WELCOME

Welcome to the 17th issue of the quarterly online newsletter supplement to "Self Portraits: The Self Family NetLetter," the Website dedicated to Self family research at http://www.selfroots.com

You are receiving this newsletter because you were kind enough to join "Self Seekers: The Self Family Association." We appreciate all of your contributions, large and small, and we hope you will continue to support our page, our surname list, and this newsletter.

Last year, we had a similar joyous greeting for all our "Self Seekers" members. Most unfortunately, the year 2001 was anything but happy for the United States. Even the most wonderful of events and milestones in our personal lives has been overshadowed by Black Tuesday, September 11, when the Terrorist Attacks threw us all into shock, disbelief, sadness, and anger. Nothing can ever take the place of the lives and landmarks lost that day. But we must remember that our ancestors witnessed tragedies dissimilar in nature but equally devastating in their consequences. And as the Phoenix rises from the ashes, so will the generations go on toward a brighter day and, perhaps, peace throughout the world. Hopefully, this new year, 2002, will be a better one for us all!

We are proud to be the largest repository of Self information. With three domains, a second Webpage at RootsWeb, a GenConnect Board and a suite of cluster pages at RootsWeb (see the link on "Self Portraits"), a Listserv, a Collaboration Surname list on the LDS "Family Search" site, well over 5,000 pages of connected and unconnected Self lines, and over 1300 valid e-mail correspondents willing to share information, we are well able to help you with your family research. We are also the Surname Resource Center (SRC) for the surnames of Self, Selfe, and Selph. We also host SelfSite at RootsWeb, an extension of Self Portraits containing our Census pages as well as state-by-state and county-by-county "loose ends," Selfs presently unconnected to any of the major branches. Family Record Online enumerates families presented on our Self Family of the Week page. And each time a new "Self Seekers" newsletter is released, we upload the one for the same month from the past year to our public page for all cousins to enjoy.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

We would like to have your gedcom so that we can add your information to our database. With your permission, we will also list and distribute your gedcom on request (but only with your permission). Please send us gedcoms so that we can start a library that will help others. If you've already submitted one, kindly re-send so that we will have the latest information. We would appreciate being kept informed of new family members as well as other changes.

If you haven't joined our Self Surname Mailing List yet, please subscribe. Instructions will be found on the main page of our Website. Note that we also host the Swindle, Eden, Edens, Cease, Breeze, Brezee, and Salazar Surname Lists as well as listservs for Erath County, TX., King County, TX., Bossier Parish, LA., Murray County, GA., Grayson County, TX., and Clay County, NC. In addition, we host the King County, TX, Murray County, GA, and Clay County, NC USGenWeb sites. Our three county sites join "Self Portraits" in featuring a handy search engine for locating topics discussed in previous messages posted to their corresponding listserv--please click on the button directly beneath the instructions for joining the listserv on the main page of each site.

On September 11 of this year, we all experienced a great tragedy with the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, as well as a foiled attack on some other government landmark. Our Self surname is so prevalent that sometimes we think that everyone has a Self ancestor somewhere in their family tree--so it wouldn't surprise us if some of the deceased or missing persons--or heroic firefighters and police offers--are Self descendants. We'd like to know so that we can properly tribute those Selfs. Please let us know if you have further information.

Membership fees remain the same in 2001: Regular Member, $12 and Charter Member, $25. If you are a Patron Member, your initial contribution is gratefully acknowledged and good for the lifetime of the "Self Seekers" association. We're accepting payment for the 2002 membership year now. We want to retain you as a "Self Seekers" member, and you cannot know how much your monetary contributions help keep us going. [Of course, we'll also take kind words along with your donation :-) ] So if you haven't sent your check yet, please do so.

And PLEASE contribute something to this newsletter. Photographs, articles, family trees, and reunion recaps will be gratefully received and enjoyed by everyone--and they will be released to the general public one year after first publication so that they can be shared with all cousins who visit our sites.

It's been a few years since we wrote our article on "Cheddar Man" and the use of DNA in genealogy. During that time, the technology involved has become more advanced and refined. The possibilities of DNA research are now far greater and far more controversial than they were at the end of the last century. We've gone from "test-tube" babies to an actual and frightening discussion of human clones. We're developing computers that have true "artificial intelligence"--machines that can think and feel just like we do. And our nearly full understanding of the "human genome" promises--at least theoretically--cures for or even a complete end to diseases that have plagued mankind since the beginning of time.

