The Gadfly Went Missing

Yes I did, I went missing. Breaks are needed but then sometimes when that happens, you lose track of time or get involved in other things and I guess that's what happened to me.

I've gotten involved with a small group of good people in Penn Yan, NY who have started a series of community conversations on Race and Justice. They took their lead from the President's comments after the George Zimmerman trial where he encouraged communities to start having these important conversations. Anyway, that's taken some time and attention.

I've also done some traveling and have really gotten immersed in my family's genealogy. Something I thought was pretty straightforward can really become complicated pretty quickly. Especially when you're researching common names like Wilson, Kelly and Heller. I've learned a lot and found out that little mistakes in census records like adding an L or using an initial one time and not another can change where information takes you. But it's been fun and I've found out a lot about my roots and relatives. I'm planning some specific trips to addresses and cemeteries where some family members lived and died.

Then there was and is the political turmoil. I became totally enthralled with watching and trying to understand the recent show in Washington, D.C. over the past month or so. I'll probably have more to say about this at some point but watching it and seeing the craziness was difficult to pull myself away from. The danger is that we didn't learn something from all of this.

I've also been working with a group of professionals that I'm close to, trying to assist them in getting good information relative to the issues that are impacting them and the work they do.

So it has been busy but The Gadfly's back, at least until something else grabs my attention and gets me off track. Gotta get this place ready for winter.