A Good Education...

What constitutes a ‘good education’?  The answer to this question varies depending on your culture or your period in history.  In today’s American schools we believe that, in a democracy, all young people deserve a full well-rounded education.  The American education system is based on gender and social equity.  

American High School - California

We believe that our students need not only to acquire a sufficient knowledge base but also to be prepared as solid critical thinkers. We believe that students come to our classes with a great deal of previous knowledge, opinions, and ideas about the way things should be (some of it true, some of it false). 

Student physics project: Given these materials can you design a 'car' that will travel 40 ft.  (two mouse traps for power)

The 32 students in my class are not empty vessels waiting to be filled with knowledge – but in-process learners at different points in their learning, They come with different learning needs.  We recognize that humans pass through a series of stages by which we become able to deal with abstract ideas...Designing lessons beyond the students developmental level are doomed to failure.  We believe that our students need to be able to learn to problem solve working together with others.  In the business and technical world of today, product development, sales strategies, new research... all involve team collaboration and cooperation. 

Classroom designed in the pair share format - many opportunities for collaboration 

Much of our modern approach is based on the post enlightenment doctrine that truth is developed through open investigation.  We ask questions – we collect information – form tentative working conclusions – test these hypotheses – and either prove or disprove the ideas. Ultimately if you can't disprove an idea it becomes a theory... In science all theories are under constant scrutiny for review as new evidence is developed. 

Students engaged in problem solving activities
While they are arranged in grips, in this assignment each person is producing his own her own conclusions and explanations,

Prior to the enlightenment (~1600) and in some cultures today “wisdom” is the recorded ideas of the ancients ... the cultural wisdom passed on to today.  It was not considered suitable to question these beliefs but to learn them exactly so that it can be transmitted intact to future generations.  So our schools today, generally follow the post enlightenment model of encouraging questioning and evaluation of ideas, challenging old dictums that no longer fit our life and time.  But the issue of unquestioned adherence to dogma still persists in some communities.

Socrates taught by questioning - asking his students to defend their views - that can be very hard work for the students,  Socratic Questioning is an effective tool frequently used in todays classroom - but often to assist the student in organization of their thoughts into a final conclusion.

It is told that when Socrates was a young man he wanted to learn to be wise – so he set about visiting the wise men of Athens...only to discover, one by one, that they were not really wise – they only thought that they were.  As a result of this experience he determined that being truly wise was living a life in which you were continually open to new learning, the truly wise person does not expound “knowledge” but asks questions and encourages others to be open to new understanding. When he taught his students, he taught by questioning, He taught them to question... For this he was executed for corrupting the morals of the youth.
  
Teaching ultimately is a political act.

 
The British system exported to Tanzania

The classic British system of “public schools” (which are really private schools) valued the teaching of traditional culture – learning Latin as the language of the Roman philosophers.  Passing on to the new generations the collective knowledge of significant things that have been said and done in the past.  The way forward is to know what history can teach us. 

Education in a British 'Public School'

This system has now been modified to include science, mathematics, modern languages, etc.  The British syllabus instruction system includes a carefully laid out sequence of learning and activities that must be followed exactly by all classrooms.  The model has been borrowed and applied in other parts of the world attempting to improve their educational systems by emulating the British plan.

 
These young students in Tanzania will take 'milestone' exams at key points in their education to determine which educational path they may follow

Many European and Asian school systems have critical examinations that determine if a student will continue in a college track direction, enter training for a trade or a craft, or will end up in the service industry.  The advocates for this plan hold the position that due to preferences, learning style, family tradition ... not all students need a full college education.  In America we generally feel that such tests can unfairly target certain learning, social, or minority groups and prevent them from achieving what they are able to accomplish.

These young women in Kyrgystgan did not have the option of education - but at an early age went to work in a rug making mill

China and India today, with their large populations, has a relatively small number of highest position jobs awaiting graduates – so the competition in school is intense.  In many Chinese schools the school day goes from 7 AM to 7 PM, with a break for lunch...in addition there is required homework after school/ The instruction is very proscribed and tests serve as intense filters to determine what knowledge has been acquired.  The system does not emphasize group work or development of creative thinking as part of the lesson.  Teachers are strict and failure to turn in homework is both disrespectful to the teacher, but viewed in a very negative light by peers.

 
An effective American teacher balances effective class management with well crafted daily lesson plans that both build skills, develop conceptual and factual knowledge and provide feedback to all students about their progress.  Its a tough job but rewarding!

