Introducing: the Research and Recovery Project
I don’t know whose idea it was for me to start blogging–mine or some imaginary person (my alter ego) who refuses to be overwhelmed. To date, I have no relationship at all with social media and even as I write this, I am not sure that I fully understand all the vernacular and what the jargon really means. Still, I recently joined Facebook, and am starting to try my hand at writing blog posts. I consider myself a fairly good writer, even though my professionally-trained daughter critiques all my posts and often substitutes her word choices for mine. In any case, I’m confident that I can pull this blog thing off.
So welcome to Sara’s Fountain Pen, where I will share my research and thoughts on all things family: dynamics, dysfunction, history, legacy, genealogy, possession and dispossession. Most especially dispossession.
It is the beginning of the Christmas season, a uniquely family time. In the spirit of the season, I designed, created and sent to each of my family members (and a few close friends) a Christmas card depicting one of my finest childhood Christmas memories. Our family dynamics are not great right now, and I really miss the way things used to be. My hope is that the cards will bring back those fond memories. Regardless, I enjoyed my first attempt at design and creation, and sending those cards did much to lift my spirits.
Without equivocation, I open the inner layers of a conundrum that has had, and continues to have, devastating implications for the families of many marginalized people. Dispossession. It’s my family’s new buzz word.
Five generations ago, some land vanished from my family’s grasp, and now, with time restraints imposed by my own mortality, I am anxious about fulfilling my obligation to know the truth about that missing land. I owe this to both my ancestors and to my descendants. I am calling this a “Research and Recovery” project. My plan is to probe this query in a public forum, use researched information that will strip it of all its ambiguities and duplicities, and employ whatever legal remedies necessary that will answer the questions of who, what, when and why. While I am unaware of the total scope of this task, I often get weary (and sometimes emotional) just thinking about it, which is why it stayed at the bottom of my bucket list for so long. But the dye has been cast and there’s no turning back now.
As I dive into a topic that holds some of my deepest passions, I will try my hand at being entertaining and a little bit witty, but honestly, I don’t know how that’s going to go. I also want to be “en vogue” (whatever that means), and frankly, I am going to need a lot of help (and prayer) with that also. But if it comes from Sara’s Fountain Pen, you’ll know that it came from a kindred spirit, and YOU! YOU! YOU! GONNA LOVE ME!