Optimism
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,…
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…
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
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 &…
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…
America
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…
Wait! We’re so smart? How about those urbane Greeks & Romans?
The sky is falling! Breaking news! Our fragile democracy in peril!! Life still feels shaky. Even without those constant, frenetic tweets threatening to alter…
An Arrow into San Francisco’s Heart
While the art world mourned the recent death of Claes Oldenberg (1/28/1929–7/18/2022) San Franciscans went right on appreciating his local work the best way…
End of Life
Little Boxes of the Past
In one of her many memorable essays writer Ann Patchett has a throwaway line, something about “little boxes of the past.” And since any…
A Tiny Park With a Big Story
You can easily walk by it and never notice. But if you look up into the six eucalyptus trees planted more than a century…
Feminist Collection
The Angry Woman’s Dilemma for Today
I am known as a mild-mannered, peace-loving person. Maybe twice a year I lose my temper. But I’m having trouble with anger management today.…
Life Without Nukes? Lovely Idea
A safe and secure future? Imagine. At “Chain Reaction,” the recent annual fundraiser/celebration of Ploughshares Fund, supporters were doing just that. Ploughshares President Dr.…
A Whodunit Answer to Today’s Woes
Sometimes books are the only answer. This reporter, whiplashed by the daily news – as aren’t we all – regularly escapes into a book.…