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 Big Cover-Up
I see I really had great legs and a nice figure. But all that changed before I had a chance to fully appreciate these attributes — and before I had the opportunity to display them to the world at large since bikinis had not yet made their appearance on American beaches. I saw my first one in 1960 in Nice during my first jaunt to Europe. I couldn’t believe how daring its young wearer was — parading around in public, practically naked! I still have the picture I sneakily took of her with my telephoto lens, and I can’t imagine why I was so shocked. Her suit looks practically puritanical, compared to today’s shoe-string thongs and barely-there tops, often worn by many who should be following my example and covering up unsightly body parts. more »
Is Congress exempt from "many" laws including one against sexual harassment?
The claim that members of Congress would be somehow "exempt" from the now-stalled health care legislation is a more recent absurdity. It’s a twisted claim based on misrepresentations of the House and Senate bills, neither of which exempts lawmakers. more »
Joanna Grossman on Common-Law Marriage: A Nineteenth-Century Relic with Continuing Relevance
But despite its radical drop in popularity over the course of this century, common-law marriage should not be forgotten. It is a device that still functions as an alternative way to form a marriage – or to claim with hindsight that one was formed in the past. And given the legal significance of marital status, as the determinant of a wide variety of rights and obligations, we forget about common-law marriage at our peril. more »
Making Movies: Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail; revenge in modern times must not be justified
Making Movies: Brutal killings are not to be presented in detail and revenge in modern times must not be justified. more »
