Below is the poem which won 3rd place in the Poetry & Song category of the 2017 ISFHWE Excellence-in-Writing Competition. Last year, I finished 2nd with The Genetic and Synthetic.
Cause of Death
A dozen distant cousins
in Prienai, Lithuania
died on the same day
all with the same cause of death.
If my cousin who researched the family
had written down ‘Auschwitz,’
“Treblinka,’ or ‘Bergen Belsen,’
I think I would have nodded
and kept on reading.
It’s what I expect happened
to most of my relatives
who didn’t get out of Europe
before the war.
I wasn’t ready for
"townspeople with axes" -
Neither were my cousins.
"Townspeople with axes"
could be the name
of a b-grade horror movie
with vampires and zombies.
"Townspeople with axes"
should not appear
in my genealogy database.
Showing posts with label ISFHWE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ISFHWE. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Press Release: 2017 ISFHWE Excellence-In-Writing Competition Winners Announced
Yesterday I received the below press release from Tina Sansone, Competition Coordinator at The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors. However, the information was going to be officially announced today at the FGS Conference, so she asked that it not be shared until this morning. I have added links where I could find them.
The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors is proud to announce the winners of the Excellence-in-Writing Competition. All entries were exceptional this year. Submission details for 2018 will be announced soon. For any questions on the competition, email competition@isfhwe.org.
Category 1 – Columns
1st Place – Elaine Thomas: “For the Love of Dinah”
2nd Place – Carolyn Schott: “Welcome Back to Osthofen”
3rd Place - Maureen Wlodarczyk: “More Than (Immediately) Meets the Eye”
HM – Valerie LaRobardier: “Do You Have an ‘Indian Princess’?”
Category 2 – Articles
1st Place – Martin Fischer: “How the Gogolinsky Family of Warsaw Became the Barney Family of St. Louis, Missouri”
2nd Place – Joseph F. Martin: “Apolonia Lewicka and the Priest”
3rd Place - Mari Margaret McLean, PhD: “Unintended Family History: Thomas Scholfield’s Letter to His Brother”
HM - Fred Delcomyn: “A Danish Lad in America”
HM - Karen Brattesani: “A Soldier's Stories of World War II as Told to his Daughter”
HM - Sherri Panchaud Onorati: “Lucky to Be Here”
Category 3 – Newsletters
1st Place – Michelle D. Novak: “Genealogical Society of Bergen County, NJ - The Archivist”
2nd Place – Patricia Mansfield Phelan: “Newsletter of the Irish Family History Forum”
Category 4 – Unpublished Material, Unpublished Authors
1st Place – Joan F. Vitale: “The Messenger”
2nd Place – Bonnie Dodge: “Getting to Know Grandmother, A Step Back in Time”
3rd Place – Robbin M. Smith: “I Have an Aunt Alice?”
HM - Linda D. Fritz-Langston: “Grandpa & His Puzzle”
Category 5 - Unpublished Material – Published Authors
1st Place – Dave Strausfeld: “Gus Cloepfil and his Migration Westward”
2nd Place – Wevonneda Minis: “DNA Decision”
3rd Place – Elaine Thomas: “Boyhood Tales from the Great Depression”
HM - Wendy Wilson Spooner, Lic. G, LCoT: “The Relevance of Genetic Knowledge to Genealogical Research
HM - Andrea Butler Ramsey: “ The Nickel Man”
HM - Emilee Marks: “The Tale of Two Wilhelmina Gogollas”
Category 6 – Poetry & Song
1st Place – Kavya Srikanth: “An Ode to Time Lost”
2nd Place – Lori Lynn Price: “Virden, New Mexico”
3rd Place – John Newmark: “Cause of Death”
HM - Anthony Proctor – “The Great Wave”
Congratulations to all winners!
The International Society of Family History Writers and Editors is proud to announce the winners of the Excellence-in-Writing Competition. All entries were exceptional this year. Submission details for 2018 will be announced soon. For any questions on the competition, email competition@isfhwe.org.
Category 1 – Columns
1st Place – Elaine Thomas: “For the Love of Dinah”
2nd Place – Carolyn Schott: “Welcome Back to Osthofen”
3rd Place - Maureen Wlodarczyk: “More Than (Immediately) Meets the Eye”
HM – Valerie LaRobardier: “Do You Have an ‘Indian Princess’?”
