I am enjoying my head-long immersion into genealogy. Researching one's ancestors can be (and has been for me) a bittersweet experience. On one hand, you discover your roots — places where ancestors lived their daily lives, maybe two or three generations in the same place. Sudden those once unfamiliar places become like home; you develop a connection that was not there previously. The world becomes a little bit smaller with the discovery of each generation and their descendants, whom you discover are the distant cousins you never knew you had. The sad part is realizing that for so many people; their very existence is washed away in just a few short generations like a sand castle during high tide. Unless one is able to achieve something significant in their brief lifespan, they become (if they're lucky) a few census records, a death certificate, and a tombstone. Most are not lucky enough to even leave this much of a trace, especially the further back in time you search. What will become of us, who store most evidence of our existence on temperamental computer hardware and the Internet?

I want to perceive the proverbial glass as half-full. Historian Henry Adams claimed that "a teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops." I find this to be a comforting and plausable legacy. Every day I go to work with the hope that I am making a difference in the lives of the young people who come into my classroom. Sometimes the best I can hope for is that some lessons are realized later if my instruction does not bear fruit immediately. My students have demonstrated the ability to surpass my most optimistic of expectations and to profoundly disappoint on occasion. Overall, I return to my belief in the educational philosophy that all students can learn.

One needs only to walk into an antique store to find hundreds of old photographs with no names. As we research our ancestors, we find names with no faces. How important it is to take interest in old family photographs before no one is around to identify those pictured! Imagine the stories that are lost with the passage of time and loved ones! I find that genealogy is a perfect way to have students reconnect with their grandparents, learn about primary sources and the importance of citing source material, and how stories can be constructed from the bits of information our ancestors leave behind. Facts uncovered by this painstaking research not only help us discover our personal ancestors, but they help us understand the past.

Among my direct ancestors, I've discovered a Revolutionary War patriot and enlisted men on both sides of the Civil War. I have an ancestor who built a church, and one who went to prison for robbing his own uncle. Suicide, homicide, and tragic accident have touched my ancestors' lives. My ancestors have owned slaves and set them free. I continue to search records trying to reconstruct the past, flesh out the lives of those no longer in the flesh. If nothing else, my interest in genealogy has convinced me to leave a better record of my life for generations to come.

This is an ongoing research project of mine. I have been conducting interviews through written correspondence with former Editors-in-Chief of the Missouri Miner newspaper to get them to reflect on their time there. Being a staff member of this paper was a valuable and unique learning experience for me, so I wanted to see if this opinion was shared by others 15, 30, 45+ years later. ***There are over 20 pages of original interviews in this section!***

Apply for my Web Award, Writing Matters Web Excellence Award!
This in my mind is a continuation of the awards program run on this site from 1999-2000. Of course, most rating organizations say it's been dormant for so long that I have to call it a new award program, so I am awaiting new ratings for this new program. This award focuses on content, for those of us who like the creamy filling slightly more than the crunchy cookie shell.

Read My Poetry at Authorsden.com.
Just don't pay them, they keep charging you after you tell them to quit and won't answer their telephone or respond to e-mail. If you'd rather, you can stay and view my commentary on a few poems and the cover photograph from my new poetry book.