Outsmarting Grandma

This past Saturday we, my wife and I, had the privilege to watch our second, 11 week old, grandchild  for a few hours. We had last seen him in April, a week or so after his birth. Simon has yet to learn that women are always right. A meme I saw on Facebook pointed out three things: 1. Women are always right; 2. The first born daughter is always right; 3. The first born granddaughter is always right. My wife checks two of the three, and since the first is always right, I do not know why a need for a number 2 or number 3, but I guess that is a warning to not argue with a woman who meets all three criteria. In any event, our (then) 11 week old, okay, 11 and one half week old, grandson out smarted Grandma.

For Simon to outsmart Grandma is quite something. Grandma has a great deal of experience with children, not just our two, but she also worked in special care nursery, a nurse in a pediatric clinic, and, to top it off she was a school nurse. No one can get the better of a school nurse, not a FF (frequent flyer), not anybody. She is used to laying down the law. So, it was interesting to see the "battle" of wills between our grandson and my wife. An epic battle. 

Simon and Grandma
June 21, 2025

Simon had been fed by his mom before his parents departed for a wedding reception. Typically, about an hour after being fed, Simon goes down for a nap. I guess it was nearing that hour time, and my wife thought Simon wanted to go down for a nap. She put him down and he was quiet for a while, but started to fuss a bit and she brought him back to the main floor. Where we played with him. I think this happened twice. She thought Simon desired to be put down for a nap before he really wanted to be put down for a nap and not before. 

Simon is a good baby boy, so to get on grandma's good side he gave her a nice long cuddle after she had fed him. It could have been his way of saying thank you, or that he just wished to be held. Or, were they both worn out from this epic battle? Who got the better end of the deal? I think both came out with pleased hearts as both got a long cuddle with each other. 

Simon may have outsmarted Grandma Toni that day, but in the end both benefited. However, Simon should not push his luck, because it is difficult to outsmart Grandma Toni. 

The Lost Cause Myth

What happened after the end of the Civil War was an odd occurrence. Generally, after a time of war the victor controls the spoils and the narrative. That did not happen with the Civil War, as a movement called The Lost Cause took hold to present the Confederacy in the best possible light. According to this pseudo-historical approach, the Civil War was only about state's rights. State's rights of course is another term for slavery. What the Lost Cause falsity shows is that racism ran deep into the nation, and the more efforts at reconstruction to grant equality to African-Americans, the more push back occurred. It is into this milieu that General US Grant was elected President, with perhaps a challenge greater than winning the Civil War was winning the peace. 

The Lost Cause, and its related bad apples, made that difficult. The Lost Cause, according to Encyclopedia Virginia was based on six main tenants.

1. Secession, not slavery, caused the Civil War.
2. African Americans were “faithful slaves,” loyal to their masters and the Confederate cause and unprepared for the responsibilities of freedom.
3. The Confederacy was defeated militarily only because of the Union’s overwhelming advantages in men and resources.
4. Confederate soldiers were heroic and saintly.
5. The most heroic and saintly of all Confederates, perhaps of all Americans, was Robert E. Lee.
6. Southern women were loyal to the Confederate cause and sanctified by the sacrifice of their loved ones.

The movement further asserts that the South did not lose the war, they were simply overwhelmed by the money, manpower and industry of the north. Many false narratives were created by the Lost Cause movement and the many academics, both north and south, who became beholden to it. The narrative became so strong and pervasive that it still haunts the nation today. One main casualty of the Lost Cause was General and President Ulysses S Grant.

Painting, March 1865, The Peacemakers
General Sherman, General Grant, President Lincoln, Admiral Porter

The movement portrayed him as a drunkard, a butcher and, during his presidency, corrupt. We were taught many of these things, but research has shown that none of the labels placed on US Grant were warranted or correct. While he drank excessively while stationed in California, more recent research shows that during the war and presidency he seldom had the episodes of drunkenness. There may have been a few instances of "falling off the wagon" but it never seems to have affected him before, or during battle. His aide, James Rawlins, kept this under control while in war, and his wife while serving in Washington. 

General Grant at Cold Harbor

Second, the Union suffered heavy losses as he pursued the strategy laid out by President Lincoln and himself--to destroy Lee's army. Many Eastern theater generals wanted simply Richmond, but Lincoln and Grant always understood Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to be key. Prior to Grant, if a battle was a stalemate, or lost by the Union the Union leaders of the Army of the Potomac would simply retreat. Grant did not do this. The Union fought most of the Civil War in an attacking posture, and the South in a defensive posture, and defense has the upper hand in fortifications, knowing the territory, and local culture. Most of the war was fought in the south, meaning the north had to have long supply lines. Robert E Lee became a Saint to the south, and Grant the devil. But, for both sides the war was being fought in a time of transition and battle field tactics had to change due to changing technologies. That took time to adjust. When looking at casualty figures, Lee had a similar, if not greater, casualty rate when he went on the attack as compared to Grant. Only a few times, Gettysburg being one, did Lee go on the offensive. 

