Welcome back to the African Roots Podcast! You can always reach me HERE.
Well it is always good to be home and I am just back home from a wonderful week at the Midwest African American Genealogy Institute, that took place in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. This was an amazing week, and this kind of experience brings about so many opportunities for great dialogue, asking questions, and wonderful stimulation.
On Monday evening, the Ft. Wayne African American Genealogy Group hosted a beautiful meet and greet event and it was beautiful!
Roberta Ridley inspecting the food
I was so excited because the energy and enthusiasm at events such as an institute are quite different from a regular conference!
Classes got underway on Tuesday, and it was 3 days of work. I coordinated the writing track, and there was a very content-high workshop with each session.
(Sign reflecting classroom for writing track)
(The chance to get away and have a genealogical experience was a much needed break. It was also great to be in the company of other presenters and other genealogists. This experience allows people to slow down and get to know each other. Plus everyone brings something to the institute experience. I personally feel that I was stimulated and encouraged to get back to my own writing projects. We were blessed to have Anita Henderson, a noted writing coach. The classes let us all know that it is time to make a commitment and get it done. We also had Thomas Macentee who gave two presentations to the MAAGI group, and they were wonderful. I especially enjoyed the webinar on E-books!
Thomas Macentee presented a webinar on publishing in the Writer’s track
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A shout out to the Ealy family that is having a major reunion this weekend. Genealogist Melvin Collier has a tie to that group, and is there celebrating with that line.
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A special thank you to the staff of the Genealogy Center of ACPL. The facility was wonderful and the staff was beyond courteous! They assisted us in so many ways and we could not be more delighted! Thank you Curt Witcher, Melissa Tennant, Robert Ridley, we could not have made it without your accommodating us so graciously. Again, thank you.
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Now that things have slowed down, I can take my numerous projects to the next level-referring to my writing especially. But I also encourage people to take their crafts and other interests and to blend them. And sometimes, it is great to incorporate them into events with the family. I also hope that you are going to include children with the reunion. I am a strong advocate for inter-generational projects. As you plan those reunions, incorporate children into the process. We saw Nicka Smith with all of her confidence teach a 4 year old how to take pictures. He ended up taking the official MAAGI group photo,for 2016. We loved watching her interact with the child and he was a natural! Some of us praised him for what he did and we gave him a dollar. He was so amazed that we were giving him money for what he had done. It was a heart warming moment.
Nicka Smith instructs child how to take the official photo of the entire group
Well, I am still on a MAAGI high–and need to shut things down for the week. New things are going to become projects for me this week and I look forward to working on them. I appreciate your taking time to let me talk a bit about my experience of the past week, and I want you to know that I appreciate you for doing so.
Spend some quality time with the family, but always stay focused on the work that has to be done, so remember to keep researching, keep documenting, and keep sharing what you find.
