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Family

Family,

Pioneer Family

How’s this for a fun family photo? We just found it — or rather, my mother found it. It’s in rough shape but is still fascinating.

The lady on the right is my Grandma Goble, or Ollie as she was known to the family. She’s standing next to a friend. They are holding a wolf’s pelt!

To the left is a young man, who is my Great Uncle Garland. The inscription on the back says, “Garland, Mrs. Dow, Ollie, Thanksgiving 1923, Montana.”

We aren’t sure who Mrs. Dow is. She stands in contrast to Ollie, who either has her eyes …

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Family, Random Thoughts,

What Does it Mean to be an American?

For the last few years I’ve had a crazy question bouncing around in my head.  The basic idea is this: globalization is going to transform our ideas about citizenship as geographic boundaries become less meaningful.

First, a tangent on how this idea came to be. It started with our family genealogical research and learning just how very American I am.

The Goble family came to America in 1634 as Puritan immigrants from England. My forefathers were among the first white settlers of New England, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, the Ohio Valley, Texas, and the Oklahoma Territory.  My family has been involved …

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Book Reviews, Family,

George Washington Slept Here

Happy President’s Day! Thought I’d share a personal reflection and a book review.

General George Washington and the Continental Army spent two brutal winters camped near my forefathers home in Morristown, New Jersey.  Robert Goble, Esq. was the magistrate of the town (or so the historians believe) and he along with his son Jonas Goble had a farm directly between the town center (where General Washington stayed) and the army barracks just outside of town.  The Daughters of the American Revolution have a hand drawn period map of the area in their archives.  The region is all part of Morristown …

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Family, The SOLD Project,

Blessings

I begin my journey home this afternoon with a flight to Bangkok.  In a few hours I will be saying my goodbyes.  Not very excited about that.  But over the last week I’ve had some great times.  Incredible food, magical conversations, and hilarious moments.

Over dinner last night my daughter asked what my single biggest impression was from the trip.  I immediately said that seeing the The SOLD Project Resource Center in use was the highlight. Kids arrive here after school every day, riding their bikes down the dusty road that connects the school with the village, bringing a contagious …

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Family, The SOLD Project, Wine Reviews,

English Classes in Thailand

The last few days have been my favorite here in Thailand. We left Chiang Mai yesterday, picked up Berkeley (my grand dog) from the kennel, and headed to Chiang Rai.

Along the way we stopped at the Chiang Rai Winery, a fascinating place off the main highway. I’ll write more about it some other time, but it was really fun to sip wines made from various fruits (no grapes in this wine). I had such low expectations, and I guess they were met, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I bought a …

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Family, The SOLD Project,

Chiang Mai

Yesterday I left Bangkok and arrived in the northern city of Chiang Mai. What a difference a few hundred miles makes! Where Bangkok is huge, noisy, often dirty, and yet stunningly beautiful in places, Chiang Mai feels like a college town. Rachel and Kevin compare it to Berkeley (though with better Thai food).

Despite the allure of the town, our first stop yesterday broke some of the charm. Chiang Mai has a large and growing prostitution industry. We went to the Volunteers for Children Development Foundation’s drop-in center for street children. These children are homeless and without families, and they …

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