Money Issues Links

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…
New Report: Overdraft Practices On Checking Accounts Raise Serious Concerns for Consumers

“Consumers need to be able to anticipate and avoid unnecessary fees on their checking accounts. But we are concerned that some overdraft practices may increase consumer costs beyond reasonable expectations,” said Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray. “What is marketed as overdraft protection can, in some instances, create greater risk of consumer harm.”
Front-Line Heroes Subject to Budget Cuts: Wages for EMTs and Paramedics Vary Widely by State

A survey of Emergency Medical Services leaders in the 200 largest cities found 44 percent had cut services last year, according to the Journal of Emergency Medical Services. It found 28 percent of big-city EMS agencies had a hiring freeze or were not filling vacancies, some for the third consecutive year.
Sargent’s Watercolors: A Study in Sunlight

Val Castronovo writes: His debt to the Impressionists, his friend Monet in particular, is readily apparent in these sun-drenched, en plein air works that seek to capture particular moments in time. As the curators note, he was drawn to certain themes — “sun on stone, reclining figures tumbled together, patterns of light and shadow.” White…
Five Ways Congress is Trying to Curb Rape in the Military

Under the military’s criminal procedures, commanders have clemency powers, which means they can dismiss military court convictions “for any reason or no reason.” The policy came under fire when Air Force Lt. Gen. Craig Franklin overturned a jury’s ruling that Lt. Col. James Wilkerson, was guilty of aggravated sexual assault … Under [Secy of Defense…
Elaine Soloway’s Caregiving Series: Softie

I’ve done a lot of reading about Tommy’s condition and am relieved to learn he has not taken on another emotion that is sometimes linked to the illness: rage. If anything, he has become kinder (witness his charity), more sentimental (the tears), and softer. Because he can no longer speak, he doesn’t send irritating comments…
Bernanke at Princeton: Don’t Be Afraid To Let the Drama Play Out

Ben Bernanke speaks: “I am all for beauty, romance, and sexual attraction — where would Hollywood and Madison Avenue be without them? But while important, those are not the only things to look for in a partner. The two of you will have a long trip together, I hope, and you will need each other’s…
Medicare and Social Security: Changes Needed to Avoid Consequences Are More Urgent

If lawmakers take action sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare. Earlier action will also help elected officials minimize adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and people already dependent on program benefits.
Shopping for Father’s Day: Blåkläder Workwear, Sun Protecting Hats, Folding Walking Stick Seats, A Numeric Conversion Apron and Recipe Divider Magnet

We’re always asking, ‘what do you need’ for Father’s Day? My husband named a few items, some whose maker you may not have heard of. Blåkläder Workwear offers a line of very durable work clothes, many with extra pockets for special purposes such as jeans with flap pockets at the knees to add knee pads.…
Review: Kristin Nord Takes a Walkabout at Yale’s Edwardian Opulence Exhibit

Ah, the Edwardians – with their sumptuous clothes and candelight dinners, their bone china, their silks, their gleaming silver. Merchant and Ivory and the BBC have made fortunes selling fanciful pastiches of this era to the viewing pubic, all the while touching lightly on a less seemly back story.
Edwardian Opulence at Yale: ‘As If a Viennese Hussar Had Suddenly Burst Into an English Vicarage’

This is the first major international exhibition in more than a generation to survey visual and decorative arts in Britain during the reign of King Edward VII (1901–1910). The exhibition immerses visitors in the sumptuousness of British art and society immediately before World War I, while encouraging them to consider the multifaceted character of the…