I think you were referring to Houma,La not “Homer”,La.My cousins husband grew up in Houma.

Good Morning, You know way more than I do about “roots”…very interesting. But I loved it when I learned as an adult how closely we were related to Native American heritage…Why didn’t I know earlier? Well, of course, there was that shame thing, esp with my grandmother…Hard to understand, but true.

Oh, goodie, you’re here, Ruth. I got up and couldn’t find the chair and I got confused. I felt adrift. Unanchored. Wrong planet.
Ah, I can breathe again.
Oh, so you want to talk about roots, do ya?
On my mother’s side of the clan, my ancestory can be traced back to the Mayflower. John Somebody (I’ll have to check with mom), I forget, came to The Rock, via Holland, as an indentured servant. The family he served all got sick and died and he eventually got the house they built. A house on a hill, but not necessarily a shining one. Maybe.
I have contemplated many times how far deep the shame of my white ancestors goes. But, I don’t really believe that we have a choice of which body our soul jumps into. I don’t know for a fact that that isn’t true. If it’s a random thing, well I guess I shouldn’t feel bad about who I am.
What do you all think?

When I was in the Navy, I was telling a friend that I had ancestors that fought on both sides in the Civil War. That my mom’s family was from the south and my dad’s family was from the north. He asked what that made me and I just said, “an American”.
A simple answer but it’s more complex than that if we go into it a bit deeper, my maternal grandmother was Cajun of French decent, (obviously), who married a Catholic of English background from Oklahoma while my father’s mother was from Indiana and was 1/8 black and the rest Irish who married a man who was descended from German stock with some Native American mixed in, who came through the Cumberland Gap with Boone’s settlers. I truly am a product of the “melting pot”.
Good morning!

Morning Pups,

Ancestors from Poland and Belgium and most certainly from indigenous tribes in America, who centuries prior, had been pushed off of their historical eastern homes and found refuge in the mid-west.

Point being regardless of the ancestry and “roots,” we define who we are and how we act now, where we live, what we do, how we behave. Surely we have been influenced by our more immediate family traditions and practices, but truthfully examining where that puts us/me today is a high priority on my list.

Hey demi! You shouldn’t feel bad about what you are because the only thing that it’s in our power to control is who we are or who we can become.

Good morning, Ruth and everyone. I’m not going to take a chair this morning because I have a LOT to do today, but I wanted to drop in and say hello.

My ancestors were German, a couple of generations from “off the boat.” My sister is into genealogy and has traced them way back. I’m not much interested in that stuff, so haven’t paid much attention. I do know that my immediate grandparents and my parents grew up in Northeast Ohio.

I may peek in later, but I have to get busy now. Have a great day!!

Good Morning, Margaret
The book I was telling you about the other day deals with some of these issues. Because three of the characters have time traveled from the 1960′s back to the 1700′s, they can compare and contrast human behaviours. The main female character is a doctor and notes that, aside from the issue of slavery, that the people in North Carolina in the 1700′s seem to be less racist than the people in the 1960′s. It’s very interesting to me.

Gonna smoodge that paint on the bathroom wall, Molly?

This makes me think that I am not right to feel better than anyone else

It’s a natural enough urge to feel superior to the next group down the river or whatever, long ingrained in us as a survival skill, (keeping in mind that biological evolution selects for reproduction, not for long term survival in an individual), but I really don’t think anything gives us the “right” to feel superior to others. All we can do is use our enormous brains to overcome our baser instincts. Again, it’s not about what we were born but who we become.

Nonquioxte and Margaret,
I saw a t shirt this past year that said
It’s not where you’re from
It’s where you’re going.
I guess that covers an aspect of it.
Going back to to the Does a soul choose the body it jumps into, I have toyed with the ideal of past lives. How do some people have memories of being a different person in a different time and place? I don’t know. Maybe we retain memories in our dna. I mean, I’ve heard that there are genes for aspects of behaviour like shyness. Who knows what all kinds of information is contained in dna.

