mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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When Does The Ship Come In?
July 9, 2016
— 3 Comments
Pacific
When I was a freshman a the University of Texas at Austin in 1968 I was an idealist. I was a folk singer, hum dinger. I protested the war in Viet Nam and civil rights atrocities. We thought that an egalitarian, high minded society was just around the corner. We thought the empire of fascist evil would end as soon as Barry Goldwater died. We knew less about world affairs then, but we knew that war was not only the only true sin amount nations, but also unconstitutional in the way it was being waged with no declaration. Since 1968 the United States has been at war with at least one part of the world all the time. Peace has not been achieved, and civil rights have been all but forgotten. Now we have the for profit prison system to mass incarcerate people of color, and laws designed specifically to feed that system. Our war on drugs has produced an epidemic of cheap heroin and an addiction crisis.
I was too young to march on Washington in 1963. I was busy living as an ex-pat petroleum princess in Venezuela. I spent a lot of time listening to Radio Havana because it was the only station that we got with a strong signal on the radio. I usually turned it off when Fidel went off on his speeches, but I liked the music from Cuba. Back in those days Venezuela had a natural contempt for Cuba and Fidel, and dependence on oil companies for their entire economy. This worked very well for the preteen petroleum princess, but not so well for the impoverished worker class. Like the historical Buddha I was exposed to suffering I never could have imagined in the world. The really interesting part was that my parents had no problem with the semi slavery and obscene show of wealth we enjoyed. I didn’t either until I thought about it. Now my own country has almost the same level of income disparity I observed in 1963 in Venezuela. The hippies have not yet accomplished our mission. I wonder if in the chaos and violence of this time, so similar to 1968, we might finally see the ship come in. The whole wide world is certainly watching.
Pacific
Mind the Gap #NoJustice
July 8, 2016
— 5 Comments
There are gaps of understanding between the citizens and the police. This has always been the case. Today we face an ever growing divide that makes everyone in the United States vulnerable to senseless violence and hate crimes of all kinds.
We have a new police chief in Tucson who has come to teach us neighborhood policing. When he held up a hashtag sign in his former town of Richmond, California, he was criticized widely across the nation for betraying cops. The Police Union in Tucson soundly rejected his bid to become chief over this sign. Thank goodness they lost the battle and Chief Magnus has started the very serious task of bringing our cops together in unity not only with each other but, for the first time, with the community. He has reorganized the department, focusing on more stable local assignments so the cops learn more about the same area all the time. He has eliminated some of the “specialties”, as recommended by the DOJ’s 21st Century Guidelines for Policing, in order to make each cop more full service and user friendly. He knew he was moving to a much bigger city, but I don’t think he could have imagined how much we needed him down here in Tucson. This will be a very big job for him, but I am glad he has started it.
Chris Magnus
Welcome to Tucson, Chief Chris,”357″,Magnus. You are just what the doctor ordered.
Slipping Standards of American Justice
July 7, 2016
— 4 Comments
The daily reports of violence make life in America scary and real. I see the trend that has been targeting young black males, but I am a little old lady, as WASP as WASP can be. I do not trust the police as far as I can throw them. They make my neighborhood very unsafe by refusing to respond when crime is reported. I don’t fear brutality, but everyone where I live has suffered years of police mendacity that has destroyed any trust there might have been in our local law enforcement agencies. The new sliding scale introduced for the unprecedented Hillary e mail case is all about intent. Now it is more important to decide if the entity meant do violate laws rather than to know if laws were broken. That is how there can be a homicide with no person who committed it. The crazy trend to reach a verdict without any trial or jury, by letting the FBI decide, or by letting cops murder people without even arresting them has gone way too far. We are not safe in our homes or on the streets of our cities. The system is not rigged, per se, it is just entirely corrupt. It is not a matter of good cop/bad cop. It is a dysfunctional system that is not attached to justice, but to a separate reality in which there is no law but their opinion. My Puritan ancestors would plotz to know what has become of their nation.
What would the ancestors do?
- Create a public school system for the purpose of teaching civics
- Reward those who tattle on any infraction of the law
- Publicly shame those who break the law
- Keep a very close watch on the constable to avoid corruption
- Make every man woman and child defend the nation through service
- Punish everyone who deviated from their religious beliefs (that was where they lost it and went off the rails)
We can never go back to colonial America to find out how we lost our ethical boundaries and our civil rights. Murders by cop are live streamed to the world today. I have not watched this last one because I saw the one from Baton Rouge yesterday, and I can’t take in another one. The victim’s mother has decided not to watch it for her own mental health. We need to find a way to stop the bloodbath. I am calling on all my relations to give me insight into this crisis.
white senior issues
John Mead, 8th Great-Grandfather
July 4, 2016
— 4 Comments
headstone
My 8th great-grandfather came to America as young boy with his parents and became a founder of Hartford, Connecticut.
