Archive for the 'Family' Category

My cousin is appearing in the upcoming movie Iron Man. Released this coming weekend, I will be attending a sneak preview tonight courtesy of a co-worker who was unable to use a ticket he received.

My cousin, apparently, will be Press Reporter #4. At the current moment, I know nothing more than that.

This gives him a Stan Lee Number of 1, since Stan Lee is of course making his usual cameo in Marvel Universe movies.

He already had a Kevin Bacon Number of 1 (if you count television appearances, since he apepared on the same episode of Will and Grace as KB…the final episode)

Now the time is here
for Iron Man to spread fear
Vengeance from the grave
Kills the people he once saved

[Movie Trivia Note: Gwyneth Paltrow is the godsister of Drew Barrymore. I’m not sure that term is used very often, but they apparently share the same godfather - Steven Spielberg]

I received an email a little earlier today:

Subject: John Newmark added you as a friend on Facebook…
Body: John added you as a friend on Facebook. We need you to confirm that you are, in fact, friends with John.

To confirm this friend request, follow the link below:
[link]

Thanks,
The Facebook Team

—
Yes, I have an account on Facebook.
No, I didn’t send myself a friend request.
I’m not *that* desperate.

My first thought was this was a spam message. I’ve gotten messages *supposedly* sent from myself before. But usually I want me to buy drugs in those messages, and usually I ignore them. Because I was taught to just say no.

So I didn’t click on the email link. Too risky, that. I just typed Facebook’s URL into my browser by hand. And voila - there was a friend request waiting for me. From myself. Though the picture next to my request didn’t look like me.

So I sent myself a message. Thought about quoting Admiral Stockdale. “Who am I and what am I doing here?” But I went for something a little more mundane.

We shall see how I respond.

(There are those who say that talking to oneself is ok, as long as you don’t answer. I might be in trouble.)

1) Health

Good health is relative. In January of 1986, at age 17, I lay in a hospital bed paralyzed from the neck down. As I slowly recovered from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, through observation of other patients at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, I realized I was lucky. I spent four months of my life in the hospital, then a few more months in a wheelchair, a few more with a walker/cane, but by September I was walking on my own.

Today, I am not in as good of shape as I’d like to be. I’d like to lose about twenty pounds. But beyond being overweight, I am generally healthy, for which I am thankful.

2) Close Family

Talking with others, I know my family is unusual. We are all speaking with one another, we get along well, and there’s no one I can think of in my extended family – parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins – who I have to put up a false front to get along with whenever I see them. On the contrary, if asked about each of my relatives, I think I would put a check mark by each one and say that I would rather see them more often, than less often.

3) Friends

I have developed a lot of good friendships over the past fifteen years in the science fiction fan community, as well as through my writer’s group, and at poetry open mics. At my high school’s twentieth reunion in September I was reminded that I had for the most part lost all contact with my high school friends. There are some signs that some of those friendships could be reestablished.

Today I learned Patrick Swayze is possibly my 7th cousin. This is much more likely than my relationship to Chaucer. Though my line intersects with his before it branches off towards Geoffrey, making Patrick as much of a direct descendant as I am. I’m not sure Patrick realizes this.

Discovered this book while doing a search online for the surname “Newmark”

Why you may ask? There’s a character in the novel named “I.D. Newmark.” Not too surprising, since Victor Gold (a ‘Republican flack‘) is cousin to the late Dr. ID Newmark, who passed away 1 year prior to the book’s publication. Both of them are nephews of my great-grandfather Barney who I’ve spoken of before.

Most bios of Gold say he grew up in Louisiana, which is true, but he was born in East St. Louis. Despite my disagreement with his politics, it’s nice to see he ‘Tuckerized‘ a relative. I might have to buy the book. Since it is out of print, and I would be getting it used, none of my money would be going to Cheney, or Gold.

If I were really interested in torturing myself, I’d buy the autobiography of George HW that Vic helped out with Looking Foward; at least The Body Politic is fiction. Vic’s latest non-fiction, Invasion of the Party Snatchers suggests he might have some common sense.

And I must admit, I find the below funny:

Ebay Auction: Bid on a “Six Degrees Swag Bag” autographed by Ben Newmark. 100% of all proceeds go to chairty. Bidding starts at $9.99.

(He was the star of the Academy Award winning film, West Bank Story)

A few other autographed swag bags are also being auctioned, including two signed by Kevin Bacon, and one by Kevin Sorbo.

Alamasu, Romania
County: Salaj
Hungarian alternate names: Varalmas; Nagyalmas
Jewish population 1900: 51
Jewish population 1910: 35
Jewish population 1930: 30
Most of the decline in those twenty years may be attributable to one 8 member family. However, there may have been more than three births, and additional departures.
Jewish population after 1944 transport to Auschwitz: 0 (source)

For personal reasons, I’m glad that family made it out. The year was 1912. My grandfather was 4. He remembered little, but an older brother, Ted, had obtained a sixth grade education before leaving. At least, that’s what he claimed in a note to the government that provided a translation of my grandfather’s birth certificate which they had obtained from Nagyalmas, and which revealed the information my grandfather had previoulsy given as his birth date was incorrect.

