Tag Archives: census

Finding my family’s version of “Little House in the Big Woods”

Quite often, I find myself thinking things like, “If not for this one thing having happened, I likely wouldn’t be where I am today.” I wonder, for instance, if my father hadn’t gotten into an accident that kept him from shipping off for Vietnam, how my life might have turned out differently. Or I start […]

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It looks as though my great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Clark Wise, may have been with Washington at Valley Forge

While I’m tempted to make the case that my family’s Wise line goes all the way back to Colonel John Wise (1617-1695), who is thought to have arrived in the Virginia Colony from England in 1635, I think it’s probably more likely that the first Wise in my family to step foot in America was […]

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Trying to piece together the young life of my great grandmother, Minnie Florian Wise

The woman to the right is my great grandmother. Her name was Minnie Florence Wise, and she was born on December 9, 1892, in Montgomery County, Kentucky, which is about 30 miles east of Lexington, where, if I’m not mistaken, her grandfather, John Anderson Wise (1823-1893), fought on the side of the Union during the […]

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On a campaign stop in Michigan today, Elizabeth Warren calls for a constitutional amendment to end gerrymandering, get corporate money out of politics, and protect voting rights

We know for a certainty that the tide is turning against the Republican Party demographically speaking. And, as a result, we know that the Republican Party, in an effort to retain power, has been devoting more time, effort and resources to gerrymandering, voter suppression and other activities intended to prevent non-Republicans from voting, like continuing […]

Posted in Civil Liberties, cycle powered cinema, Detroit, Michigan, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 106 Comments

The Swedes of Galesburg

Earlier this evening, I was thinking about my grandmother who passed away this last May, and I decided to scroll back through the photos I’d taken the last time I was with her. Well, there among all of the photos I’d taken of her and Clementine, was this one of the telegram that she’d sent […]

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