In modern culture wars one side thinks there is something sacred and eternal about our “traditional” family structure, while the other side wants to experiment. Medievalists just laugh. I think it’s safe to say most people don’t realize how family structures have evolved through history, even in our European diaspora. We don’t live in the…
Author: Justin Durand
We Love Stories
Have you ever thought about the ways all stories are the same? They’re all about a “descent” followed by a “return”. Think about Joseph Campbell and The Hero’s Journey. Genealogists love stories. They’re the very essence of why we collect our kin, so I think it’s worth pushing our skill and understanding. We should want…
Remembering Carroll Place
My dad Carroll Arthur Place (1920-2000) would have been 100 today. That seems striking to me but marking a parent’s 100th birthday will happen to many people. I just come to it a bit earlier than most of my generation because Dad was 35 years older than me. Headstone I was going to mark his…
Where to Register?
As we come up on the 2020 Census there’s a bit of a judgment call about where to register. Our old place at The Wellshire or our new place at Yale 25 Station. The official date is April 1st. We’re still straddling the two. I think we’ll say we’re at the new place, although I…
2020 Census
I wrote a little piece called “American Identity” back in 2008, looking to the 2010 Census. Now here it is, almost the 2020 Census. If I hadn’t written it then, I’d want to write it now. Not changing a thing.