Now I have some questions for you:  What part of your education process most influenced you:  Was it fact memorization? Learning open strategies for “thinking outside the box", group work activities, Laboratory investigations, on the job training once you were out of school?, a wise person who served as an example to you?  I wish I could sit down with each of you and engage in some Socratic Dialogue... I would love to hear your answers...

ABCs in the Achuar Language - Eastern Rainforest of Ecuador

Rainforest School

The 'right' side of the country

On the road again – but this just a brief jaunt in the East Coast…( no photos this week -sorry... )

(earlier)  Check lists, house sitter in place, dog instructions posted, rides arranged, bags packed…. Checked off, Checked off, Checked off….

Tuesday AM - The alarm sounded its cheery greeting at 3:30 AM – its kind of shocking to see empty freeways… Our neighbor – a college student – drove us to SFO.

In the airport I love the phenomenon of 4-minute communities – waiting in line for coffee we start talking – sharing pieces off our lives… They seem like really nice people – people that I would like to know better… but when we line more forward we separate never to meet again.  I love the meeting and sharing –not the separation

(later) When I look out the airplane window I see snow covered Sierra mountain peaks and valleys – The pilot says we are flying at 33,000 ft. … Well into the stratosphere above air turbulence. 

(later) Below are the geometric squares of Midwest farm fields. One hour to go until Chicago…Patches of snow are visible.

(later) We are startIng the descent into Chicago…After hour an hour in a holding pattern we have permission to land through the dense low clouds.

(later) Chicago airport – thanksgiving crunch has definitely arrived… every seat filled – flight late…  Most notably people here do not dress like San Francisco – people are dressed in heavy coats and wooly caps – thick wintry sweaters…  The sky outside is heavily overcast and it looks cold.  People are wearing more dark colored clothing than I would see in California.

(later)  Landing at Dulles airport in N. Virginia ( near Washington DC ).  The US is strangely uniform in its cultural life for such a large country – but there are differences in dialects, predominant ethnic minorities, names for thing… We quickly find our across town shared-ride shuttle-van that will take us to our destination in Falls Church. 

(later)  Oh my goodness!  The infamous Washington DC going home traffic is close to gridlock!  We sit in our van and watch the cold rain fall around us…The van driver is calm and careful – He is from Guana (W. Africa) .  All the red tail lights reflecting from the wet streets are quite beautiful

The van drops us at the front door of our son and daughter in laws home.  Their house is warm and a good meal is soon served.  So much news and good stories to catch up....A time for hugs and laughter.

Wednesday – Low-key day…Novel experience for a California boy like me ( after all these years I have become one ) to walk down a  suburban street with tall wintery Oaks and Maples towering overhead – bare twigs in the morning sky.  Ice crystals too large to call ‘snow’ are falling.  There is a cold wind blowing that makes my eyes water… After poking around for an hour I am ready to return to a warm room!  Schools have a half day of work today – so we stuck close to home until our son and daughter in law were free…

Thursday – oh the smell and sights of Thanksgiving! – the Turkey cooking in the oven… I cut the apples and my wife Judy made one of her absolutely delicious pies.  Of course all the other traditional dishes also made their appearance. Few things in America are more sectarian than choosing the form of cranberries to be served– To keep peace in the family when we cook at home we have raw cranberries/raw orange, stewed cranberry sauce, canned cranberries!

And the left overs - just as good as the first time around!

DO YOU DARE?!!

When I was a kid there was a person in the neighborhood so superstitious that if a black cat crossed his path he would change his route to avoid the cat.  If that wasn’t possible he would return home.

Native Americans in parts of Northern California thought of certain trees, rocks, or valleys as good places to visit – but other locations were to avoid.  It was OK to pick acorns from 'these' trees but not 'those'.  This rock is a good place to have acorn grinding pestles and 'over there' not.

Previous 'Indian country'

Hawaiian raditional belief tells that if you see an old woman hitchhiking you had better pick her up because she might be Madam Pele the Goddess of Volcanoes; who sometimes came in the form of an old woman to check up on her people and see if they were showing proper compassion to each other.  To be really safe you can throw an occasional  bottle of gin into the volcanic caldera...as an offering to insure Pele’s good will.   Better than a human sacrifice I suppose.