Grant also developed a comprehensive strategy to win the war when appointed command of all Union forces. He developed the attack through the south to Atlanta, attacks at Mobile and along the Eastern sea board--all generally simultaneous. General Sherman's march to the sea, without supply lines, was itself based on a maneuver when Grant took his army across the Mississippi to attack toward Jackson before turning back to capture Vicksburg. Grant's movements regarding Vicksburg are thought to be among the best in warfare.

As an aside, I suppose few know that when General Grant dictated the terms of surrender at Appomattox, the terms were taken down by one of his aides--General Ely Parker, a full-blooded Seneca Native American. When Parker was introduced to Robert E Lee,  Parker relates that "General Lee stared at me for a moment," said Parker to more than one of his friends and relatives, "He extended his hand and said, 'I am glad to see one real American here.' I shook his hand and said, 'We are all Americans.'"

Painting imagined scene at Appomattox Courthouse
April 1865
Harvard University

During his Presidency Grant attempted to safeguard the rights of blacks, and attempts to thwart him were made by many cities and southern states, and Democrats in congress and at the state and local level. Grant had to balance concern for another war with the rising tide of the KKK which often took matters into its own hands. He had to overcome the intransigence of his predecessor, Andrew Johnson, who tried to block attempts at equal rights for African-Americans.  Reconstruction, often criticized due to the narrative of the Lost Cause, was necessary to move African-Americans ahead to put them on equal footing. Simply put, they faced continued discrimination as work arounds of federal movements by the south and its clowns were found. The KKK, and other organizations were highly effective undertaking political terrorism beyond its extrajudicial killings and violence it perpetrated through out much of the south and parts of the north.

General Grant and part of his Staff, Ely Parker is to left
Harvard University

While some of the people Grant surrounded himself became corrupt, he was not corrupt and lost his life savings to a Ponzi scheme. His faith in people proved difficult because he did not some to become corrupt. The US was faced with other problems than that caused by reconstruction, there was a great recession, debt from the war, and finding jobs and income for those displaced by the war. It was a difficult time but Grant persevered.  He realized that in Washington his aides were not the like the aides he had during the war. 

KKK and White League joined forces after the Civil War
New Georgia Encyclopedia

As much as the South and the Lost Cause narrative have prevailed, it is time for historians, and others, to recognize the false claims made, the pseudohistorical method behind the whole story. The story particularly took hold in the first part of the Twentieth century after the soldiers who fought in the north had pretty much died out. (Think 1915 film, Birth of a Nation.) Civil War historian Bruce Catton believed the Lost Cause  "elevated the entire conflict to the realm where it is no longer explosive” “The victim of the Lost Cause legend has been history,” according to Alan Nolan, “for which the legend has been substituted in the national memory.” I am sure the continued myth perpetuated the racism against African-Americans. That may be the worst part of the continuation of such a myth. Words matter, and in this case University historians on both sides led the Lost Cause narrative, showing how strong the anchor tendency is in creating a true myth. 

Tomorrow Juneteenth will be marked, June 19, 1965 being the day the last slaves freed by the Emancipation Proclamation were freed by federal forces in Galveston Bay, TX. Without Abraham Lincoln and General Grant there would not be a Juneteenth celebration. The Lost Cause myth still pervades our past, and our present. it is up to us to see that it ends so it does not pervade our future.

A Complex Lineage II

Near the end the of the 2024 movie Conclave, the Dean of the College of Cardinals approaches the selected person, Vincent Benitez, Pope Innocent (XIV) and says, "Within the hour, you will be the most famous man in the world... " This now applies to Robert Francis Prevost, Pope Leo XIV, who was selected just over a month ago in the May 2025 conclave. Because of his position, there have been deep dives into his genealogy. First, there was the discovery of his Creole roots on his mother's side, and now a deep dive into his paternal ancestry, to try to figure out his Prevost line. It was baffling, even to  Robert Prevost about his paternal lineage, what he called the "French side". The findings, using information so far located, on his paternal lineage may be ripe and juicy for the gossip pages. They have solved the conundrum of the complex lineage on the Prevost line, by finding one man who used Prevost as an alias.

Pope Leo XIV

The Italians so much wanted an Italian Pope that they reported on a Jean Prevosto born the same date as Leo's grandfather in the Piedmont region of Italy; there is a major problem, however, as that Jean Prevosto died at age one. What the Italian fact checkers did not do, a group of genealogists affiliated with Geneanet and Genealogy Discord have found proof of where the Prevost surname arose. Leo's paternal grandfather is Italian, but from the far south end the football (soccer ball) being kicked--Sicily. The currently available facts show this to be an interesting story. A note to the readers, this story is murky due to either unlocated records, or there are reasons why the records do not exist. This poses the juicy part.