I recently discovered a school report I did in fifth grade on my grandfather’s immigration. I opened it without thinking I’d find much of interest. My sister had done a similar school report for the same teacher, and I knew we had been allowed to ‘make things up’. The purpose wasn’t to find out information about our family, but to show we had an understanding of the ‘immigrant experience.’

But, unlike my sister’s which was a pseudo-diary of my great-grandmother, and even the ‘real information’ would have been entirely secondhand from my grandfather, mine was ‘written’ by my grandfather, so I had the direct source, and mine also included photos and documents which he must have provided. In it there was a copy of the birth certificate, and the translation.

At least, that was my thought at first glance, and then I did a doubletake. The birth certificate wasn’t on white paper like the rest of the report. It was more yellowed than the rest of the pages. I talked to my mom, and she didn’t remember the birth certificate. I’ve decided it’s not a copy. Well, a copy of the original, but the copy that the Nagyalmas government sent, and I put it directly in my school report, to be discovered 27 years later. Brilliant.

On a mailing list a couple weeks ago, we were discussing who had famous relatives. I brought up my questionable oneworldtree genealogy of course.

In the past day a couple newcomers added to the thread. One said he was related through marriage to Mary Todd Lincoln.

I thought about the obvious joke “You’re married to Mary Todd Lincoln?”

But came up with a better response.

“Through marriage I’m related to Jesus. My second cousin, once removed, is a nun.”

Well, she is.

Of my father’s eight great-grandparents, seven are buried in St. Louis. The other is buried in Poland. All were born in Poland, Russia or Lithuania, and make up the half of me that isn’t TransylvanianDutch.

I’m 38, and until this month, I’d seen none of their graves. No one in my family knew where they were buried, even though the cemetery is two blocks from the cemetery my father’s parents and grandparents are buried at. And in our lives we’ve all driven past the cemetery countless times since it’s at the intersection of two well-traveled streets. My mother tells me that intellectually she knew they immigrated to the US, but never having met them, she thought of them as part of the old country, and it didn’t occur to her to wonder where they were buried. My father has memories of one, from when he was four, but he too didn’t pursue the information.

I don’t blame either of them. If it weren’t for the information on the internet, I wouldn’t have done the research. Easy access to a little information gives encouragement to search harder for more, but when there isn’t easy access to any information, it appears as a mountain, and not everyone has the energy to climb a mountain. I know I don’t.

I wonder briefly what happened, though, that my great-grandparents, the children of the seven, didn’t pass on the burial sites of their parents. Then I remind myself that the only time I’ve been to my great-grandparents’ graves, is when we buried my grandparents. And while my grandfather died in 1992, and grandmother in 2002, I haven’t been back. If I had children, before now, would I have taken them to their graves? Probably not.

I haven’t forgotten my grandparents. I think about them a lot. And I would have passed on stories — as my parents and grandparents have done. I don’t feel I need to visit their graves to pay them respect.

On the other hand, now that I have visited my great-great grandparents’ graves, I know I will go back. I have no memories of them. The one who lived the longest, died 25 years before I was born. Their gravesites are the only thing I have, beyond the bits of data I’ve collected. And as I collect more data, my interest grows.

For a Reform Jewish amateur genealogist, this is the ultimate test of one’s religious education:

With the help of this guide, I succeeded.

Line 1: Here is interred
Line 2: Reb Moshe Leyb, son of
Line 3: Ahron Kruvant.
Line 4: Died five days into
Line 5: the month of Tishrei
Line 6: in the year 5672.
Line 7: May his soul be bound in the bonds of life.

5 Tishrei 5672 = Sept 26-27, 1911.

No indication at all of when he was born. Birth dates aren’t as important in the Jewish tradition.

Those of you who have always wondered what my middle initial “C” stood for…the picture above gives you a huge clue.

Funny or Die dot com

Have you not heard of this website?

“The site is simple. Vote on the videos and decide whether they’re funny or die a fiery death. Videos that get enough die votes go to the crypt where they languish in comedy hell. But ones that reach immortal status shall make people laugh forever…”

There are five rankings:
Immortal
Walking Tall
Kinda Cute
Uh Oh
The Crypt

Now to the point of this post beyond telling you about a source of great comic video clips. (And truthfully, what other reason do you need to visit the site?)

Well…there is this one clip, and both of my acting cousins are in it - along with Kaylee Defer who is in the cast of ‘The War at Home’. The clip contains coarse humor and is **Inappropriate for Work**

It is currently Walking Tall…it would be great, surely, if it became Immortal, but even more importantly, that it didn’t drop to Kinda Cute, or worse. And regardless of how well it does, it’s a chance for anyone curious to see both of my cousins in action, as the younger of the two (the one not in West Bank Story, Will and Grace and Iron Man) has a large role in the clip.

