Sharon Kapnick

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…
Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Hidden Treasure & Hummingbird on the Feeder

It was the kind of day that helps a person breathe deeper, to set aside whatever might be on your mind, if only for a brief time. But that respite is truly a treasure in our frenetic world. And all it took was a short ride and the willingness to look deeper into what seemed…
The US Response to the Ebola Epidemic & Purchasing Travel Insurance for Evacuation

“US Customs and Border Protection personnel review all travelers entering the United States for general overt signs of illnesses (visual observation, questioning, and notification of CDC as appropriate) at all US ports of entry, including all federal inspection services areas at US airports that service international flights.” State Department Advisory: “The cost for a medical…
CultureWatch Reviews: Gillibrand’s Off the Sidelines and Warren’s A Fighting Change Merge Into One Compelling Narrative

Jill Norgren writes: One pleasure of A Fighting Chance and Off the Sidelines lies in the telling of each woman’s path to the United States Senate. Warren announced her plan to apply to law school only to be met with the critical response of her mother: “Stay at home, have more children, and do not…
Tracing the Lineage of the Manhattan Project

All things Manhattan Project, including histories, websites, a listing of the Manhattan Project Signature Facilities, and background on the proposed Manhattan Project National Historical Park. In July 2013, the Department launched The Manhattan Project: Resources, a website designed to disseminate information and documentation on the Manhattan Project to a broad audience including scholars, students, and…
Terror and Wonder: Exploring Gothic culture’s roots in British literature

Highlights of the exhibition include a vampire slaying kit and 18th and 19th century Gothic fashions, as well as one of Alexander McQueen’s catwalk creations. Also on display is a model of the Wallace and Gromit Were-Rabbit, showing how Gothic literature has inspired varied and colourful aspects of popular culture in exciting ways over centuries.
Medicare Open Enrollment Is Fast Approaching — Here’s What Kaiser Health News Knows So Far

The percentage of PDP plans with no deductible will decline to 42 percent from 47 percent, and, once again, about three quarters of plans won’t offer any coverage in the “donut hole”, the coverage gap in which beneficiaries are responsible for shouldering a greater share of drug costs. “It’s one example of how plans are…
Inside the New York Fed: Secret Recordings and a Culture Clash

Carmen Segarra became a polarizing personality inside the New York Fed — and a problem for her bosses — in part because she was too outspoken and direct about the issues she saw at both Goldman and the Fed. In a tense, 40-minute meeting recorded the week before she was fired, Segarra’s boss repeatedly tries…
National Institutes of Health & The Genetics of the 2014 Ebola Outbreak, WHO and Clinical Trials

From the World Health Organization: Nearly 1000 new cases were reported in the week ending 14 September alone — certainly an underestimate of the true burden of disease. If the present rate of increase continues — if nothing is done to intervene — somewhere between 2500 and 5000 cases will occur, each week, just four…
How Active Shooter Incidents Play Out: The FBI Releases a New Study

The FBI is releasing a study of 160 active shooter incidents that occurred between 2000 and 2013 throughout the US. The largest percentage of incidents — 45.6 percent — took place in a commercial environment (73 incidents), followed by 24.3 percent that took place in an educational environment (39 incidents. The remaining incidents occurred in…
The Eye of the Needle: “Both needful and pleasant, and commendable in any woman”

The seventeenth century saw periodic and often raucous pamphlet wars over the status, roles and education of women. Many girls attended school but the curriculum they followed prioritized the attainment of socially acceptable skills and moral worth over intellectual achievement.