old blog postings from My Space

Thursday, May 24, 2007
an email response from my friend in VA who does a lot of ancestry genealogical stuff... family from the Mayflower so she's very interested. Here in VA during the 1920s and 30s, under influence of the eugenics movement [taken to extremes by Hitler], if you claimed to have any native blood in you, you could be imprisoned for a year.
Records the state had of native matters were destroyed. Even the notion of being part native was discouraged- "1% Laws" [in other Southern states too] were passed that if you were so much as 1% non-white, you were officially classed as "colored", which could mean part black, part native, part anything not white. And so you and your family were officially listed forevermore. Makes it very hard, sometimes, to do genealogy- is this person 2/3 black, or 4% native, all native, half native and half black- what exactly does their being "colored" mean?? Except the many proud descendants of John Rolfe and Pocahontas, which included many prominent Virginians, squawked about the imprisonment and labeling thing, so there was an exception made for her descendants! But in general Virginia Indians had no past left, records going back to colonial times were destroyed; they could be jailed for even saying they were Indian. If this was similar to out west, it is understandable that the older generation tries to hide it. Their lives must have had some very rough experiences. Btw that's one problem I have here, too- the "burn counties" where court records were burned by the Union troops during the Civil War... including one county that I think is critical in my searching.

A bunch of records from the late 1600s, for the county next to Richmond, where my early Cardwells lived, were also destroyed by fire. You should check out some online resources, there is a lot on native genealogies, much more for out west and more recently, than I can find from 350 years ago in VA!! You might be surprised. In a lot of cases they have tried to recreate lost records thru genealogists, personal records, church archives, copies, etc.
9:38 PM -

Ancestry
I found my folder I got from Oxford ancestors when I got tested for the Seven Daughters of Eve study. My clan mother's name was Ina. Ina found one of the four major clans which colonized North and South America from Easter Asia about 12K years ago. Her descendants moved around the coast of Siberia and Alaska to reach the Great Plains. From there they spread out to reach all parts of North America and later to Central and South America.

Her clan is also prominent among Indonesia and Polynesia. funny my family never officially claimed any native American tribe, mostly because of the stigma of being Indian was for them even as recent as my parent's generation. They distanced themselves as much as possible from being Indian as far as they could.

But we all know, if anyone's family was here in the Americas for over 5 generations, they have native blood in them at some point. Part of all of the problems I had in the past with doing genealogy for my family has come from the lack of records for native families. When I used to look for that type of thing in my 20s, I found one wall after another. at one point, I gave up when I found that the church where all of the family's records were kept in southern Colorado burned to the ground in the 1850's, I knew that I’d have to be a lot more persistent than I was willing to be at that time.

Today I was taking an ad from a woman who works for the State. She sent me the ad while we chatted, was so easy to talk to. She had the same type of voice as one of my relatives. Could be the reason we just hit it off. But she sent her ad to me and she was a Barela. I said, hey me too! We both decided we must be related since her family is from southern Colorado like mine. She said she would send me info on what her family discovered about the Barela name, she said the Barelas were barrel makers in Spain and came with the early Spanish. I am very curious what she has.

I have conflicting info on the name Barela, there was a place in Galicia Spain that many Barelas are from, and they were knife sharpeners. There also is a large group of Barelas from Italy as well. I know so little about my mom's family. They are so secretive. My great grandma was kidnapped by her husband and brought Colorado. They don't like talking about it so they were very tight on info.

I went to the Oxford ancestor's site and looked in the database for Ina clan, which is matri line of my genetic testing results. Very interesting there were people from the southwest US, Chihuahua Mexico (where great gradma lived before being taken to Colorado) and several were from Japan!???!! I'd read some info once about an Indian tribe in NM, I think it might be Zuni, because now I can't find the info again, but it was how they found direct genetic ancestry to the Japanese. What is interesting in that Ina isn't directly Japanese, but more Eurasia/and Polynesian?

