Better with words than people? Then the Oxford English Dictionary wants you. The 250-year-old dictionary, already brimming with more than 600,000 terms, wants to make sure they have the pedigree straight on 40 of those, just to be sure everyone is in agreement as to exactly where those words came from.
Instructions:
Want to see what your mom, her mom, or her mom would have looked like back in the day? Start with our Mom doll, dress her in the appropriate garb, and feed her a diet of era-specific women-only advice. Soon enough, you’ll have your hands on the spittin’ image (yes, we know Mom would never spit) of good old Mom.
What, you say, that can’t be right. Ancestors’ birthdays don’t just change, do they?
They might, if you’re looking at the wrong calendar.
Most of us are familiar with a single calendar—the Gregorian calendar, the one we use today. But, depending on the country, not all that long ago, your loved ones might have been living with the Julian calendar.
One day, when she was eight years old, my grandmother Louie (Kennedy) Beard and her sisters Meredith, Theone, and Nettie decided to make pancakes for breakfast. Each girl made their own, not sharing with anyone; Meredith was particularly adamant about this. Louie, Theone, and Nettie finished their pancakes easily as they each made small batches. But not Meredith.
If anyone knows about researching family history, it’s Antwone Fisher. His name is recognizable from both his gripping memoir, Finding Fish, and the Denzel Washington-directed film depiction of it, Antwone Fisher.
Antwone Quenton Fisher was born in prison to 17-year-old Eva Mae Fisher and 23-year-old Eddie Elkins, who was shot and killed before Antwone was born.
It’s happened to all of us. We approach the computer on a Monday morning, ready to get down to business, start by checking our e-mail, only to find out the whole system is hung up. The cause? A well-meaning relative sharing his or her weekend’s snapshots, each one formatted to eat every last ounce of space in our inbox.
When Kathie Bennett and Norma Jeane Ferguson set out to raise money for the Fitzgibbon Cancer Center in Marshall, Missouri, their simple idea of creating a custom dollhouse for auction soon gained a life—and a history—all its own.
As the pair set up home in miniature, it suddenly dawned on them—why stop at decorations?
Question: Say you’ve been stuck in your car for hours during a blizzard and your accelerator keeps sticking and can’t be unstuck. You finally escape the snow by stopping in Reno where your car gets towed and getting it back cleans you out. Now, really, why wouldn’t you just cut the road trip short and go back home?
Answer: This is no hypothetical question—it’s a true account.
Who she is: CC Goldwater, granddaughter of Barry Goldwater (Arizona senator, 1953–65, 1969–87; and 1964 Republican presidential candidate). In the photo, taken in 1964, CC is seated on her grandfather’s lap.
What she did: Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater, a film produced by CC Goldwater.
As a volunteer photographer for the Heart Gallery, Donna’s modus operandi is to capture Micah on film. The Heart Gallery does the rest—organizing shows in public places where the photos act as the initial connection between child and the possibility of a forever family.
Donna takes her responsibilities to heart.