Leo's paternal grandfather was born 24 June 1876 in Sicily and was named Salvatore Giovanni Gaetano Riggitano. Leo's paternal grandmother is Suzanne Louise Marie Fontaine, aka Fabre, who was born in France on 2 Feb 1894. The thinking in the family was his grandfather was French, too, given that to his children and grandchildren he was known as John Prevost.

Salvatore Riggitano

Salvatore moved to the United States in 1903 and was well-known as a teacher of Romance languages. His son John, Leo's uncle, John Centi, was a professor of Romance languages, mainly at the University of Detroit. Pope Leo reads, and speaks five languages--English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and French, as well as an ability to read and use Latin and German, so he continues the multilingualism of the family. Leo, a math major at Villanova, may have had his grandfather's knack for languages and math, as Salvatore is reported to have received his diploma in languages, history, and mathematics on 22 February 1895. After receiving his degree, Salvatore worked for the Italian government in the court system. After arriving in the US, Salvatore first settled in Quincy, IL living with a sister and brother-in-law. He enrolled at St Francis Solanus college in that city, but he may have also taught varied languages. Leo's mother has been described as learned and teaching French, but also being a governess and  nurse. After about 1917, as one blogger put it, the family seems to have disappeared from official records for a few decades.

Salvatore was apparently well known in the world of foreign languages. In 1910, ads in the Chicago Tribune advertise the Riggitano Method of language instruction and by 1922 there is the Riggitano School of Languages. It was also featured in the 1923 Chicago Directory. His school, by 1934, has become the Riggitano-Prevost school. 

Salvatore and Daisy Marriage License

Salvatore was married in 1914 in a Baptist Church in Chicago to Daisy Hughes, then 38 years old, who was born near Ottumwa, IA.  She died in Chicago on 25 July 1939. Apparently, Salvatore met her while teaching in Iowa.  At the time of marriage, Salvatore was employed at the Spry School of Music. Salvatore's WWI draft registration lists Daisy as the contact, and has him living at 1716-18 Greenleaf, Chicago, and a teacher of languages at 116 S Michigan Ave. Daisy and Salvatore show up together in the 1920 census, and at the Greenleaf address, and no children are present. A Genealogy Discord report indicates that in 1917 scandal erupted in Quincy when Daisy accused and sought the arrest of her husband and a young woman named Suzanna Fountain for being "improperly mixed up." The suit was reported in varied news accounts. The Genealogy Discord report does not say anything if they were convicted of the crime. However, Suzanna ends up in April and May 1917 splitting time between Detroit and Toronto. But, on 22 July 1917 we find her in New York state where she gave birth to a boy at an infant home for unwed mothers in Lackawanna. The child is given the name Jean (John) Centi Prevost born to Suzanna Fontaine and a man identified as Jean Prevost on 23 July 1917. The father was named as Jean Prevost, whose occupation was an "Instructor." John Centi would be Pope Leo's uncle.

News Article on Love Triangle, 1917

The Pope's father, Louis "Lanti" Marius Prevost was born on 28 July 1920 in Chicago at 6037 Blackstone Ave. (I have not located a 1920 census record for Suzanna under Prevost, Fabre or Fontaine.)  If you have followed the dates that is the same year Salvatore Riggitano shows up in the 1920 US Census in the same household with Daisy, (bold by author for emphasis) but he is also under an alias (John Prevost) as the father of Pope Leo's dad. The birth record identifies the parents of Louis Marius Prevost as John Prevost and Suzanna Fabre (Fontaine) Prevost. Salvatore has taken an alias, and we know this by his own reporting. No divorce records for his marriage with Daisy Hughes, or any marriage records for him and Suzanna have so far been located, and they may not exist. He and Suzanne, apparently, are no where to be found in the 1930 or 1940 US Census. They do, however, appear in the 1950 US Census.   The 1942 draft record for Louis lists his father John Prevost as his contact, and at 5465 Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL.  As one blogger says, there is a reason the couple was not identified in census records, they were avoiding being located. This blogger suggests that the change in ID for the Pope's grandparents is that they never married. Who knows, someone may be digging deep to see if there are records of divorce (Salvatore and Daisy) and marriage (Salvatore (aka John) and Suzanna), not to mention an annulment for Salvatore. Or, it may well be that records are quickly being created.

