rule that would require employers, including most religiously affiliated institutions, to cover birth control. Opinion is divided over whether these institutions should be given an exemption.
Rep. Maloney’s opening statement at Oversight Hearing on ‘Separation of Church and State’: Where are the women?

Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, senior member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, delivered the following opening remarks at today’s hearing titled *’Separation of Church and State’ on the Obama Administration’s recent contraception decision, where not a single woman was allowed at the witness table by the Committee’s majority.
Harvard’s Food Law Society, the Sugar Epidemic and Raw Milk Debated

“A growing segment of the population is clamoring for increased access to raw milk, citing its nutritional benefits. Opponents are skeptical of such nutritional claims and believe the safety risks of unpasteurized milk are simply too high”
ProgressVA Exposes the Influence of ALEC; House Allows A Bill’s Preliminary Approval for A Pre-abortion Ultrasound Bill

“A secretive, corporate front group is writing Virginia’s laws,” said Anna Scholl, Executive Director of ProgressVA; The Virginia House of Delegates gave preliminary approval to a measure requiring a woman to receive an ultrasound before having an abortion.
Signing Up As A Spin Detector For False or Misleading Campaign Materials

FactCheck.org is asking you to consider becoming a “Spin Detector. ”We want you to send us campaign materials — videos, robocalls, campaign fliers — that you suspect may contain false or misleading information. For instance, we’re looking for videos of candidates making dubious claims at campaign appearances in your area.”
Occupy! At CPAC

Occupy! was a pervasive presence at the 39th CPAC. Al Cardenas, chairman of the American Conservative Union, gave the movement five paragraphs. Seven minutes into Sarah Palin’s closing speech on Saturday she was interrupted by a dozen Occupiers yelling “mic check”
Ron Paul Retreats from CPAC

Without his hordes of dedicated supporters, only 12 percent of those voting in the 2012 straw poll said Ron Paul was their “first choice to be the Republican Presidential nominee.” Although this was the same proportion that favored him in ’08, when he first appeared on the list, he came in last among the current…
Two At An Intersection

Three weeks after I’d begun waving, an October morning arrived steeped in fog. The boy’s hands were in his pockets and his shoulders were rounded more than usual against the dampness. When I waved, the boy dropped his focus to the sidewalk, pulled a hand from his pocket and waved back.
The Scout Report: Howard Hughes Medical Institute; Interactive Physlets; Science Oxford Live and the Eisenhower Memorial

Links to explore: Talks at Howard Hughes include “Viral Outbreak: The Science of Emerging Disease” and “The Meaning of Sex: Genes and Gender.A news feature explores how the planning for a memorial to Eisenhower in Washington raises concerns