Homodox

Remember When?

I was helping a student last night with a project. He needed Library of Congress subject headings and we used both the books and the online catalog. While using the catalog, he wondered why when he clicked on a title he got an alphabetical listing of titles. I asked him if he had ever used a paper card catalog and he said no. Wow. If you've never used an old-fashioned card catalog before it wouldn't necessarily make sense to see how the online version mimics the paper version. He was probably a 1-L, undergrad of 2007, high school class of 2003, and therefore a member of an emerging generation that always had computers and online card catalogs.

It has me thinking that I'll be someone who remembers records and hifis, dial telephones, black and white TVs, and a myriad of other things now past.

First Do No Harm

Perhaps we expect too much from doctors.  If they are competent scientists, diagnosticians, surgeons, one can hardly expect them to be great communicators as well.  My current run-in has to do with a brilliant orthopedic surgeon in Boston.  My feet and ankles began having pain as long as ten years ago.  About five years ago it began to get worse until in 2004, I had to stop exercising.  That is, no more aerobic exercising such as jogging or elliptical work.  It has now progressed to daily non-stop pain and I limp more often than I actually walk.

Step one:  Convince my primary care physician in HMO-land that I needed help.  That took two years and quite frankly, I circumvented him.  I'm sure he still does not believe me.  I got the name of an excellent physical therapist who took a look and suggested the above-mentioned orthopedic surgeon.  He books appointments six weeks out.  Appointment #1 was November 5th.  A look at x-rays (done that day) and after consulting with another doctor, I was sent to get an MRI.  I got said MRI and had appointment #2.  I clearly recall him saying this is how the bone should look, but it doesn't, but most of the conversation was not with me but with another doctor in front of me.  Results:  I need a CAT SCAN.  It is now scheduled as is appointment #3. 

It was like being a lab rat.  Me, the person, was completely immaterial to what could be causing the problems bilaterally.  You see, it's happening on both my feet.   And it's between my cuneiform and cuboid which are two of the bones that make up your foot [I looked that up later].  I actually don't yet know what's wrong.  The conversation was about me and in front of me, but not to me.  I'll find out I suppose at some point.

Dear Abby

Of all the GCNers, I felt an avuncular bond with one, Trey D., a teenager from, in his own words, nowhere Ohio.  Liking Trey is easy.  He's intelligent, witty, good head on his shoulders, funny, and poetic.  He writes poetry that actually sounds like poetry rather than the normal teenage angst poetry which is pretty much garbage.  Recently he posted (I can read over Michael's shoulder still) on an encounter at a restaurant in said nowhere, Ohio, where an older (Trey guessed about 30 years old) man who had a waiter slip Trey his phone number after he had left.  Well, no surprise, the GCNers were out and commenting, and the first post said gross.

I was furious, but being persona non grata, I'm hardly in a position to do anything about it.  But, oh,  how this sums up my feelings for GCN.  It's nice that it exists so that these conservative Christians have a place to go that is indeed healthier than committing suicide or (worse) an ex-Gay ministry.  However, I'm not sure they will ever rise above being self-loathing gay people who lead a life of unhappiness, low self-esteem, and failed relationships.  Maybe I failed my calling because I need to be there to provide balance for kids like Trey.  Now I'm not.

A guy gives you a phone number in a discrete way--that's a good thing!  Before (ass)uming he only wants sex, perhaps he saw you as being gay and wanted to be FRIENDS.  How many gay people are there in nowhere, Ohio?  Maybe you look older than 17 1/2 and wanted to date you.  He certainly didn't embarrass or out you in the presence of your friends and sister.  Big points for that.  In any case, there's so many ways to read the situation, you can hardly get it right without calling the dude up and asking what his intentions were/are.  I think it was a delightful and innocent thing.  It may even have been (gasp) a God-send [remember the joke with the punchline: I sent you a car, a boat, and a helicopter, what more did you want?]. 

Reading the responses at GCN (18 at last count) only one or two had any wisdom.  GCN: the blind leading the blind.

