Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Pet Peeves (Yes, Again!)
Rose Madeline Mula writes: Getting old. I absolutely hate it. There is nothing positive about the so-called golden years. Even all the senior discounts can't begin to compensate for all the disadvantages — the aches and pains, the wrinkles, the unflattering shoes my bunions force me to wear, the fact that all the names in my little black book have 'M.D.' after them, the fact that I still have a little black book because I can't figure out how the calendar on my smart phone works. more »
Law Professor Melissa Murray on the Darker Side of Marriage
"What the marriage equality movement really did not think about is that there is a kind of normalizing process that goes on in marriage," says Professor Melissa Murray. "Marriage signals that these people — the sexual relations that they have — are respectable, are valued, are worthy." more »
Unveiling the Planning for Retirement Tool By the Consumers Financial Protection Bureau
Americans are eligible to claim Social Security retirement benefits without any reduction when they reach what the Social Security Administration calls the 'full retirement age.' For people born after 1942, their full retirement age ranges from 66 to 67, depending on the year the person was born. But consumers can begin to claim their benefits at other points as well, starting either several years before or several years after their full retirement age. The outcome is not the same, however, depending on when you opt to claim your benefits. more »
CultureWatch Review, The Marriage of Opposites: Magic Realism Imbuing Emotion and Presentiments With An Exotic Setting
Joan L. Cannon reviews: A Marriage of Opposites provides nuanced, layered, sensual images of a time and of people completely out of ordinary 21st Century experience. Hoffman's rich language combined with the eye of a visual as well as a verbal artist make for a uniquely vivid read. Color, temperature, atmosphere cling to a reader like a special scent long after the last page is turned. more »
