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Rose Mula

Rose Madeline Mula's Archive of Articles
Rose Mula was an executive assistant, a public relations specialist, and an operations manager for a New England theater chain before discovering a passion for writing. She has written business and trade articles to earn a living, and humor for the fun of it.
Her work has appeared in The Saturday Evening Post, Yankee, Modern Maturity, The Christian Science Monitor, The Reader's Digest, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Baltimore Sun, and more than a hundred other magazines and newspapers. Actually-thousands of newspapers, since one of her essays, The Stranger in My Mirror (originally titled, The Stranger in My House), was reprinted in Ann Landers' nationally syndicated column in 1999, without Rose's byline. Ms. Landers explained that she had received it from her cousin in Phoenix and wanted to share it with her readers even though she didn't know the author. When Rose left a phone message for her, Landers returned the call personally, with gracious compliments and apologies, and she promptly printed an attribution.
Meanwhile, Rose did some sleuthing and found her Stranger running rampant (and nameless) on dozens of websites, all but one of which claimed no prior knowledge of the author but were happy to hear from her and add her name. The exception was the owner of a site who claimed she had had the story for over twenty years. Not true, Rose pointed out, because in the essay she mentioned VCRs, which were very rare back then, and ATMs, which didn't exist for years later.
Rose never was able to identify the original kidnapper who stole her Stranger away. A couple of years before, her hometown newspaper, The Andover Townsman, published it. She assumes that a reader scanned it, without her byline, and started the whole distribution chain by emailing it to a friend who decided to share it with other cyber pals. And the saga continues to this day, the Stranger is still popping up in e-mails across the nation. Rose wishes she herself can achieve the same immortality. Meanwhile, she can reached by e-mail.
Editor's Note: Rose Mula's most recent book is Confessions of a Domestically-Challenged Homemaker & Other Tall Tales, available at Amazon.com and other online booksellers. Grandmother Goose: Rhymes for a Second Childhood is available as an e-book on Amazon.com for the Kindle and at BarnesandNoble.com for the Nook at $2.99; the paperback edition is available for $9.95.
"I always contended that if not revealing my age would actually make me younger, I would be as tight-lipped as the enigmatic Mona Lisa; but since nothing can actually erase the years, why not just accept and admit them?... Above all, almost all my friends would submit to waterboarding before revealing their age, blissfully unaware that these days that statistic is available to anyone who makes a simple Google query or two. They don’t realize that the mere fact that they don’t know that identifies them as ancient and that exactly how ancient is no longer a secret. They believe they can guard that number to the bitter end — and beyond. No exaggeration. One woman I knew made her son vow not to put her date of birth on her headstone when she died." more »
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: Among other things that have disappeared, along with traditional names, are virgin brides. Actually virgins — period. And brides in general. It seems that fewer and fewer couples are opting for marriage these days as “living in sin” apparently is either no longer considered to be a sin or nobody cares. And the few marriages that do take place often feature the couple’s children as ring bearers and flower girls. A popular inscription in the autograph books we all owned was “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes (fill in a name) with a baby carriage.” Not any more. Not in that order. And why do people need so much entertainment today? Case in point: I recently saw an ad for a waterproof radio with headphones to wear while surfing. Isn’t surfing enough? When I was young, sitting by the radio listening to “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy” or “Our Gal Sunday” was the highlight of my day. more »
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: Why does my computer crash only when I’m behind deadline on an important project and not when I’m playing solitaire — especially since I spend much more time playing games than working. And can wine connoisseurs really detect undertones of leather, tea, oak, and dozens of other essences and aromas? When they describe a certain vintage as having “a good nose” or “legs,” are they putting me on? And when they toss out adjectives like “assertive,” “attractive,” “graceful,” and “elegant,” are they really describing the wine or the waitress pouring it? If haste makes waste, how come he who hesitates is lost? And why should we keep our noses to the grindstone if all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy? No wonder I’m an insomniac. How can I get to sleep when I keep trying to solve life’s little puzzles—like… How come the label on my sleeping pills warns, “May cause drowsiness”? Isn’t that the point? more »
Other than receiving a diagnosis of a terminal illness, what’s the worst thing you can hear in a doctor’s office? For me it’s a toss-up between, “It’s time for another colonoscopy” and “When were you born?” I am the proud owner of an impressive collection of imaginative recipes of veggies from asparagus to zucchini which I have Googled, printed and filed in a folder that I keep right next to my pristine Air Fryer and Instant Pot. They are pristine not because I am a meticulous housekeeper but because I have yet to use them. I keep hoping that simply buying each new appliance will magically transform me into Julia Child II. So far, however, the only one of her “talents” I’ve been able to emulate is dropping food on the floor and picking it up before anyone notices. more »
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