mermaidcamp
Keeping current in wellness, in and out of the water
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Black Sheep Ancestors
January 1, 2013
— 5 Comments
black sheep in dreadlocks
When a family member does something disgraceful or distasteful the general way it is handled is by denial. The person who commits suicide or bigamy or general black sheepery is dropped from the story. Three of my grandfathers, fall into this category. My paternal great-grandfather, Edward Ewing Scott, married another woman while he was married to my great-grandmother who had 4 young daughters at home. My other paternal great-grandfather , Jason A Morse, was referred to as a bum, had a wild Cherokee wife purported to be a witch (after his boy’s mother died), and was never mentioned favorably to me. I very recently have seen his picture which was sent to me by a cousin. My mother’s father, George H Taylor, killed himself at home leaving his 10 kids orphaned during the depression. I have never seen a picture of George H, and did not know about his suicide until I was a teenager. One of my first cousins had a very elaborate suicide downtown Houston in the 1960’s which brought the subject back to light. I remember thinking how weird it was that nobody had ever told me. His wife, my grandmother, had died at home as well, in childbirth. I knew about that, but not his suicide. This denial makes it very hard to find information about the black sheep and how they blackened themselves.
This is your shadow family. This is the information that has specifically not been given to you in an effort to protect you in some way. This is the nature that is hidden in an effort to improve the self-image of the family through spin. Everyone wants to believe that his or her family represents the best and most worthy genetic material. If you can remember your parents being imperfect, then you can extrapolate how imperfect your entire tree really may be. If you look closely you may be frightened that we all descend from loonies. If you look more closely you will see how this evens out over time. The concept of the family curse is as real as the family glory and royalty. We have all arrived at this point in history together because of a long line of imperfect beings who survived and tweaked the story along the way.
Winter of Our Disco Tent
December 31, 2012
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John Steinbeck wrote American novels that richly described in detail the place and time. His final book was about greed and ethics. The title, Winter of our Discontent, was taken from a line in William Shakespeare’s Richard III. When I look back in history by studying my ancestors I see a constant struggle, sometimes ignorant, sometimes violent, about greed and ethics. Our current crossroads and choices are similar to the ones found in history. “There may be better times, but this one is ours.” J P Sartre. We have to go with what we’ve got.
Since nobody has free time for an epic Greek drama, or even Shakespeare, our morality play has to be formatted for a smart phone and be shorter than 2 minutes to have impact. I admire Alan Simpson as an artist and a scholar. The essence of his distinguished career as a statesman and public servant could not possibly be summed up better than his dance with the can. The medium is the message. He knows how to communicate. Get down on it, Alan.
My Tribe and History
December 31, 2012
— 6 Comments
Plymouth
It is enlightening to track my personality archetypes while I track my ancestors. There are similarities, highs and lows, temporary dead ends in both. You can’t change the ancestors and you can’t change your archetypes, in the same way that you can not rearrange the stars in the sky. When I was new in the genealogy game I went to Tulsa to meet a cousin based on only family legend and no facts to discover/confirm our Cherokee bloodline. We had a great time, but came up empty on the Native American theory. We both wanted it to be true, but my cousin’s husband was insanely convinced without any evidence. He really wanted a Cherokee wife. He was the worst detective I have ever seen.
While searching it is important to be open to discovering that for which what you were not looking. When I find a Plymouth Colony ancestor I am generally excited, fill in the blanks with some black britches and some assumptions. Richard Taylor was no regular Pilgrim. He fell in love and married a Wampanoag chief’s daughter. I have a tribe in Massachusetts. I never would have guessed this, but I am thrilled out of my mind. My 12th great-grandfather,Great Sachem, had been exposed to English fishermen, and had learned some language from them. He walked into the Pilgrim camp and said “Welcome Englishmen”, to the great surprise of the Englishmen.