Self-examination for purposes of selfish, self interest, or self-examination with empathy and concern for a greater inclusivity and compassion for others, we lefties have our version of a religious tradition going on here.

Edit: I don’t pretend that it will ever not be a struggle to find more universal agreement with “our,” religion.

Going back to to the Does a soul choose the body it jumps into

I can’t speak much to that but there is certainly a lot of anecdotal evidence suggesting that some of us can remain cogent after death. Scientifically speaking, the law of the conservation of energy tells us that the 40 watts or so that are the measurable aspect of what makes us “us” has to go somewhere when our bodies die. If that energy is the “soul”, then your theory is as valid as any other and more valid than a lot of the ones out there.

Where’d you get that 40 watts information from? I am truly curious. I remember reading somewhere that some scientific experiments were conducted wherein they weighed a body before and after death and there was a slight difference. Is that what you are referring to?

Hi everyone. Ruth, thank you so much for another opportunity to bring our diverse and far-flung group together. The bigger pool the better, so I hope those reading out there will feel free and welcome to throw their lot in with us…

My mom’s mother was Irish, born on or right off the boat in Ontario. My Morfar (mother’s father)was born and raised in northern Sweden and joined the US Merchant Marine to become a citizen. He was a WPA worker in the parks in Chicago.

Demi, we are probably related. My dad was the 12th, I believe, generation descended from John Alden of the Mayflower. My brother was the last John Alden of the line.

I am pleased to know that our family is continuing to stir the melting pot. My ex DIL is Nigerian born and now a naturalized citizen of the US. A stronger, brighter, better educated woman and a better mother I have rarely known. My twin granddaughters have an incredibly rich (not wealthy rich!) and diverse background and family from which to draw love, support and goofy family traditions.

This is such an interesting topic, Ruth!

demi, I’ve never really known how to define soul. I’m not religious, or even spiritual, but I think my belief is something along the lines of what you mentioned, that dna may carry a lot more than physical information along with it.

I am so often struck by how deeply we are all involved in the rating game. Rating, ourselves, others, the team, the movie, the kids, the heritage, the town, city, country, the religion, the school, the appearance, the clothes, it never ends. Seems we have a need to line everything up in order of quality by some measure or other. I struggle to step aside from the ubiquitous rating game but keep getting knocked back in when I am not looking. 95 percent of seems so unnecessary and causes so much trouble. I wish I could let go of it. Important stuff like equal rights and opportunity and equal safety get lost in the shuffle. Trying not to criticise others (that’s most often part of the game) just wondering how we get so stuffed into it early on.

What an amazing group. And I don’t know if my soul weighs anything. But it feels good to have one.

Hmmm, I’ve read about the difference in mass too and I’m not sure those things are related but I don’t know if anybody with more expertise has looked into that. The 40 watts is the measurable electrical energy found in the (living) human brain. Einstein tells us that energy is mass but I don’t know if the 40 watts of measurable electrical energy that leaves the brain upon death is represented by the decrease in mass in the body that has been observed.

Oh and Ruth, don’t ever apologize for a genuinely thought provoking topic, please. It is Saturday morning. We are all generally sitting down in anticipation for the flavor of the day, brew on, please.

Thanks. I feel like it should be a good experience, but my standards are actually that learning stuff is good.

demi, I’ve never really known how to define soul. I’m not religious, or even spiritual, but I think my belief is something along the lines of what you mentioned, that dna may carry a lot more than physical information along with it.

One slight point: DNA, also known as Deoxyribonucleic acid, is a chemical coding for our physical traits and remains with the body when we die. DNA makes us what we are, the energy in the brain makes us who we are. DNA is what we can’t help but inherit from our forebears. In other words, if our souls jump into a body to be reborn, then the body we jump into comes with it’s own DNA. Our “souls” don’t contribute to that because DNA is a corporeal thing while the energy, (soul) is non corporeal.

