Joan E. Dowlin

Just when we women brass players thought we were making good progress in the classical music world, this happens. And only a week or so after my good friend, Abbie Conant had sent out a post on Facebook congratulating Ms. Mayumi Shimizu for winning the Solo-trombone position with...

My dad recently died of lung cancer at home. He was 91 and I was his primary caretaker. I don't think I could have handled his end of life process without hospice care. Even though other family members (my sister and cousin and brother with his wife and...

I have been encountering a few Facebook posts recently that I find very disturbing. One says "Whitney Who? When Celebs Get More Credit Than Real Heroes" and shows a picture of our troops. Another shows a split screen with Houston on one side with the caption: "Whitney Houston, pop star...

They both had powerful and angelic voices that defined their generations. One was a mezzo-soprano, the other an alto. Both began singing at very young ages. One came from a gospel background, the other from Vaudeville. In their singing styles, they both had an uncanny sense of rhythm, timing, phrasing,...

As he lay near death my dad told me "the Christians are after me." I said "tell them to go to hell." He smiled. Indeed, over the last two weeks of his life, friends and family members prayed over him and sang hymns which he gladly accepted. But when he...

I was in town pet sitting for a friend when I went online to find out what is happening with the Occupy movement in Philadelphia. I saw that there was an Assembly Meeting at the Friends Center Thursday evening so I decided to check it out.

I...

She is an empath. That is, she is someone who can not only feel others' pain but make the pain go away. I believe this quality is what makes Judy Garland so beloved even until this day.

I have known firsthand this gift of empathy having experienced...

We are the 99%. We are the middle class and the lower class and sympathetic members of the upper class. We are women, men, gays and straights of all ages, all religions and all races. We live in cities, suburbs, small towns, and rural areas. We are a huge slice...

We were marching for social justice and the end of the Vietnam War. It was called the Peace movement and while it may be responsible for forcing a President (LBJ) to not seek a second term and the eventual end of...

Having attended Occupy Philadelphia for a second visit Tuesday, October 18, this time with my friend, Carolyn, I was honored to hear two gifted orators who eloquently spoke of this worldwide movement in ways that gave me new insight into it.

As I mentioned in my previous...

"We are the ones we have been waiting for."- thus said candidate Barack Obama who used it for a Presidential campaign speech in February 2008. Although it is generally attributed to him, it is actually a Hopi message from the Elders in 2006.

I am...

Today I took a train to downtown Philadelphia to check out the Occupy Philadelphia rally (an off-shoot of the "Occupy Wall Street" movement) and was touched and surprised by what I experienced.

After hearing verbal attacks on the protesters from right wing media talkers and...

Fox News sponsored another GOP Presidential candidate debate Thursday night, September 22nd. If I hear these phrases one more time, I think I will scream: Ponzi scheme, Obamacare, Romneycare, Dream Act, border fence, HPV virus, 9-9-9, lower taxes, debt, mandates, state rights, and big government.

How many times are they...

The Sept. 12 /gIQABLDyNK_gallery .html" target="_hplink">Republican debate in Florida was broadcast by CNN, moderated by Wolf Blitzer, sponsored by the Tea Party, and featured eight GOP presidential hopefuls.

The word "scary" was bandied about quite frequently. Texas Governor Rick Perry accused former Massachusettes...

Some people are just too pure for this world. By that I mean they are never truly understood because they are too kind, too nice, too sweet, too genuine, too giving, and just too good to really be appreciated.

They are called pollyannas, goody-two-shoes, and the girl next door. They...

I was working as a waitress on the morning of September 11, 2001 at the Pike Restaurant in Spring House, Penn. We had a lot of "regulars" who came in each morning for breakfast. There was a radio on in the kitchen and the servers and cooks and staff all...

Yes, the death of British songstress Amy Winehouse at age 27 is very tragic, and her addictions no doubt had a part in her demise.

But superstar Lady Gaga brought up an interesting point on "The View" a few days ago. She...

I was getting ice cream for my dad so I didn't get to see it at the ballpark that night (July 26th) but I heard the cheers and excitement it generated from the crowd. I asked an usher what just happened and he told me that Chase Utley had hit...

We have been constantly told recently through this /2011-07-31-debt-ceiling-and-the-economy_n.htm " target="_hplink">budget/debt ceiling debate that the government has to cut spending to bring fiscal sanity and a balanced budget back to Washington. Sure, we have been spending a lot more than we have taken in for the last 10 years...

As the weather gets nastier and deadlier with more and more record breaking tornadoes and floods and wildfires around the country, the majority party in the House of Representatives have done the unspeakable. They have played politics with Federal Disaster Aid. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said...