Wasanequin Great Sachem Wampanoag tribe (1554 – 1617)
is my 12th great grandfather
Quadequina Wampanoag (1576 – 1623)
Son of Wasanequin Great Sachem
Margaret Diguina Weeks (1613 – 1651)
Daughter of Quadequina
Ruth Whelden (1625 – 1673)
Daughter of Margaret Diguina
John TAYLOR (1651 – 1690)
Son of Ruth
Abigail Taylor (1663 – 1730)
Daughter of John
Martha Goodwin (1693 – 1769)
Daughter of Abigail
Grace Raiford (1725 – 1778)
Daughter of Martha
Sarah Hirons (1751 – 1817)
Daughter of Grace
John Nimrod Taylor (1770 – 1816)
Son of Sarah
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
Son of John Nimrod
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
Son of John Samuel
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
Son of William Ellison
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
Daughter of George Harvey
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee
I am very interested in my tribe, and have already had contact from a fellow descendant who has some proof of our Nativeness. I am looking forward to his input and learnring more about my roots. Ironically these people helped the Pilgrims survive, but the tribe has no reservation today. This is an overview of my First Nation Family:
Pokanoket is a tribe of Native Americans who trace their their lineage back thousands of years beyond the colonial days of the United States of America. We trace our ancestry through the bloodlines and the written and oral history of our people. We are the people of Massasoit Ousamequin, Massasoit Wamsutta, and Massasoit Metacom. We are Philip’s people, the people of Metacom. We are the people who celebrated the First Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims in 1621. We are the people who have endured much and who have returned, after a long journey through history to the present day and continue to look forward to the future.
Pokanoket is also a Nation. The Nation of Tribes you may have heard of referred to as Wampanoag ( pronounced wahm – peh – noe – ahg ) was known to our ancestors as the Pokanoket Nation. The Pokanoket Nation, also known as the Pokanoket Confederacy or Pokanoket Country, was comprised of a multitude of Tribes.
Each Tribe was comprised of Bands and Villages and the Pokanoket Tribe was the Headship of the Pokanoket Nation.
Pokanoket is also our home. Prior to the time of the pilgrim’s arrival in Plymouth, which used to be Patuxet, the realm of the Pokanoket included portions of Rhode Island and much of southeastern Massachusetts, including the surrounding islands around Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.
The Pokanoket social organization developed in a manner that differed from neighboring Native American Tribes, since Pokanoket was more socially structured and layered, as well as more politically complex.
Unique to the Pokanoket Tribe were the spirtual and military elite, know as the Pineese (Pineese Warrior), who protected and served the Massasoit (Great Leader). They are the spiritual guardians of Pokanoket Nation.
Pokanoket believed seven to be the perfect number of completeness, for we still believe in the Seven Spirits of the Creator.
Bienvenidos a Tucson
December 30, 2012
— 1 Comment
Tradicionalmente en Tucson los negocios han servido el mercado de ambos lados de la frontera. Nogales, Sonora es la puerta de entrada por la mayoria de frutas y verduras que exporta el pais de Mexico. Hay bastante negocio y riqueza en Sta. Cruz County y en Sonora desde el tiempo de los Espanoles. Ranchos enormes y negocios viejos, acostumbrados de la cultura y los riesgos de la frontera sobreviven. Tucson, entre el diablo y la frontera, sufre poque los Maricopanos han parado comercio legitimo, pero no el crimen. Nos molesta, pero ellos tienen el poder político en el estado. Joe Arpayo no nos representa.
La gente de Sonora ya no tiene ganas visitar Arizona ya que SB1070 es la ley. Esto me parace muy natural. Tucson tiene una herida economica bien seria resultando de la clima politica. El nuevo alcalde de Tucson, Jonathan Rothschild, quiere renovar el comercio entre Sonora y Tucson. Si tiene éxito los Mexicanos, lindos y queridos, van a regresar con su efectivo a nuestra ciudad. Yo le brindo mucha suerte porque nos hacen mucha falta nuestros vecinos Mexicanos elegantes, distinguidos, y mas que todo, ricos, que antes nos visitaban. Aqui les esperamos, para servirles, sin pedo.
Disculpe el Espanol desnudo. No he encontrado el espellcheck en Espanol en mi WordPress.
