The recent flooding destruction and tragedy in the hill country of central Texas shows us that people often choose to live close to danger. Closer to home, remember when " Mount St. Helens erupted for nine hours on May 18, 1980 destroying plant and animal life in the surrounding 230 square miles of forest and killing 57 people. In this post-eruption image, Spirit Lake is buried by debris." Famously, Harry Truman refused to leave his home on Spirit Lake, and is presumably buried under the debris shown in the photo below. Mt. St. Helens from  https://catalog.archives.gov/  via Picryl.com Recovery from this utter destruction seemed impossible, but the next photo shows that nature is creative and resilient—and so are we humans.  Aerial photo of Mount St. Helens (center), with Mount Hood (in the distance, far left), Spirit Lake (on left with floating log mat), and St. Helens Lake with a little ice cover (lower left). USGS image taken by K. Spicer on June 6, 2024. Public Domain...

Developing Foresight and Creativity I'm reading a thought-provoking book called The Rise of the Creative Class: Revisited by Richard Florida [1]. How does this relate to genealogy and family history? Think of how much our field has changed in the past few years, and even more in our lifetimes. These immense changes, from microfilm and copy machines to online records and virtual meetings, are the result of creativity in action.  When I attended the NGS (National Genealogical Society) Conference in Sacramento last spring, genealogy society delegates met in person for the first time, and spent a morning discussing and learning how to practice foresight . Not predicting the future, but instead, thinking with the future, to better prepare our selves and our societies for the changes that are coming. Did any of us, on New Year's Day 2020 see what was coming and how it would change all our lives?   Many public health experts all around the world had been worried even before Co...

Greetings! This is my first blog post as President of the South King County Genealogical Society. I'm so honored that the Members entrusted this office to me. But let me share a secret with you: I made up my own job. I did the same with my previous job with SKCGS, as Vice President and before that, leading the new Publicity team.  Make Your Own Job As I've aged, I adopted this tactic more and more, and I will tell you, it's great! For one thing, you know yourself better than anyone else does, and so when you create your own job description, it fits you well. It is a wonderful way to be effective and collaborate with others who share your values and enthusiasms. Most of all, you can choose to do the things that make you happy, and work with those who are happy in their work as well. It is the best of all possible worlds. Freedom and Happiness When I read our SKCGS  Bylaws and Standing Rules , I saw in those job descriptions a lot of latitude to fill the some of the needs of...