What’s New
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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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Urging the FDA to End Food Labeling Chaos
Labels for Thomas’ Hearty Grains English Muffins claim that the food is “made with the goodness of whole grain” and “made with whole grains.” Yet the primary ingredient is “unbleached enriched wheat flour,” meaning white flour. The product has more water than whole wheat flour, which is the third ingredient.
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Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell By the Numbers
According to research at the University of California, Santa Barbara, “No reputable or peer-reviewed study has ever shown that allowing service by openly gay personnel will compromise military effectiveness.”
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A Collaboration: The Science and Entertainment Exchange
The National Academy of Sciences provides the entertainment industry professionals with access to top scientists and engineers to help bring the reality of cutting-edge science to creative and engaging storyline; Guest blogger E. Paul Zehr discusses what it would really take to become Batman. Could a real world superhero ever exist?
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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Sacks by Rebecca Skloot
“They became the first immortal human cell line ever grown in culture and one of the most important tools in medicine: Research on HeLa was vital to the development of the polio vaccine, as well as drugs for treating herpes, leukemia, influenza, hemophilia, and Parkinson’s disease; it helped uncover the secrets of cancer and the…
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The Potent Plant Garden, Patterned After Agatha Christie’s Novels
“While this might sound extremely dangerous for staff and public alike we have been very careful in our choice of plants, substituting less potent garden cultivars where possible,”says Ali Marshall, head gardener. “This is a garden designed to entertain — not provide murderous opportunities!”
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Mirror Mirror: Self-portraits By Women Artists & On The Nature of Women: Tudor and Jacobean Portraits of Women
Maggi Hambling: ‘She works all the hours she can, waiting, working, until the muse arrives, as she puts it. If the muse doesn’t show up, Hambling destroys the canvas she’s working on’ “.
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EPI Economic Snapshot Roundup: A Massive Earnings Gap, Job Creation & Spending Freeze
‘Talk about redistribution of wealth,” Senator Tom Harkin said. The data show that over the past three decades more than one-third of income growth in the United States has gone to the top one-tenth of 1% of earners, an exclusive group that includes only about 13,000 families.