I agree with you. It’s really difficult to Not Judge. Where do we draw the line between being discearning and judging?
I think it is part of defining ourselves. I’m not like that, I’m like this turns into which is better. Tough stuff, this is.

Living proof of the shyness gene, here. A certain anonymity with a the screen ID helps me past that obstacle.

Where’s Albert when we need him? I also have questions that may fall into the study of quantum physics.
(PS, my sonny boy’s middle name is Albert, after Einstein.)

We aren’t rating. You missed the point. We are picking out the individual threads in our tapestries and savoring the uniqueness of each of them.

I sense a theme Bob Marley sang about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZtzROiG5MM&feature=related

You’re so adorable.

(PS, my sonny boy’s middle name is Albert, after Einstein.)

w00t!

btw, yes, I know Houma, LA, near to the gulf, but my Mom ia from Arcadia, a suburb of Homer, LA, but I use the Homer address because more people can find it. It’s where Bonnie and Clyde were ambushed.

Oh, I know. I’m just not convinced that physical traits are all dna carries. We inherit it, and who knows what it brings along? I’m not sure that memories can’t be physical.

This is what kinda scares me. I’d like to cut out the bad. But can I?

Good morning Ruth and all!

I also have vague stories of French trapper, (maybe Irish), and Native American ancestry but what I do know is that both sides of my family were mostly German and declared Protestants. But, when I’ve looked up the origins of the surnames they are Yiddish and Polish/Jewish and I can recall my grandfather speaking some sort of Yiddishy German with customers at his welding business. I’m fourth generation American from mostly mid west farmers. No one of my generation is a farmer.

My husband traced his ancestry back to King AEthelred the Unready. All I can say about that is what a hoot.

He’s such a trip. Born to me when I was unmarried. Born on the winter soltice. James Albert St. John. A wit sharp as a knife and handsome as hell. (Not that I’m rating him, ha.)

Interesting topic Ruth. As someone with southern and Yankee roots I have lived my adult life in the deep south. I think the test is how we can love and honor our roots but also know when some of our ancestors were wrong and choose a different path.. There is a tendency here in Georgia for people to mindlessly defend much of the old south simply because of family and cultural ties.

I have been fortunate to have a large number of old family letters dating back to before, then after, the Civil War. Being able to read them in their own words makes it easier to accept traits I see in myself and also recognize my ancestors were a mixed bag of human nature.

One story of interest is one of my great great grandfather’s died in the Confederate Army. The great great grandmother died soon after and my great grandmother was reared by her father’s brother a strong abolitionist Union Army colonel, later judge of the Indian Territory etc. She was always told by her uncle that her father was a unionist and forced into the Confederate army. The letters tell an opposite story….. I have wondered if that was a good or bad lie. Perhaps I would find and have found more of this blind defense in her and eventually myself had we known the truth………. I think I am grateful we didn’t know the truth as children but also that I do now.

The secret is the open mind along with acceptance and love for family as people adapting and surviving as best we can.

Me, too. I carry some memories that just wreck me. Can we cut out the bad? SD would probably say, yes, if we want to. So far, I haven’t been able to. 3:00 a.m. is when they come out, if I let them. I’m just slowly learning to let other things flow into that space.

Like owls, last night.

Dude! That is so heavy.

Bad? All things are opportunities to grow, think, learn and change.
All good gifts, you know. Everything has potential, both for good and evil.

Memories are physical, most definitely. They are chemically encoded in the brain. But if there is a DNA memory, then we are inheriting somebody else’ memories if we are reborn into a different body, while if the electrical energy that makes up the non corporeal “us” remains cogent after death, then we bring our memories with us into the new body. This is getting way out there in speculationland though. No matter what the truth is, all we can do is work on making ourselves better people in the time that we know we have right here and right now. I really wouldn’t want to depend on one theory or another to be given a second chance at life in some future. All I know of for sure is that I’m alive and in charge of what kind of person I am right now.