The more I read about genetics the more I'm fascinated. I thought of getting a masters in anthrop/ genetic anthropology. I looked a little about that little thing I'd heard about if you've been in Americas for 5 generations, then you have some native blood in you. My friend Annette who's Lakota, told me that bit, I always just thought, yeah that sounds right. But that maybe right for this part of the US where we were just so recently part of the US, my grandmother Barela was alive when New Mexico became part of the US. My great grandma was alive when it was still Spain. . So yeah, we've had a lot of mixing going on here. Found there's even a word for it…Miscegenation. 9:02 pm

Monday, May 21, 2007
Qigong- sounds interesting.
Category: Sports
I am looking for a Qigong class in my town. There are some in the larger town 30 min. away. I just finished Chuinyi Lin's book "Born a Healer". I am not going to rave about it, not sure why Amazon readers gave it so many 5 star ratings. But it got me inspired to look for a class. I used to take tai chi years ago. I really enjoyed it, but there isn't even a class anymore for that. Santa Fe is 40 miles and that's ok, but I really don't want to spend the gas to go there often. Anyone have a suggestion on something else? Is there a book for self teaching? A DVD? In the mean time, I signed up for a workshop in July that goes for 3 days. I am thinking this might be a good substitute until I find a class. 2:43 PM -

Saturday, May 12, 2007 returning to one's self

Spent the morning reading short stories. Normally I don't like fiction; in fact I haven't read a lot of fiction lately because I don't like reading things that are impossible or improbable. But I finally figured out something about why I used to like it: fiction is like a listening to an interesting conversation with people, telling stories about themselves. Fiction can be interesting, and I can be drawn into a great story with a great narrative so easily. I read a lot of fiction in the past. More books than I can recall. Then I stopped. I have also stopped the self-conversation I used to have all the time with myself because I stopped feeling like listening to me. I haven't figured out where that relationship went.

But I have listened more to other people, I am less self-absorbed and will interact with people on a regular basis. I came to this conclusion because I am down and have been pulling into my shell. I don't want to be around other people, I don't want talk to them. It feels like I'm putting too much out there if I'm sharing myself with others. I find I am reading and contemplating a lot more than in the past. I found the best way to get through feeling down is to write. And why burden a friend with your thoughts. Funny thought though, if a friend reads the thoughts, they'd be interested. But friends generally are uncomfortable with physical, in person "sharing" with them. I think it's because with reading you're not required to give an answer. You can just read and go on your way. And perhaps even drop a note in return.

I used to love to write. I would write daily, spent many hours writing short stories for myself. Have many filled journals. And I stopped about 3 years ago. And I don't do that anymore, I think because my outlet is now with other people, socially I do more with people than I’ve done in many years. I have to find a happy medium. No withdrawing like a turtle completely, but don't give up that conversation with myself I’ve been missing for the past few years. Maybe bogs can be the best of both worlds. They allow a person to be social and to be contemplative. 3:21 PM -

Wednesday, April 18, 2007 So. Do you miss the bookstore? Category: Jobs, Work, Careers People ask me all the time, and do you miss owning your own business. And for a long time I could honestly say no. I don't miss it. I don't miss the long hours, I don't miss the anxiety, and I don't miss the unpredictability coming to paying next month's rent like it was towards the end. Then suddenly I miss the bookstore. I realize what I miss now are my friends who were my customers too. I don't see the same people anymore. People who would come in and just talk, sometimes we'd wonder if they had to work ever because I’d get to talk to them so much. But I really miss that type of interaction, the discussion of books, and the discussion of ideas and then I miss giving people book recommendations. But, Honestly, I don't think I could go back to that level of anxiety again where I was 3 years ago. I have come to love the 9-5 life; it's the first job like this for me in about 20 years. 2:53 PM

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Kiva.org I found this post in Mental Floss Magazine’s Blog: I really think you all would be interested in this as well. http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/date/2006/12/ "Westerners with a little extra cash (and a philanthropic bent) meet needy third-worlders looking for low-interest micro loans. Inspired by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning efforts of microfinance guru Mummamad Yunus, San Francisco-based nonprofit Kiva.org lists the profiles of small business owners in the developing world (or those who'd like to start a small business), and the profiles of donors who've lent money to them.