John Prevost (Salvatore) Obituary

Suzanna Prevost Obituary

Genealogy Discord found varied clues-birthdates, occupations, and the like--to suggest that Salvatore Riggitano and John Prevost are the same man. But, the clues are not full proof. Undeniable proof that the two names are for one man goes to the US Congress and the man himself. The Alien Registration Act, enacted 28 June 1940, required all adult residents who were not citizens to register with the federal government. Suzanne registered under Fontaine, not Fabre, and Salvatore registered as John Riggitano Prevost; but he also identified that he entered the United States under the name Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano Aliota. This gets to that blogger, Frederic Thebault, who concludes that there are many errors in reporting for "the simple reason: they did not want to be clearly identified. Why? Simply because they were not married, and John Prevost, alias, Salvatore Giovanni Riggitano, was already married."

WWII Draft Registration of Louis M Prevost, Pope Leo's father

Interestingly, Suzanna was, according to her obituary, a third order Carmelite. So, where did the the Prevost surname come from? They used Suzanna's mother's maiden name. Suzanna's mother was Jeanne E Prevost, and she married Ernest Fontaine in 1863 (her parents were Romain Pascal Prevost and Jeanne Chauvin). The Pope's grandparents took on this surname, and it became the surname of their two children, John and Louis. 

Louis Prevost Birth Record
F

If the known situation holds (ie no divorce or marriage records) between Salvatore (John) and Suzanna they were in an irregular situation. Pope Francis had the desire to allow the church to better address, and be more merciful to irregular situations and in doing so was highly criticized by the traditional and conservatives of the Church. If no divorce and annulment record for John Prevost (Salvatore Riggitano), or a marriage record for Salvatore Riggitano or John Prevost to Suzanna Fontaine (Fabre) can be located, their situation was counter to church teaching. If this holds up, the Pope's father was the result of a non-married couple. Not only that, Leo's grandfather was married to another woman at the time of birth to both children. I am sure people are continuing to dig to see if additional records could be found, but some great genealogy minds who found the link for Prevost, have been unable to find a divorce or marriage records.

The Proof, top part of Alien Registration Form

Pope Leo has a complex lineage racially (Creole), and his paternal side lays out what may well be the complexities found in life, and how this differs from the perfection demanded of the laity by church law. It also shows that good things can came out of a such a situation. Both grandparents had Catholic funeral services. As Cardinal Sabbadin in Conclave states: "We are mortal men; we serve an ideal. We cannot always be ideal. Pope Francis tried to recognize this quote, and hence his position on the church needing to emphasize mercy. Francis attempts at recognizing such situations got him into a great deal of trouble with certain elements in the church.

Louis Prevost
Pope Leo's father

The union of Salvatore and Suzanna produced two sons, one in July 1917 at a home for unwed mothers, and the other (Pope Leo's dad, Louis) in Chicago in July 1920. A charge of an "improper relationship" was put forth by Daisy Hughes Riggitano in the spring of 1917. Researchers have yet to uncover a divorce record for Salvatore and Daisy, or a marriage record for Salvatore and Suzanna. Some unknowns remain making things murky, but wow what a story of a possible love triangle with the Pope's paternal grandfather at the apex. The lineage of Pope Leo is complex, and part may have been purposefully so.  Oh, the things that are hidden in the labyrinth of Leo's paternal grandparents, which added to his complex lineage.

NOTES: 

            1. Images from Google or Genealogy Discord report

            2.  Sean Meyer, part of the Genealogy Discord group in Muddy River News had this to say regarding the information: 

“There were just questions on, who is he?” he said. “We wanted to find that. We don’t want this to become like a negative press thing, or like a smear campaign, that the pope’s father was born out of wedlock. That was not our intention, and we don’t necessarily want it to be something that’s shameful.
“A lot of people don’t know what happened in their family tree, and I can guarantee, like a lot of us, have out-of-wedlock ancestors we just don’t know about. Obviously, there’s the context of him being the pope, and we definitely were concerned with that form of press, but we feel confident in the research."  

        3. Following quote, bold by author, was part of an address delivered by  Pope Leo XIV in June                    2025, to Seminar on Evangelizing Families Today and Tomorrow

Faith is primarily a response to God's love, and the greatest mistake we can make as Christians is, in the words of Saint Augustine, "to claim that Christ's grace consists in his example and not in the gift of his person" [Contra Iulianum opus imperfectum, II, 146]. How often, even in the not too distant past, have we forgotten this truth and presented Christian life mostly as a set of rules to be kept, replacing the marvelous experience of encountering Jesus – God who gives himself to us – with a moralistic, burdensome and unappealing religion that, in some ways, is impossible to live in concrete daily life. 

