Money Issues Links

  • Joan Fontaine

    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

    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: 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…

  • high heels

    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…

  • Vintage jewelry, Wikimedia Commons

    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…

  • ways to grasp a pencil

    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…

  • Captain Charles E. Yeager

    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…

  • stack of books

    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…

  • The Asset Cost of Poor Health

    The results of a new study indicate that the asset cost of poor health may be substantially greater than most estimates of out-of-pocket medical spending. Poor health may result in reduced earnings near the end of an individual’s work life, or may trigger expenses associated with home renovation, relocation, or the hiring of various service…

  • A Daunting Topic by Elizabeth Duke: How to Improve Consumers’ Financial Education

    “If our schools can’t spare the resources to provide financial literacy as a subject unto itself, I believe that the concepts required for sound financial decisionmaking should … be incorporated into existing subject areas. Math problems can involve consumer financial calculations. Social studies classes can help students understand the real world financial issues and decisions…

  • And Now A Word From Our Sponsor

    Do you want to ride around in a vehicle proclaiming the soothing benefits of Preparation H? Before you say no, find out how much they’ll shell out to you. You may change your mind. What’s next? Ads covering your home … painted on your kids’ backpacks … broadcast in your Voicemail greeting?

  • Financially Fragile Households: Can You Come Up With Funds Needed to Cope?

    These findings show that while economic theories have emphasized the importance of precautionary assets to shield against shocks and sociologists have emphasized the importance of family or friends, in fact, both play a role in how individuals plan to cope with a financial shock. The highest levels of coping capacity? Canada

  • Get a Kit, Make a Plan, Be Prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse

    There are all kinds of emergencies out there that we can prepare for. Take a zombie apocalypse for example. That’s right, I said z-o-m-b-i-e a-p-o-c-a-l-y-p-s-e. You may laugh now, but when it happens you’ll be happy you read this, and hey, maybe you’ll even learn a thing or two about how to prepare for a…

  • What’s On the Menu?; Help The New York Public Library Transcribe Historic Collection of Restaurant Menus

    With 40,000 menus dating from the 1840s to today, The NYPL’s restaurant menu collection is one of the largest in the world, used by historians, chefs, novelists and everyday food enthusiasts. All it takes is an Internet connection to take part!

  • Book Review of The Flavor Bible, Listed as One of the Ten Best Cookbooks in the World

    The Flavor Bible will encourage you to think creatively and openly and inspire you to get into the kitchen. And it’s fun to browse through. Both the home and the professional chef will enjoy exploring its pages and playing with its many suggestions.

  • The Ultimate Surrealist Object: Two People Inescapably Drawn to Each Other

    At the center of modern art history is a love story between two artists who could not live with or without each other. The Peabody Essex Museum presents Man Ray | Lee Miller, Partners in Surrealism

  • Is College Worth It? Pew’s Social and Demographic Trends Examines That Financially Fraught Question

    A majority of Americans (57%) say the higher education system in the US fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend. A larger majority (75%) says college is too expensive to afford. An overwhelming majority of college graduates (86%) say that college has been a good investment for…

  • On Argentina, Malbec and a Good-Value Argentinian Producer

    On Argentina, Malbec and a Good-Value Argentinian Producer Argentina’s wines have been doing phenomenally well in the US. According to Nielsen market researchers, at a time when sales of wines from most countries have been shrinking, wines from Arge…