Optimism
Last Minute Midterm Week Survival Plans
Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash Next Tuesday is election day. On Wednesday I have a root canal. Clearly, something’s wrong with my planning mechanism. For all…
A (Summer) Book for All Seasons
Photo by Todd Trapani on Unsplash The Summer Book was recommended to me as an antidote to the fall blues: stressed over climate change, midterms, earthquakes, disinformation — I needed…
Last Flight Home
by Fran Moreland Johns | Oct 18, 2022 | Movie Review | 0 comments (This is reprinted from an End of Life Choices California blog just up. A wonderful story I…
Welcome to my digital world. I’ve been writing (for newspapers, magazines, online sites) since the 1950s, and blogging since first introduced to the idea via a paid blog for news aggregate site True/Slant in 2009. My roots are in small town Virginia and my heart is in hometown San Francisco. For more than you ever wanted to know, click on the tabs above. Current essays and hopefully enlightening &/or entertaining thoughts are under the Blog tab, or grouped in my most frequent categories below. Thanks for visiting!
Current big news: MARSHALLVILLE STORIES is HERE and available on Amazon! You can read about its genesis in this blog post.
I am indebted to editor Sara Vitale, web designer Eileen Mullin and overall consultant/cheerleader Jody Lee Collins, for invaluable literary & digital help.
Fran Moreland Johns
COVID Collection
Deliver Us from Updates . . .
How to ruin someone’s day? Update her computer while she sleeps. Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, enjoys doing this. Don’t Turn Off Your Computer,…
Climate Change, Women and Hope
“Climate change is happening,” she says; “it’s real, it’s urgent.” The speaker is Paola Gianturco, a strikingly pretty octogenarian photojournalist/author, retired from a distinguished business…
Just Don’t Get Sick on Friday, After 12 Noon
Early Friday morning — OK. But after, say, 11 AM, either convince yourself you’ll be fine until Monday or just go ahead and drink…
America
Miracle Drugs, Miracle Products . . . Really?
“Surefire cure for erectile dysfunction!” “Lose 10 pounds this week!” “Lower your A1C!” “XYZ Brand cured my (fill in the blank)!” The ads bombarding…
Nighttime in the Lonely City: A photo essay
A city dweller is alarmed by the terrible sounds drifting into her window. Dark, guttural cries. No words, just frightened, frightening cries. They seem…
Two Reviews: Two Fine Books on Life’s End
Anita Hannig’s “The Day I Die” and Amy Bloom’s “In Love” (The following appeared first as a blog for End of Life Choices California,…
End of Life
Should You Still Be Driving?
A CLOSE LOOK AT THE UNIVERSAL QUESTION I am slowly talking myself into giving up my car. Though still, I honestly believe, a very…
The Never-Ending Perils of Motherhood
My baby daughter likes scooters. That would be okay if this were on the playground in 1967 when she was three. But now she…
Ten Steps to a Guaranteed Good Day
OBSERVATIONS OF AN OCTOGENARIAN OPTIMIST The following appeared on my Medium.com site, result of a conversation/sort-of-contest about Life Lessons in Ten Steps. (New &…
Feminist Collection
A Drought-Relief Road Trip
After more than six months of near-total drought in Northern California, one cross-country flight to JFK and a side trip to Ithaca provided a…
Love Affair with a Library
I’m simply in love with the San Francisco Main Library. Yes, THAT library, with the rotating cast of questionable characters on one side and…
Should the pope open a WordPress blog?
I seldom agree with the good Pope Francis, although we do share a name. (It’s spelled with an ‘i’ for the Franks of the…