                                                                 

 

 

A Complex Lineage

It was a nice spring day on 8 May of this year when I arrived home from a bike ride about 10:45 am and decided to check on the status of reports from the Vatican as to who would follow the beloved Francis as pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. White smoke is sent up from a chimney on the Sistine Chapel when a Pope is selected; if one is not selected, black smoke appears, but only every two ballots. They vote once the first day and then four times subsequent days, two in morning and two in afternoon-evening. The time of day meant if there was smoke it would have to be white with the selection of the pope. I had looked at news on the BBC site, and noticed  they were reporting live from the Vatican. While heads talked, a camera was focused on the most famous chimney in the world. I minimized that screen while working on other things.  A few minutes later, I heard cheering coming from the minimized BBC site. I opened it to find white smoke coming out. While the Church has storied rules about conclaves, the person selected as Pope, Robert Francis Prevost, has an interesting and complex lineage that rivals that of Vatican conclave secrecy.

White Smoke, 8 May 2025

It was just over an hour from when the white smoke appeared, that a cardinal came out to declare the famous Latin phrase, "Habemus papem."  I was surprised that the  largest conclave in history had produced someone on the fourth ballot, and much more surprised that American born Cardinal, Robert Francis Prevost, was selected. I did not know much about him, although perhaps just as much as Cardinal Dolan of NY knew about him before Dolan headed to Rome. Prevost was not even, according to Dolan, considered a North American Cardinal. Born in Chicago, Prevost served much of his ministry in Peru, over twenty years, including several years as bishop of a poor Peruvian diocese. He was only with the Vatican, as head of the dicastery for Bishops, for about two years, and less than two years ago was made a cardinal. In his first address on the day he was elected, Pope Leo spoke in Latin, Italian and Spanish; the latter language gave a shout out to his former Peruvian diocese. He did not give a shout out to Chicago, or the White Sox. Leo is a naturalized citizen of Peru. This proves the saying that was going around pre-conclave, that he is the least American of the Americans. I tend to take that as a dig at Americans, but whatever. If you are from the US, you claim him as an American, many elsewhere view him as South American, or simply he is almost a man without a country--he represents all.

Robert Prevost
Now Pope Leo XIV

Later that afternoon, when searching for information about Cardinal Prevost I came across a post about him having Creole heritage. The time of the news article was only two hours after the Pope was announced, so somebody did some hot and heavy research. The reporter who wrote the article quickly grabbed on a social media post by Jari Honora in New Orleans. The Pope has a complex lineage, and as newsworthy an American story his Creole heritage (mother's side) is, his Prevost side is also complex. As an amateur genealogist, I find this whole bit rather interesting, and was amazed at how quickly a genealogist in New Orleans found the Creole roots to his complex lineage.

Jari Honora is a Creole man of color living in New Orleans and a professional genealogist. He found the new Pope's Creole heritage in about an hour time. The biggest news, to me, is not that Leo is a Creole, but that it was discovered by Jari in less than an hour of searching and putting together a basic family tree. Honora self describes as a "New Orleans native & resident and proud Louisiana Creole with roots dating back more than two centuries along Bayou Lafourche and the German-Acadian Coast." His search began when he heard the Prevost surname, and his thinking went that it was from Quebec, or even Acadian, and could there be a New Orleans connection. However, as happens in genealogy, his search took him not to Pope Leo's father's side, but to his mothers side. 

The Pope's mother is Mildred Martinez, and she was born in Chicago in December 1911. Her parents migrated from New Orleans to Chicago between 1910 and 1911. The change in city also saw a change in racial identification for Mildred's parents. In New Orleans, her parents Joseph Martinez and Louis Baquie Martinez were identified as Black, colored or mulatto. While in Chicago, they were identified as white. You can find one post about Jari's search for the roots of Leo here. 

Pope Leo XIV Maternal side
Partial ancestry

The migration was part of a diaspora of persons of color from south to the north, in part to avoid discrimination due to Jim Crow laws in which any amount of non-white blood made a person suspect and considered a minority. Pope Leo has a complex lineage on Mildred's father's side of Haitian, Cuban and even perhaps Italian ancestry. For example, Mildred's 2nd great grandfather (her father's grandfather) some say, but not with certainty, was born in Italy as Giacomo Martino, but upon immigration to New Orleans in the 1820's he became Jacques Martinez. Jari thinks there may be a Czech connection. A good number of records, including the marriage certificate, point to his maternal grandfather as being born in Haiti. If the Martinez line actually goes back to Italy it shows the family changed the surname from Martino to Martinez. Today, a Martinez surname may get one deported to El Salvador, but for some reason it was preferred to the Italian surname. A change in surname will occur on Leo's paternal side.

