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…
Two Book Arts Exhibits: The Art of the Book in California and Illustrated Title Pages: 1500 – 1900

“During the last 50 years, the conception and production of the book has evolved into an art form that exceeds all former standards for the book as object” By the end of the 19th century, artists such as Aubrey Vincent Beardsley, Odilon Redon, and Morris had created personal and innovative title pages.
Put That Laundry Basket Down; There’s a Robot That Folds

Who wouldn’t want a robot that could make your bed or do the laundry? A team of Berkeley researchers has brought us one step closer by enabling an autonomous robot to reliably fold piles of previously unseen towels.
Hawked

I used to love watching hawks circle, riding the thermals high above the California hillside where I lived when I was a kid. I just tried to imagine how it would feel to be a hawk…rather, it seemed to me, akin to the feeling of diving into the lake, and gliding a long way before…
A Summer TV Schedule: Hearings on Violence Towards Women, Veterans Mental Care and Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers

It’s the summer and television programs are on a new episode vacation. Why not take in a streaming webcast or televised hearing from a Senate or House Committee? Perhaps they’re assuming their constituents are not listening or looking in? Prove them wrong.
Theodore Roszack (1933 – 2011): Cult of Information

What it means to think. Is it just to manipulate Ideas or to create them? And how does this relate to the value of the computer? “We need good old-fashioned literacy; not just computer literacy … what data matters and what data does not matter.”
Libyan Conflict Erupts on Pennsylvania Avenue

About eighty percent of the four dozen Libyans were women and young children. I asked one why there were so few men and she initially said that this is what the protests looked like in Libya itself. When I pressed her, she said the men were afraid of retaliation against their families.
Is It Speed-Dating Or Dîner En Blanc

After 20 years of events in Paris and elsewhere, Dîner En Blanc is coming to New York City. One observer (see YouTube clip)muses as to whether it’s a speed-dating event. Is it still possible to be on the invite list?
Book Review: Oldman’s Brave New World of Wine: Pleasure, Value and Adventure Beyond Wine’s Usual Suspects

I look for value wherever I go. I buy clothes when they’re on sale. When I donate to public radio or charity, I try to do it when there’s a matching offer. So when I notice the word “value” in a book title about wine, I pay attention.
A Frida Kahlo Painting Comes Home

Kahlo’s affair in New York City with her friend, the Hungarian-born photographer Nickolas Muray which ended in 1939, and her divorce from the Diego Rivera, left her heartbroken and lonely, but she produced some of her most powerful and compelling paintings and self-portraits during this time
Pew: In Two Years of Economic Recovery, Women Lost Jobs, Men Found Them

In five sectors, notably in retail trade, men have gained jobs while women have lost them. In five other sectors, including education and health services and professional and business services, men gained jobs at a faster rate than women. And in an additional five sectors, such as construction and local governments, men lost jobs at…