John was born about 1628 in England and came to Connecticut with his parents as a young child. He married Hannah Potter, daughter (or possibly stepdaughter) of William Potter of Stamford. John and his brother Joseph moved from Stamford to Hempstead, Long Island, and returned to Connecticut by 1664. John died 5 Feb 1699, probably in Connecticut. John was one of seven original proprietors of Greenwich, CT, as described at http://www.rootsweb.com/~ctfairfi/pages/greenwich/greenwich_index.htm
“On February 5, 1664, the Seven Proprietors made a formal request to the General Assembly in Hartford to be allowed to separate from Stamford and to support its own minister and lay out its own lands. The Seven Proprietors were John MEAD, Jonathan RENALDS, John HOBBY, Joseph FERRIS, Joshua KNAPP, Angell HUSTED, and Jeffrey FERRIS.
On May 11, 1665, the General Assembly in Hartford declared Greenwich a separate township, and authorized funds for the hiring and support of an orthodox minister. In 1672, the so-called “27 Proprietors” bought land from the few remaining Indians to the west of the “Myanos River.” This land became known as “Horseneck” because of the neck of land now known as Field Point was the common HORSE PASTURE. ”
John signed all documents with a mark, but had several books in his estate inventory, so he could probably read but not write.
John and Hannah had eleven children:
John, b. abt 1658, married Ruth Hardey in 1681.
Joseph, b. 2 May 1660, married Mary.
Hannah, b. abt 1661, married John Scofield 12 Jul 1677.
Ebenezer, b. 1663, married Sarah Knapp in 1691.
JONATHAN, b. abt 1665, married Martha Finch.
David, b. abt 1665, married Abigail Leane 16 Dec 1707.
Benjamin, b. May 1666, married first Sarah Waterbury, second Rachel Brown.
Nathaniel, b. abt 1669, married Rachel.
Samuel, b. abt 1673, married Hannah.
Abigail, b. abt 1675. Fairfield Probate Records cited in The Ancestry of Elizabeth Barret Gillespie, “reveal that she was incompetent to manage her own affairs: ‘Whereas John Mead Sen’r, deceased, of Greenwich, haveing not made Satisfieing provision in his will for his daughter Abegaile Mead, She being not Capable of doing for her Self as may be desired by Reason, whearof Ebeneaz Mead of Greenwich dos hereby, in the presence of ye Prerogative Court, Engage to pay unto ye s’d Abegaile Mead, his sister, ye Sum of therty and five pounds, to be paid unto her According as he Shall Apprehend She Shall stand in Need of it for her Comfortable subsistence.”
Tomac Burying Ground
John Mead’s House
John Mead (1634 – 1699)
8th great-grandfather
Benjamin Daniel Mead (1667 – 1746)
son of John Mead
Mary Mead (1724 – 1787)
daughter of Benjamin Daniel Mead
Abner Mead (1749 – 1810)
son of Mary Mead
Martha Mead (1784 – 1860)
daughter of Abner Mead
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of Martha Mead
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse
The following anecdote, which has been preserved by tradition, shows his character: One day when he was quite an old man, as he was going for his grist on horseback to the mill at Dumpling Pond, before he reached the Mianus River he overtook and old Quaker jogging slowly along, loaded with a heavy budget. In a real spirit of kindness he offered to take the Quaker’s load upon his horse, and thus give him a lift on his journey. No,replied the Quaker, thee don’t get my bundle, for I can read men’s thoughts. Thee wants to get my bundle, and then thee’ll run off. Thee don’t get my bundle. Very well, was the simple reply, and so they went slowly on together. At last they came to the brink of the Mianus River. Here the Quaker was really in trouble. How to cross a river, two or three feet deep, dry shod, was quite a puzzle. But he gladly accepted a second offer of assistance from the horseman. The bundle was mounted in front, John in the middle, and the Quaker behind. Arriving at the centre of the river, in pretending to adjust his stirrup John caught the Quaker by the heel and gave him a gratuitous bath. Such treatment was too much, even for Quaker forbearance, and the victim, with his hands full of pebbles, would have taken summary vengeance, had not the other party threatened to put the bundle under a similar course of treatment. This threat, and the lecture following it, gradually cooled off the Quaker’s anger. John informed him that all had been done for his good, to teach him a lesson. And the lecturer said he hoped the stranger would never again profess to read men’s thoughts. For, said he, I asked you to ride, kindly in the first place, when you refused; but at the second time of asking, I really intended to do as I have just done. So saying, and tossing the bundle back, he rose on, leaving his companion to apply the moral as he thought best.