New Orleans Church
Martinez and Baquie were married
Described in New Orleans as mixed race

Mildred's parents lived in the heavily Creole 7th ward, their house razed to allow construction of a highway. My niece in NO sent me a video while travelling on that highway and pointed out the 7th ward. She would have driven right over the site of Leo's grandparents former house. Jari Honora provides greater detail: "Joseph and Louise, born Louise Baquié, grew up in New Orleans’s Seventh Ward, an enclave for the city’s Creoles of color. Joseph’s place of birth is unclear, from studying the records. When he was an adolescent, it was listed as Louisiana. But in several censuses during his adulthood, he claims his birthplace as Port-au-Prince, Haiti." Jari Honora indicates that Joseph's birth certificate seems to claim Haiti as his place of birth, another source indicates the Dominican Republic, in an area claimed by Haiti. Jari further noted that Joseph's parents were both born in Louisiana. 

Louise (1868–1945) was the daughter of Ferdinand Baquié, a shoemaker; whose family, had been present in Louisiana since the colonial era. It is not unusual for different places of birth to be identified in census records. My own great grandfather identified, in different census years, both Germany and Austria as a place of birth. Joseph and Louise had six children--all girls, with Mildred the youngest. 

Mildred Prevost with sons
(front row l to r) Robert, Louis, and John at
Holy Name Cathedral, Chicago, IL

People in Louisiana and elsewhere are doing deep dives into their genealogy to discover if they are related to Leo. One New Orleans woman found she is related to Leo and stated: "As Creoles with African, French and Spanish ancestry, my families history weaves together Catholic faith, resilience, and 'laissez les bons temps rouler' spirit*.  The pope's New Orleans heritage mirrors this complex tapestry, blending culture, struggle and joy. A true American story, spicy as gumbo, now leading the Catholic Church."

More research continues since Jari's original post and part of the Pope's family were free persons of color. Jari and some other researchers think that they may find that some of his ancestors were slaves. In a NO Public Radio report Jari said: "I have identified a few enslaved individuals, who are ancestors of the Holy Father."

I have yet to see any evidence that he may have slaves in his lineage, but determination of slavery is difficult to many cases. Leo's story is truly an American story of the melting pot that was the US and how family migration tied to the early Jim Crow era with a diaspora of southerners to northern cities being a defining element. This move allowed them to identify as white in a culture of prejudice against non-whites. Now, if his Creole roots are of interest, a future post will detail something in his complex lineage that may well be even more spicy than gumbo.

*I think it means "Let the good times roll."

Clutter

One of the neat inventions of the modern era are blowers and suckers for yard work. This time of the year, with detritus falling off trees, I find myself blowing the detritus to the side of the drive and then using the sucker mode to pick up the stuff and place in the compost bin. In the fall, I like to keep the driveway and curb in front of our house clear of leaves to avoid washing down the storm sewer and head to the lakes which can raise lake phosphorous levels, so having both is also handy. This is a tale of how my wife likes to declutter, and how the leaf blower played apart.

With Sucker attachment

Many years ago I bought an electric corded leaf blower/sucker. There were two different attachments, one for each main action of the machine. About five years ago part of the attachment for sucking broke. I really like the sucker as in the fall we rake the leaves on to piles or rows and then I use that to pick them up, which in the process breaks them up making them better for mulching the flower beds.  Hence, I had to buy a new one, but I kept the old one, which allowed me blow with one and suck with the other without changing attachments. Well, this last week the electric engine on the original machine stopped working so I am down to the one. My wife said, "Good, another piece of clutter gone." I am not sure something one uses is clutter, but I am not an expert on clutter except at perhaps making clutter. Do I need a second blower/sucker machine, no, but it sure helps with certain jobs like cleaning the driveway. It is much easier to change the cord then change the attachment, and I kept the blower on the old and the sucker on the new. Taking on and off each attachment leads to the likelihood that one attachment will break, like that small plastic piece on the old sucker that when  broken rendered it useless. Planned obsolescence makes buying a part the cost of a new machine. I liked using the two machines so much that I thought I would go buy another one just to have that ability again. But, my wife's comment put an end to that thought.

This comment, and other comments on her desperate efforts to declutter, led to a dream I had the other night. In my dream we were camping, and we get home to find out that someone had squatted in our house. Not only had they squatted, but they sold much of our stuff. I am irate, and in my dream am upset that they sold our kayaks. I am not sure if they sold my bike or not, as that was not in the dream. My wife's only comment was that, "This is good, there is less clutter." She was not concerned about our house being violated or gear sold, only less clutter to deal with. This statement shows my wife's priorities, getting rid of stuff. I was really mad at what had happened. Somehow I tracked down one of the kayaks that was illicitly sold by the squatter and grabbed it. My wife told me I stole it, and I said it was an illicit sale the squatter and I was reclaiming my rightful ownership. The squatter had no right to not only live in our house, but to sell our stuff. She may have had a different tune, in my dream, if they sold her sewing machine, or stamp sets. I got the kayak back only to see it stolen again. I then woke up.