The family sat on the porch and told tales. My grandfather was not a drummer boy who lied about his age to go to war for the south, I suspect.

LOL

Of all the phrases in the English language,”You missed the point”, may be the least useful. It is often provoked by a missed point of the original.

I took pains to refer to the zillion and one instances of the rating game. I was only reminded of the game by this topic, not judging it. May I make the point that my intention is NOT to rate this topic, merely to point to the ubiquity of the game. Note my rating of the phrase: “You missed the point”. I think it useful to rate some things, things that get in our way of communicating well.

I’m so glad you joined us to share, TalkingStick. I always enjoy your perview.
Those letters are a great gift for you.
Amazing.

I can identify with that, and it’s panic attacks, that when I recognized for what they are, I get through because I know what they are, and that I will get beyond them.

I love his name.

demi, have you told Ruth about your mister’s PUAC comment?

Yes, openness probably is the most important way to listen.

I was born and raised in Kentucky. Both sides of my family go back six or seven generations each there. Daniel Boone’s sister Elizabeth is my 6 great-grandmother.

One of my maternal great-grandfathers was in the Confederate Army and spent 18 months in a Yankee prison camp in Indiana.

In later years he was the county clerk in my hometown and did genealogy research in the country records where he discovered that one of my great-great-great grandmothers had freed her slaves in the 1830s as “it’s not right for one person to hold another in involuntary servitude”

None of these facts make me to bless or to blame for anything my ancestors did or did not do.

Point of your diary, being aware of it is the key to not blindly following it.

I have always cracked up at that name!

I’d love to have a French trapper in my past. Or in my future :) Very romantic!

I have to agree with you, again.
Communication should be easy, but is so many times challenging. Especially in non face to face exchanges.

I think we take our identity as much from those stories as told as we do in the DNA.

Chemical reactions in the brain occur with thought — and non-thought reflexes. My view of the brain and its chemistry is that it is the blackboard on which the ideas are written and communicated by evoking thought.

I agree about the rating game thing you bring up. I’ve spent my entire adult life pointing out to people that I, (and really nobody else), don’t fit into a neat, little box. I think it’s part of the tribalist reflex I touched on earlier. We’re measuring ourselves and others almost on a subconscious level in order to count up all of our “pros” and compare them to the other group/person’s cons. It’s natural but natural doesn’t mean it’s desired or beneficial.

Good to be able to relate to those feelings. I loved my aunt, but she would not eat out of the dish her maid used. That bothers me. My kids are of another race than hers, what did she do with their dishes.

Hmmmm. You’ve touched a button here. I don’t experience panic attacks, but I know people who do. My problem is more of a free floating anxiety and depression that I fight through.
I’m talking to a person I used to hang with and have recently connected with through Face Book. She’s dealing with panic attacks and I’m trying to help her. No, I’m not a therapist, but I just ask her questions and suggest things.

Thanks! demi. back to you too.

I have been a late sleeper lately and missed too many of my Saturday mornings with you all which I love.

No. He said the other name for Caturday could be Pull Up A Cat.

None of these facts make me to bless or to blame for anything my ancestors did or did not do.

Exactly! Extremely well put. I don’t feel guilty about anything my past, (or present), relatives have done or not done because that wasn’t under my control. Besides, if we “cut out the bad”, we would be different people than we are. Demi wouldn’t be demi without the “bad”, I wouldn’t be me and you wouldn’t be your own sweet self.

I love that.

Our numbers make us forget that long ago we all came from that little band of people struggling in the big world.

Hey, Demi, no paint smoodging today. I have to mail a birthday gift to my grandson (just wrapped it), get eggs and broccoli at the Farmer’s Market, get some breakfast, and make a salad to take to a pot luck that starts at 4:00.

Just looked at the comment above this one. Pull Up a Cat. LOLOL!!

