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
Underwater on a Hunt For History of the Roman Empire
"There is a lot of theoretical work on the maritime economy of the Roman Empire, but I am interested in the close details of sea travel and how archeological finds can shed light on the history of consumption and connectivity around the Mediterranean," says Justin Leidwanger, a maritime archeologist.
Stanford scholar Justin Leidwanger spends a lot of time underwater.
An assistant professor of classics,… more »
Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Winter is Getting Warmer - Really & The Beauty of the Unexpected
I wonder if the definition of our seasons will be changing in the future and what is our part in that change? It’s not something to sluff off because it isn’t only the ducks and geese and polar bears that are affected, it’s us, too. Grackles remind me not to make judgments based solely on appearance, whether about birds or situations or people, because you never know when the unexpected can help you to see things differently and sometimes with joy. more »
Interview: How You Can Help Find an MIA
Megan McCloskey writes: There are 45,000 service members missing in action from World War II and other wars who experts say are recoverable. But the Pentagon’s $100 million per year effort to identify them has solved surprisingly few cases – 60 MIAs were sent home last year.
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Modern Nature: Georgia O’Keeffe and Lake George, The Spirit of Place
"I wish you could see the place here — there is something so perfect about the mountains and the lake and the trees — Sometimes I want to tear it all to pieces — it seems so perfect." The exhibit includes magnified botanical compositions of the flowers and vegetables that O’Keeffe grew in her garden at Lake George and still lifes of the apples that she picked on the Steiglitz property. more »