The implications for genealogy using "new DNA" research is very exciting. This article is a general overview of these processes as we perceive them. It's not a scholarly work by any means. It's more of an update on what has been done to promote the use of DNA in genealogical research and how technology has countered the drawbacks mentioned in our earlier "Cheddar Man" piece.

MOLECULAR GENETICS

The study of DNA, its uses and applications, is called "molecular genetics." The advances made within this discipline during the last five years address the technological limitations presented in "Cheddar Man." These limitations involved the more precise, positive matches based on female genes as compared with the genetic material taken from males. They weren't exactly welcome in genealogical research in a patriarchal society. Depending on which of your family lines you're tracing (i.e., a specific surname or all surnames working back from you or your children) and what your ultimate goal may be (i.e., a heritage for your descendants or entry into the CSA), you may want to concentrate on male or female genetic relationships or both.

The "Cheddar Man" article covered "X"-chromosome, or female, genetics as relevant to genealogy. Its focus is on mitochondrial DNA which is transmitted from a mother to all of her children. Therefore, you can tell which children belong to which mother regardless of their gender. But the genetic identity stops with her son while it's passed on to both genders by her daughters, creating a sort of "hop-skip-and-jump" genetic trail. There are many holes in the records produced, and for that reason, a reliance on "X"-chromosome genetics is not entirely satisfactory.

The good news is that "Y"-chromosome genetics--Y- or male-DNA--is now a much more exact science. Y-DNA is passed from father to son to grandson, etc., so in theory, you could map out your entire surname line back to a remote ancestor. In addition, the DNA of two living males can be compared to discover if they are closely related. Since Y-DNA is relevant only to males, and each male got this genetic material from his father, their sisters will also know that they are closely related without participating in any testing at all.

Both Y-DNA and mtDNA methods work by matching up genetic "markers" or "haplotypes." The combinations can be as fine as identification of siblings or as broad as determining the inclusion of individuals in a racial group. The findings can help to fill in gaps in one's gedcom that have resulted from a lack of paper documentation. They can also reunite adoptees with their birth families and identify the true parents of an illegitimate child.

PRACTICAL AND LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS

Obtaining genetic material from your own body, those of your possible cousins, and those of your ancestors posed some practical and legal problems just a short time ago. The idea was too new and disorganized to address these drawbacks. How would you obtain the DNA and what would you do with it once you had it? How could you prove a link to an ancestor who died 200 years ago? Would you have to go through frustrating legal channels even if you could find his grave?

To obtain your own DNA, all you need is a strand of hair, a few drops of blood, or a tiny amount of tissue. The most popular method is swabbing the inside of one's cheek. Your counterpart--sibling, cousin, etc.--must do the same thing. You then need to find a group or company that does DNA matching. There are groups listed on the Web. One such group, located at Brigham Young University in Utah, has begun a not-for-profit DNA project. You can go to them for testing or send in a sample using a kit provided to you. Typically, a project host has two objectives: (1) to perform requested matches based upon DNA samples; and (2) to maintain a "library" of DNA samples that can be used to make further matches with a larger number of clients.

It would be a truly wonderful thing if we could obtain DNA samples from ancestors of long-ago. Some of us may actually be lucky enough to have a lock of hair or a drop of blood or a fingerprint on a document or in a Bible; some of us may have a paper will or other record that has survived the years. But most of us have no material heritage from our 7th great grandfather and have only "best evidence" guesses as to who he might have been.

Within our American Self family in particular, there are only a handful of cousins who have no hesitation in tracing their line back to Olde Robert Selfe of Virginia. The records from the 18th and part of the 19th centuries are often missing, and in many cases the Census is very difficult to read. There are, however, many cousins who know for sure that they came from a particular Self branch--yet there are other cousins out there who write to us with absolutely zero idea of their origins beyond their father or grandmother. DNA testing could match up these cousins, and the gaps could be filled back to the earliest ancestor known by one of them. A Self DNA archive would destroy many of our current "brick walls" and may lead to further investigation in the United Kingdom.