My older brother did the genealogy trip (literally back to Quebec)recently, turns out they came over in the 1600′s, mostly farmers but they had to be trappers too early on. So here I am, descended trapper, how do you do.

Yep. Are you talking about the DNA bottleneck that occurred during the Toba catastrophe around 70,000 years ago? We are all so closely related it’s scary.

Good thought.

True, but the acronym comes out the same as Pull Up A Chair. Just struck me as fun.

That’s funny. Your mister should join us.

Joelmael, I jumped too quickly to comment up above. demi is right, sometimes written communication is more difficult than speaking with and seeing the expression of the speaker. I hope you will accept my apology.

Yeah. Fuck Guilt, is what I say. Except for the aspect that it’s a little nudge that says, Hmmmm, maybe a little change is in order. But, we don’t need to carry it. I don’t have a big enough backpack.

That’s nice, I want to know more but can’t since my family was alienated from their own, all I know is what I’ve been told, and much of that I recognize as skewed. For instance, all the native inhabitants of Costa Rica had died before the ‘Spanish’ arrived. No.

I just love that you have so many wonderful activities going on in your life.

w00t! Calling for a chance of rain for the next several days here! Plugging my ears and saying “LALALALALALALALALA” really loudly so I don’t have to hear Rick Perry claiming that praying for rain five moths ago worked.

Very well, thank you. And you?

Sometimes the best romances are the ones where one person acts like a total you-know-what to the other upon introduction.

Maybe this is just the start of something wonderful :)

Again, my apologies.

Definitely! I have enough of my own baggage to worry about toting all of my ancestors’ too.

Ruth, thanks so much for hosting.

Monthly recycling center hours are short and there is a farmer’s market on the same route. I’ll be back to catch up on any comments. A wonder-filled day to everyone.

Thanks, Demi, so do I. I was afraid I’d be bored in retirement. Where did I ever find time to work full-time??

Now I gotta get going. I love this discussion, sorry I have to leave.

Remember he prayed for the economy? Scary.

Pray only for sure bets and your collection plate shall be overflowing.

So glad you visit with us.

Did he? Yikes!

How did they ever manage to survive, against all the odds. And become us?

Oh, he can be a hoot alright. But, this isn’t his style. He’s the musician slash computer tech. He can sit and just ponder for hours. He doesn’t have panic attacks and can fall asleep practically sitting up. Me? You have to hit me over the head with a frying pan to get me to go to sleep.

Sorry to scare you but, yes.

Accepted. Didn’t your mother warn you about emailing with strangers?

My son is that way. Cannot just let go and sleep.

Phoenix Woman, above, has a real take on things.

Yes, but it has always worked out pretty well, anyway :)

I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.

This friend with the panic attacks that I mentioned? She used to be married to a cousin of a man I used to be married to.
She told me she though that God was giving her panic attacks to punish her for being a bad mom.

I’m calling you Blanche from now on.

*G*

How sad. I don’t know how to help her, but I found out that knowing it will end makes me okay.

You shouldn’t look at it that way. Many groups survived the Toba eruption but the group we are related to was the most successful at reproducing and spreading their genetic code across the planet. Homo Floresiensis, (if proven to be a separate species of Homo as most scientists in the field believe), for example survived until quite recently, (around 13,00 years ago). Weird though to think about isn’t it? Out of all of the Humans and other hominids that were around before that event, we are all related to one group that lived along the east coast of sub Saharan Africa?

LOL! Is it because of their magnificent canoes they used up in the wilds of Canada?

It is the Native American part that is an intriguing mystery to me. When I’ve gone to art museum exhibits involving Cherokee traditions and history, I feel some sort of “This is home.” moment.

I walks like an Egyptian.

Margaret, you are an absolute information sink. No shit, you must read all the time and retain 99% of it. Truly, do you have some memory gift? Or stay involved with the subjects you have a deep interest in?

See, I just read about some transitional form of hominid recently, the one where the anthropologist’s son literally stumbled across a clavicle, but I don’t remember any details.

