Maybe you could start a topic on musenet and the orenda project int eh vc conference? And I'd be interested in hearing your comments on this and on other vc's that you have experienced.

Sure. My personal experience with MuseNet is summarized in my Web-published article, "Bring a Candle, Not a Sparkler," at http://www.musenet.org/WCE

Hello, my name is Debra Tenney. When I sang in Texas in the 70s I was known as Debby-Dawn, I am still screaming about the injustice. only now I do not sing it I cry out to the universe to be heard. La Paz Sea Contigo

I've just put culture on my hotlist. Saw that Debra was posting here and I wanted to hear more. So now I'm in vc, communities and culture. I think I will keep it at that for awhile.

Debra is a good communicator. She's worked in broadcast journalism and politics, and has a keen sense of how to package a message as a story, poem, play or essay. I'm hopeful that Debra will convert the more iconoclastic ideas and insights developed here into presentation formats that the public will find more digestible.

oops... that was intended to be a 'welcome debra' post...

Can I have an African culture topic in this conference please, and that'll give me a 'home' to post cultural thoughts while I am away (or well, for Marcia to post them anyway...)

Certainly my dear. Did you try to create one and it did not take??? If that is so, we might have to ask Terry for assistance

Hello one and all. I'm new here and my name is Anna (boring) but you can call me Carys. Unfortunately my entire experience with other cultures consists of courses I took at school and television documentaries. I am here to learn. It seems as though it might be fun.

Hey, welcome Carys!!!! I thought I was in here all on my own!!!! How nice to have some company ..... I'm posting mostly on Africa because that's what I know about .... but give me some ideas and I'll research them for you .....Oh BTW no question is too dumb here so please take your shoes off, get a cup of whatever you fancy, and feel at home ....

Welcome Carys! Check out the porch conf if you get the chance.

Thank you! It is lovely to be here with such nice people as yourselves. I've some Australian cousins but my own American family, well quite frankly they hate them. They're referred to as the sub-humans. When I was a kid we went to visit them in Melbourne and that was a horror. Anywho I like some of them. The thing which always fascinated me about Australia is Aboringinal Culture. They seem to me to be remarkable people. I went back to Australia with my husband right after we married. We went to see Uluru (Ayre's Rock) and I just wouldn't climb it. My husband did. But I refused. It is a sacred place and it seemed such a sacrilege. I drew and painted it(in watercolor) though. I left with over 30 studies of Uluru from all angles and times of day. I also think that Madagascar is an interesting place. I've never been there. Have you been, Maggie? Thanks for the invitation to check out the porch. I must do that.

I've only really travelled in Africa ...apart from a walking holiday in Switzerland in my teens (long ago now!). I've always wanted to go to Australia. I understand what you mean about Ayers Rock. I think I'd probably feel much the same, and my husband would be much like yours!!! I also paint, and I'm taking paints with me to AFrica this time to try and rise to the challenge of capturing some atmosphere ...the colours are so different to England!!! I've only travelled in West Africa - Cameroon, Senegal, Gambia, Mali. Madagascar is fascinating, particularly for wildlife ... maybe one day ....

You've mainly been in West Africa then? That would still be a very large area. Africa is the second largest continent. I get to learn all of these fun facts over again with my little boy. I used to work with a really charming woman from Ghana named Josephine. She was one the nicest and most articulate people that I've ever met. I was so embarassed the day when another co-worker asked her, "Do you have radio there in Africa?" I was not a momemt which made me proud to be an American. Josephine was very gracious about it calmly explaining that yes, they did and that while in Ghana she had worked as the executive assistant to the president of bank, which was a very modern building with all the amenities. I admired her restraint and good manners. From Josephine I learned that education is highly valued in some African societies. That attaining advanced degrees is very encouraged. She had been sent to boarding schools when she was a child. Her husband was also very interesting. He had been largely educated in England, so he had an English accent. I did learn from them that Ghana had once been part of the British Empire, like neighboring Nigeria. Josephine's husband was working on his Ph.D. at the time I knew them. She had put her graduate school off until their two young children were older. A question on the Gambia. I have heard that the official name of the country is "The Gambia". The reason for that was that they didn't want to be confused with another African country, Zambia. Is that true. I would love to hear more about the societies of West Africa. I majored in Art History so I did get a bit of information on the art of the region. But as my focus was European Art, it was mostly concerning the influence of different forms of African Art on the Western Artistic tradition of the 20th Century. Whew! The course was more interesting than the title. The Benin bronzes from Nigeria in the 17th Century are considered very extraordinary. They are pieces of great naturalism and beauty. Very much examples of a highly developed artistic tradition. I do look forward to finding out more about your work and experiences in Africa.

