Sightings

  • 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…

  • Never Been Married? In Philadelphia, You’re Not Alone

    Experts say the growth in the number of never married individuals stems from a variety of factors, including the rising share of young adults across the nation — particularly in a number of cities, including Philadelphia — and the tendency of those young adults to marry later in life than their age group once did.…

  • Scout Report: Romantic Circles, Ice and Sky Science, Easter Uprising, Locating Forests and Learning Piano Online

    The US Forest Service has created this helpful tool for locating state and national forests, parks, and wildlife refuges across the country. On the homepage, visitors simply enter ZIP codes to find local sites of interest. For anyone interested in learning (or relearning) how to play the piano, this website provides a series of free…

  • The Earlier Wave of Immigration, Washington Park Tavern, One-Armed Wally and the Chocolate Bars

    Sonya Zalubowski writes: We now have the largest immigration since the waves that brought my own family here back in the early 1900s. Talk now here and all over Europe roils about what to do about these huge movements of people. I found reassurance in thinking about my own family and how they lived and…

  • Breaking News!!! SHOCKING, JAW DROPPING or ASTONISHING Notifications

    Rose Madeline Mula writes: Yesterday when I was Googling instructions on how to boil an egg (don’t laugh, it’s a lot more complicated than you think) the narrative was interrupted by a headline link that screamed, KATE INFURIATES THE QUEEN! Trouble at the palace? OMG! Kate was neglecting her royal duties to tout her revolutionary…

  • Jo Freeman Writes An open letter to Donald Trump about the Women’s March on Washington

    The sea of signs kept coming and coming and coming. As I watched the crowd and read the signs, I thought about many of the things you have said. One sign said “WE are what makes American Great.” Another proclaimed “Love not Hate will make America great.” These reminded me of your campaign slogan “Make…

  • Executive Order – – – Minimizing the Economic Burden of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Pending Repeal

    “To the maximum extent permitted by law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (Secretary) and the heads of all other executive departments and agencies (agencies) with authorities and responsibilities under the Act shall exercise all authority and discretion available to them to waive, defer, grant exemptions from, or delay the implementation of any provision…

  • Jo Freeman: Protesting An Inaugural

    Jo Freeman writes from Inauguration Day’s protests: Protesting the inauguration of a President has become a tradition. While those who shouted “not my President” and other things as Donald Trump ascended to the highest office in the land clearly did not like him, most of them would have demonstrated had it been Hillary Clinton who…

  • Protesting the Inaugural: The Day Before

    Jo Freeman writes: The CodePinkers weren’t anti-Trump so much as in favor of positions he opposes, and opposed to positions he favors. Several people wearing Trump scarves and red ‘Make America Great Again’ hats posed for photos with them. Knitted by women all over the country, CodePink has 5,000 to pass out. Inside each one…

  • How you can keep following the President Obama, First Lady Michelle, and others; White House Shareables

    “We laid out plans to preserve and pass on the digital legacy of the Obama administration and have been working to ensure this unprecedented digital transition meets three key goals. First, we are preserving the material we’ve created with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Second, we are working to ensure these materials continue…

  • Update: Senate Hearings on Nominees for Cabinet Posts Continue; Senator Al Franken Spars With Rick Perry

    EPA Administrator Confirmation Hearing, Part 1: Scott Pruitt testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee on his nomination to be administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency in the Trump administration. Education Secretary Confirmation Hearing: Betsy DeVos testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on her nomination by President-elect Trump to become…