Genealogical Karma

I truly believe in genealogical karma.  I've always believed that if I keep helping people with their research, that someday, someone will help me with mine.  It happens all too infrequently, but when it does it is glorious.  My identification of Finley Sinclair as the father of Catherine (Sinclair) Smyth was done by deduction.  I had her name from both her marriage record and her son's death certificate.  I had her ages as given on the 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, and 1891 Canadian censuses.  I had her burial record, which didn't give her parents names.  In fact nothing gave her parents.  There were two Sinclairs in that time and place: Finley and Patrick.  Each were granted land in the year 1827.  Finley notes on his application that he was married with children, whereas Patrick notes that he was single.  Ergo, Finley must be the father.  I know that for certain now due to the kindness of Michael Sinclair, who copied the parish records of Dunluce, Co. Antrim, Ireland where on 29 August 1819, Catherine, daughter of Finlay (sic) Sinclair was baptized.  It's nice to be right, it's even nicer to have solid genealogical proof.  Thanks, Michael.

Sinclairs

Despite my researching each and every name in my ancestry, the limitations of time and money mean you can't possibly get to everyone.  One thing the Internet does do well, is bringing people together who have common research goals.  In that way, it does live up to its name of the World Wide Web.  My 4th-great-grandmother was Catherine (Sinclair) Smyth, the daughter of Finley Sinclair (1785-1859) and Martha Lawrence (1789-1877) who hailed from Northern Ireland, probably County Antrim, and moved in the 1820s to New Brunswick, Canada.  Clearly, part of the Scots-Irish enclave, their ancestors were likely from Scotland and came to Antrim in the 1600s at some point.  So, how many name changes between Sinclair and Hollick? Five.  But Finley had four brothers and several sons of his own, so there are several modern Sinclairs who are searching for this family.  Most people like to research their own surname.  It's great when you can hitch your research wagon on to theirs.  So people in places diverse at the U.S., Canada, Ireland, and Scotland have banded together (over five people) to do some research on these families.  It's quite exciting.  One of them is a newly retired man surnamed Sinclair who spent last summer in Antrim doing research.  I'm awaiting his results!

John Pratt

I can trace my father's parents' surnames back to my 6th great grandparents, one Georg Holic born about 1700, whose name is on his son's baptism in 1730; and Pavel Chodur born about 1745, whose name is on his son's baptism in 1770.  On my mother's father's side I can go back to my 9th great grandfather (with a tentative identification of my 10th), one Richard Pinkham, born about 1613.  However, her mother's family was surnamed Pratt.  It is an interesting name.  Ethnically it can be English, Irish, Scottish or even French when spelled Pratte.  It was the 36th most common surname in early New England.  My line peters out at my 5th great-grandfather, John Pratt, born about 1760.  All I can be sure of is that he married Martha Archibald, the daughter of Samuel and Eleanor (Taylor) Archibald about 1785 or so in Londonderry, Nova Scotia.  By 1790, he was in Stewiacke, where he is taxed and calls for a minister.  He may be alive in 1838 in a census, but is certainly dead before Nova Scotia Vital Records begin in 1860.  Where did he come from?  Was he from the colonies, a loyalist?  Was he Scottish or Scots-Irish and a new arrival?  Certainly, he married such a person.  He appears in the following works, much of which are based on each other: Stewiacke: The Centenary Celebration (Truro, NS, 1902, reprint 1973); Planters and Pioneers Nova Scotia 1749 to 1775 by Esther Clark Wright; History of Colchester County by Thomas Miller (1873); Janet Fisher Archibald in Nova Scotia by Margaret Janet Hart.  Deeds give no indication of a previous whereabout.  He leaves no probate.  There is no newspaper or vital record of his death giving his age.  Because his name is John and the Pratt name is more common than I knew, I'll probably never find his parents.  So, of the big four surnames of my grandparents, Pratt has turned out to be the toughest to research.