THE COST OF DNA TESTING

All technological advances, initially undertaken for the benefit of humankind, eventually come down to dollars and cents: good vs. greed. Wherever there's a demand, someone will be there to meet it. We examined some of the DNA Hosts on the Web and found costs ranging from $219 to over $500. Of course, the services vary and in general, appear to fit the price. The Molecular Genealogy Project at Brigham Young University appears to be free and promises not to divulge any data obtained from you to anyone at all.

WHERE TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT DNA

There's a lot of information on DNA on the Web, and more is being added every day. You can find it by going to your favorite Search Engine and entering DNA +genealogy (don't forget the space before the plus sign). As always, Cyndi's List offers a quick guide to many relevant links. RootsWeb has a listserv on this subject which offers discussion on the storage of genetic material, recombination crossover, and the very long life of DNA samples...among other topics. In addition, our local college library has received quite a few new titles dealing with DNA and molecular genealogy. They may be available at your library too--on the shelves or through Interlibrary Loan.

SUMMARY

In the past few years, many advances have been made in the fields of DNA research and molecular genealogy. Male, or Y-genetics, has become more precise; people are able to find close cousins through genetic matches; groups and companies are busy compiling "libraries" of genetic material at reasonable cost or sometimes for free. People are beginning to discuss the possibilities of and implications for this new area of genealogical reasearch. This is one topic we'll revisit again in a future newsletter, reporting realities that are now dreams in a future world way beyond "Cheddar Man."

PREFACE

Our article on "Everyday Things" in the July 2001 issue of the "Self Seekers" Newsletter received quite a few compliments. According to your e-mail messages, you enjoyed reading the comparisons between our society and the one inhabited by Tim's 3rd great grandfather, Thomas R. Self. As a result of your positive input, we decided--back in August of this year--to write the following article. This was, of course, long before Black Tuesday stained our infant century and left its terrible scar of terrorism on the entire globe. We had no idea that the modern world would be suddenly replaced with an even newer, scarier environment. Originally meant to be a lighthearted piece, this article will now have a more somber tone because of these sad events.

INTRODUCTION

Everyday life in Thomas R. Self's day--the mid 19th century--was quite different from that of the 21st century. But when we stop to think about it, times were also different for our fathers and grandfathers in the 20th century, even as recently as 20 or 30 years ago.

FOOD

Tim remembers when the first McDonald's restaurant opened in Downey, California in the early 1950s. I can recall driving 25 miles to one of the first Burger Kings that began operations in Massachusetts when I was just out of college. We both were present at the birth of the "TV Dinner" that followed shortly after the hesitant introduction of television into the average household in the early 1950s. Fast food was unknown before that time--the closest thing being the quickly-made sandwiches and burgers on the menu of small restaurants and truck-stop diners. On the other hand, food wasn't as highly priced (relatively) as it is today. Since Mother usually provided all the labor in the preparation of food for her family, she didn't have to pay for the processing of edible items. She was able to procure meat and vegetables at reasonable cost in order to make delicious stews and pies and other home-cooked meals and desserts. My mother told me that my own grandmother fed indigent people who came to her door during the Great Depression. Even though my grandfather was out of work, there was always plenty of food on the table. Today, food prices take a "huge bite" out of most household budgets because we have to pay for so many "middlemen," most of whom belong to Unions that assure them the higher wages that lead to higher prices. Most of our parents and grandparents had vegetable gardens in their spacious yards. But since we are now largely a society of renters, that source is closed to many us. We now pay increasingly higher prices for hot-house vegetables whose growth has been encouraged by chemicals and pesticides.

Meals themSelfs were mostly family affairs. It was a time when everyone in the house put aside their work and play and gathered around the table to share food and conversation. It wasn't always pleasant: there were sometimes strict rules of etiquette and behavior lingering from the past century, and family members often got into some heated discussions. But today, the situation is different. Most modern families are comprised of people with different agendas and activities, and sitting down to a meal together may be a truly rare event.

FASHION AND STYLE

Every era has had its clothing fads. There have been accepted styles and those viewed with disapproval. The twentieth century began with the formal clothing of the late nineteenth century--suitcoats for men and long dresses for women. It ended, as it is today, with a style best described as "anything goes" no matter what the occasion. In between these extremes, our parents and grandparents went through a variety of popular looks which characterize certain decades. They saw the chemises of the "Roaring '20s," the bell-bottom pants and f;lowing dresses of the '60s, and the mini-skirts of the early '70s. Poodle skirts, cashmere sweaters, and penny loafers were the standard fare for young women in the '50s while young men looked pretty cool in black leather jackets and tight jeans. Their mothers looked to Paris for guidance on the annual adjustment of their hemlines and hobbled along in tight skirts and pinching pointed toed shoes with spiked heels. Our grandfathers wore short pants when they were boys, and our grandmothers wore short dresses with "Self-belts" that tied in the back. And summer was the only season of the year when white shoes were acceptable!

Hair styles have changed just as rapidly as the latest fashions. Our grandparents had fairly rigid "do's," a neatly combed appearance for boys and men and long hair for girls who were anxious to "put it up" in buns and twists as they reached maturity. The twenties brought middle-parted hair for men and bobbed hair for women--who opted for a softer, curlier look in the ensuing decades. We remember seeing our mothers with "perms," "spit" curls, electric rollers, long straight hair, and "beehives." Our fathers were met with outraged stares when they grew long hair in the 60s. This look was followed by reactionary Mohicans and multicolored spiked hairdos reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty. Beards and mustaches were in and out of fashion at various times during the 20th century.

Today, women no longer rely on foreign countries as fashion indicators. Men don't look to their fathers as role models for the "proper" clothing or hair style. Perhaps the only guideline for young people is that they look like their peers. The next few generations will glance back on baggy pants, a mixture of long hair and shaved heads, long gowns with army boots, and a general look intended to be as chaotic and individual as possible while still fitting in with their friends and smile. And every so often, we'll "go back" and adopt the styles of earlier times--perhaps to express our longing to return to simpler times.

TRANSPORTATION

Our fathers and grandfathers were born into a world that already had fairly sophisticated transportation. They traveled by car, by train, by ship, by bus, and by airplane. Goods and materials were already being shipped across country and around the world by a variety of methods.

Once again, it's the style, speed, and efficiency of transport that has changed over the years. Grandpa drove a car that resembled a carriage; Daddy drove a huge rounded metallic hunk; Barbara's first car had tail fins; and none of us ever gave a thought to gasoline prices until 1974. Small economical cars soon became standard, then declined in popularity, and they've now been replaced by gas-guzzling sport utility vehicles. Things changed under the hood as well. My grandfather used to say that his old car "went like sixty." Today, with few exceptions, we're only allowed to go 5 miles over that--but our cars are capable of much higher speeds. Efficiency is a combination of aerodynamic design and technology, such as the fuel injection system in place of the traditional carburetor.

Grandpa may have known the steam engine while Dad rode a diesel train. In 1964, train service ended on Cape Cod where Barbara grew up and didn't return until the advent of Amtrak. Today, all major passenger trains are streamlined, speedy members of the Amtrak fleet, and they go all over the country. Barbara's Daddy and his mother did the "Grand Tour" of Europe, steaming there on a luxury liner. Her other grandfather didn't like ships very much because they reminded him of the cramped, seemingly endless journey from "the old country" to his new home in the United States. Today, cruise ships are a lucrative industry, and people make journeys large and small just to get away from their everyday lives. Airplanes, too, have evolved from the open-wing shape pioneered by the Wright Brothers to the bombers of World War II to the passenger airliners, fighter jets, and stealth bombers of today.

As an aside, it's sad to see so many commercial airlines suffering as a result of the September 11, 2001 attack on America. It hurt all of us so much to see our lovely airships used as weapons that killed thousands of innocent people.

Finally, while our fathers and grandfathers knew that getting from one place to another always meant physically getting onto or into a vehicle, we now have the option of "traveling" in Cyberspace. The line between transportation and communications has blurred as seen in the growing trend toward "classrooms without walls" and telecommuting to the workplace.

COMMUNICATIONS

Dad and Grandpa were raised in a universe that had no Cyberspace. Grandpa was still awed by the telephone on the wall and the radio on the end table next to his favorite easy chair. Making a telephone call was expensive, and often lacked privacy in small-towns with party lines and nosy operators, but it was worth it to talk with friends and relatives across the country or even, when possible, in foreign lands. The radio allowed him to hear local and world news several times a day. Both of these inventions provided faster communication and news delivery than the slower postal system and daily newspaper, but these were also familiar options in Grandpa's time. Dad knew all of these, but he also had a television set in his living room. As he aged, he began adding TVs to almost every room in his house. The tiny screen of the late 1940s and early 1950s has expanded into the "Big Screen TV" of today, but it has simultaneously shrunk into the miniscule screen of the portable TV that lets you watch your favorite shows anywhere.

Both Dad and Grandpa were probably alive when the first Russian satellite, Sputnik, beeped its way across the Northeastern sky in 1957. They could never have guessed that this lone marvel would be followed by those used for telecommunications, television and radio relay, navigation, etc.

While Grandpa stepped into a telephone booth and shut the door against the noise of the street; Dad wasn't so fortunate with the new, smaller, open kiosk-type stations. But pay phones were necessary when you were away from home. In Dad's time, this concept was expanded to include freeway call-boxes in some states, such as California--the boxes link to an operator who will help motorists in trouble. Another option was the CB or amateur radio. Today's small cellular phones, analog modems, and digital cable would amaze them both.

Barbara's father never lived to see the Information Revolution. However, even Grandpa was alive when the giant Univacs and Eniacs hulked along the walls of a room longer than a city block. The heat from their hundreds of tubes necessitated frigid air-conditioning--and all this for just a few bytes of data. No one thought that desktop computers would be a staple of every workplace and as common as radios and televisions average households. Laptops and palmtops have made them ultra-portable. Tim and Barbara remember going from the old IBM-XT and the original Apple computer with limited power and a zillion commands to learn to the dizzying, accelerated pace of today's computer hardware and software. The Internet with its cumbersome Archie-Gopher structure has evolved into the graphical World Wide Web which can retrieve entire libraries of information and current events in mere seconds. And e-mail can put you in instant contact with virtually anyplace in the world for a monthly fee that equals what Grandpa would have paid for just a few brief long-distance phone calls.

SCHOOL

Our grandparents attended schools in districts that were becoming organized. While some one-room schoolhouses still existed in rural areas, theirs was an era of new buildings and expanding curricula. Emphasis was still on the "3 R's," and the learning experience took place almost entirely in the classroom, punctuated occasionally by field trips to local police and fire stations, museums, or libraries. Completion of high school was the norm, but college was still considered to be out of financial reach for some families and not entirely necessary for securing a decent job.

When our parents went to school, there were more "college preparatory" courses available. New fields of study had opened up. Hands-on, field, and lab training were becoming an important supplement to books and lectures. Seminars and discussion groups gave them an opportunity to share ideas. And students began to think in terms of satisfying and lucrative careers rather than simple jobs.

Today, students have a variety of ways to learn. Schools can be traditionally oriented, magnet schools, or classrooms in Cyberspace. The Internet allows us to find information on almost every conceivable subject at the click of a mouse for a small monthly fee. There are now entire books online, not just classics, but modern popular and academic titles, that can be "checked out" and read entirely on your computer screen. It's now not uncommon for people to continue their education into graduate school and beyond, into what we now call "lifelong learning." Information competency is making perpetual students of us all.

WORK

This morning, many of us got up and went to work outside the home. Grandpa did the same thing. So did his son. They got into their cars, or took a bus or train, got to their shop, store, or office--sold goods, performed services, and attended meetings. Today, we do much the same thing. There are, however, changes within the workplace and further changes on the horizon. Technology has provided computers, digital telephones and cash registers, videoconferencing, and security cameras. All of these devices make work much more efficient, safe and productive.

If Grandpa worked on a farm, he spent long hours toiling over the land, aided at least by the many mechanical machines developed in the 19th century. Dad utilized even more of these inventions. In his day, small farms often developed into huge and profitable operations where cows were milked mechanically, animals were fed by automatic feeders, and produce was grown in large greenhouses.

Grandma probably stayed home, taking care of the house, cooking meals, and raising the children. Mom may have done that as well, or she may have opted to work outside the home, joining the many women who entered the workforce after the Second World War. As the 21st century begins, women hold many corporate and other positions of leadership. They're doctors, police officers, firefighters, and construction workers as well as nurses, teachers, and secretaries. As we write this piece, women are shipping out to fight our "War Against Terrorism" side by side with their male counterparts. Men, on the other hand, have cast off their traditional roles in great numbers, many now playing "Mr. Mom" and enjoying themSelfs immensely. And both sexes are wading into the waters of working at home, either starting their own businesses or telecommuting one or more days a week.

LEISURE TIME

Grandpa filled his leisure time in a variety of ways. He took long walks, fished, went on picnics or traveled to the seashore. He played baseball, read books and other print materials, played musical instruments and listened to his phonograph and radio, danced, and played board and card games. A generation later, our parents did the same things, but their primary escape was sitting in front of the television. Watching sports and soap operas helped them forget their troubles and relax after a long day at work. The Charleston gave way to the Twist, and rock and roll replaced the Big Bands. The radio was mainly a source of music, its old half-hour programs having migrated to television or faded away. Music was also available on 8-track tapes and cassettes. Movies and plays became more explicit, more violent.

Our ancestors would be surprised that sports has become "big business" today. What they did for fun now commands millions of dollars for those lucky enough to attract team scouts and sponsors. We wonder if they'd consider rap as a true form of music. And just about everything can be done on a computer today. There are video games, MP3s, virtual reality, CDs and DVDs, and nonstop news and music thanks to streaming multimedia. Most of these technological goodies are also portable and can accompany us anywhere we go.

GOVERNMENT

In Grandpa's day, government was not quite as intrusive in his family's life. There may have been no income tax, either state or federal. The media was so limited that government policies and updates were very slow in arriving to the average person through daily newspapers and occasional radio broadcasts. Campaign propaganda had the same party atmosphere as it has today, but people were still far removed from the federal government, and this distance fostered a reverent and respectful attitude for our leaders. For some years, there had been an isolationist policy, so our grandparents may have had to adjust greatly to a great influx of immigrants from Europe, speaking strange languages and bringing odd customs, costumes, foodstuffs and beliefs with them. While Grandpa's family was probably much smaller than his own grandfather's family had been, the population of the United States was growing due to the arrival of those from foreign shores. And the government was involved in war during the times our grandparents and parents were growing up--World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the war in Vietnam. The world was becoming smaller--our government was becoming involved in alliances, trade, and conflict with countries that had seemed so remote just a few years before.

In the past 15-20 years, government has seeped into every corner of our lives. Whether we like it or not, the government has a big job trying to keep things in order--simultaneously passing legislation and attempting to serve the needs of the rapidly growing public. Thanks to our communications systems, we can often hear about government affairs almost instantly. Sadly, we've been informed about quite a bit of dubious behavior on the part of our elected officials--and even sadder is the fact that campaigns are often based on incidents in the personal lives of the candidate rather than on his or her political background, skills, abilities, and platforms. As the United States has become more globalized, it has also become home to many more immigrants, though the reasons for immigration are not simply the longing for a better life with more opportunity. Many are refugees from wars or oppressive regimes; some are here illegally; some are here because their businesses have transferred them or they have other family members in this country. Dad and Grandpa went through the "Cold War" with its bomb shelters, birdhouse-shaped sirens, and transistor radios marked with the "Conelrad" icon. Enemy nations have become friends, and friendly nations have become enemies in this ever-changing geo-political environment.

The Gulf War of the early 1990s is still fresh in our minds as we continue to patrol the "no fly zones" set up over Iraq at that time. Now we have embarked on another longer, and very different kind of war--the War on Terrorism. This battle actually began on September 11, 2001 when terrorists hijacked American planes and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a remote area in Pennsylvania. The first military action took place in Afghanistan on October 7. In keeping with globalization, this war is a joint effort of many countries, both individually and through NATO and the United Nations.

MONEY

Both Dad and Grandpa have seen good times and bad--from the stock market crash of 1929 to the post-war boom of the 1950s to the recession (or near-recession) going on today. They've certainly seen inflation in both wages and prices. Tim and Barbara were born in the 1940s. We can recall a gallon of milk selling for 98 cents (as vs. nearly $4.00) and an average home costing $7000 (as vs. somewhere between $150,000 and $500,000 in our area). A worker who made 50 cents an hour in the 1950s might make well over $60,000 a year today. The credit card came into widespread use in the 1960s. Where Grandpa was ashamed of asking a storekeeper if he could pay his bill when he got his next paycheck, we're judged today on our ability to juggle debt.

HEALTH

The good news is that a child born today has a longer life expectancy than Grandpa had at the turn of the last century. Since that time medical personnel have learned much more about the human body. Some diseases have been eradicated. Hospitals are more modern. A great many families receive total or partial health benefits from their workplaces. And over the past few decades, preventive medicine and fitness have been enthusiastically embraced by the general public. The bad news is that the "wonder drugs" of the 1950s and 1960s are becoming increasingly ineffective against disease. Many people are still not covered by health care, and attempts to create a nationalized health system have failed miserably. With increasing contact between countries and cultures, exotic diseases have spread around the globe--and even plague has made a reappearance in isolated cases.

Since the September 11 Tragedy, we have been experiencing a bio-terrorism scare. The focus has been on Anthrax, specifically that developed in laboratories as versus the strain that has always occurred in nature. The media has warned against smallpox as well as chemical agents that can cause physical harm. Worst of all, the panic engendered by bio-terrorism hoaxes has caused many people to be frightened and depressed.

UTILITIES

Today we take our water supply, sanitation, gasoline and oil, and electricity for granted. Our water is treated with all kinds of chemicals to prevent us from contracting illness from bacteria; we flush our toilets into pipes that lead to sewage treatment plants; we groan when we fill our gas tanks and receive our oil and natural gas bills; and we rarely have to endure the dark. But Grandpa got his water from a well, and Dad drank water that passed through copper pipes instead of plastic. Grandpa may have used an outhouse as his ancestors did--or at least he probably "pulled the chain." Gasoline was cheap and plentiful before 1974, even though Dad or Grandpa may remember the gas rationing that took place during World War II. And electricity went from unusual and expensive in Grandpa's day to the abundant resource offered to Dad by Reddy Kilowatt. The burning barrel has given way to landfills and recycling.

Clearly our globalized position has put our utilities into some degree of jeopardy. We're dependent on others to keep them available at a reasonable cost. Examples would be our reliance on OPEC for gasoline supplies and the electricity de-regulation fiasco in California. We need especially to guard these precious resources from terrorist attack.

EVERYDAY THINGS

There are many everyday things that our parents and grandparents used that we also use today, but in a slightly different form. During the 20th century, items have been increasingly made from plastic. Wood, once an inexpensive material used in construction, is now high-priced, leading to experimentation with aluminum framing for some new housing projects. Both architecture and interior decoration have undergone many changes since Grandpa was born. Large Victorian homes have been replaced with low one-story "ranch" homes. A great deal of multi-family dwellings have been built to accommodate the expanding population. The starkness of modernism gave way to the tail fins and of futurism and eventually to the comfortable, whatever-you-like designs of today. Cars got much smaller after the "Oil Crisis," and now they're getting larger again--people like the muscle of the Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) but are also charmed by the new Volkswagen Beetle and the Chrysler PT Cruiser, throwbacks to a simpler time. Even riding a bicycle has gone from the cheerful child sailing on balloon tires to the "English" bike to the expensive sleek racers ridden by tall thin guys in spandex. There are way too many things to put into this article, but suffice it to say that even in a very short time, things have changed.

SUMMARY

Thinking about the early centuries in our country, and beyond that, to earlier times in Europe, we can see that our remote Self ancestors lived in a world quite foreign to us. But we don't have to go back very far to find an American culture full of strange and obsolete things. Both Dad and Grandpa lived in that other time. They adjusted gradually to the changes of the 20th century. Young people today will do the same thing with one difference--things will change faster and faster as the years go by. They may think that our world is archaic, indeed.

Maybe your ancestors used to tell stories about life in the "old days," stories you remember hearing as a child. Please tell us about them. We will even supply editing and formatting; but we'd all love to know about daily life in the Self families of old--and you may be able to help. Please contact us. And please state that your story is specifically for the newsletter.

====================================================================

Back to Menu

Go to Index

Go to Self Portraits