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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Justice Department Releases Report on its Critical Incident Review of the Response to the Mass Shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas
“The team collected and reviewed more than 14,000 pieces of data and documentation, including policies, training logs, body camera and CCTV video footage, audio recordings, photographs, personnel records, manuals and standard operating procedures, interview transcripts, investigative files and data, and other documents. The report is intended to provide the most comprehensive assessment available of the…
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Women’s Congressional Policy Institute Weekly Legislative Update: Reproductive Health, Recruiting Families Using Data Act, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act
This week: A bill to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human Services from restricting funding for pregnancy centers; Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 6918, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act; the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 6914, the Pregnant Students’ Rights…
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Hope: A Research-based Explainer by Naseem S. Miller, The Journalist’s Resource
“The later stages of life are often defined by loss: the loss of health, loved ones, social support networks, independence, and (eventually) loss of life itself,” the authors write. “Our results suggest that standard public health promotion activities, which often focus solely on physical health, might be expanded to include a wider range of factors…
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2024 Tax Filing Season Set for January 29; IRS Continues to Make Improvements to Help Taxpayers
Here you’ll find items of current interest — new programs, recent guidance or timely reminders.Tax Updates and News From the IRS: Taxpayers face a number of issues due to critical tax law changes that took place in 2022 and ongoing challenges related to the pandemic. The IRS announced a major policy change that will end…
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A Proclamation on National Stalking Awareness Month, 2024 From Joseph R. Biden Jr.
From President Biden: “One of my proudest achievements in life was writing and championing the landmark Violence Against Women Act some 30 years ago in the United States Senate. It began to change our culture, bringing these crimes out of the shadows and getting survivors the services and support they needed. Over the years, I…
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Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System Question: Design and the Gender Gap in Financial Literacy
“Results from the 2021 SHED show substantial gender differences in the responses to the financial literacy questions, consistent with prior studies. We first present results for the half of respondents who received an explicit “don’t know” answer choice. A smaller share of women answered each financial literacy question correctly. While women and men were similarly…
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Source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; CDC Continues to Track the Growth of JN.1 December 22, 2023
“JN.1 continues to increase in proportion. CDC has been tracking JN.1 for months, since it first split from its parent, BA.2.86. JN.1 is similar to BA.2.86 but has an additional mutation (L455S) in the spike protein. JN.1 continues to cause an increasing share of infections and is now the most widely circulating variant in the…
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Ferida Wolff’s Backyard: Shifting Seasons: We Need to Remember That We Are Strong Underneath, That Things Change and That the World is Flexible.
Ferida’s Backyard: “As our communities become more urbanized, the natural features around us tend to get pushed into the background and often go unnoticed. In “Ferida’s Backyard,” I look at the details of nature locally, from a neighborhood perspective, frequently from a backyard vantage point. It excites me to share what I see. An awareness…
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IRS Reminds Those Aged 73 and Older to Make Required Withdrawals From IRAs and Retirement Plans by Dec. 31
Required minimum distributions, or RMDs, are amounts that many retirement plan and IRA account owners must withdraw each year. RMDs are taxable income and may be subject to penalties if not timely taken. For individuals born before 1951, RMDs from IRAs and retirement plans should, for the most part, already have begun and are required…
