Month: March 2025

The family tree in Ilene's baby book names three of the four pairs of great-grandparents, with the spaces for Grumpy's parents names left blank.

Flash Memoir #2 (of 5) – Returning to My Trees: Transplanting My Rhizomes

Dod yn ôl at Fy Nghoed [Returning to my trees] –  a Welsh proverb advocating a “return to balanced state of mind” blank line Rhizomatic thinking is an attempt to give a picture for showing how seemingly unconnected things can actually form meaningful connections for us.  – Dave Cormier, glossary on rhizomatic learning and curriculum *** *** *** The 2018 Ancestry DNA spit test situating me … Continue reading Flash Memoir #2 (of 5) – Returning to My Trees: Transplanting My Rhizomes

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Gram's hands hiding her face, and smiling

Flash Memoir #1 (of 5) – Never forget the hands that raised you

“We help the dead to inhabit death; they help us to inhabit life.  We are as much their angels as they are ours.” – Greg Mogenson, Greeting the Angels On 28 August 2024, I began the week’s transition out of the teaching and learning position I started that same day in 2000, then a week after Pops died.  At retirement, I found myself walking back … Continue reading Flash Memoir #1 (of 5) – Never forget the hands that raised you

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We're all stories in the end. Just make it a good one. The Doctor

Flash Memoir #3 (of 5) – 20 Questions

Old stories and new stories are essential: They tell us who we are, and they enable us to survive. We thank all the ancestors, and we thank all those people who keep on telling stories generation after generation, because if you don’t have the stories, you don’t have anything. –  Leslie Marmon Silko You likely know the “20 Questions” guessing game process that revolves around … Continue reading Flash Memoir #3 (of 5) – 20 Questions

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Edna Stafford's handwritten notes setting out names and dates for her parents' births/deaths, as well as those for her father's parents.

On (Not) Going Missing

Partly on thinking about Eve Sturges’ journal question “How Has This Experience Changed the Way You See the People Who Raised You?” In early 2018, Kathy, a newly identified maternal cousin Ancestry match, sent a message asking whether I might be able to answer some questions about her mother’s 1934 birth or adoption, maybe even about the person listed as birth mother. I could help … Continue reading On (Not) Going Missing

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