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 Cat Pushes My Buttons
Let’s not even talk about the time I discovered Ishi was playing pinball on my computer. And she doesn’t even have opposable thumbs.Thankfully she hasn’t memorized the phone number of the Home Shopping Network, especially since she has also been known to play with the telephone. I suppose we would be safe even if she did, because she doesn’t own a credit card. Then again … there is always the fear of identity theft. Excuse me; I think maybe I’d better check my wallet. more »
The Young Vermeer; The Revenge of a Forger and Shopping at the Museum
These early works are quite different from the richly decorated interiors with attractive women you might expect from Vermeer. Instead they depict a mythological subject, a story from the Bible and a brothel scene. more »
A Federal Reserve Governor Examines Financial Myths Concerning Women and Money
As household managers, women supervise the budget for and purchase of many of the highest-cost items consumed by American families. These items include food, clothing, child care, eldercare, health care, transportation, family communication networks (including cell phone and computer purchases), vacations, and, finally, financial services and products. more »
CultureWatch Begins Summer Reads
Unless you already know all the biographical details of Renoir's life, however, you read on if only to discover which woman, if any of them, will be next in his life and how the money will be found to complete the work within the deadline. You have to know whether Augustine will enable him to keep up his spirits, whether he will make the models all appear on time and frequently enough to finish each section at all, if the weather will hold, if he will be able to persuade his supplier to trust him for more paint…and other problems that arise like plot points in a thriller. more »
