Michael Mahler's Ditherings

The ever amazing 3rd cousin found another piece of cool family history. It was a New York passenger list for the SS Orizaba that left Havana, Cuba on September 7, 1929 and arrived in New York on September 10, 1929. My great grandfather, John Joseph Mahler, apparently went my his son, John M Mahler, who was 18 at the time. I just realized that this was about a month and a half before the stock market crashed on Black Tuesday, and it was slightly over a year before my great grandfather died. He was only 49 when he died.

John M Mahler, the 18 year old, was the half brother of my grandfather, Richard John (usually referred to as RJ)  Mahler. As I mentioned before, John Joseph’s first wife, Lovina Fremouw, died giving birth to my grandfather, RJ. John M Mahler’s mother was John Joseph’s second wife, Margaret Sadie McIntyre.

I have been in contact with Ellen, John’s daughter. As I figure it, she is my half first cousin once removed. I wanted to send her the info that Dale, my 3rd cousin, sent as I thought it was pretty cool.

Oddly enough, I was chatting with someone earlier this evening, and we wandered into talking about history and genealogy. It’s a small world.

My friend Kelly is trying to come up with a name for her craft business. Her last name also begins with a K, and somehow, it came up that a possibility that might not work would be KK Krafts.

I pointed out that in addition to whatever other issues might exist, the initials might not be optimal. Kelly is an incredibly sweet and kind person, so I really don’t think that decoupaged holders for a burning cross or adorable stuffed Klan teddy bears in hand sewn white robes with swastikas embroidered on their tummies was the sort of thing that she was going for.

Last night, I had a very nice time indeed at the open circle for Imbolc that the Covenant of Brighid’s Haven had at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Erie. Because this holiday deals with the light returning, the ritual involved lighting small candles from a central candle that was in a tray filled with sand. They were being sure to be safe. Sometimes, there have been variations of this at Samhain, and folks light a candle for a loved one. It can be very moving, but my internal unofficial term for this is the Kitty Litter Ritual, since the first time I saw it done, the base was filled with kitty litter.

However, part of the way through the ritual, the central candle sort of melted and lost over. Ruth, Jaeme and I sort of giggled and I said something about “Spirits of viagra and cialis, be with us now.” The candle hadn’t started out looking phallic, but towards the end, my first thought was “It’s okay. This sort of thing happens to ritual objects all the time. Maybe you’re just tired.”

And yeah, when the circle was closed, we did end with “Merry meet, merry part and merry meet again!” and the usual suffix of “Oh Mary!” Because it’s a tradition, damn it! It may be silly, but it makes me feel happy.

There was a very nice feast afterward, and I had a great time. The Covenant of Brighid’s Haven also now has a Facebook page. Cool for them.

Too funny! The Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), consisting basically of Rev. Fred Phelps and his rather mentally askew family protested outside the offices of Twitter in San Francisco.

There were counter-protesters at the ready with some truly delightful signs.  A personal fave: God hates #tags! - a reference to the church’s official site, God Hates Fags and the hash tags used to find info about a particular topic on Twitter. Gay and geeky – gotta love it!

According to the article, one of the younger women from WBC was tweeting WHILE they were protesting Twitter. I am guessing that A) these folks didn’t have their irony detector turned on and B) she must have been chosen by virtue of having opposable thumbs and being able to walk upright, or something.

Kudos to those folks who met with the face of hatred and laughed right back at it!

Westboro Baptist Church Protests, Gets Protested Outside Twitter

Yesterday, the Westboro Baptist Church and their subtly-named picket group, God Hates Fags, brought their dog-and-pony-show to San Francisco. That's right -- the freaky people came to freak out the freaky people.
The religious group, based in Topeka, Kansas, usually pickets soldiers' funerals, reasoning that they died defending a gay-loving country. Thursday, they set their sights on a larger target: the headquarters of the social-media giant Twitter.

Westboro Baptist Church Protests, Gets Protested Outside Twitter - Asylum.com

I woke up feeling geeky this morning. Admittedly, when don’t I? It occurred to me that there is a fair amount of time we have an event at the Erie Gay News web site that has a URL to RSVP/register/buy tickets for, so why not add a field to link for that? That might help organizers better plan and since it is just a URL, I don’t have to fiddle so much with the event when I paste it in.

I made sure to not only add it to the calendar page, but the calendar RSS feed as well, which means that all of the sites carrying our calendar will also get the RSVP/registration URL's when they are filled in.

Hmm, I should probably come up with a page to request submitting an event. Maybe sometime soon. I still need to reset the newsletter.

Today, I went to the viewing of Mary Ellen, whom I knew years ago as Rannveigr when I was in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). She was a deeply kind and calm person. I can’t remember ever hear her say a harsh word. She was also very dedicated to helping others.