For those who want to browse around, you can go to funnyordie.com and when you are ready, just plug the name ‘Newmark’ into the search engine. Or ‘kaylee’ if you prefer. Or ‘Job Betty’ which are the last two words of the 3-word title of the clip. (Yeah…I did warn you it was not appropriate for work, didn’t I?”) It’s also linked to currently from the front page of the site, but it’s near the bottom of the page, and I don’t know how long it will be there.

Those of you who just want to see my cousin’s clip can follow this direct link. But remember: be prepared for explicit material.

I leave town early tomorrow morning so I am posting this a little earlier than I normally would.

July 1st is Canadian Independence Day, July 4th is US Independence Day. My great-grandfather Barney, when he entered the US for the first time in 1907, wrote down that his nationality was Canadian. He had likely been living there for 3 years. My suspicion is that he misunderstood the question, but it’s possible that he had officially become a Canadian citizen. This may not have been a complicated process since he was already a British citizen, and Canada wasn’t completely independent yet. On my mother’s side I have several relatives who discovered a need to leave the US and enter Canada in the late 1700s. So there is cause for me to celebrate July 1 as well as July 4.

My ancestral lines have never been shy from taking a stand — but we have often stood separately, from each other, and in some cases, from ourselves.

I am a Son of the Confederacy and of The Union. The Civil War was a war between brothers, and it was common that families split down the middle. (Especially in a border state like Missouri, though my ancestors who wore either blue or grey weren’t living here at the time.) I also have ancestors who fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War - loyalists and revolutionaries (link to a poem I wrote several years ago). One ancestor first went to a revolutionary camp, and after a few weeks, bolted, and joined the loyalist Butler’s Rangers. It’s not clear if it was a change of heart/mind, or if he discovered like the lost student he was in the wrong classroom.

Naturally, the Loyalists are those I mentioned above who found the need to speed over to Canada when the war was over.

We weren’t of divided mind during WWII. Both grandfathers and multiple great-uncles fought with the Allied Powers in various theaters. My father lost an uncle in France, and several relatives of my mother, who had remained in Romania, died in the concentration camps. I expect more relatives died there than we know, it’s just that much of our family genealogy stops on the border of the US, and we don’t know who remained. In my mom’s case, there were two survivors who migrated to Israel and started doing the research themselves to find us.

This first through fourth of July myself, my siblings, my parents, uncles, aunts and first-cousins will all be together, celebrating, in Costa Rica. We may not like the current administration, but this is no protest. We gather every few years for a reunion, in different locales, and we sought an extended-holiday weekend to plan around.

At these reunions, my parents’ generation always leads a discussion of family history. Passing on the stories they’ve been told, or have witnessed. I’m going to be expected to speak this year on my recent research. I shouldn’t be nervous; it’s my family. I’ve recited poetry in front of strangers. But then again — strangers are more forgiving (or at least more forgetful) than family.

There’s an article in this month’s issue of Smithsonian talking about how ‘genealogy is bunk’. Some bloggers have already talked about it, such as here. Not having read the article, I’m not going to talk about it, except to think about why I have dived so furiously into this activity, and why I enjoy doing this, and why I don’t think it’s silly. (But honestly, being a member of science fiction/fantasy fandom, I am quite used to people thinking my activities are silly. What could possibly be sillier than dressing up as a jester and going to a renaissance festival, or dressing up in a Starfleet Uniform and going to a convention?)

One common accusation is that genealogists are seeking how they are related to Napoleon or Chaucer or Triboulet. Someone reading my blog might assume that is my intent, but actually the ancestral line that might actually tie me to Chaucer if the 20-sided-die rolls an 18 six times in a row is the line I am least interested in researching. I don’t want my mom to be offended by this, but one of her relatives has so researched the heck out of the tree, and has taken it back to the early 1600s, with certainty, there’s nothing left for me to do except try to prove/disprove the line to Chaucer, which is likely impossible, and I would rather just accept it. So if that were my intent, I’d be done.

I’d love to extend the other lines that far, including my maternal grandfather’s line, though it’s not going to happen. In Europe, there was a series of things called Pogroms and one major one called the Holocaust, that among other things destroyed most of the records I would need. And the records that do exist are mostly offline in Europe. I have a relative on my paternal side who has spent fifteen years, and traced one line back to the early 1800s in Lithuania, and it’s a little fuzzy there. She has had to actually go to Lithuania several times and spend weeks researching. In my mind she has set a marker indicating what’s possible with the most extreme effort. And I know I don’t have what it takes to make that effort, so I will just have to do what I can, and see what I find.

Genealogy for me is a puzzle. And one that matters to me personally. I love puzzles, and always have. My paternal grandfather taught/passed on a love for the crossword. As a child I had a subscription to Games magazine. Logic puzzles have always been my favorite though. Drawing the tables, and filling in the Xs from the clues given. No need for any trivial knowledge, just following a series of logical steps until conclusions are reached and the entire table is filled in successfully. That was what I enjoyed most when I was a computer programmer as well – the puzzle of getting the computer to do what you wanted it to do. Figuring out what was going wrong when it always did.

