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
The Dangers of Celebrating Christmas: Injuries from Christmas Trees, Electrical Lights, Sleds and Chimneys
“While alerts in the entertainment sector are numerous (e.g. Clark Griswold illustrating risks such as burning down the Christmas tree, falling from the roof while installing Christmas lighting and being attacked by a squirrel hidden in the Christmas tree), serious health warnings are often ignored due to the preponderance of Christmas spirit.” Researchers also found that 277 children were hurt during interactions with a Santa impersonator — for example, by falling off his lap or falling while running away in fear. more »
A Scrim of Memory: A Meditation on Reunions
Joan L. Cannon wrote: I went to my own 40th high school reunion and my 50th college one. It was that one that made me swear off that kind of gathering. The first problem is that we know that we're in for surprises both pleasant and not so much. It seems these gatherings force an automatic exercise in comparisons. Every attendee has to face unstated competition as intense as that for college acceptance; it's just based on different criteria. How have I aged in appearance compared with my classmates? Can I match the average for marriage, number of children, implied income, social status, renown?
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GAO, VA Health Care: Improvements Needed in Suicide Prevention Media Outreach Campaign Oversight and Evaluation
Preventing veteran suicide is one of the Department of Veterans Affairs' highest priorities. VA reports that an average of 20 veterans die by suicide each day. Since 2010, VA has conducted national outreach to raise awareness about suicide prevention resources for veterans. However, we found that VA's outreach activities dropped off in 2017 and 2018, and the office responsible for these activities lacked consistent leadership. We also found that VA did not have clear goals for evaluating the effectiveness of its outreach activities. more »
My Mother’s Cookbook Frosted Cakes: Seven-Minute Frosting, 1234 Cake, Pound Cake Torte and Carrot Cake
Margaret Cullison writes: I suffered from cake envy after attending a friend’s birthday party when I was six or seven years old. She had an April birthday, and her cake that year looked like a lamb with white frosting and coconut curled fur. The cake completely enchanted me. I knew my friend’s mother hadn’t made the cake herself. We always had homemade birthday cakes at home, but that didn’t impress me nearly as much as the magic of Sandy’s lamb cake. more »