Category 2 – Articles
1st Place – Martin Fischer: “How the Gogolinsky Family of Warsaw Became the Barney Family of St. Louis, Missouri”
2nd Place – Joseph F. Martin: “Apolonia Lewicka and the Priest”
3rd Place - Mari Margaret McLean, PhD: “Unintended Family History: Thomas Scholfield’s Letter to His Brother”
HM - Fred Delcomyn: “A Danish Lad in America”
HM - Karen Brattesani: “A Soldier's Stories of World War II as Told to his Daughter”
HM - Sherri Panchaud Onorati: “Lucky to Be Here”
Category 3 – Newsletters
1st Place – Michelle D. Novak: “Genealogical Society of Bergen County, NJ - The Archivist”
2nd Place – Patricia Mansfield Phelan: “Newsletter of the Irish Family History Forum”
Category 4 – Unpublished Material, Unpublished Authors
1st Place – Joan F. Vitale: “The Messenger”
2nd Place – Bonnie Dodge: “Getting to Know Grandmother, A Step Back in Time”
3rd Place – Robbin M. Smith: “I Have an Aunt Alice?”
HM - Linda D. Fritz-Langston: “Grandpa & His Puzzle”
Category 5 - Unpublished Material – Published Authors
1st Place – Dave Strausfeld: “Gus Cloepfil and his Migration Westward”
2nd Place – Wevonneda Minis: “DNA Decision”
3rd Place – Elaine Thomas: “Boyhood Tales from the Great Depression”
HM - Wendy Wilson Spooner, Lic. G, LCoT: “The Relevance of Genetic Knowledge to Genealogical Research
HM - Andrea Butler Ramsey: “ The Nickel Man”
HM - Emilee Marks: “The Tale of Two Wilhelmina Gogollas”
Category 6 – Poetry & Song
1st Place – Kavya Srikanth: “An Ode to Time Lost”
2nd Place – Lori Lynn Price: “Virden, New Mexico”
3rd Place – John Newmark: “Cause of Death”
HM - Anthony Proctor – “The Great Wave”
Friday, September 2, 2016
Poem: The Genetic and Synthetic
The below poem of mine was entered into the 2016 International Society of Family History Writers and Editors Excellence-in-Writing competition and was awarded second-place in its category.
I've added a few footnotes for the references.
The Genetic and Synthetic
I research my roots:
The nucleotides of life
and the synthesis
of ancestral experience
make me whole.
If she hadn’t left
her Texas home at age 20;1
If he hadn’t fled
the Russian pogroms;2
These words wouldn’t be written.
Rural Transylvania, 1910.
A gun fired:
One child maimed;
One child entered
a depression-fueled starvation
he never exited;
One child, my maternal grandfather,
stood witness.3
Philippines, 1945.
A gun fired:
One soldier cleaning his rifle;
One soldier entered
a hospital he never exited;
His brother, my paternal grandfather,
stood Kaddish.4
Neither event changed my DNA,
but both influenced how I was raised,
who I became.
1. My maternal grandmother, Myrtle Vanevery Deutsch
2. My paternal 2nd great grandfathers, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, Morris Blatt, and Selig Dudelczak could all be referenced here, with a little flexibility on the term, Russian, to include Lithuania, Poland, and Volhynia, respectively.
3. More details can be read here.
4. More details can be read here.
I've added a few footnotes for the references.
The Genetic and Synthetic
I research my roots:
The nucleotides of life
and the synthesis
of ancestral experience
make me whole.
If she hadn’t left
her Texas home at age 20;1
If he hadn’t fled
the Russian pogroms;2
These words wouldn’t be written.
Rural Transylvania, 1910.
A gun fired:
One child maimed;
One child entered
a depression-fueled starvation
he never exited;
One child, my maternal grandfather,
stood witness.3
Philippines, 1945.
A gun fired:
One soldier cleaning his rifle;
One soldier entered
a hospital he never exited;
His brother, my paternal grandfather,
stood Kaddish.4
Neither event changed my DNA,
but both influenced how I was raised,
who I became.
1. My maternal grandmother, Myrtle Vanevery Deutsch
2. My paternal 2nd great grandfathers, Moshe Leyb Cruvant, Morris Blatt, and Selig Dudelczak could all be referenced here, with a little flexibility on the term, Russian, to include Lithuania, Poland, and Volhynia, respectively.
3. More details can be read here.
4. More details can be read here.
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