Kissin' Cousins?

The June 17 Book Review of the NY Times reviewed a book by Rachel L. Swarns entitled, AAMERCIAN TAPESTRY, The Story of the Black, White, and Multiracial Ancestors of Michelle Obama.  Surprise, surprise.  Mrs. Obama is decended from a white slave owner named Henry Wells Shields.  Of course the author wonders if the relationship was consensual, in other words was she raped.  Probably, but who knows, and here in 2012, who cares?  Rape or not, if the contact had not taken place, Michelle Obama would not exist today.  What did surprise, and even amuse me, was the reaction of the white decendants of Henry Wells Shields.  Some refused to meet with the author and/or give a DNA sample.  Some of them, like a Joan Tribble, agonize over the fact an ancestor owned slaves.  Why worry about something that happened 160 years ago, something which we, today, cannot change?  Mrs. Obama seems to have been neutral about this book; she didn't help, but she didn't hinder either.  An intelligent woman like Mrs. Obama would probably shrug off all this info anyway.  Who cares about a fourth cousin living in the suburbs of Atlanta?  My interest in ancestors is not because I have remarkable ones; I don't.  My husband's are a tad higher on the food chain.  What I do find interesting is when I look at The Kid and think about his great great grandparents, this is what comes to mind.  For two greats, we're talking about eight couples who never knew each other and would not have liked or approved of each other if they had met.  On my side - you would find Polish peasants, devout Catholics, subjects of Alexander III and a German baker and his wife (probably the bosses daughter) and Lutherans.  On my husbands' side - Mayflower and DAR types who returned to the Anglican church and a Presbyterian minister and his wife in Nova Scotia.  Yet they are all ancestors of one Nicholas Iain Francis aka The Kid.  In closing, when this book turns up on overstock, I'll buy it.  Right now, I'm not prepared to drop twenty eight bucks. 

Mayoral Advice

After reading today's L.A. Parker's column three times, I offer some advice to my fellow Trentonians.  (1)  Forget where a candidate was born, raised, educated; (2) Ask what the candidate has been doing since reaching adulthood - successful?; (3) Ask what the plan is to solve the financial problems (and don't accept some vague, let's be prosperous again bullshit); (4) Check closely to find out if the candidte is strong enough to play hardball with the police (and I mean hardball).  The next mayor of Trenton should understand money - income, outgo, credit, debit, debt - everything.  And should be willing to tell us, the Trentonians, "Don't ask for anything because there is no money."  The mayor of Trenton should have the spine* to tell the police, "We can no longer afford this Cadillac contract.  We can afford a bicycle contract, but that's all."  As I've said so many times, we have to live on bread and water for awhile, and the bread will be stale and moldy.  Until we accept that, nothing will change.  We also need a mayor who will stop whining to the state - yeah, Trenton is the state capital.  Trenton is also the county seat, but I never hear anyone bitching and moaning about the county not helping us.  Policing, for an example.  And we must stop the blame game.  We are all at fault, yes, we the Trentonians, because so much happened, but we said nothing.  We did nothing.  We elected the same man for five terms straight.  Then we elected our current mayor because he's charming.  He's great on the campaign trail.  He's generous with ice cream for the kids.  The past is prologue.  We know what the problems are.  Who created them really doesn't matter.  What does matter, how are we going to solve them? 

*I use this word because it's gender neutral; if I were a sexist, I would use the word, "balls."

Good News

Good Evening, Blogolanders!  You may remember that about a year ago, The Kid was a bone marrow donnor.  He got an update.  His platelets went to a woman living in Italy who seems to be doing very well!!  I am so grateful for this news.

The Name Game

The Trenton Times published a long, long list of those property owners who are behind with taxes, water, sewer, you name it.  I always go through the list very carefully for two reasons.  First, there is a woman here in Trenton with whom I share the same name.  She does not pay her bills.  What is really funny (funny both haha and weird) is she and I both had a boob sliced off in the same hospital within a few days of each other.  Our medical records got confused.  The second reason is to learn who does not meet their financial obligations to the city.  Sadly, there are many people listed who should know better, who should behave better.  Of course these Trentontians may be engaging in civil disobediance; they decided to withhold payment to make a statement.  Perhaps.  One never does know.

OK - Suggestions

What can these poor kids do?  I've already heard about it!  News travels fast in this age of technology.  OK.  What can kids do?  Start a community garden.  Learn to play chess.  And here's a really radical suggestion - READ A BOOK!