Sightings
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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No Excuses: Hiding Toxic Ingredients In Cleaning Products
Formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen, is sometimes used as a preservative or may be released when terpenes, found in citrus and pine oil cleaners and in some essential oils used as scents, react with ozone in the air. Chloroform, a suspected human carcinogen, sometimes escapes in fumes released by products containing chlorine bleach.
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Winslow Homer and His Maine Studio: “Look at nature, work independently, and solve your own problems”
At his Prouts Necks studio on the Maine coast, inspired by the rugged beauty and dramatic weather of Maine, Winslow Homer produced works that revolutionized marine painting in American art and created an iconic and enduring image of the New England coast.
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The Endeavour Day: FDR’s Evolving Approach to Fiscal Policy in Times of Crisis
“We have come to a clear realization of the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security and independence. To many who have pleaded with me for an immediate balancing of the budget, by a sharp curtailment or even elimination of government functions, I have asked the question: ‘What present expenditures would you…
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Bookfest On Book TV and the Mall: A Weekend of Literature and Authors
The 12th Library of Congress National Book Festival is part of a larger Library of Congress “Celebration of the Book” in 2012 and 2013. If you can’t attend remember that C-Span’s BookTV is holding approximately fifteen and a half hours of coverage on both Saturday and Sunday, September 22 and 23. How about a BookFest…
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Asking the Question: Have You Ever Used a Government Social Program?
John Wihbey writes: Programs included the Home Mortgage Interest Deduction; the HOPE and Lifetime Learning Tax Credits; Child and Dependent Care Tax Credits; 529 (Qualified Tuition Program) or Coverdell Education Savings Account (education IRAs); the Earned Income Tax Credit; and “usage of student loans and employer subsidized health and retirement benefits.”
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Are You Part of the 47% Who Pay No Federal Income Tax? If You’re the Average Retired Senior – Most Probably, Yes
The non-partisan Tax Policy Center:”Provisions that benefit senior citizens and low-income working families with children particularly affect households with income under $50,000 but other factors make higher-income households nontaxable.”
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The Ever-Shifting Sea Ice: Arctic Drilling Postponed Until 2013
“Shell’s inability to get its own equipment in order, despite a massive investment of time and money, should give pause to any company with similar plans, and the same challenges will remain next year. Until we develop adequate safeguards and sufficient response infrastructure to manage and support drilling operations, the Arctic should remain off limits…
