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
Three-Fourths of Female Veterans Served During Wartime; Younger Veterans Are More Educated, More Diverse
Over 500,000 women served our country in the military during the Vietnam era, Korean War and World War II. The wartime female veterans of the pre-AVF era have a median age of 69 and the majority (73.9 percent) served in the Vietnam era. About 30 percent have completed a bachelor's degree or higher. more »
Pi Days of Yore: Activity Suggestions Submitted by Teachers, Students & Everyday People
Some examples: (1)We play pi shuffleboard. I draw 3 big circles on the floor, inside of each other and the kids use rolls of masking tape as pucks. They toss and/or slide circles of tape [identifying marks on side] to see who gets closest to center. Players each have 3 circles of tape that they slide to remove others from center. The winner then challenges the next 3 players until we declare Pi shuffleboard winner.(2)For our Pi Day, my school asked all the faculty members if they would be interested in being “pi’d” and their name was put on a plastic jug. Students would place money in their jug throughout the week and the teacher/faculty member with the most money got pi’d at an all school assembly. We raised a total of about $400! We donated all the proceeds to multiple charities. more »
Women in Geosciences: Ursula Marvin, a Pioneering Geologist Involved in the Study of Extraterrestrial Materials
In 1997, Marvin noted that much has improved for women in science since she began her long and fruitful career. Although most people in Harvard's Geology Department were very helpful, she remembers that women's access to Widener Library was restricted. Also, she was often told to leave the geology building by a watchman who insisted women were not allowed to be there alone at night. Still, Marvin said she was mainly unaffected by the discrimination — with the obvious exception of the Harvard Geology Club. Even the professor who would not let her switch majors at Tufts eventually came around. "Years later, he invited me to teach at Tufts, and often told others how proud he was of me," said Marvin. more »
Casanova, The Seduction of Europe: “He knew the greatest figures of the age, from monarchs like Louis XV of France and Catherine the Great of Russia, to popes, to intellectuals like Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin”
Casanova was considered by his own contemporaries to be a witty conversationalist, autobiographer, gambler, spy, and one of the greatest travelers of all time. More than 80 works of art, including paintings, sculptures, works on paper, period furnishings, delicate porcelains, and lavish period costumes, re-create this luxurious and sparkling world of masked balls, palaces, theaters, and operas. more »