How is that fair????

I asked her if she’s seen a therapist and she told me she had but that the woman didn’t help her. She told me that she had just asked her questions and that She had to do all the work. I told her that’s how therapy works. There is no santa therapist who brings you gift wrapped answers.
She said that she had been to group therapy that helped somewhat and I suggested that she might want to try that again.
I probably can’t help her. But, I shared with her the notion that depression can be Anger Turned Inward and asked if she was aware of being angry. She really was turned on by that idea and said she’d think about that. So maybe….

I’m kind of not in the mood for more Bachman talk.
Can I stay here for a while?

One good friend’s gramom was a tribal chief. He’s absolutely unaware of what father was his. But his adopted dad was head of the catholic school.

The canoes might have played an important part. But I think it was the Hudson Bay blankets. I have a serious thing about textiles.

I need to go back upthread to see your earlier comments. Do you know you have native American background, or do you think it is one of those dna memory things?

LMAO! Nope, no memory gifts but I do read a lot.

Oh, good. I had disabling panic attacks in college, when no one knew what they were. Never got any help.

yes, stay

A native artist who happily is my friend does a lot with texture.

Crumbs! Some chicken is having a meltdown outside the office window. I’d better go see…..

later, you guys!

Ruth, thank you!

ohmmmm

such amazing backgrounds I don’t know how we cope.

It’s time for me to get up off my patootie too. Thanks for a great topic Ruth and love to all of my pups!

oh dear. My kites occasionally catch a smaller bird and the feathers rain down. this may look bad.

See? No groans. Not a moan. This conversation is incredible.
My sister and I have always displayed musical talent. Singing, guitar and flute. My mother (who btw is into geneaolgy) had only ever referred to her father as a Drunk. When I was in my 20′s she mentioned that her father was a professional musician. I’d never heard that and took her to task for not sharing that earlier. She asked me why it mattered. Well, duh! He died during the depression when she was three. After I found out that he was a drummer, I felt a link, a closeness to him.

so glad you stopped in.

that’s a family expression, I think.

Kites? Please tell me more.

And, such a sweet patootie it is. See you later, baby.

The crazy ninny was trying to get in the window.

In what media does your friend work?

How lovely you finally learned that. My father loved farming, and it’s been part of my soul for a long time. Something about music is troubling to me. Sadly, I have a voice other people tell me is amazing. It’s not possible for me to use it, or play an instrument. I don’t know why.

My son has been featured as an artist at Peabody, before becoming a worthless teenager, from which he’s now recovered.

Yes, please.

I have kites that live in the taller trees here. My place is a bit rural.

How long are you farm sitting?
Have you caught any fish yet?

Ruth! You find yourself unable to sing, in spite of a lovely voice? That is heartbreaking, and I mean it.

here
http://my.firedoglake.com/ruthcalvo/2011/06/11/saturday-art-koshare-sculptures/

When I see that name, kite, it makes me think of Kipling. It is so exotic sounding.

Something stops me.

Now it’s my age. so that’s fine.

This makes me think that I am not right to feel better than anyone else.

So True! We are all on this earth together as humans.

I am very proud of my lineage. We have letters and documents that have been recovered from the year 1556, Scotland. My family on my Dad’s side experienced the Highland Clearances. They were pushed out of their belongings of land, lakes, mines, and livestock. They made several generational stops along the way to America. On my Mother’s side it is English, French, and Native American. Okay, yeah. I have to confess that my family brought the skills/art of whiskey making with them. They did what they had to do in order to survive. I am still amazed that even the largest part of them in America were always running from the British, the Revenuers, the crooked leaders, yet raised up a fine family tree.

There you go. I come from a long line of oppressed people’s trying to carve out a good life in a place where their hearts and minds are settled along with their hearths. Isn’t it strange that oppression and barbaric behavior rises up when left unchecked? Americans are in this land from generations of people wanting peace and freedom. We are all the same and no better than the fellow in tattered pants.

