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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…
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…
When It Comes to Bodies in the Library, US Writers Take the Lead Over UK Rivals

British crime and thriller writers are being bumped off by their American counterparts, according to the latest tabulation of the Most Borrowed Adult Fiction Titles in UK libraries. No less than 17 novels by US-based crime and thriller writers appear in the Top 20 Most Borrowed Adult Fiction Titles list.
Ferida’s Wolff’s Backyard Series: Lovely Lavender and Pretty Pinks

Ferida writes: Lavender has a long history of medicinal use and is a staple in aromatherapy. Some is proven, some not, but it is used in a variety of applications for many conditions. One of its uses is for its calming effect. The oil embraces the whole body in the bath. Inhaled, it seems to…
Volanti Subvenimus: Challenges in monitoring and maintaining the health of pilots engaged in telewarfare

Hernando J. Ortega, Jr. editorializes: “The pilots of Remotely piloted aircraft (RPA), also referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles or ‘drones’, face unique stressors related to the impact of fighting a war at the office and going home to a family at night. Last, the continually increasing demand for RPA support has lead to manning…
Advice to Little Girls by Mark Twain —You ought never to “sass” old people unless they “sass” you first

Mark Twain writes in 1865: “You ought never to take your little brother’s ‘chewing-gum’ away from him by main force; it is better to rope him in with the promise of the first two dollars and a half you find floating down the river on a grindstone. In the artless simplicity natural to this time…
Telling Lies: The Irrepressible Truth?

The liar must first of all decide not to assert the truth, and then must assert an alternative statement that is plausible and appears informative to the listener, all the while concealing any outward signs of nervousness … If a person needs to monitor plausibility of a lie then this will be more difficult for…
Anders Zorn: A European Artist Seduces America; Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s 23-Year-Old Theft

The exhibit presents new international scholarship about an artist who was considered among the most prolific and talented artists living around 1900. Although highly esteemed by his contemporaries on both sides of the Atlantic, Zorn is little known to the general public in the US today. “Anders Zorn is one of the most significant artists…
Megabytes for the Masses: An MIT Lecture by Yvonne Brill, the Lady With Launch Plans Under Her Arm

You may have heard about the uproar regarding The New York Times obituary for Ms. Brill initially beginning with lauding her beef stroganoff skills rather than her Dual Thrust Level Monopropellant Spacecraft Propulsion System (Patent #3,807,657). This video of her lecture (MIT TechTV) may refocus that strange emphasis on cooking to her genius.
It’s a Gray Area: Madame Metamorphosis, a Rebel Against the Passage of Time

Roberta McReynolds writes: The truth of the matter is that I’d hit an awkward point I hadn’t foreseen. The lights over my bathroom mirror still reflected the shine and sparkle I loved. (They don’t call them ‘vanity lights’ without a reason.) But when I caught my image in a window, a store dressing room mirror,…
Why Are the Honey Bees Still Disappearing? A New Lawsuit Against the EPA and Gardening Tips for Attracting Bees

Beekeepers and public interest Groups have sued the EPA over bee-toxic pesticides. The coalition seeks suspension of the registrations of insecticides that have repeatedly been identified as highly toxic to honey bees. Total losses of managed honey bee colonies were 21.9 percent for the 2011/2012 winter according to a survey. Did you know that native…
Temp Agencies See Opportunity In Health Law: Will Substitute Teachers Be Offered Coverage?

Starting in January 2014, employers with at least 50 workers must offer affordable coverage or pay a penalty. Some are considering outsourcing jobs to specialists such as Kelly, Manpower, Robert Half and Randstad to stay under this limit. “We are already getting inquiries from our client base for companies in and around 50, asking us…