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
Upstairs Downstairs Revisited: Dame Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh Comment on the New Series
A new set of occupants will reside at the iconic address of 165 Eaton Place, London and viewers will see how external and internal influences of the tumultuous pre-war period shape and mould the lives of this wealthy family and their servants. more »
"The frown, the roughness of the traveller set me at my ease"; A New Jane Eyre Movie Version
"Something of daylight still lingered, and the moon was waxing bright: I could see him plainly ... I felt no fear of him, and but little shyness. Had he been a handsome, heroic-looking young gentleman, I should not have dared to stand thus questioning him against his will, and offering my services unasked" more »
CRR: Do Parents Live It Up When Children Fly the Coop?
Parents maintain household-level and increase per-capita consumption when their children leave home. These findings challenge the idea that parents will automatically save more for retirement when their children are independent, indicating that more households are at risk of an unsatisfactory retirement. more »
An Attic Tragedy; Losing a Filmed History of Childhood
I'll never forget when we opened a Sarasota, Florida attic after my father's death. The humidity and heat had destroyed the 16mm film that recorded my first years and on into preteenhood. more »