In 1987 my paternal grandfather was interviewed and recorded on his knowledge of family history. He talked about how his father, Barney, would say he was born in England, though my grandfather believed he was really born in Poland, and emigrated to England at 3 or 4. He also ‘knew’ that Barney, a brother, and their father explored North America – visiting Winnipeg, Memphis, and St. Louis before either returning to England, or sending for the rest of the family. There are certainly a lot of details there, but still somewhat fuzzy on particulars. In about a month of research, mostly sitting on my butt in front of a computer terminal, I have found English census records, ship manifests and other records documenting some of their life in England, and the multiple oceancrossings, and of course, raising more questions.

I know now that Barney’s brother Sol didn’t make the initial trip. (Older than Barney, and recently married, I suspect he stayed home as a means of support for the women and children.) The father and son left England in 1904, and were in Winnipeg for 3 years. (That 3 years was one of the bigger surprises; I’m not sure anyone in my family expected that their exploration was that lengthy. Maybe they needed 3 years to earn enough money to make the return trip.) In 1907 they crossed the Canadian border, and that’s how I know how long they’d been in Canada, because the border crossing document includes this information. It also says they’re headed for St. Paul, MN…a surprise…to join a heretofore unknown cousin…and I’m not sure yet if they ever went. I have the ship manifest from 1908 when they returned, with Sol, at Ellis Island. So obviously they weren’t in the US long. And the ship manifest when the wives and children arrived five months later. All the Ellis Island records say they’re headed for Memphis. And the 1909 one includes an address the father and two sons were now allegedly living at in Memphis. However, one month later, Sol’s wife gives birth in St. Louis. And in 1910 (the census) all of them are clearly in St. Louis. So there are a lot of questions I have about the immigration to America, but a lot of the pieces are also falling into place, and my family knows a lot more than it used to.

Does this information matter? Not in the grand scheme of things. But if we want to get philosophical – nothing matters. Nothing at all. The Earth will continue rotating on its axis until the universe comes to an end. Instead of getting all depressed about this, and committing mass suicide – paralleling Disney’s false portrayal of lemmings – cheer up! Real lemmings don’t act that way, and neither should humans! Life is what we make of it. So we should all do what we enjoy. Though it’s nice to do what we enjoy, while also thinking about those that are going to follow us. I know I have an interest in the lives of my ancestors. I consider it likely that one or more of my descendants (either direct if I am lucky, or through my brother/cousins if not) will be grateful for the research and archiving I do now.

I never knew Mandell, my great-uncle, the youngest son of Barney. He fought in WWII, just like his older two brothers. However, he didn’t return home. I’ve known for awhile that my uncle had Mandell’s war journal. And I’ve mentioned to him I’d like to read it. Last time I said this was a couple years ago when he wrote a poem based on his own reading of the journal, and showed the poem to me. He said sure. My uncle and I have a similar personality in that we are both forgetful, and if you want something from us, you sometimes need to be persistent. And I haven’t been. It was always something I could ask for again later.

In a conversation with my mother Sunday night, I discovered she had a photocopy of the journal. So I went home from Father’s Day dinner with it. Mandell’s handwriting was better than my own. But a chimpanzee’s handwriting is better than my own. Luckily, his was better than a chimpanzee’s too, but it’s still not the most legible at points. Of course, he wasn’t writing under the best of circumstances.

It looks like a journal that was ’standard issue’ because there were predefined spots to write down names/addresses of ‘buddies’ and dates to remember (birthdays/anniversaries) of family back home. Every page has a quote from someone famous on courage or heroism or such. There was a spot in the front that said “The following pages contain the diary of my life in the service. This simple record of my daily experiences and thoughts has given me pleasure in the writing of it. If for any reason it leaves my possession, I would like to have it forwarded to: “. The addressee was “B. Newmark” - which could be either his father Barney, or mother Bertha.

Note: Obviously in the 40s there was no gender-connotation to the word ‘diary’

So far I’ve made two other linguistic notations. The slang term PO’d was already in use in the 1940s (And Mandell thought it was an appropriate term to associate with ‘APO’) and he refers to a beer as “Green Death”. Apparently this term has long been associated with Rainier beer, and one of his buddies was from Seattle Washington, so even if it wasn’t referring to Rainier in particular, its possible the Seattlian introduced him to the term.

I may include some excerpts here I don’t know how many people care about what life was like in the army in the 1940s for a relative of mine, but then again, perhaps more than those who care about my views on George W.

Following my being filmed for a documentary, my talented cousins have snagged a steady job in Hollywood Burbank for at least two years. Not as actors, but as writers/producers.

As I noted a couple months ago I’ve been doing some genealogical research. It’s been fun. Beyond discovering I’m maybe, perhaps, possibly descended from Chaucer.

This past week I added an entire branch to part of the family tree. The brother of a great-great grandmother, and all his descendents. Beforehand all I knew was the name of the brother.

That’s rather exciting, and several of these new cousins live in Chicago, which isn’t too far. I see a possible reunion at a Cards-Cubs game in the future.