Saturday Morning Puppet Show
December 29, 2012
— 2 Comments
There is a number to call in the ad above to tell congress if you want to stop living like Jessica Rabbit in a bad cartoon. Tweet them, write them, fax them, call them, and beg for mercy on this country. Each new installment of this congress show is less acceptable than the last. We have gone beyond throwing bums out, and must address the systemic way this all came about in the first place. I think it would be good to know what happened on K Street before lobbyists moved in and started running the Howdy Doody Show.
To Tweet or Not to Tweet,
December 28, 2012
— 3 Comments
Hamlet and skull
that is the question…..wheather it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of 140 character communication, or ignore it. Peeps who do not tweet are not neccesarily out of touch, while tweeps who do may be wildly deranged or just killing time. Considering how much time is killed in real time, we must admit that this double edged sword cuts both ways. Our challenge is to use it for the benefit of mankind. I am sure there were many fatal errors while humans became familiar with the properties of fire, but eventually the power was harnessed for beneficial uses. The printing press, and, Oy Vey!, the printed Bible have drastically changed the course of history. The tool itself must not be maligned, but investigated to find the highest and best use.
We have a tool for democracy called congress which,in itself,is not a bad idea. It was created to govern our republic. There were corporations in early America, but there were no superpacs. Carolyn Myss uses an excellent example in the book Sacred Contracts to explain the use of tools on earth. She used the example of learning to use a knife. If you grab the knife by the blade it will be painful and destructive. When the paid becomes too great you may decide to use the handle of the knife which makes the knife useful for many purposes. Then the knife can cut food and perform a number of other useful tasks. We need to grab congress by the handle now. This is much too painful. This is our time in history, post Zombie Appocolypse global hot house. How shall we handle this?
On the Bus or Off the Bus
December 27, 2012
— 2 Comments
Merry Praksters
There is one safeguard known generally to the wise, which is an advantage and security to all – suspicion. –Demosthenes
How can we cultivate a healthy sense of disrespect and suspicion that is mindful of and careful with the opinions of others? We see no mature examples set by politicians. Religious leaders all teach healthy disrespect for worldly authority. Some religions teach that all worldly authority is to be shunned because of the wicked nature of it. The nuns on the bus dissing the Pope showed healthy suspicion of politicians trashing the poor to be elected by the rich. There was a saying that resonated back in the hippie world. “You are either on the bus or off the bus.” The phrase came from the book The Electric Acid Kool-Aid Test by Tom Wolfe. We also talked constantly about revolution, and the end of the empire. Bob Dylan, The Dead, Angela Davis, Black Panthers, SDS….. it was all very meaningful….and then it faded like morning dew in a folk song. Perhaps these nuns were hippies who never lost the baby faith.
Double Down to Feed Our Neighbors
December 27, 2012
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- Tucson public art
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- art as border
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- Culture combination
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- SB1070
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- Hi E’rybody!
In Tucson we host a lot of transients, create crime/residual poverty, and our economy has depended on boom and bust construction. The present condition of our social safety net to protect our weakest is critical. Our Community Food Bank is now $400,000 underfunded for the year. The shelves are bare and the need increases daily. Last night on PBS Newshour I listed to philanthropy experts discuss the fiscal cliff fiasco and non profit businesses. Small donors are fewer this year because of both uncertainty and lack of extra funds for giving. The uncertainty is exacerbated by the fact that non profits also receive 30% of all funding from government programs. They know that falling off the cliff will eliminate many non profit agencies by simply removing the government support. I take a very dim view of congress in the steam room while non profits fold.
