NARA/Ancestry.com Civil War Press Conference

Þorrablót

I had a wonderful evening at Þorrablót, an Icelandic feast hosted by the Icelandic Association of Utah, with my wife and parents.  (My dad's maternal grandfather was full Icelandic.)  We had a special treat as we heard from BYU Professor Fred Woods, author of Fire on Ice: The Saints of Iceland, and  Dr. Kári Bjarnason, Head of the Public Library of Vestmannaeyjar, my ancestral home in Iceland. They are working on creating a museum exhibit in Vestmannaeyjar on Mormon emigration from Iceland, as over 200 Icelanders emigrated from there to Utah.  I spoke to each of them afterward about contributing material for that exhibit.  I also tried the sampler plate of traditional Icelandic foods--not for the faint of heart.  I confess I passed on the ram's testicles and sheep intestines.

Who Do You Think You Are? - Rosie O'Donnell

Rosie O’Donnell returns to TV by relaunching her talk show, retracing her roots - National Celebrity Q&A | Examiner.com

This is a wonderful, in-depth interview with Rosie O'Donnell about her experience with Who Do You Think You Are? Rosie was deeply affected by her journey to her ancestral past, and the knowledge and perspective she gained about her heritage is transforming her life in positive ways.

What's Your Story?

BYUtv - What's Your Story?: We All Have A Story: The Process This is a great new program showing on BYUtv about storytelling, with master storyteller, Donald Davis.  The show takes you to one of Donald's workshops where everyday people discover their own stories, and how to tell them.

RootsTech

I'm having a great time working the Ancestry.com booth at RootsTech.  There are over 3000 attendees, they say, making this one of the largest genealogy conferences ever, if not the largest.  Meeting people and helping them find their ancestors is the greatest feeling.  The first man I assisted said, "If I get nothing else out of this conference other than what you have just helped me with, this whole thing will have been worth it."  I live for that!

Our booth is right across the aisle from FamilySearch, so I have had a chance to see many old friends and colleagues, which has been awesome.  So many great people!

Hulu - Who Do You Think You Are?: Vanessa Williams - Watch the full episode now.

Hulu - Who Do You Think You Are?: Vanessa Williams - Watch the full episode now. If you missed it last night, you can catch it on Hulu, as well as NBC.com.

GeneaBloggers - Over 1,500 genealogy blogs!

Geneabloggers is a listing of over 1,500 genealogy blogs. It amazes me that there are so many genealogists out there with so much to say. I am only a sometime blogger on family history, so I am not on the list. I'm afraid if I was, I might be expected to blog daily, and I don't have enough time or intelligent things to say to do that. Kudos to the many bloggers who do it, and who provide helpful and useful information to thousands of people every day. I have found many useful tips and interesting insights as I have browsed the family history blogs. Some are more helpful than others, of course, but I do think that genealogy bloggers, on the whole, are a cut above the blogosphere norm, because they are in it primarily to help others, rather than to merely tout themselves in what 0ften tends to be a medium for vanity publication.

Provo Tabernacle Inside

Heartbreaking to see it like this...

http://provomayor.blogspot.com/2010/12/provo-tabernacle-inside.html

Community Gathering to Remember the Provo Tabernacle

A community gathering to remember the Provo Tabernacle is being held today (Sunday) at 7 p.m. at the UCCU Events Center at Utah Valley University, 800 W. University Pkwy., Orem. Admission is free. The program will include a slide show of tabernacle photographs, remarks by Provo Mayor John Curtis and other community leaders. The Millenium Choral Society will perform Lex de Azevedo's Gloria: the Life of Christ, Part I, the Nativity. I wish I could go to this, but I will be performing at the Assembly Hall on Temple Square tonight with the Mapleton Chorale.

Historic Provo Tabernacle Lost

I am very emotional right now about the tragic burning of the historic Provo Tabernacle. I have performed there several times, my mother-in-law performed there for years in the Utah Valley Symphony. I have attended conferences and heard prophets speak there, as have my ancestors. It has been one of Provo's greatest landmarks, a beautiful edifice, a gathering place for the community, and a sacred place for more than 110 years. Losing it feels like a death in the family. Now I can only hope that we as a community can find a way to restore it.