Happy 240th Birthday America! — Cherokee Billie Spiritual Advisor
July 2, 2016
— 3 Comments
“America, God shed his grace on thee and crown thy good with brotherhood…from sea to shining sea!” Happy 240th Birthday America! “The cost of freedom is always high, but Americans have always paid it. And one path we shall never choose, and that is the path of surrender, or submission.” President John F. Kennedy Freedom […]
via Happy 240th Birthday America! — Cherokee Billie Spiritual Advisor
Patriotic Poetry by the Man in Black, Johnny Cash
The Case For #TattleTuesday in Tucson
June 27, 2016
— 1 Comment
Dropping the truth bomb
In Tucson we experience a major dilution of our tattle as it passes through needless layers of middlemen to reach law enforcement central. We report one thing and the bureaucrats report quite another, which results in chronic problems that might be solved by collecting really reliable intelligence in the first place. Pure tattle goes from your lips to the ears of the principal. It does not travel through the teachers, the students, or the PTA. Tattle, and the need to deliver pure, unadulterated tattle, is not only a basic human right, but a basic human instinct. To make use of this instinct one simply needs to direct and manage it professionally. A vessel, a place, and a time must be established for the task of collecting pure intelligence from citizens and using it to both prevent and stop chronic crime.
I am urging my police department to initiate a program on-line as well as in person at the station near me to give folks a chance to express themselves for ten minutes at ten a.m. each Tuesday. I am choosing this increment of time because they always say they are too busy to try new communication methods. They can’t possibly argue that they don’t have 10 minutes a week. Citizens in my neighborhood have gone to the station with evidence of black tar heroin in a vial and a report of on going crime near their home, but were turned away at the window of the cop shop and the vial of evidence was thrown in the trash in front of the two ladies. We need a system that works much better than that. We need to trust that what we report and evidence we submit is used to help solve the crime problems here. I think a funnel that directs intelligence to the attention of the police live on a regular basis will make a difference to the level of trust in the whole operation. I believe intelligence is the most valuable commodity police can have. It protects both them and us.
Death by Side Effect
June 2, 2016
— 1 Comment
skull and crossbones
The death rate in the US has risen in 2015 for some alarming reasons. The new statistics for Alzheimer’s disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis show that our population suffers from toxic overload. The liver disease is normally caused by alcohol consumption, and Alzheimer’s is still a mystery. I took care of both of my demented parents until death. My own suspicion about their memory loss issues is that they were primarily caused by alcohol consumption that continued for more than 65 years. My parents were not seriously into drugs like people are today, but they did like to drink. Their diet choices and alcohol consumption worsened as they aged. I often wondered if could have been reversed if they had reformed rather then slipped into worsening habits. We will never know. For myself I am making different choices. I don’t think I have a genetic risk from my parents, as much as I cultural one, from being raised at a cocktail party.
Now the middle aged white population is into opioids. There is an increase in suicide by drug overdose happening in this group. Heroin is often a cheaper option for those who begin their use of opioids with a doctor’s referral. I don’t use any prescription drugs, but I know very few people of any age like me. Almost everyone is on something. The idea of taking meds for everything, real or imagined, has become so common that doctors have basically become drug dealers. Now Americans are killing themselves willfully and accidentally with these dangerous substances. I am concerned about our society. These are not social drugs, but drugs designed to kill pain. Have we no skills to deal with pain? I am afraid of this trend. I watch the evening news that is punctuated with drug commercials that must quickly mention the side effects. Often the side effects mentioned in the commercials include increased possibility of death. In my mind the whole country is on one dangerous drug or another with increased risk of death as a general side effect. I have no solution, gentle reader. I will close with the words of Prince, our recently deceased rock royalty:
You can be the president. I’d rather be the Pope.
You can be the side effect. I’d rather be the dope.
It is assumed that Prince’s death involved a drug overdose of pain killer.
Mars, God of War
May 28, 2016
Mars/male gender symbol
Mars will be so close to the earth next week that it will visibly outshine our brightest star, Sirius. The red planet is retrograde in Scorpio as it appears shining brightly in the night sky. The planets (as well as recently demoted Pluto) are named for Roman gods because they have certain qualities the ancients identified with them. Mars rules battle and martial arts. The word martial is derived from his name. He was the father of legendary Romulus and Remus who founded Rome. Thus he is the true god-father of Rome. Citizens of Rome referred to themselves as sons of Mars and worshipped him copiously. Indeed, war was perhaps the best talent of the Romans as a civilization. They certainly developed the first global takeover strategy. Sure, they had common currency and governance from the emperor in Rome, but none of that would have been possible without their military conquests. Mars was their main man.
The famous adulterous affair between Mars and Venus has been immortalized in many ways. The symbol for Mars the planet is the same one used for the male gender and the element iron. Similarly the symbol used for Venus is the same for the planet, the female gender, and the element copper. Men actually have more iron in their blood than women, while women have more copper in the bloodstream than men. Chemically this is just a fact. There are the theories in psychiatry about communication styles and the conflicts they naturally engender between the sexes. From Roman mythology to pop culture the planets Mars and Venus represent archetypal male/female roles. In reality nobody is made up of a single archetype, although we usually have one that is more developed than the others. The Mars archetype is aggressive and militaristic. It is protective of farmers and soldiers. In the Roman Empire Mars was a unifying factor, linked to local gods in order to strengthen the empire. I can see how Mars has been the god we share with all of our war partners around the globe.
We can no longer live without war on earth. Security forces are needed to prevent all out chaos. However, as Mars approaches the earth this Memorial Day to salute his people, let us give some thought to our use of his powers. Military suicides are highest in the time before deployment because Mars is one scary boss. The general public generally hides from the gruesome details of the horror of war. This year as you pass the potato salad look to the sky as Mars passes by look directly into his flaming red eyes and take an oath to direct his energies to a higher purpose. As protector of farmers he has work to do on global warming. Happy Memorial Day, gentle reader. I wish you a cloud free sky and a clear view of his majesty, Mars, in all his glory.
Phantom Limbs in the Family Tree
May 12, 2016
— 3 Comments
my ethnicity map
My research into family history started after both my parents had died. They each left some written material about their families, but neither parent had been particularly interested in genealogy. My father said he was Scots-Irish, which is in part true. Both parents had ancestors who immigrated to America from the British Isles in the 1600s. The DNA survey on ancestry shows that my DNA is 85% from Great Britain. When the survey was much younger and fewer participants had contributed my ethnicity was estimated at 99% from the British Isles. My “trace region” is the Caucasus area of Asia. The Asian genes may be a fluke, as explained in the accompanying material.
my tree
I am sure about the first three generations I have listed, but my maternal grandmother was an orphan adopted in Mississippi in a county where the courthouse burned to the ground. We have no way to find records of her natural parents. She moved to Texas with her adoptive family. Some of the branches are easy to research and verify. Others have me at dead ends. My most irksome dead end is my third great-grandfather, Thomas Peterson, born in Indiana in 1825. I keep looking for answers about his parentage but have not found any records of his birth. More official historical records are digitally added all the time, so I could still find something new that would break the case for me. It bugs me that I can trace his nephew’s line back in time, but not Thomas’.
Along the way I have discovered my own mistakes, and have also had problems pointed out to me by other ancestry enthusiasts. It is always a drag to find errors because it means you need to remove the phantom family and start again at the point you can verify the data. I have lost a few big limbs this way. I had become fond of many of the members of my unverified people. It is funny to give them up with such great emotion, since they were not really my ancestors, but I can tell you that this feels awful. I still think about them in history too. Sometimes I am angry that I made such mistakes in my research, but usually I am glad I met them (historically) and held them in my memory. When my first cousin gave me the news that I had the wrong John Taylor as my 3rd great-grandfather I was very upset. I had to admit that she had a point. This involved chopping down a limb that I had built back to the middle ages in England, with many illustrious stories along the way. Alas, they were all built on specious data. Now I am back to Jonathan Aaron Taylor, who fought in the Revolutionary War and was discharged in South Carolina..not born there. I suppose I am happy to have him even though he is not who I thought he was.
Jonathan Aaron Taylor (1760 – 1820)
3rd great-grandfather
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of Jonathan Aaron Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
Have you ever attempted an ancestry study? It is really easy now that Ancestry.com is there to guide you. Just be careful as you roam around in that data. Not all of it can be verified, especially the family trees. Don’t copy another person’s data until you examine it carefully for errors. The ancestors have much to teach us..and one of the lessons is VERIFY your facts before you swallow them whole. Save yourself the heartache of saying good-bye to bogus relatives.
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