Saturday Serendipity (April 4, 2020)

Here are some suggested reads, a listen, and a watch for you this sequestered weekend .  .  .

1.   Today is the anniversary of both the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the birthday of poet Maya Angelou.  You might want to read King's "Letter From Birmingham Jail" essay, which you can access here.  And you can listen to Maya Angelou's famous inaugural poem " On the Pulse of Morning" here on YouTube.

2.   Jacqi Stevens, of A Family Tapestry blog, writes this week of Rosie the Riveter and Victory Gardens in a short post for these sequestered times.  My wife, Molly, has been spending much of her time during our sequestration these last few weeks at her sewing machine cranking out masks for local hospitals, so Jacqi's post was a relevant read.  Read Jacqi's post here.

3.  Janine Adams, of Organize Your Family History blog, posted about a rotation of FREE webinars from Legacy Family Tree during the month of April.  You can read more about this great opportunity and the webinar themes here.  

4.   Peter Muise, of NEW ENGLAND FOLKLORE blog, continues a witch meme with "The Witch of North Pepperell," about a long-abandoned village in Massachusetts.  This story is most interesting because it supposedly took place in 1820!  You can read the post here.   

5.   Elizabeth Handler, of From Maine to Kentucky blog, posted this week about colorizing old back and white photos.  My Heritage is offering for FREE for a few weeks only their tool for colorinzing photos, "My Heritage in Color."  You can read about this offer, get a link, and view some of the photo results posted by Elizabeth by going here.  It is amazing what colorization adds to a vintage photo.  Without diminishing in any way the impact and importance of the original photo, colorization adds another dimension to the experience of viewing long-gone ancestors, relatives, and places.  

6.   What exactly qualifies as a family heirloom?  This can be a very difficult and emotionally laden question.  Marian Burk Wood, of Climbing My Family Tree blog, contemplates this question and presents an example of one item that has not made the cut.  Read Marian's post here and see if you agree with her decision. [1]  Your thoughts on whether or not you agree will probably help you grapple with the question about your own heirloom candidates. 

7.   And finally, a documentary on YouTube that is a relevant historical reminder to all of us that we have survived a time like this before and that it affected all of us by how it affected our ancestors and relatives at the time.  These times will also affect our descendants and relatives, so we should recall and record.  The documentary is serious and factual and takes 40 minutes of your time, but it is a relevant, informative and a diversion from the usual TV and movie fare.  You can access the 1918 Influenza pandemic documentary that covers where it began, how and where it spread, the symptoms, and how it affected America by going here.  

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

[1]  I think if the little red bench were mine I would be hard pressed to part with it.  I have a similar little bench I made in shop when I was in the 7th grade.  It has been around for over 50 years serving no great purpose other than as an occasion foot rest under my desk, a magazine or plant holder, etc., but it is a constant fixture that would be missed if it were absent.  More to the point, however,  is a rocking cradle I made in our garage as we awaited the arrival of our first-born child.  He slept in it beside our bed for quite a while and we could reach down and rock it when he fussed.  His brother slept in it too when he arrived two years later.  More recently, both our granddaughters spent time in it during their infancies.  Between children it sometimes resided in the attic and sometimes was on display containing extra blankets, small pillows etc.  Before it was given to our older son for his daughters, I used my wood burning tool to inscribe on the bottom the birthdates and names of the children who had slept in the cradle and later added the birthdates and names of our grnddaughters.  If and when our younger son has children the cradle will go to him and additional inscriptions will be added.  If the cradle were the little red bench and had been used by siblings to reach the sink, etc., and had then been used by other generations of children, I think I would inscribe the bottom with the facts and pass it on as long as it remained sturdy and safe to use.  AND it would make for a nice little story for the kids that would slyly introduce them to genealogy without them even suspecting! 😀

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Copyright 2020, John D. Tew

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _