Share Your Recipe Story on Family Search

Share Your Family’s Food Story

February 8, 2017 By FamilySearch

"Did you realize that you’re creating family history every day just by preparing food and eating it together? Good food has a way of bringing families together, and anytime families gather—even to eat—family history is made.

What are your family’s favorite meals? Do you make certain foods for special occasions? Do you make recipes you learned from your parents or grandparents? At FamilySearch we call these “family recipes,” and they’re a special part of your family history that’s worth preserving.

Discover, preserve, and share your family recipe stories by uploading them to FamilySearch.org/recipes.

• Watch Family Recipe Videos
• Learn How to Start Your Own Family Food Traditions
• Review Helpful Questions to Identify Your Family Recipes
• Print Recipe Cards

Preserve an important part of your heritage by sharing recipes, photos, or memories of your family’s favorite foods and the stories behind them:"

Rootstech 2017 General Session ~LeVar Burton Keynote

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Not Destined to be Static

by Linda Clyde 10 February 2017 

RootTech 2017 highlights.

In what was one of the most heartfelt keynote addresses in RootsTech history, Levar Burton inspired the RootsTech audience Friday morning with his unique perspective on equality, race, history, and the global family.

Burton, a widely recognized actor for his roles in shows such as Roots: The Saga of an American Family and Star Trek: The Next Generation, began his address with a tribute to his mother, Erma Jean Christian, noting that without her work ethic and determination he could have been “one of those statistics of which we are all so familiar, a black male child, raised in a single parent household, a latchkey kid.”

“My mom worked from nine to five, five days a week,” he said. “But you see, Erma Jean is a most powerful human being, one of the most powerful I know. And she was determined that I would reach my full potential in life.”

It was Erma Jean who instilled in Burton a love for reading and learning, always pushing him to excel in education, and teaching him that a quality education would allow him to compete on a more level playing field.

“The truth was, she told me, is that as a black male my life would be fraught with injustice and frustration with the unfairness of that injustice,” he said. “She told me that my journey might even be perilous at time, sometimes dangerous. But as her son, she assured me that I had the wherewithal to persevere through it all.”

“I believe I am the man I am, because my mother is the woman she is.”

The Influence of Popular Culture

Burton said that he believes his life was destined to revolve around storytelling, and his mother was the first of four individuals he remembered as crucial storytelling mentors of his life. The second was Gene Roddenberry, the American television screenwriter and producer, best remembered for creating the original Star Trek television series.

At a time when few African-Americans were read about in novels or seen on TV, Burton remembers being inspired by seeing African American actress Nichelle Nichols on the popular series. He emphasized the important message of self-worth that is sent to black children when they see themselves represented in popular culture.

“I cannot impress on you enough just how important it is for us to see ourselves represented in the popular culture in order for a healthy self-image to be formed and developed.”

A New Frame of Reference for Americans

A third mentor, for which Burton said it would be difficult to express the magnitude of impact on his life, was author Alex Haley. Haley’s family story was told forty years ago through the eyes of his ancestors in the television mini-series Roots, in which Burton played the lead role as Kunta Kinte, a young African who was captured and sold into slavery in America. When the series aired for eight consecutive nights in 1977, it helped reset a national frame of reference around the harrowing issue of slavery in America.

“Before Roots, America was able to tell itself the story that slavery was a justified, even necessary economic mechanism that enabled this nation to rise to the power that it is today on the world’s stage,” said Burton. “After Roots, it became impossible to even think about slavery without visualizing its impact on the African people who were so unjustly enslaved, and all of that was accomplished with one family’s story.”

Standing in Love

Before closing his remarks, Burton named his fourth mentor as Fred Rogers, from the familiar children’s television show “Mr. Rogers.” He spoke of a time when they both attended an event at the White House with the purpose of examining the effects of television on children. Among those at the event were many important people, which included heads of television studios and networks from California. When the time came for Fred to share his thoughts he asked everyone in the room to close their eyes for one minute and think of a person who had seen their potential.

Burton led RootsTech attendees through the same exercise, and said afterward, “We, none of us, ladies and gentlemen, get through this thing called life on our own.”

Burton closed with words from a favorite recording artist, jazz singer, Dianne Reeves, and echoing her message said, “In my sixty years of experience, I have never encountered a solution to being human that makes more sense to me than standing in love.”

Before leaving the stage, Thom Reed, senior marketing manager from FamilySearch, presented Burton with a gift of his family’s history. Burton was visibly moved as he accepted the gift, saying, “These are my people.”

Rootstech 2017!

I took this photo across the street from the north entrance to the Salt Palace.  You can see the size of this by comparing it ti the traffic light below.  The Salt Palace is immense.  It requires a person to do a lot of walking.  It motivates me to get and stay as healthy as possible to be able to enjoy it for years to come.  The reasons I love it are manyfold.

I have a passion for this work.  I want to learn more.  I love the conference itself and the people that attend.  Family Search does an amazing job.  The venue is perfect and it doesn't feel too crowded with all the thousand of people that assemble there over the four days.  

It motivates me to see how much knowledge has been acquired by so many people. The more you learn the more you know what you do not know! The presenters are very amazing.  The Expo Hall is full of innovative ideas that expand your mind and there are a lot of interactive activities. You'll also find a professional genealogists corner where you can have a one on one session to get help with your own specific brick wall. There are lots of 30 minute mini lesson in the various booths in the Hall.

The family history community is full of nice, talented and interesting people.  It is a fun place to network and meet new and old friends.

I am a fan!  I could go on and on but I saw this photo below on My Curly Girl Calendar that kind of sums it up for me.

Find classes and various session on rootstech.org

Also there is a lot on Youtube.com  search :Rootstech 2017

Also see the various well-known Family History bloggers.

Continuing Education in Family History

We have so many opportunities to learn here at the Oakland Family Search Library!  We are fortunate to be able to continue our learning thanks to a lot of great teachers that come here to share their tips and tricks, knowledge and inspiration.  

Carol is definitely one of them as she shares things every week in our Newsletter.  I am quoting part of her newsletter from this week  as it is valuable to staff and patrons alike. We are asked to share these upcoming classes with our patrons. 

"Please take a look at the calendar, as we have added a few classes added to the February calendar...of note are:

• "Strategies for Capturing and Cropping," five classes,  taught by Elder Wiemer,  beginning Tues, Feb 7 at 3:30 pm.  Check the  calendar attached to this email or handout on the table, next to the front door. 
• 
  
• "Personal History Workshop - Write Your History in Stories" will begin Thursday, Feb 9 at 1 pm.  Kim Miller will share her tips for writing your story.  Join her on the second Thursday of the month at 1 pm.
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• "Freedmen's Bureau Records, On-line Sources, A Better Way to do Slave Research," Join Janice Sellers to find the better way to do slave research. Wednesday, Feb 15 at 12:30 - 2 pm. You won't regret attending!
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•  Karen Zucor,  professional paper conservator is coming to the library to share her professional Tips for Caring, Storing and Displaying Paper Artifacts.  Don't miss this class which will held on Wednesday, February 22 from 11:00 to 12:30 pm.  Bring your questions!
• 
  

Please share this information with our patron and give them a February class schedule found on the table by the front door, class dates and times are posted on the "White Board" in the hall and on the TV monitor at the reception desk."

Are You Concerned About Security on the Internet?

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At home we have been having a lot of discussions lately about our almost complete dependence on the Internet and computers for everything.  With all the security breeches going on with at an ever-increasing rate and the endless hacking, we feel concerned. 

Have you gotten into the trap of using the same or nearly the same passwords for everything just so you can remember them?  Have you thought about one sight like Last Pass to save all your passwords?  I have been but I am not completely sold on that either.  

If you feel similarly, what are some things your are considering to protect your information and privacy?

This week I read an article by Thomas Mac Kentee*  It was about being safe on social media.  He shared a wonderful way to create and save passwords so that you will never forget them.   He was sharing his e-book on this for free this week.  I saved it to my Evernote account for ready reference. I am going to try this.  I'm tired of trying to dream up passwords and then not being able to remember them!  I also am not a huge fan of writing them in a book.  If nothing happens to the book and you always remember where you have put it that may work...but I am not thoroughly convinced at this point!  A system seem like a good solution.  

So if you are interested in more security...check this out.

http://www.geneabloggers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Staying-Safe-Using-Social-Media.pdf

* Thomas Mac Kentee is a prolific blogger and writer and presenter at various conferences including RootTech.  I feel he is very innovative and also generous in sharing many of his works for free at various times or for a very low cost.  He is the founder of Geneabloggers which is published daily and has lots of great information.  He created this platform for any and all genealogy bloggers to have a common place to share their knowledge.  A great opportunity for writers and seekers of knowledge to come together.

He has created many e-books and traditional books that are available on Amazon. http://hidefgen.com/about/thomas-macentee/

Check out all of Thomas' contributions above.  He is amazing!

The Generations Project

I discovered a really fun genealogy TV program on BYUTV.  It is on on Sunday mornings at 9:30 am, right after the Mormon Tabernacle Choir gives their weekly performance.

It is called The Generations Project and captures some very wonderful stories about people finding their ancestors and how what they learn has left lasting and wonderful impressions.  They share how they are inspired by what they learned.   It is archived on the website, http;//byutv.com.  There are several seasons of programs to choose from and the ones I've seen have been delightful..

http://www.byutv.org/show/6f62558b-fc6f-49c5-b8c6-2473785a5b44/generations-project

We need some fun things to do occasionally!

Statistics Where Genealogy Is Concerned

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As Carol said in her newsletter this week....the blogs are hitting Rootstech pretty hard right now with only two weeks until it begins.  If you are not going to RT, please note in the newsletter the conference will be streaming here in the library, on February 9-11.  Thursday-Saturday.  You can also catch the streaming of some of the classes at rootstech.org.

James Tanner had a really interesting blogpost the other day that I wanted to share with you.  He got the stats from the Ancestry Insider's blog post and then drew some conclusions that were pretty profound.  The stats are about the attenders of RootTech in 2015 regarding age, genealogy skill set self-evaluations and proficiency in computer technology.

Some very interesting insights on both ends of the spectrum; youth and seniors are pointed out.  If you are curious about why targeting the youth involvement in Family History isn't working as well as it had been hoped...check it out.  Inquiring minds might want to know.

http://rejoiceandbeexceedingglad.blogspot.com/2017/01/internet-usage-in-us-and-familysearch.html