Somewhat sadder has been the death certificates I’ve found of great-great aunts and uncles who never made it out of childhood. A common occurrence in the first half of the twentieth century. But either having blocked it from their mind, or not wanting to pass on the painful memories, the parents and siblings never said anything to their children and grandchildren, so the names were completely lost, until uncovered in Missouri’s online archives.

I must say I am really impressed with the archives. They’re scanning in every death certificate from 1910-1956. (And I have the impression that in 2008 they will add 1957, etc) They have some records prior to 1910, but counties weren’t required to keep them prior to 1910, so the archives are a little spotty. Those that aren’t scanned in yet, can be ordered for $1/copy. Compare this to Illinois, where nothing is scanned in, and ordering a copy costs $10. Those copies can add up when you’re doing a lot of research.

It sounds gruesome to be ordering death certificates of your ancestors, but they contain information such as the names of parents, date of birth, and cause of death.

Another great resource has been census forms. In the US they’re available online through 1930. There’s a federal law making them private for 72 years, so 1940s won’t be released until 2012. Genea-Musings has some tips on searching the census databases, since the information was spoken from the individual to the census-taker, and then handwritten, so the indexing of names wasn’t 100% accurate where spelling is concerned. Phonetic spelling of names aren’t uncommon.

One of my most interesting discoveries, I think, is the sister-in-law of my Great-grandfather Barney. The faux-Irish great grandfather I’ve mentioned before. His brother married Sarah Nathan while they were still in England. That was the name in the British Marriage Index. I have every reason to believe that is the name she went by — so lets call it her maiden name. However, her father wasn’t named Nathan. OK, yes, her father’s name was Nathan. First name. She was “Sarah daughter of Nathan” without the “daughter of” which is really confusing for research. And this wouldn’t be all that surprising if we were talking 19th century Europe and not 20th century England. Of course, her parents were 19th century Europe. Luckily her death certificate didn’t ask for her maiden name, but asked for her father’s name. So with that information, I went to the 1901 England census, and found all her brothers and sisters. Because the English census taker, obviously, asked the father for his name, and then assigned the last name to everyone. Why wouldn’t he?

In order to get the right answer, you need to ask the right question.

How did I miss this! The interview/post is dated April 17th. I have a Google Alert set up for any appearance of my cousin’s name. But this slipped past Google’s radar, and for some reason he decided not to tell me he got cast in Iron Man! I had to learn it from my mother who read it in last month’s Alive St. Louis magazine.

(I don’t think it’s a big part. I don’t even know if he has any lines. Haven’t had a chance to listen to the interview as I’m at work without a soundcard. But it’s still a movie I was planning on seeing anyway, and which it is unlikely I will have to twist too many arms of my friends to see it with me.)

As I mentioned a few weeks ago I think I’m descended from Chaucer

I was asked in the comments if I’ve verified this, and I admitted, I’m not sure how to. One idea was to find out which of my famous cousins are related to each other according to this website, and then hope others might be intrigued and do the research on them. Because I certainly don’t want to do the legwork when all it can do is disprove the theory, because I already believe it.

So in that regard, according to OneWorldTree:

Emily Dickinson is the 7th great grandchild of Alice Lambert who lived between 1554-1620.
Henry David Thoreau is the 6th great grandchild of Alice Lambert.

Shirley Temple is the 8th-great grandchild of Elizabeth Stoughton, who lived between 1600-1647
Ray Bradbury is the 9th-great grandchild of Elizabeth Stoughton.

I should also mention that Shirley Temple, according to OneWorldTree is the 15th great grandchild of Chaucer, and cousin to O Henry and Walt Whitman, neither of whom are my cousins, so it doesn’t help me or hurt me if you prove or disprove that. I’m not descended from Shirley, but we are supposedly cousins, which makes sense, if we are both directly descended from Chaucer.

Interestingly, their “Famous Relative” script only works it’s way up from the first person, because when I ask for famous relatives of Chaucer, it comes up blank. It should at least list Shirley.

While it doesn’t help me, I’d love to know if Humphry Bogart’s 7th great grandfather is really John Alden of Mayflower fame.

Or if Henry David Thoreau is really descended from Romanovs, and is first cousins (22 times removed) with Empress Anna of Russia

This is what my mom looked like 33 years ago:

My drawing abilitiy hasn’t improved much since 1974.
(Though I am somewhat impressed that at age five, my sky had very little blue in it.)

Always on the lookout for ways for readers of my blog to watch the Academy Award winning short film, West Bank Story.

And always on the lookout for ways for me to earn a little fundage from my Amazon Associates Store

I would be extremely remiss if I didn’t point out that on May 1, a collection is being released on DVD that contains

1) The Academy Award winning Live Short - West Bank Story
2) The other nominees for the Live Short category
3) The Academy Award winning Animated Short - The Danish Poet
4) The nominated animated short - Maestro
5) and a handful of other random bonus shorts (at least, they appear random to me. Maybe they’re not random)

That seems to be a nice selection. For only $22.50 from Amazon. ($29.98 List Price).

