General > Member Introductions

Sunny's Introduction

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SunnyinNJ:
Hi,

I joined the forum today because of a 2008 post by educatedeagle about a cousin of mine who's made wild claims about our ancestry.

I'm a family historian (not a certified genealogist), a librarian, 62, female, mostly white, a single mother and a grandmother.

It is true that there are family stories in both my mother's and father's families about Native ancestors but I've been doing the research for over 35 years and have still not verified anything.  I happen to believe they're there in some generation but I haven't found them yet.  In the mean time, I enjoy the research and meeting new relatives all over.

Before I joined but saw the name of the forum, I'd thought it was about phoney new age stuff.  I'm surprised that the forum is about Native stuff.  I have never equated New Age and Native American.  I'm very aware of Native American spirituality and I have, from time to time, studied and attempted to practice the teaching of G. Gurdjieff but what I knew as New Age stuff in the late 60s and through the 70s was about more authentic spiritual practices than what passes for New Age stuff today.  Only someone who has at least attempted to follow a spiritual path, for any length of time, can understand the difference. 

At any rate, I appreciate the availability of the forum and expect to learn a great deal from it.  I hope, from time to time, my personal experiences will be of use and interest as well.

I seem to have some kind of problem with the posting window which I suspect means that my post is too long.  so this is it for now.

Lorraine
SunnyinNJ

SunnyinNJ:
 I haven't been to this forum in a long time but something brought me here tonight.  I'm a senior female.  I'm a retired librarian and a family historian as differentiated from a professional genealogist.  I've been researching all my families since my mid-20s.  I became interested in family history because my maternal grandmother told me repeatedly that we had Native ancestry.  Decades later, another relative, on my father's side, told us of Native ancestors in those families.  I wanted to find them.  I have given up that goal and just enjoy searching for the origins of each of my family lines.

I spent quite a lot of time, in the 1990s, involved in Native activities and issues, promoted Native authors, artists, educators, etc., in my professional capacity as a librarian and learned a great deal.  One of the things I learned is that, even if I had Native ancestors, I wasn't raised in a Native culture  I'm, more or less, a stereotypical WASP.

I left a couple of posts when I was here before.  Since then, I have had my DNA tested and my father's DNA tested and we found no Native DNA.  I was advised by a young man from one of the Haudenosaunee nations that that doesn't necessarily mean there were no Native ancestors but that they may have been so far back in the history of the families that the evidence has dropped off.  I'm not too sure about that. 

I do think that most people who want to claim Native ancestry that isn't substantiated don't think they're special or interesting.  In a certain way, none of us are; in another way each of us is unique and are living a life that is unique to us and, therefore, special and interesting. 

I very much appreciate Native cultures and history and, while I'm not currently active in things Native but when something comes up, I do try to correct misinformation that I'm clear about and explain what I know or refer people to resources.  I'm always surprised by people who I generally respect who don't seem to understand the difference between real Native culture and spirituality and NAFs.  But, I'm just an ordinary person so...there are Native individuals who are better able to make these distinctions.

Sparks:
Hello Lorraine, I'm also a retired librarian, who specialised in indigenous circumpolar peoples and their religions.


--- Quote from: SunnyinNJ on September 13, 2021, 12:43:55 am ---I left a couple of posts when I was here before.
--- End quote ---

I found your first introduction here: http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=3306.0

Then you wrote this post in the topic "For Those Who Recently Discovered Indian Ancestry".

It would be interesting to know more about your experiences with particular frauds and plastic shamans.

Sparks:
Lorraine has come back (after more than a decade) with a new introduction:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5559.0 [Reintroducing myself]


--- Quote from: SunnyinNJ on April 29, 2011, 01:28:35 am ---I joined the forum today because of a 2008 post by educatedeagle [probably educatedindian] about a cousin of mine who's made wild claims about our ancestry.
--- End quote ---

It would be interesting to know more about your cousin, and what happened since 2008?

Sparks:

--- Quote from: Sparks on September 14, 2021, 03:39:13 am ---Lorraine has come back (after more than a decade) with a new introduction:

http://www.newagefraud.org/smf/index.php?topic=5559.0 [Reintroducing myself]
--- End quote ---

Because topics have been merged everything is now in the thread you are reading now.

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