How old was he when he recovered? I have a son who is almost 24 and he’s still a bum.
The 17 year old was never worthless.
Same mother, different fathers. Two people could not be more different that they are. Since we’re speaking of backgrounds and what makes us US.

Fear of success? I’ve heard that can be a stronger urge than fear of failure.
Maybe I should shut up.

So glad you came along! Yes, we have to see that we survived, whatever it took.

I enjoyed that link and will go and visit the one in the diary. Thank you.

It is awful to think that something robbed you and others of the pleasure of using and hearing your voice. There is something very wrong about that.

Because I was somewhat involved with the Greens political party back in the 90′s I have heard directly the stories of a fellow former Green who lives off the grid on the Pine Ridge reservation. He is part Lakota and part the product of a Native American Catholic boarding school. His recount of the experience is horrifying.

I admire many different Native American traditions, (not all for sure), but it is only the Cherokee that stikes a complicated chord that resonates with “me”.

My son went thru the teen years trying desperately to be the worst which was what was admired. He recovered when he got out of HS, has been a really worthwhile person ever since.

Life upon the wicked stage was pro’ly part of my background, anyway, I am petrified in public.

That is a fascinating background. And amazing that those documents have survived.

Have you ever visited Scotland? How interesting it would be to visit the sites mentioned in the written history.

Whatever it takes. Yep, whatever it takes.

A dear friend is the widow of a full blooded Cherokee, and one of the things I always have wanted to do is go to a Green Corn ceremony, someday i will.

Consider this cartoon before you accept guilt over your ancestors actions

http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2011/5/26/how-to-face-your-ancestors-misdeeds.html

I have to leave tomorrow, but John will be doing a lot of travel so I’ll be able to come back often.

It has been such a lazy week that I haven’t even started untangling the snarls from my last expedition’s encounter with a low hanging willow branch. No, I have stayed on land this trip.

Have you ever read anything on agoraphobia?

No, but you have no idea how badly I yern to do so. My Dad’s brothers have been. In fact, there is still a cob style house on the area my family are from in Scotland. It has/was used as a B&B for a while. The documents give the Parish name and members of family in them.

Oh, great. That’s as good as Scarlett thinking about things tomorrow.

Thanks. That’s funny. And this is the longest it’s taken us to finally start talking about food.

Wow! where is that? I’m going to be in England for a week, was not firmed up on all the days I’m there, it would be incredible to take some pics for you. Really.

jeez. and Jane austen.

My son’s partner is working at Pine Ridge for the next couple of months finishing up her clinical experience her for Nurse Practitioner and Midwife programs.

The poverty and addiction problems are terrible. We behaved and continue to behave shamefully toward the first peoples.

Thank you!
Ruth, there’s this cool ethnic book store near me, and on the equinoxes and solstices, they have a fair and drum dances. I try not to miss them. They are incredible. I’m usually the only blond in the crowd.
I try to buy most presents I get from their store. Really cool books and jewelry.

I’ll email you. It has the family surname in it and because of Family that works in that geometric building I can’t share publicly.

That is a treasure of an “inheritance”. Most of us have not the slightest information of our family heritage going back that far! I hope you will be able to make that trip!

Time for me to go, my niece and her grandfather are coming for a visit and I’m here in my barn clothes, smelling of goat!

Wonderful day, all, and thank you again Ruth for a great morning.

ohmmmm

My father was the surveyor who bought up the land to make Lake Texoma, part of it was a Choctaw village.

I’m here in my barn clothes, smelling of goat!

You say that likes it’s a bad thing. :)

Tis, my friend. Have a bountiful day.

I really do not know of any particular Native American ancestry… if any. Just family talking so the DNA thing would be hard to tie it to. If I were to craft it into something as logical as possible I would say that I had probably grown up with some Cherokee artifacts, that were unknown as such to me at the time, so they just became a less consciously divided from “me” part of my world. Dunno though.

