Faces, the latest from Henry Gates

Faces Of America? Yeah. I enjoyed it very much

I've heard a bit about this and it sounds very interesting!

Look! You can watch it online: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/facesofamerica/category/video/

I know what I'll be doing tomorrow morning.

I watched it online. I don't have cable or a converter box. There is something of an advantage to watching on line.

We've enjoyed it quite a bit.

I did as well. What strikes me is how many grandparents and parents never talk about the family's past. I have some oral history from my mother's family, despite the fact that my maternal grandmother was an orphan at age five. I would have thought that losing her own parents at such an early age would have meant that nothing of the family history was transmitted to her.

There seems to be a generational news gap from my father's side. Thirty or so years ago, a distant cousin started tracing the family history but, apparently, abandoned the project. Whether this was because she spoke/read no Polish or whether her own life got in the way, I don't know. I never met her.

My own father is a social person but is not particularly family oriented. His conversation focuses on things that are happening now and not on family issues.

How many of you would like to undergo the sort of DNA testing the program's participants were offered?

I was disappointed that Louise Erdrich decided against participating in that part of the program.

I suspect that, for Erdrich, the tribe protested (she confirmed this), but the motive may have been (which was not really stated) that they might have been concerned that if they weren't shown to be native enough (whatever the hell that means), they could lose certain privileges. Anyway, that's my take on that.

I'd welcome the DNA testing.

Plus I think he should do a show just on Jews, or on other relatively small and insular populations (the Amish? Relatives of the Shakers?). I'm quite sure that my husband and I are cousins within that 250 year window they looked at, seeing as we are both purely Jewish (e. g. no intermarriage) back at least to great-grandparents and most likely further, and from not too terribly far away parts of Europe. Hell, most Ashkenazi Jews probably fit together into that window.

I had exactly the same thoughts about Erdrich.

DNA testing on small groups would be interesting. A French Canadian friend told me that French Canadians are fairly inbred. However, I would guess that the Amish are even more closely related than French Canadians are. From my understanding of the history of the Ashkenazi, their ancestors were an isolated population.

My family's details are a little sketchy. My mother never really believed the stories her father told about being Irish, despite their Irish last name. I would love to find out more about my ancestry.