This is a very old photo. Her children have grown into talented and wonderful adults. (Oddly enough, the man kneeling at the right is now my brother-in-law.) Even earlier, I remember sitting on the floor of the armory in Buffalo at Ice Dragon when she was pregnant with the twins. When her husband, Alexander, won Coronet Tourney (Aethelmearc was only a Principality then, whereas it is now a Kingdom), I remember that her daughter asked her, “Mommy, are you going to be Queen now?”, she responded with “No, Mommy is just going to be Princess. And she can just barely deal with that.” It had been kind of a long day, and I think she was kind of tired.  It was good-natured. Several friends of ours got to be in their retinue at court, and that was a very great honor.

This is how I would like to remember her – smiling and surrounded by her family and people who cared about her. She was truly a class act.

Because of her service to the Society, she was made a Companion of the Order of the Pelican. For a brief time, I was her protege. (Knights have squires, Laurels – awarded for excellence in the arts and sciences – have apprentices and Pelicans have proteges.) At the time, I was Chronicler (newsletter editor) for the Shire of Stormsport and later for the Principality of Aethelmearc. This newsletter thing seems to be a very long-standing tradition for me.;) It might be getting close to half my lifetime now for doing a newsletter or being involved with some kind of periodical.

After I drifted away from the SCA, I bumped her into again when she was on the board of the AIDS Council of Erie County. Mary Ellen was a very skilled and compassionate doctor. She touched many lives in important ways and was unfailingly gracious and serene.

When I stopped at her coffin to pay my last respects, I thanked her for having been kind, for having been a shining example of service to others. Even though we hadn’t been in close contact for years, I felt that the experience of having known her added something important to my life that I hope I can pass along to others.

May she rest in peace and hopefully she knows how much folks appreciate her giving and selfless nature.

Don’t tell me I don’t know how to multi-task! I was home for lunch on Monday and was trying to get the envelopes and labels generated and set up for the folding of Erie Gay News this Thursday. (And I got notice earlier today that the order has shipped, so it looks like we are on time. Yay!)

I had run out of a prescription, and we also changed insurance providers. So, while I am printing labels and envelopes and sticking the former onto the latter, I am juggling phone calls to the doctor’s office and the insurance provider, since it seems that the prescription isn’t covered by the new provider. Fortunately, there is an equivalent, so things are cool.

After work, I headed over to the Erie Mondays at Matthew’s at Matthew’s Trattoria. It was okay. I mostly chatted with religious study faculty from Mercyhurst.

After that, I went home to grab some dinner and let the dogs out. Then I popped over to Nelson’s tavern to the going away party for my friends Jo and Josh, who just got married and are relocating to Oregon after stopping off in to visit Florida. (Okay, not the most linear travel path, but sounds like fun.)

I also stopped in at Craze to confirm that we are on for the GLBT Legislation Advocacy meeting on February 18 at 7 PM. I then went home and finished some geek tasks.

Tonight was pretty much a “I think I need to be in a coma for a little bit”, although I did get some geek stuff taken care of.

Tomorrow is the State of the Union Address Watch Party at Matthew’s Trattoria and Thursday is folding at the Zone Dance Club.

Three cheers for my 3rd cousin! He found the grave site of our great great grandmother, Anna Mahler, in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Rochester NY. The stone had sunk into the ground.

A blogger friend in Germany has been very kind and helpful in trying to get more info.

A cousin found this and sent it my way. This is a page from the 1880 census.  On line 42 is my great-great grandfather, John Mahler, who was a blacksmith. He was born about 1844 or so, and died about 1888. His wife was Anna Mahler, and the census lists their 3 kids (as of 1880) - Frank, Ferdinand and Anna.

My great grandfather, John Joseph Mahler, was born in 1881.  (Hmm, just realized that meant that he was 7 when his dad died.)

John Joseph married my great grandmother, Lovinia Fremouw, who was born in the Netherlands. She died giving birth to my grandfather, Richard John Mahler. Lovina's dad, Cornelius Fremouw, died in a mining accident before she was born.  I never really knew my paternal grandfather, or very much about Dad's side of the family. Hmm, interesting that I have photos of my great grandparents, and no images of my grandfather, nor any real memories of him. There does seem to be a history of parents and children on that side not being close.

I was going through rather a whirlwind of posting and geek stuff tonight, when I got an email from a friend. She informed me that someone I knew fairly well years ago, but with whom I have lost touch, has been diagnosed with a very serious illness, and things do not look well for her at all. I feel bad for her and her entire family. It sounds like they would prefer privacy, so I am just wishing them the best at a very difficult time.