Yes, I heard that too ...that The Gambia is always stated with the article to distinguish it from Zambia. I can identify with your 'josephine' story ... I'm trying to post in a varied diet of sotries and info about African societies. Hope you enjoy them. Have you looked at what I'm psoting in Travel conference too??? Look under Gambia and Mali topics there...

Maggie, thanks so much. I'll check the Travel conference.

The Melungians * is anyone intereted enough for me to start a new topic?* Most families in the Southern part of North America in some way have family roots to the Melungeons. So lets start from the Beginning . Where did the Melungeons come from? That is a good question . Some call the Melungeons the " Lost People " or the "Mysterious " people of Appalachia. There are a lot of stories of where the Melungeons came from . I will try to explain a few. They say that they are descended from the "Lost Colony of Roanoke" who married into the local Native American tribes. Others say that they were descendants of Welsh explorer Modoc who came to North America around 1100 AD, with ten ships of colonists . Still others say that Melungeons are the lost tribe of Isreal,lost Spanish explores and just simply a "tri -racial isolate, made up of Native American/ African American/Caucasian mixture. " But then there are those that say they were Portuguese . The Melungeons according to Brent Kennedy writer of " The Melungeons , the Resurrection of a Proud People." suggested that the Melungeons were stating fact when they said they were " Portyghee" . Saying that Portuguese/Morrish people who were being increasingly attacked during the Spanish Inquisition were a large part of the settlers Spain brought to this country in the 1500's . The largest bans of Native Americans to intermarry with the settlers were the Cherokee, Powhatans and the Pamunkeys. These people migrated westward in front of the migrants and on the way married with other groups, possibly escaped slaves, English, English/Native Americans and Scotch /Irish. The language that they spoke was broken or Elizabethan English . Their features were said to be from Dark skin to Light skin ,eyes could be Brown or Steel Blue in color while the hair could be Brown ,Black or Blonde. This comes from intermarrying . When the white people caught up with them in Tennessee Kentucky and other Southern States they did not like them around and the sad part is that for these people they were deemed "Free Persons Of Color " and laws were made and set up to deprive the Melungeons of their basic rights. Such as the right to Vote, the right to own land , and the right for their children to have an education . Being Melungeon was not the best way to get ahead in those times. Many of them hid their ancestry with other "covers" that could account for their dark features, saying that they were " Black Dutch , Black Irish" or having " Native American ancestory"

Sure, sounds like a good topic!

Terry, please kill topic 33. I seem to be unable to do so. It is reduntant and misspelled too. Thanks!

Will do!

You may as well kill 34 too I spelled Melungeons wrong... I promise to get it right the next time!!!

ok!

Got online in Mali at long last. Greetings. Seems I've been away a long time - Plenty of culture here - Can't stay long today, but will post more stuff when I get back to the UK late March.

That's great Maggie, where did yo find access in Mali? Where's Mali and what' s it like there?

I'm actually in my office!!! But connection is not good - cant seem to post in ~Spring sometimes .. three tries so far with this! Mali is HOt Hot Hot - hit 103F yesterday. I love the people and enjoy wearing local clothes. Have asked Marcia to post pic in travel/Mali. Hope she does. Will prepare something offline and post later. Its $3 and hour for access, so I have to be careful.

Really, it's 'spensif for you to talk to us. Gotta run, eat dinner and watch Temptation Island. I'll look forward to seeing the Mali topic, we're going to have to crown Marci the "Content Queen".

Wheeeee! I am Queen of sumthin!!! From Maggie: I'm actually in my office!!! But connection is not good - cant seem to post in Spring sometimes .. three tries so far with this! Mali is HOt Hot Hot - hit 103F yesterday. I love the people and enjoy wearing local clothes. Have asked Marcia to post pic in travel/Mali. Hope she does. Will prepare something offline and post later. Its $3 and hour for access, so I have to be careful

Maggie!! Post yours or Tony's or both??? You are both so resplendent in your native costumes as to make the rest of us drab by comparison!

Wow, post both of them or all of them if you have pix of Maggies trip?

I have bboth of their pictures ready to post (I did find them). Now, where to put them? Under the Travel / Mali topic or here in Cultures?

Where are Maggies pictures?