With blower attachment

My wife is an organizer and has been on this declutter mission for sometime now. She is always on the lookout for an angle to get rid of an item or two or three or..... I am one of those people who hold on to a part from something that broke, thinking at some point I will find a reuse for it. For example, I have pieces of wood a tube from a broken bike pump. I even have harvested screws, bolts and nuts off of old electronics, like a broken DVD player, to keep in case a I need a small screw or bolt. The idea is to save a trip to the hardware store, but my looking probably wastes more time than a trip to the hardware store which is but a few minute bike ride away. I am may have used one or two of those mined screws in the past several years. I have a whole bunch of miscellaneous screws and nuts. My wife's grandfather had a whole cigar box full of nuts, which some how I ended up with. This was obviously before the wife's decluttering days. Unless specifically purchased, most often my bolts don't match the nuts. The DVD with bolts, often had a built in nut for the bolt. 

The whole clutter thing raises a couple questions: When does being frugal become parsimonious? And, when does saving parts of objects become clutter? Everyone will have a different idea on how these questions are answered, and they will have different levels and types of clutter in their home. 

I never would have thought the leaf blower and other issues would lead to such a weird dream of squatters and them selling my kayaks. Most interesting of all, was my wife's reaction about their being a few less items of clutter around the house. It may only be a matter of time before I am deemed clutter.

Quilters

It has been part of the world since at least the 12th century, brought to Europe by the Crusaders, although it may date back to before the common, that is Christian, era. Padded fabric was used for clothing, bedding and even armor. It may have originated in China and/or India. Interestingly, "quilt" comes from the Latin culcita, meaning a stuffed sack. The word has come to have 2 meanings. It is used as noun, meaning the 3-layer stitched bedcovering, and as a verb, meaning the act of stitching through the 3 layers to hold them together. When we think of quilts today, we turn our minds to bed covering, or perhaps a wall decoration.

Quilting Room at the Missouri Prison

For some reason, quilting is now associated with as part of Americana--those items generally that took hold in the United States and flourished. Using scraps of fabric was more than frugality, it was often out of necessity. At times it seems it was destined to become a lost craft, or art, but every time that seems to happen nostalgia, or desire to create kicks in and saves the art form from becoming lost. Quilting is much easier now than the early quilting bees, where everything was handstitched. Sewing machines are used and there are long arm quilting machines. My wife has been quilting for over 45 years, and with JoAnn Fabrics now having closed has lost her go-to store for supplies, that may end. She made over 300 quilts the past few years for Access Community Health to provide to disadvantaged households to welcome their infants. 

My Hovel male ancestors, in addition to farmers, were weavers. They weaved linen from homegrown  flax. The weaved cloth would be used for clothing, and perhaps bedding. I would not want to try my hand at sewing, due to poor fine motor skills, so that skill has obviously been lost to me. Although, I doubt the wife would even let me try to use her Janome. My twin brother has done some sewing, as has one of our sons. It makes my wife happy that our son sews to repair clothes, or what have you. 

One of the quilts designed and made by the prisoners

Men have been sewing for a long time--many tailors were men, so they obviously developed better fine motor skills than me. However, we watched a short 33 minute documentary on Netflix on Monday night called The Quilters. Male prisoners in a high security prison in Missouri quilt for foster kids and others. All of the material and equipment used is donated. It is really quite a heart-warming story of restorative justice to see men, some of whom are lifers, make a quilt for some one else and then tear up at the thank you note sometimes received. As one prisoner said, quilting puts him on the outside. They seem to do their own designs. To get the quilting gig, a prisoner must not have had any write ups or demerits, for obvious reasons since sewing involves the the use of sharp objects. Heck even the wife learned a couple things. Such as a man using a rotary cutter to take out some poorly done stitching that caused a few puffs in the quilting. 

A sad part of the show was one man, probably in his sixties, who was written up because he was working on fabric in his cell with a small cutter, which is a no no to have outside the sewing area.  He was removed from quilting due to this. He certainly had a knack for design. A misstep on his part taking the sharp with him to his cell. 

Assembling a quilt

During the show, one man says the room is organized chaos. That is how I felt when my wife was making the quilts for Access Community Health, as she had an assembly line process and partially done quilts were piled, albeit neatly, through the room. She often made thirty or more quilts at a time and when completed we would pack in large plastic bags, not unlike what they do in the show. A few years ago, a mom brought her child into the Access Community Health clinic, wrapped in a quilt my wife had made. It was the only item the mother had for her child.

