|
Help |
Site Map
|
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's self-published books (Grand Mother Goose -- Rhymes For A Second Childhood and Confessions of A Domestically-Challenged Homemaker) are available through Amazon.
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: "It was with considerable trepidation, therefore, that I entered the kitchen of my hostess, the legendary actress, Joan Fontaine, one long-ago Thanksgiving morning, to offer my assistance. Acting was not Miss Fontaine's only talent. Not by a long shot. She was also a hole-in-one golfer, a prize-winning fisherwoman, a hot air balloonist, an accomplished horsewoman, and a pilot. 'When you've had as many husbands as I've had, Darling,' she'd quips, 'you learn all their hobbies.' And one hobby all hubbies shared in common was a love of good food. No problem. Joan was also a gourmet cook who studied at the Cordon Bleu in Paris. No wonder I was intimidated that day. more »
Rose Mula Writes: What’s more, the priest is speaking English — not Latin! And though said priest is still a he, he is often now assisted by altar girls — not always boys. And shocker of shockers — yesterday's sonorous organ music is often replaced by rocking guitars. Can it be? The 20-year-old me remembers weddings where the leading lady's entrance could not be heralded with Here Comes the Bride, which was considered secular and thus banned from the church. Bummer! A wedding without Here Comes the Bride was like lasagna without ricotta cheese... Also, when I was young, a cousin married a non-Catholic (shameful!), and the ceremony had to be performed in the rectory. Such a "sacrilege" could be permitted only in the priests' house — not God's... That it was allowed at all was probably to prevent the couple from seeking a non-Catholic church to marry them. A few years later, however, still another cousin had the gall to fall in love with a Protestant, and they actually were allowed to take their vows inside the church — but only outside the altar rail — not on the altar itself. more »
Yes, my car. I'm always losing it ... on city streets, parking lots, and once in front of my own house. I used to rent a garage from the neighbors across the street, you see. One night I came home late, and instead of driving into the garage, I parked smack up against a stairway that leads up an embankment to my house. The next morning, a slave to habit, I headed for the garage. No car! It must have been stolen! I rushed back across the street to call the police, but something stopped me. My car. It was blocking the stairs. I had actually had to squeeze past it a few minutes earlier when I went to the garage.
more »
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: "I haven’t been inside a store for two years. I don’t miss any of them. Not a bit. I am delighted to have Instacart deliver my groceries — and Amazon everything else I could possibly want — to my door on demand, without having to navigate aisle after aisle searching for a mango, or that foot callus file I always wanted but could never find. It’s like having my own Aladdin’s lamp! Most of my neighbors in my condo building have mats at their doors that are truly welcoming. They say “So glad you’re here!” or “Welcome! Come in and cozy up!” Mine says “Oh, no! Not you again!” (I don’t mean it, of course; but I can never resist humor.)" more »
|
|
Rose Madeline Mula: If You Can't Stand the Heat
Rose Mula Reprise, Not My Parents' Church: It's Saturday Mass and I'm Wearing Slacks and Sneakers! No Hat! Not Even a Lace Square Pinned to My Head!