And just as a sidenote, I have absolutely no control over what the text in the linkage below reads.

These films can be seen as a package on several movie screens scattered throughout the country (Unfortunately, not in St. Louis. Shelbyville, IL, 2 hours 15 min away, is the closest, I think.)

First 14 lines of Canterbury Tales, by Geoffrey Chaucer

Middle English:

Whan that Aprille, with hise shoures soote,
The droghte of March hath perced to the roote
And bathed every veyne in swich licour,
Of which vertu engendred is the flour;
Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth
Inspired hath in every holt and heeth
The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne
Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,
And smale foweles maken melodye,
That slepen al the nyght with open eye-
So priketh hem Nature in hir corages-
Thanne longen folk to goon on pilgrimages
And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes
To ferne halwes, kowthe in sondry londes;

Modern English

When April with his showers sweet with fruit
The drought of March has pierced unto the root
And bathed each vein with liquor that has power
To generate therein and sire the flower;
When Zephyr also has, with his sweet breath,
Quickened again, in every holt and heath,
The tender shoots and buds, and the young sun
Into the Ram one half his course has run,
And many little birds make melody
That sleep through all the night with open eye
(So Nature pricks them on to ramp and rage)-
Then do folk long to go on pilgrimage,
And palmers to go seeking out strange strands,
To distant shrines well known in sundry lands.

Well…having exhausted research on one branch of my family tree (my father’s), I went to my mother’s. Her family, especially the ones that came over from Holland in the 1600-1700s have done a great job of tracking their ancestry.

Ancestry.com has this thing called One-World-Tree, where everyone enters their trees, and thus there’s a chance of trees combining.

I found my mother’s mother on this One-World-Tree and then asked them the question: Any Famous Relatives?

I nearly fainted with the results.

Presidents: Ford, Teddy Roosevelt, Taft, Fillmore
Entertainers: Elvis Presley, Shirley Temple, Humphrey Bogart
Writers: Oliver Wendell Holmes, Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Ray Bradbury

But all of these are distant cousins, several times removed. Fun, but not the cherry at the top of this Sundae.

My 18th Great Grandfather (YES! 18th!) lived from 1343 - 1400. He wrote poetry. I’m going to say no more. You can look it up on Google. 1343 1400 poet. Top results. There was only one person living from 1343-1400 writing poetry that I would be this excited about anyway. Yes. Him!

I know this is completely dependent upon the fact that everyone involved entered their family tree correctly. Shush!

I am SO including this in every bio I send to editors from now on!

A friend of mine got me interested in researching my genealogy online. My family has actually already been pretty good about this, asking elder members about what they know while they’re still around to tell us. So as many census forms, ship passenger lists, and military records I have found, it hasn’t extended the chart another generation yet. But as my mother told me recently, it’s nice to have the documentation confirming what we thought.

My most recent find was a 1901 census from England containing my great-great grandparents and their children: Barney and his siblings. (Barney - The not-so-Irish great-grandfather born on March 17th.) I love England’s census forms. They have one piece of data US census forms don’t have. Street address. Sure, it’s irrelevant trivia…except next time I’m in London I know what street to walk down.

For those of my readers familiar with London (and I know there are at least a couple) they lived in Marylebone, now part of Westminster, at 56 Wells Street, not too far from Hyde and Regent’s parks. (Yes, I looked it up on Google Maps). Apparently it’s part of the Soho/Noho area. Maybe while I’m walking down the street, I’ll eat some sushi.

Barney claimed in the bio he submitted to Who’s Who in North St. Louis - 1925 that he learned tailoring “at the London Polytechnic” and was “a student at Oxford.”

What is now Westminster University at that time was under the name of Regent Street Polytechnic, and was located at 309 Regent Street. Locals probably just called it Polytechnic, since that was a prior name, and it was at that time part of London. It’s only four to five blocks from where he lived, which got me to research the school a bit more.

My family has chuckled at the idea of him attending college when he probably never finished high school. But as it turns out, I think we may have been unfair. Regent Street Polytechnic’s founder, Quintin Hogg, had a mission “to provide for the athletic, intellectual, social and religious needs of young men, and to this end he provided a range of sporting and social facilities as well as an increasing range of educational and vocational classes.” It appears he received his training from a charitable institution not too much different from the one his great-grandson works for today.

Now, to his claim that he was a “student at Oxford.” He doesn’t say Oxford ‘College’ or ‘University’, which helps more than you might imagine. Oxford England is about sixty miles away, however, a quick look at the maps linked to above, and Wells Street intersects with Oxford Street, a few blocks from where the Oxford Circus underground stop is today, and was in 1901, though then it was part of the Central London Railway.

So it seems likely that Barney was a ’student of life’ on Oxford Street.