Oscar Race

The only proper way to predict the Oscars is to do so before December when the Golden Globe nominations come out. For Best Actor there's a good chance that it will be either Johnny Depp for Sweeney Todd or Javier Bardem for No Country For Old Men. Depp has two nominations already and a remarkable career. This may be the role that does it for him. Certainly, Sweeney has won a Tony for Len Cariou and an Emmy for George Hearn. Javier has one nomination and has a double whammy in movies with No Country and Love in the Times of Cholera. Double feature roles usually does well for winning Oscars (think Michael Douglas who won for Wall Street, but the hit of that year was Fatal Attraction.

Best Actress may be another win for Nicole Kidman who has back to back movies as well: The Golden Compass and Margot at the Wedding. However, don't count out French actress Marion Cotillard for her performance as Edith Piaf. The Academy has been handing out Oscars for bio-pics alot recently (Jaime Foxx, Reese Witherspoon, etc.).

Otherwise, the Coen Brothers seem prepared to take Best Director/Best Picture for No Country. We'll see what happens!

Someone Agrees With Me

Thanks to the pols on Beacon Hill, the Massachusetts primary got moved up to Super Tuesday, February 5th.  My vote may count after all!

Presidential Political Trivia

In case you didn't know it by now, 2008 is the first time in 80 years that an incumbent president or vice president is not seeking its party's nomination.  In 1928, Calvin Coolidge declined to run and so did his vice president, Charles Gates Dawes [the last vice president before Al Gore to win the Nobel Peace Prize].  The republican nomination went to Coolidge's Secretary of Commerce, Herbert Hoover, who beat Al Smith in the general election. America wasn't ready for a Catholic president in 1928. 

George W. Bush is the 43rd U.S. president, although only 42 men have held the office (we count Grover Cleveland twice as nos. 22 and 24, respectively).  All presidents up to now have been male, white, all but one protestant (JFK), and all ostensibly heterosexual (with the possible exceptions of James Buchanan and Abraham Lincoln, both of whom have had their sexual orientation questioned historically post facto).  Only  one president was previously divorced [Reagan].  A pretty homogenous club thus far.  In 2008 we can explode that by race, gender, number of times married, and religion.

The only time we have had three successive two-term presidents was from 1801-1825, nos. 3 to 5, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe.  This has a chance of happening for the second time if whoever is elected in 2008, is re-elected in 2012. [Special mention can be made that FDR and Truman won five successive elections and held office from 1933-1953, but that's still four years less.]

Barack Obama, if elected, will be the first black U.S.president, but not the first one with ancestors born in Africa. That honor goes to FDR whose British ancestors include several born in Tangier. Barack will be the first with sub-Saharan African ancestry.

Paradoxically, Obama will not be a descendant of slaves.  However, he will join the ranks of presidents descended from slaveholders.  His mother's ancestors owned slaves in the South.  Nine presidents owned slaves and another nine are descended from slave owners.  That's 18 out of 42.

Happy Thanksgiving

Today I am thankful that I will not be in car, nor have I been in car at all, to travel to wherever, sitting in a major traffic jam or waiting for delayed flights.  I am most grateful for my friend Chris, who despite having one of the more demanding jobs on the planet, loves to cook and entertain, and will be feeding me this afternoon.  This is, at least, the fourth time I've enjoyed the hospitality of Chris and Drew on Thanksgiving.  I know I was there in 2005 when I had just returned to Boston from California.  I know I was there in 1998 when Michael spent the holiday with his folks in San Francisco, and I suspect that I was there at least once or twice before that.  Last Thanksgiving (2006) I was in Maine with my family having driven up early that morning.  It would be the last time I saw my grandfather alive.  That parallels with the Thanksgiving of 1995, also spent in Maine, the last time I saw my Great-uncle Warren alive.  In 2001, I spent that Thanksgiving in New Jersey.  The next day was my 20th high school reunion and I spent part of the Saturday staring at Ground Zero, still smoldering two and a half months later.  The first non-family Thanksgiving I had was in 1983 in Germany.  All I can say about that is an American holiday, built on American food, needs to be cooked by an American cook with American recipes, and spent, preferably in America.  Happy Thanksgiving to all.