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
Stateline, Sales Tax Holidays: Easy to Sell But Hard to Justify
Sales tax holidays have been around since New York passed the first one 15 years ago. According to the Federation of Tax Administrators, states have found lots of excuses to declare the holidays. more »
An 80-ish Birthday Party for My Aunt, the Pistol
One of the guests sang a song set to the music of Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof but with personal and irreverent lyrics. My aunt laughed. I didn’t get all the references but I laughed, too. I figured that anything outré about my aunt must be true and no doubt funny. more »
FAQs for Seniors on Health Care Reform
A Harris poll entitled "Straight Talk" reveals that only 17% of seniors knew the correct answers to more than half the factual questions posed about these key aspects of new health reform law and only 9% knew the correct answers to at least two-thirds of the questions. more »
Heavens' Embroidered Cloths and The Philosopher's Walk
"The architectural structures explore the connections and oppositions between Yang-houses (architecture for the living) and Yin-houses (architecture for the dead), and how these spaces are fundamentally intertwined through the Chinese concept of geomancy, or fengshui." more »