West Bank Story is on YouTube. The short film that won the Oscar. The short film starring my cousin. It might not be on YouTube for long. It is a violation of copyright and all. But if you still haven’t had a chance to see it, and want to watch it first before you make up your mind to spend I think $3 to download it from ITunes…

Part One:

Part Two:

Despite the questionable authenticity of my Great-Grandfather’s Irishness, I’d be able to make an oath on a stack of Torah scrolls (if Torah scrolls stacked well) that I have Irish relatives. Related to me by blood.

They’re a generation younger than me, and infinitely cuter, but that’s irrelevant, right?

In a couple days I’ll be in Dogtown, wearing the green, to honor my great-grandfather, who was born on March 17th. (The below is from a 1925 Who’s Who in North St. Louis)

My great-grandfather fibbed a bit, and he wasn’t exactly from Dublin. He was from a nearby town. Here’s how Google responds when I ask for driving directions from my great-grandfather’s hometown to Dublin.

Geographically, the rest of the bio is true. Though the scholastic parts of this curricula vitae are also exaggerated. Fortunately for my grandfather, he lived in a day where it wasn’t very easy to look these things up, so one could get away with a few embellishments.

March 16-24, Carrie Fisher, known to many as Princess Leia, will be spending a relaxing week in Bermuda, as one of the judges at the Bermuda International Film Festival. Others lucky enough to be selected for this hardship are actor Richard Dreyfus (Close Encounters of the Third Kind), producer Stanley Nelson (Murder of Emmett Till), Director Lucinda Spurling (Rare Bird), Tamara Tarasova, and actor Ben Newmark (West Bank Story).

Note: information for this blurb came from Variety, and IMDB. The only Tamara Tarasova I can find online is a figure skating coach.

My mother’s father would have been 100 years old today. On February 28, 1907, my grandfather was born in a small town in Romania/Transylvania called Varalmas. (aka AlmaÅŸu Mare)

Latitude: 46.950
Longitude: 23.133

(These numbers are taken from the website above. Add the digits together, and you get 36. Admittedly, some take longitude to a few more decimal places. But as long as you take it to 6 (or a multiple of 6) more decimal places, the sum is still a multiple of 18)

I have many fond memories of my grandfather.

* He taught me how to bowl. As some of you know, I don’t bowl extraordinarily well. That isn’t his fault. I recall him bowling over 200.

* He was always interested in new technology. In 1982 he bought me, my siblings, and my parents our first computer. A Commodore 64. Ironically (oh, yes, I’m pretty sure this is ironic) I was very loyal to the Commodore, and I swore at that time I would never own an Apple.

* He exercised by jogging around his basement, and always insisted on shoveling his own driveway during the winter — with a cast iron shovel. I have two ten-pound weights of his, which he used much more than I have.

* I remember eating waffles for dinner at my grandparents’ house, and he was the one who cooked them. I loved the idea of waffles for dinner. (He also had a Presto Sandwich maker, which I thought was cool. My mom made sandwiches in a toaster oven.)

* I’m told by my Mom, as a young man in Chicago, at Fort Sheridan, he served in the ‘Cavalry‘ in its final days. He had a cavalry sword engraved with a Star of David. After WWII he retired from the Air Force at the rank of Lt. Col.

update: For the numerologically inclined, you will note in the map above there is a highway (or whatever the Romanian term) near Varalmas. It happens to be numbered E60. You know how 64 becomes 40 when you crossover from Illinois to Missouri? Well if you follow E60 west over the Hungary (Magyarorszag) border and zoom in you will notice that E60 becomes 42. Cool? Yes, I know there are millions of numbers that I come into contact with every day, and I just make note of the numbers when they mean something to me.

It’s a comedy, and it still won!
If Little Miss Sunshine can win Best Picture…tonight will be comedy’s night.
But at the very least…

West Bank Story Won!

Elizabeth Donald is a local sf/fantasy author. She recently began writing a Culture blog for the Belleville News Democrat.

Today there’s a post with the title: MovieGeek Special: Ben Newmark. It pretty much covers everything. West Bank Story, The Wilton, Will and Grace, and in true (greater) St. Louis fashion, even mentions what high school he went to.

You’ll find out why my cousin won’t be at the Academy Awards, the name of the camel, and why the 2005 St. Louis Film Festival was so important. None of this information has appeared in any other news article I’ve read.

It’s the nominations few have seen during the year. The shorts. Since they often only appear at film festivals. The Tivoli is showing them every day this week in two separate showings. You can view all five animated shorts, or all five live-action shorts.

Brothers from Ladue have a Story that Reads Like a Hollywood Script

The brothers are my cousins, and it is the most extensive description of the process they went through with The Wilton that I have seen in print. The date on the Gail Pennington story is tomorrow. So it either appears in today’s paper, and that’s a typo, or it will appear in tomorrow’s.

this is where I’d like to be tonight. I just received a ‘bulletin’ on MySpace telling me that that is where the celebration of the Oscar Nomination I mentioned a few posts back is going to be held. And my cousin will be there, of course. I have five hours to get there, before the party begins, but it’s in LA. According to the Lambert website there’s an airplane leaving in 1.5 hours. I could probably do it. And I would try. If I had won the Powerball.