Yay. I’ll keep it to myself.

I have a serious thing about textiles too. Any type in particular?

Okay, now it’s down to a few, so I’ll tell you all an aunt traced our ancestry, and tho I don’t credit much I am hopefully proud of Quaker ancestors who were part of the underground railroad that sent freed slaves north. But is it true? I would like it to be.

I’ve Cherokee in my line.

It has been noted in many history books that the Brits and those that came to America found the female native Indian to be magical in beauty. Far outweighing the merits of European facial features. (grins)

You can make it true. Just accept it as true. Why not?
The force is strong in you, Ruth.

But, you’re not rating, are you?

(preens a bit too)

Wow! I am starting to rely more on story history than what is written down. While I understand that the story gets manipulated depending on the circumstance, the basics pretty much remain.

Thanks, it’s part of growing old and being comfortable so far with what I am, maybe.

LOL! No. No, no and no. Hah!

I’ve often laughed at the Pocohantus tales. Family history proves it to be seated in some truth.

I’ve heard people say It may not have happened exactly that way, but the story is true.

Good. I’m thinking of what Captain Picard said, Make it so, number one.

Ruth, what a great topic, who we are and where we come from!

I have to say, the scientific perspective was put into my mind last night, with a lovely woman on Charlie Rose (I always check his guests – most of the time turn him off) obsessed by particle physics. (I felt sad when his question ‘Do you believe in immortality?’ was answered with a smirk and the usual ‘if it isn’t provable it doesn’t exist.’ There she sat, miraculously composed of myriads of particles which she can’t yet scientifically identify and admits honestly that she probably never will, her sense of wonder compressed into a search for maybe one of them.

So, I am thinking, as some have expressed here, that where we come from and what we are do seem to be fused in the miracle of our actual present being, mind and soul inhabiting flesh and blood, fused in some unknown (to us) way that we, unthinkingly even, can exist, breathing in and out, thinking extraneous thoughts or simply having delights, taking for granted the many busy particles putting their tiny energies into a community of housebuilding (economy) every instant of each of our existences.

And I think, it probably isn’t provable for any one of us to exist, but we so don’t concern ourselves about our unprovability; we so take it for granted.

Do find a way to use your voice. The human voice is the best of all possible instruments. Of course, it helps if you think someone is listening, but a teacher once told me that every word we utter vibrates out into the universe, and the ancients did believe in the music of the spheres. If it is a gift that we have, we ought not to waste it, even if there is no apparent audience.

“Do you have a tradition that really interests you, and makes you glad to be part of it? I’m working on it.”

The way I do is I have my own little chapel – a shrine would work as well, whatever moves you in a personal way so that you are communicating with something outside yourself. And just sing there, at least. That’s my tradition, and I also paint icons, which I absolutely love to do. Getting started on some this morning in fact.

LOL! I should say “haunt us” instead.

Okay, I have to get things done now, but you are wonderful and I’m so glad to visit with you – and will be gone from Sept 28 to Nov 15 so you will have some one else here.

Excellent post, Ruth.

Hugs!

Thank you. If we don’t accept that we are each incredible at least sometimes, that’s unbearable, isn’t it. Yes, I sing sometimes just for myself and it makes me happy.

You are such a good friend. For a long time, now.

Absolutely. Thanks, dear friend.

We’ll chat later, cutie pie.

Please give us updates, if you can, on her experience.

Glad to hear that you sing for your self, Ruth. Keep those vibes coming!

Unfortunately I don’t have time to read the whole thread, as interesting as it is. I did get a little beyond demi’s comment.

demi, I recommend to you Quantum by Manjit Kumar. It is the story of the origins of the study of quantum physics.

I have one other comment before I go. I am probably as mixed as most everyone else here is. I resent questions on documents that I must fill out, but don’t give me the choice to answer “human” or “American.” That is especially maddening on computer based forms.