Jo Freeman

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…
Finding the Right Excuse: Committing Words to Paper Because …

Joan L. Cannon writes: In spite of everything, there’s pressure to let something loose that I might know that someone else has still to learn, or something I’ve noticed that someone else hasn’t thought of, and that might tickle the imagination or stimulate the intellect or conjure a useful memory and make someone’s else’s day…
Private Pensions: Participants Need Better Information When Offered Lump Sums That Replace Their Lifetime Benefits

“Since 2012, a number of large pension plan sponsors have given selected participants a limited-time option of receiving their retirement benefits in the form of a lump sum. Although sponsors’ decisions to make certain lump sum “window” offers may be permissible by law, questions have been raised about participants’ understanding of the financial tradeoffs associated…
Two From PEM: Discovering the Furniture of Nathaniel Gould and Audacious, The Fine Art of Wood

“Until the discovery of Nathaniel Gould’s 18th century account books at the Massachusetts Historical Society in 2009, many of his pieces were mis-attributed, or listed as ‘unknown cabinetmaker, Salem.’ Now, over 20 pieces have been firmly attributed to Gould’s shop. Audacious features the Montalto Bohlen Collection with alluring surfaces and textures made from familiar and…
Beyond the Five Now Sanctioning Aid-In-Dying, More States Consider ‘Death With Dignity’ Laws

The advocacy group Compassion & Choices says that bills on aid-in-dying have been introduced this year in Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Wyoming and Utah. “I’m very worried about it because I meet people in my practice who conflate hospice…
Elaine Soloway’s Rookie Widow Series: Homeward Bound, A Swell Party and Body Type

This is what I miss, from my marriage, from my husband. The toe-to-toe enveloping, the hug. Tommy was low maintenance, helpful around the house, had interests that matched mine, and most importantly, thought I walked on water. I told my daughter, “I’m not ready to date, and I can’t imagine sharing my new life with…
“A Painter Built On the Substructure of An Engineer”: Portraits in Design, Beatrix Farrand as Mentor at the National Building Museum

“Beatrix Farrand was America’s finest landscape garden designer. Her most extensive project, Dumbarton Oaks, in Washington, DC, has been described as ranking with ‘the greatest gardens in the world.’ Her career and her work continue to be an inspiration today. She has long been a role model for many women in the landscape design field…
Congressional Bills Introduced: IRS & Trafficking, Ratifying CEDAW; Campus Sexual Violence; Tax Credits

A bill to strengthen connections to early childhood education programs; a bill to increase the number of months of vocational educational training that may be counted as work under the temporary assistance for needy families program; a bill to provide for the establishment of a commission to accelerate the end of breast cancer; a bill…
The Last Part of Our Journey Together

Jane Shortall writes: Into our life, onto our stage, they marched, the good, the not so good, and the downright peculiar. Despite the circumstances, the horrific illness, the very reason we were here, at times, both of us felt we were in some daft comedy, the characters created by Woody Allen. It had always been…
Gemeente Museum in The Hague: Romantic Fashions: Mr. Darcy Meets Eline Vere

Rustling silk, breathtaking embroidery, frills and flounces, vast crinolines… Sharply tailored suits for dandies and elegant ball gowns for ladies… This autumn’s 19th-century fashion exhibition at the Gemeente Museum in The Hague features costumes from the time of Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, Eline Vere and Downton Abbey.
Five Things To Know About The Supreme Court Case Challenging The Health Law

Today, the justices have heard oral arguments in King v. Burwell, a case challenging the validity of tax subsidies helping millions of Americans buy health insurance if they don’t get it through an employer or the government. If the court rules against the Obama administration, those subsidies could be cut off for everyone in the…