But alas, I didn’t. So if you are in Los Angeles right now, and drop by St. Nick’s tonight, buy my cousin a round. Tell him it’s on me. I’ll pay you back next time I see you. Whoever you are.

Note to anyone doing the math…the time/date stamp is an hour off. It is currently 4:30 California time.

From the Jerusalem Post

And finally there’s the real dark-horse nomination of “West Bank Story” in the Short Film-Live Action category.

Director Ari Sandel tags his work as “A little singing, a little dancing, a lot of hummus.”

Dark-camel. They should have said dark-camel.

Here’s the picture of my cousin from the film that I posted 2 years ago:

Complete list of Academy Award nominations

I haven’t seen any of the movies up for Best Movie, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Anything, or Best Director. I’ve seen one of the nominees for Best Adapted Screenplay, and I hope Borat doesn’t win. I’ll be rooting for Cars in the Animated film category, and Pirates of the Caribbean in the handful of technical categories it’s nominated for.

Excerpt you might otherwise not notice…

23. Live Action Short Film:
“Binta and the Great Idea (Binta Y La Gran Idea),”
“Eramos Pocos (One Too Many),”
“Helmer & Son,”
“The Saviour,”
“West Bank Story.”

It’s unfortunate there’s no category: Best Actor in a Live Action Short Film.

Update on The Wilton, courtesy of Variety. This is the project my cousins are working on that I have mentioned several times in the past. This is the first major media article, I believe, on the project. Ben is quoted in the article.

There are some sentences in which one should never pause.

For example, at lunch today, a cousin said the following:

My girlfriend dyed her hair.

My five year old nephew has inherited my keen observation skills. It must be a recessive trait my brother carried. Last night at the ballgame he said:

“Uncle Johnny, you have a mustache!”

This is the type of thing I will say. I’ll tell someone: “I like your hairstyle.” And I’ll be told, “I’ve had it for 5 years.” I’ll usually respond, “I’ve liked it for all five years, just thought I’d mention it.”

My niece said to her brother: “You just noticed?”

My niece has the family trait of sarcasm.
Whether this is inherited, or a learned survival skill, I am not sure.

I will be in Collinsville, IL most of the weekend at the Science Fiction convention known as Archon.

I will head down there today for a few hours. Sleep at home tonight, but head back tomorrow for the weekend.

I will return home Sunday for a gathering in celebration of my neice’s 8th birthday. Her favorite books are The Hobbit and the LOTR trilogy. All were read to her, though she is currently reading voraciously through the Nancy Drew mysteries. So I consider it my job as her geeky uncle to make sure she doesn’t stray from fantasy, because I hope at some point in the future for her birthday parties to be held at Archon. It would be much easier for me. So I have asked some Librarian friends which fantasy books they might recommend for young readers. (For some reason I have so far been unable to ascertain, she has made it clear she doesn’t want to read the Harry Potter books, or have them read to her.)

And my sister-in-law’s homemade challah is delicious.
I think it must be due to her Irish heritage.

I have heard some rumors that CW (the combined entity of the former WB and UPN) has ‘picked up’ The Wilton.

I can’t find it in any news source that is indexed by Google, but the news does come from ‘pretty reliable sources close to the show’. The only thing online I’ve found is a conversation on the Lucy Walsh fansite.

If someone from CAA is posting the information on fansites, I am going to assume this isn’t something I need to keep quiet on. (Though I do find it funny that the individual from CAA referred to the tv station as the WB, which no longer exists)   Yes, Lucy is the lead female character of the show.
The Wilton is the current name for the show I’ve blogged about in the past as The Wilton Hilton. For some strange reason, they’ve had to change the name.

As I understand it, this means CW is asking my cousins to write/film some more episodes, and they’ll make a judgment on the show after that. Probably can’t expect it to appear on tv until next season (07-08).

I traveled with my parents to Kansas City for a cousin’s wedding.
We left for Kansas City from gate 18 in the East Terminal (Southwest Airlines).
On arrival at the KC airport, our rental car was in parking space #42.
My room number at the hotel is #1008. For the mathematically disinclined:

42*18=756
56*18=1008
When I mentioned to a colleague I was going to a family wedding this weekend, they asked if I would be looking at the women, or if that would be too redneck. I responded it wouldn’t be if I focused on the bride’s side. I’m not related to them.

I have also learned that a shot of kahlua looks identical to a shot of jaegermeister; a fact that can be used for humorous results.
Some walk signals in KC have timers on them so you know how many more seconds you have left to cross the intersection.

I don’t think these screenshots give too much away from the episode. Will, Grace, Jack and Karen aren’t even in them.

Will & Grace Finale

Times on the below synopses have been modified for Central Time Zone. I also modified slightly the second one to include one more guest star they forgot to include. Not sure how they forgot him, he’s the only guest star currently listed on IMDB. (I suspect the latter will change)

SAY GOODNIGHT GRACIE
7:00pm 2006-05-18
A LOOK BACK AT EIGH