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  • 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…

  • How Many Distracting Systems Needed While Driving? Try Dialing, Changing Music or Sending a Text Using Voice Commands

    “The massive increase in voice-activated technologies in cars and phones represents a growing safety problem for drivers,” said Marshall Doney, AAA’s President and CEO. “We are concerned that these new systems may invite driver distraction, even as overwhelming scientific evidence concludes that hands-free is not risk free.”

  • Canada Elected Justin Trudeau – Imagine That!

    Diane Girard writes: Canada has a new, young, attractive Prime Minister and people are suddenly plastering pictures of him everywhere, especially in the online media. There will probably be a rush of single people wanting to enter the “true north strong and free” so they can meet someone gorgeous. Well, yes, many Canadians are beautiful…

  • The Bored of Education: Lessons From a Lifetime in the Classroom

    Julia Sneden wrote, “I suspect that being on a School Board is rather a thankless job. One must deal with many dry facts and knotty problems, so one almost never encounters the joy that ought to be at the heart of education. I don’t doubt that such boards are trying to keep an eye on…

  • After 55: Changing to Every Other Year for Mammograms

    “Since we last wrote a breast cancer screening guideline, there have been the publication of quite a number of new studies that inform us about the benefits and drawbacks of screening with mammography, so the American Cancer Society commissioned a detailed evidence review by an external expert group to review all of this new data…

  • Forget Cherishing Women: Family-friendly Policies Are Essential Tools in Fighting Income Inequality

    The United States’ unique lack of work-family policies puts a singular burden on women who still bear the lion’s share of responsibility for unpaid work at home. Women often lack time off to care for a newborn, the ability to pay for high-quality child care, and access to the kind of predictable and family-friendly work…

  • Has Hillary An Eye On a Rival? Wonder Woman and Friends Take New York

    A drawing of Wonder Woman in an early version of her patriotic costume by H.G. Peter (ca. 1941) is shown alongside a “Wonder Woman for President” issue (No. 7, Winter 1943). Two of Steve Ditko’s original drawings of Spider-Man’s first appearance in Amazing Fantasy are displayed. During World War II, many superhero stories channeled American…

  • #WomeninSTEM: Saving the Natural World through Conservation

    Providing a safe place for community members to get outside that’s easy to get to, allows people who may have never played in a field or experienced wildlife to learn about the connection between people and a healthy environment. This is critical not only to the success of Valle de Oro but also conservation work…

  • Another Scout Report Post: Comforts of a Luxury Cruise, Grammarly, To Live and Dine in L.A., Privacy Palette

    On luxury cruises: “I have now seen sucrose beaches and water a very bright blue. I have seen an all-red leisure suit with flared lapels. I have smelled suntan lotion spread over 2,100 pounds of hot flesh. I have been addressed as ‘Mon’ in three different nations. I have seen 500 upscale Americans dance the…

  • Congressional Bills Introduced: Grants to Women’s Small Businesses, Excluding Providers Involved in Abortions and Certain Research on Fetal Tissue

    A bill to provide a period for the relocation of spouses and dependents of certain members of the Armed Forces undergoing a permanent change of station in order to ease and facilitate the relocation of military families; a bill to allow for greater state flexibility with respect to excluding providers who are involved in abortions;…

  • Class Distinctions: Is the Sitter’s Dress Made of Silk or Coarse Wool? Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer

    Princes, regents and milkmaids figure in the exhibition’s thematic groupings within the classes, reflecting the social status of people and the importance their class had in the new Dutch Republic. The fine detail in the pictures will encourage close looking, inspiring the viewer to differentiate between a mistress and a maid or to distinguish a…