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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…
The Most Interesting New State Laws of 2013

A California law prohibits mental health providers from engaging in efforts to change the sexual orientation of patients under the age of 18. Illinois law enhances the penalties for manufacturing and selling bath salts. Oregon school districts must adopt a policy on teen dating violence. California law adds breastfeeding as a category of sexual discrimination…
Off the Table for Now: Using the Chained CPI to Reduce Social Security Payment Calculations

“The chained CPI grows more slowly than the traditional CPI does: by an average of 0.3 percentage points per year over the past decade. As a result, using that measure to index benefit programs and tax provisions would reduce federal spending (especially on Social Security and federal pensions) and increase revenues.”
The Mystery of a Slit Throat and a Harem Conspiracy

CT scans of Ramesses III revealed a wide and deep wound in the throat of the mummy, probably caused by a sharp blade – and which could have caused immediate death. A Horus eye amulet was also found inside the wound, most probably inserted by the ancient Egyptian embalmers during the mummification process to promote…
A Pair From Ferida’s Backyard: The Nuthatch and the Thrush

Ferida Wolff writes: The Nuthatch is the only bird that regularly starts at the top of the tree (or birdfeeder) and works its way down as it seeks its food. There is an advantage to going downward; the bird is able to see food overlooked by the usual upward direction of other birds.
Aging America: The Cities That Are Graying The Fastest

Joel Kotkin writes: In 2000 only three US metro areas had more elderly than children under the age of 15 (Pittsburgh, Miami and Tampa-St. Petersburg, FL). The 2010 Census showed we now have 10, with the addition of Buffalo, Boston, Cleveland, Hartford, Providence, Rochester and San Francisco to the first three. The elderly population is…
Kings, Queens, and Courtiers: Royalty on Paper

The exhibition explores the varied ways in which European monarchs and aristocrats were represented by court artists and those outside of these rarified circles in works that served as propaganda, commemorated an historical event, or even poked fun at perceived excesses or ineptitude.
Bills Passed: The Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2012; Reducing Preterm Delivery; Strengthening Investigations of Sex Offenders & Missing Children

Katie’s Law, also known as the Katie Sepich Enhanced DNA Collection Act of 2010, has been passed as a federal law to provide funding to states to implement minimum and enhanced DNA collection processes for felony arrests. “The bill is named after Katie Sepich, who was brutally attacked outside of her New Mexico home in…
The Day the Baby Fell in Love

Julia Sneden writes: It happened quite late on Christmas Eve. As I recall, the only ones in the living room were my son William and his five-month-old son Adam, who was being walked and burped after polishing off his late bottle. I was in the kitchen, busily putting things to rights for the umpteenth time…
Further Shopping Adventures: Trick of the Eye, Pattern Magic and Building a 4-Cylinder Engine

Last minute ideas for gifts should be able to be found in your local stores and online: The ECOlogical Calendar for 2013; a book about illusion and art; a 4-cylinder motor to build; a pattern book for sewers; a 1000-piece puzzle for bird watchers and others, Avian Friends; building warrior robots for racing and an…
Number of US Deaths by State Due to Injury by Firearms

In 2009, 31,347 persons died from firearm injuries in the United States, accounting for 17.7% of all injury deaths that year. The two major component causes of all firearm injury deaths in 2009 were suicide (59.8%) and homicide (36.7%).