Beware if you watch that The Quilters show on Netflix, however, as there is some jargon involved. They were speaking English, but it did not make any sense. I commented to my wife, when the quilting prisoners were using some jargon, that I did not understand a thing they said. As a 45 year quilter, she understood what they were talking about and doing. I could say my wife knows three languages: English, Nursing and Quilting. Nursing also has its own short hand, or did before the advent of digital medical records. I would come home from work and see her often times neat handwriting with some odd notation, which turned out to be shorthand nurses use. To me it was a squiggle. I was supposed to understand that notation. As a planner people often complained about planning jargon, but they must not have had to put up with nurse notations or quilting jargon. One could say each occupation or hobby has its own jargon.

There is a certain irony in these men quilting. If they make a mistake it is often correctable by removing stitches and redoing the seam. Recutting is a different story. Yet, many are serving long, if not life, prison sentences for a horrible crime in which there is no do over. They showed men who readily admitted to their crime, and find a certain rehabilitation in quilting. They are doing something that both helps themselves and others, which is the best part of The Quilters. 

Images from Google.

"You can’t rewrite what happened, but you can stop rereading the worst parts over and over again."

---St Mother Teresa

Nurses

We have all come into contact with a nurse. They are the medical professionals that undertake much of the grunt work, while doctors float about dictating orders.  The most famous nurse maybe the fictional Margaret "Hotlips" Houlihan, followed by Florence Nightingale. Generation Z may not know Hotlips, or Florence. Yes, nurses do a great deal of work and can put in long hours. They even have a week dedicated to themselves, not a day (well, they have that too), but a week.

One would think Nurses week would start on a Sunday and last through the following Saturday, but this year it started on a Tuesday. I found this odd. Is it a play to the fact that some nurses do not have Mon-Fri or 9 - 5 jobs? What I found out is that Nurses week ends on Florence Nightingale's birthday, May 12, so it begins one week early with National Nurses Day on May 6. Instead of celebrating Nurses Day on May 12, they essentially have two recognized days and the whole week in between. 

Florence Nightingale, c 1860

National Nurses Week was established by a nursing organization in January1974. President Nixon declared a week in February 1974 to recognize those often low-sung heroes of the medical profession. My wife is a nurse, so I should have been paying more homage to her this week. Heck, she is a mother, and Mother's Day fell the day before Florence's birthday, so she could get double recognition. Lucky her.

Hotlips on MASH set

Nurses must have a great lobby, after all it was their own organization that came up with the idea to celebrate themselves. Some causes have months, Women's History Month, Pride month, just to name two. After Nurses Week, the third week of May celebrates American Public Works Week. Now, as a former city planner, I looked up if there was a planners week. Sure enough there is a planners day, but not city or regional planners, but the type of planner that you use to layout your day or week or month. Basically a calendar. My wife would like that as she is a highly organized list making kind of person. She may like that more than Nurses Week.

My spouse, as a nurse, gets kudos for a whole week, while as a city planner we get topped by a calendar schedule. Planners must lack the lobby efforts of nurses and other organizations, or else they have more humility to not call attention to themselves. Now, I get it, nurses perform work that impacts ones health, and that work is important. We planners simply help create the built environment, and minimize impact on the natural. Hey, just because we had a hand in where they work, the roads that took the bus or car from their home to the hospital or clinic, there is no need for any recognition. Planners often bear the brunt of bad tempers from having to tell a person no. I have long said, if the Fitchburg festival had me in a dunk tank the line would be around the block at McKee Farms Park. Yet, if conserving farm land, and attempting to thwart bad development was the cost, it is a badge I gladly wore.

UW Capping Ceremony for Nursing Students
1950's

While I had the metaphorical badge for attempting to thwart bad development, my wife does not own a nurse cap. Apparently, nurse caps have been a thing of the past since before the 1990's. She then, and now get a pin. How exciting. I like the cap idea better. The cap was referred to as a Flossie, in honor of Florence Nightingale. Perhaps the pinning ceremony should be referenced as the Holi, in honor of Hotlips, whose nickname was in honor of her ability to get pinned. The medical profession has a long list of alphabet titles now, apparently to spread out duties to lower cost staff. Meriter nurses are considering going on strike, for pay, working conditions and what ever else. Nurses there working fulltime and without shift pay, make over $100,000 a year. I am not sure how much sympathy they will get. The medical profession is full of sludge--required actions that make things difficult and expensive. I have to say, it is probably worse than government. 

Medical care, with aging baby boomers and the continued Make America Ill of processed foods, high fructose corn syrup and other additives all work against the human body and our health. Nurses are in demand and that is why they can earn that level of pay. As Nursing week comes to a close, I ponder what comes next, will May become Nursing Month? Or better yet, start April 14 and end May 12 for four weeks of nurse appreciation? While I may pick on her, I do appreciate my live-in nurse. 

Photos from Google Images