What’s New

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

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: 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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Memoirs, Biographies, Historical Fiction and Science Fiction: Recommendations from Jane Gitschier’s Bookshelf

Jane Gitschier reviews science-related books. “I bow to Richard Rhodes, author of my all-time favorite science narrative The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Do not be intimidated by a little nuclear physics. This book is a lucid page-turner: the story is both magnificent, speaking to the genius and industry of men and women working under…
“You Think I Should Choose Life?” Asks Lady Mary in Downton Abbey’s Season Four

New characters, old emnities, revelations, complicated relationships, romances, London literati, hardships … where do the the plot twists and infatuations end? Not for a while, as Season 4 begins and beyond that, a planned-for Season 5 lies.
A Puppy Lemon Law, Minimum Wages, Gas Taxes, Legal Marijuana Among New State Laws

Elaine S. Povich writes: A wide-ranging collection of new state laws went into effect Jan. 1, including legalized pot, a puppy “lemon law” and a ban on unauthorized drone surveillance. One new law protects the “Possum Drop,” a Brasstown, NC, New Year’s Eve event. According to the National Conference of State Elaine S. Povich writes:…
The Metropolitan Vanities Hold A Variety of Beautifying Paraphernalia

In the late 17th C., European high society began commissioning luxurious specialized furniture from craftsmen and furniture makers. The poudreuse in France, and the low boy, Beau Brummel, and shaving table in England served as models for the dressing table. During the 19th C., dressing tables were made in many revivalist styles including the Gothic,…
Elaine Soloway’s Caregiving Series: Better Late Than Never

Elaine Soloway writes: I have a theory as to why Tommy picked today — eight days after my birthday. I believe he wanted to separate himself from the crowd — make his gift and card more special than the rest. He wanted to let me know he cared more for me than anyone else, more…
Senators Press Medicare for Answers on Drug Program

ProPublica reporters, using Medicare’s own data, identified scores of doctors whose prescription patterns within the program bore the hallmarks of fraud. The cost of their prescribing spiked dramatically from one year to the next — in some cases by millions of dollars — as they chose brand-name drugs that scammers can easily resell.
Tiepolo and Friends, Commedia dell-arte and Venetian Culture at the Morgan

“The names Tiepolo, Canaletto, and Guardi are almost synonymous with the time and place, and their paintings and frescoes are the works most commonly associated with the Settecento in Venice. The drawings in this exhibition, chosen entirely from the Morgan’s collection, bring to light the full spirit of eighteenth-century Venetian art and the many extraordinary…
My Mother’s Cookbook Frosted Cakes: Seven-Minute Frosting, 1234 Cake, Pound Cake Torte and Carrot Cake

Margaret Cullison writes: I suffered from cake envy after attending a friend’s birthday party when I was six or seven years old. She had an April birthday, and her cake that year looked like a lamb with white frosting and coconut curled fur. The cake completely enchanted me. I knew my friend’s mother hadn’t made…
Are You Spending Down Your 401(k)? GAO Investigates Other Countries’ Experiences That Offer Lessons of Spend-down Options

Strategies used by other countries include (1) communicating spend-down options to participants in an understandable and timely manner, and (2) helping participants see how their savings would translate into a stream of income in retirement by providing them with projections of retirement income in their annual benefit statements. Currently, 401(k) participants have difficulty predicting how…
The Power of Poison and Unique Gifts at the American Museum of Natural History

Humans have long marveled at the secrets of poisons and sought to detect their presence and protect against their toxic powers, as many fascinating artifacts on view at the exibition will reveal. Prized objects included celadon dishes, believed to detect poisons; fossilized shark teeth, thought to be dragon tongues that could “purify” food of deadly…