I was just looking back over the post I wrote almost exactly a year ago. I had taken a twenty mile bike ride with my daughter and written about how the speed we traveled and the nature we saw made me think about how my ancestors would have seen this part of the country as […]
Can You Ever Really Return? Read More »
Two things happened to me the other day that prompted some thinking. I heard an ad for a BBC radio play about a fictional meeting between Thomas Edison and Alfred Lord Tennyson. Edison wished to record the aged Tennyson reciting some of his famous poems, such as The Charge of the Light Brigade. Tennyson wavered
Immortality, Genealogy and Technology Read More »
This week, true to the name of the blog, I’ll be meditating. It has been a busy week. I’m working on several projects, gave a talk and have three more coming up that need preparation. I attended a genealogy get-together at our library, have an article for a quarterly to write and on Wednesday I
Life, Death and Genealogy Read More »
I’m taking a break from thinking about the nature of research this week to think about something else. Where do things get there value? Part of the value of something clearly comes from the value of the raw materials and the cost of the labor that went into making it. Part of the value of
Personal Provenance Read More »
Do you ever think about the occurrences that made you possible? It would be a very, very long list. What if you just concentrate on the odd ones—things with really low probability or very extreme outcomes that are just plain out of the ordinary? What strange things needed to happen to make you possible? I’ve
This last Thursday, my children did what they always do on Maundy Thursday (the Thursday before Easter). They put on old skirts and aprons. They each put their hair up in a kerchief. They each got a basket, a toy cat and a broom. With a little makeup they became “Easter Witches.” Then they did
Family Stories, Ethnic Traditions and Easter Witches Read More »
I just ran across a scrap of paper as I cleaned out some boxes. I’m not sure when I wrote it, though it was sometime before moving back to the U.S. from Sweden a couple years ago. At the time, I was intending to start this blog at some point after the move and I’m
You may have run across a phrase something along the lines of “Genealogy without documentation is mythology.” It is a nice catchphrase and it certainly is out to make an important point but I must admit that I don’t care for it all that much. Myth First, I think our catchphrase is rather disparaging to
Genealogy Without Documentation Is… Read More »
Human beings tell stories. We can’t help it. That is how we order our world—in narratives. We tell stories about ourselves, our family and our friends. Some stories lose their interest after days, months or years while others become favorites we tell our whole lives. It is those that become the stories children hear over
Humans as Storytellers Read More »