It's a bit like child sponsorship, except there's comparatively little overhead, and according to Kiva, a greater than 95% chance you'll get your money back." So I went there, and I Tried looking without clicking, "Lend". But, in the end, I just felt compelled. The woman I decided to lend to only needed only $25 more dollars to start her used clothing business: What could I do? Location: Ugunja , Kenya Activity: Used Clothing Loan Amount: $200.00 Loan Use: I will use the money to diversify and expand my business. Repayment Term: 6 - 9 months Status: Raised Partner Rep: Rogers Otieno Partner: SEED Development Group I am a single woman, mother of 2. I sell second-hand clothes. With this loan my life will improve because I'll be able to meet the basic needs of my children and pay their school fees. 9:47 PM -

Sunday, January 21, 2007 duck goes wintering Category: Pets and Animals TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Jan 20, 2007 (AP)— Neither gunfire nor two days in a refrigerator could slay this duck. When the wife of the hunter who shot it opened the refrigerator door, the duck lifted its head, giving her a scare. The man's wife "was going to check on the refrigerator because it hadn't been working right and when she opened the door, it looked up at her," said Laina Whipple, a receptionist at Killearn Animal Hospital. "She freaked out and told the daughter to take it to the hospital right then and there." --------- So they shoot the duck, when it lives they decide to take it to the vet??? 12:44 AM -

Saturday, January 13, 2007 my dream life Category: Dreams and the Supernatural I had a dream that troubled me last night, maybe you can see some symbolism in it. I was driving, getting away from someone chasing me, had Leia and her friends in the car and we came to a road that was littered with animals. I couldn't stop soon enough and ran over ducks and kittens. I was devastated. Woke up horrified with myself. I really wasn't all that upset when I was being chased, just a feeling of being determined to get away. 3:13 PM -

Friday, January 12, 2007 Stuff from last weekend Category: Movies, TV, Celebrities I saw Office Space again after many other times. It's one of those repeat-watching movies. I resisted it at first. It was one of those things that several people had told me about, but didn't think I'd like because it would be too cheesy or something, not quite sure what I can say what I think makes a movie bad. But I am happy that I've added it to my list of "good Friday night movies", something to unwind with after a long crummy week.

To that list I'd add, Monty Python/Holy Grail, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, My Neighbor Totoro, and recently Millions. I also saw late at night on IFC, Hear my Song. It had been so long since I'd seen it that I totally forgotten most of it. The Cow and the Well Scene seems to be the only thing of that movie I remembered of it, the rest was totally forgotten. Was that really Ned Beatty singing? I added Hurricane to my Netflix queue recently because Annette LT recommended that to me once. She thinks it is amazing, but I keep pushing it downward on the list on my Netflix queue.

I think a couple of other people too, recommended it so it's time to watch it. I have several movies in my queue I can't even remember why or when I put them on there, and then eventually they just get dropped. Probably the thing to do is just watch them in the order I add them, and don't mess with the order! Else I might be missing out on something good... Another Annette recommendation, " Once Were Warriors" I've put on my list of ethnic must see type movies. . It's pretty gritty and the domestic violence is very real. My friend felt it was similar to the circumstances she knew on the reservation in South Dakota. The movie takes place in New Zealand the tribe is Maori. It made an impression on me, but it didn't speak to me like it does for her experience, I'm sure. I appreciated it though.

She also likes Sherman Alexie for that reason as well, and we're very much in agreement on his books. Fun and quirky. Quirky I do well with.. I am very partial to quirky and in fact, I am a bit off kilter quirky. I'd rather be called that than uh hmmm... eccentric. . I look forward to quirky in movies; don't like quirky in books much. I think it's too forced, and comes across rather labored and makes me painfully aware of how hard they are working at it; it seems to be better suited for the visual arts.

Confederacy of Dunces comes straight to mind as an example. The characters were actually over the top in how eccentric the author was trying to make them. I was thoroughly irritated by them the whole time, but I have little or no patience for someone who labors at being quirky. If they make it a task for themselves to be funny/quirky, it isn't so any good recommends would be greatly appreciated here. Any. Any at all. Thank you.