A glimmer of hope in Tucson: “Hi e’rybody, I’m Jim Click.” A well known cowboy car dealer hero has stepped up with Sandy Peebles to double all the contributions made to the Community Food Bank from now until the end of the year. I usually take mine to a local lawyer’s office for doubling, but she was not offering the matching funds this year, so I am late. I am thrilled to see our wealthy business owners ride up on the white horses in the white hats to do the right thing. I always ask friends and neighbors to support the Food Bank of Southern AZ because they get the most bang for the buck. When you give a dollar to the Food Bank they use their leverage to buy $9 worth of food for those in need in Tucson. Some non profits have heavy staff and administrative costs, but the Food Bank is lean and clean. They recently won a grant to put gardens in the schools. Please follow me to the website and donate now while the need is great and your donation will be doubled. Let’s all help Jim dig a little deeper into his car bucks.
I also ask everyone to help me end fraudulent philanthropy. Criminals take advantage of the public by seeking donations for bogus entities. Please have some scrutiny and some consideration when you donate. The experts on PBS taught me that small donors usually do not write off their gifting on Federal income tax. That was surprising to me. Wealthy people strategically use giving to pay less in taxes. If you do not have an extra million to give, please make sure your donation is going to a legitimate non profit with an ethical goal. The gifts are needed by the legitimate non profits more than ever, and it is important to know what happens to your hard earned donation.
Hermes and the Underworld
December 24, 2012
— 3 Comments
Hermes guides souls to the Underworld
Zues has a son able to enter and leave underworld unharmed. His name is Hermes. He carries a staff with two snakes signifying his role in commerce and negotiation. The Caduceus with two snakes and wings is used by the AMA today as a symbol of medicine. It is a very apt symbol for the medical professionals tied to drug company profits. They used to get into the Hippocratic oath by swearing to Aesclepius that they would would first do no harm. Now they borrow the winged staff of Mercury and make a deal with pharmaceutical companies to produce as many ills as there are pills.
What harm could this little mix up do? If they forgot the meaning of the the symbol for medicine and both the healing and the negotiating staffs have snakes, what is the big deal? A snake is a snake, right? When they lurk in the tall grass of Medicare and Medicaid those snakes can and do major damage putting profit before wellness. Maybe we don’t have to be concerned that they no longer understand Latin. We are probably better off seeing only an assistant rather than the Wizard of Oz himself when we go to a doctor’s office. It costs significantly more to be harmed by a real doc, whose harm comes at a premium price. The intent from the get go is warped, so we are diagnosed at warp speed and matched with one or more drugs, faster than you can say Jack’s you’re uncle. They thought “Primum non nocerum. (First do no harm)” meant first push drugs. Hippocrates would plotz. They are an insult to Hermes as well. He protects shepherds, smugglers and thieves with cunning.
Hermes negotiates for staff
As Above, so Below-the Border
December 24, 2012
— 1 Comment
How irresistible is untaxed profit? So magnetic that a Border Patrol agent just was stupid enough to load a large shipment of dirt weed into to his migramobile for transport right next to the border recently. I live in Tucson, in the slipstream of untaxed profit provided by the border. It feels to me like the economy that transpires outside the law, under the table, is much greater than legal business in my state. We are so damn fast, furious, heavily armed, and racist that anything can and does happen. South of the border, down Mexico way, kingpins of crime created a much stronger economy than the local legal economy. They now have their own saint which is a sure sign that they are in control. The border itself offers them the risk reward system of illegal commerce that increases their power and wealth. Sure, they have guns (supplied by us), but they only enforce their special jurisdiction with guns. If they had no economy based on smuggling they would have no power in Mexico or the US, thus no need for a saint.
- The closer to the border, the higher the risk/reward.
- The closer to the border, the more violent the scene
- The closer to the border, the higher the pay for crime
- The closer to the border, the higher the bribes
At the border everything is exponentially magnified and all the cops are criminals, all the sinners saints. Stakes are high and the dominant criminal precedent has been set in place forever. Smuggling pays well, and pays law enforcement the highest salaries, one would imagine. The fence that was built to solve our bizzillion border issues has magnetized them. The pay is now higher to break laws at the border, and the violence much greater. Every pendejo who loves lawlessness is attracted to the Arizona/Sonora border. Why? It is simple. The pinche-punk criminals flock to both sides of the border because the border itself is pura pendejada. The migra doesn’t even have a saint. How pathetic is that?
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