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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Judging Romantic Interest
in order to evaluate potential mates longer without signaling their true intentions, women behave more covertly and ambiguously during initial interactions with the opposite sex.
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Driving to Distraction … and Worse
According to a study released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute (VTTI), 80% of crashes and 65% of near-crashes involve some form of driver distraction. The distraction occurred within three seconds before the vehicle crash!
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Yinka Shonibare in Paris, Brooklyn and Newark
“The animated body language of the guests suggests a moment in which proper Victorian etiquette has been cast away as an indulgent celebration of prosperity tips toward misbehavior and even debauchery”
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“It is as if wrinkles which were about to form have stopped”
I staggered out onto our balcony overlooking the hills here in southern France, gasping, trying desperately to take in some of the warm night air. I was more than a little frightened; I was terrified
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Listening to Justice
The US Senate’s Judiciary Committee hearings on the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court are taking place. The Committee has made available webcasts of those hearings. However, if that viewer is unavailable, turn to C-S…
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Medals of Dishonour; A Darker Side That Condemns
Medals of Dishonour is a British Museum exhibit that displays the reverse of the tradition of celebration and tribute. “Medals are best known for celebrating important figures or heroic deeds, but this unique exhibition features medals that condemn their…
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Hidden Jewellery Treasures at the V&A
‘Your peacock is finished” wrote C.R. Ashbee, the architect and designer, to his wife Janet in 1900. He is at the present moment pinned on my coat and is preening his tail.’
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Dressing Desserts in Belgian Lace
There’s something about dressing desserts in vintage wedding-cake figures, pink heart-shaped cake-stand wrappers and candy corn towels that makes me want to quickly get my baking utensils and appliances out of mothballs.