Kilauea Crater - Hawaii

If  you are a poor campasino (farmer) in the Mountains of Southern Mexico and your goat suddenly had no milk one morning - it was a sure sign that the Chupacabras ( goat suckers ) had come in the night... Belief in Chupacabras continues to this day

"See a Chupacabra"

All of these are “cause and effect” thinking... “if I do this... this is likely to happen...” Used correctly this is the basis of scientific thinking...”If I add nitrogen fertilizer to my potato patch I will get bigger healthier plants. “   “If I eat fast food frequently – I will gain weight.”  “I can neutralize strong Sodium Hydroxide with an equally strong Hydrochloric Acid.”

Acid/Base Neutralization

But even us modern folks are subject to illogical cause and effect thinking... our secret superstitions.  Some one told me that he had a job offer but he didn’t want to tell me about it for fear that he would ‘jinx it’.  How many people have a lucky cap, lucky shirt, lucky shoes that they wear to every foot ball/base ball/soccer match?  Players are even worse with their secret fetishes.  Some of us always enter through one door in our office building and not another.  A lot of us have secret little ways that we do things ... not sure just why, but we feel safer doing it that way.

Yikes - Friday the 13th!!  I had better be careful!

I found a shop in Oakland that sells potions or special candles to attract good luck, love potions, dispel anger, revenge potions, remove a jinx, attract money into your life...you name it and they have a potion for it. 

I heard recently about the forest people who have lived for untold generations in the rain forest of Peru and Ecuador... They have the belief that all things in the universe are corrected.  The goal of their life is to seek to live with tranquility.  They feel that if they get upset or violent, the action will result in changes within their universe – perhaps a wind storm, earthquake, bus accident, etc.  And the way to prevent these thinks is to live with a peaceful heart.

The tranquil universe

Pre scientific people often are found to have cause and affect belief systems limiting with a strong sense of what is safe, dangerous, clean, unclean, things to do, things to avoid.  There is sometimes a rational reason why certain restrictions were imposed – but more often not...or if there ever was a reason it has been forgotten.

Compulsive people carry cause and effect thinking to a pathological level... I knew someone how had to count things – had to count birds in a tree, cars, people waiting for a light...I don’t know what terrible thing he thought would happen if this counting wasn’t done...but he did it every time. Compulsions don’t make the person feel ‘happy’ they just reduce the anxiety with which they live.

Acorn grinding hole- Garin Park... 

But most of us post-Enlightenment-rational humans living in a pro-scientific society still have secret cause and effect beliefs that not exactly reasonable.  Most of us don’t want others to even know about these secrets we hold to ourselves.  I’m not suggesting that you find your irrationalities and root them out as inappropriate – just – when you see them, recognize them, smile, and say...”This is part of who I am.” There is something friendly and freeing in just accepting that we are not totally rational in all our understanding of how we see the world.

I suspect that cause and effect thinking is found in all humans, regardless of culture or period...some more than others.  Some of our patterns begin when we are vulnerable children –and some are taught us as part of our acculturation. Regardless of later training, vestiges of magical thinking remain in our lives. It may not feel “quite safe” to give up something that has apparently worked for us in the past.

My old friends

I ran across some old friends this week.  I was visiting in the classroom of a student teacher and she had students doing a pond water assessment to determine the life forms there.  I have fond memories of my explorations with the microscope in my Biology classroom and I want to share some of my favorite organisms with you.

 In the spring every mudpuddle and ditch with standing water will develop its population of microorganims, and with the coming of hot dry weather the water dries up and with it the “critters” that lived there also dry out...  Many orgnisms have built in genetic instructions to form a protective shell, a cyst, as their last act before drying up.  This is like a space capsule – it carried a living organism through the inhospitable dry summer conditions.

The soil at the bottom of the small pond turns into dust which is blown around. Among the dust particles are the cysts.

Dry grass growing along the road will receive a portion of the dust during the long hot summer.  If a handful of this grass is placed in a beaker of water, the cysts will reemerge – some right away and some take longer.  In nature this occurs with the first rain.

Before the age of modern science it was believed that organisms could form from the soil alone... this was called Spontaneous Generation - now it has been proven that all life comes from previous life,,,

Return to your days of studying biology  and see how many of these you recall...

The popular amoeba – one advanced cell with many of the standard cell parts ( cell organelles).  Flows into one arm at a time – slow transport but it works.

Amoeba can pinch off into two distinct organisms

Flagellates have one or a few long whip like structures which provide an improved system of mobility. Human male sperm also have visible flagella.

These are photosynthetic - and so they use their flagella to move into light.

Ciliates-The outer part of the body has many short hair like cilia – some beat in rhythmic waves...  these guys really zip around in the microscope.

Our old friend the Paramecium cilia occur over the entire cell - but they are only visible here at the upper end.

Another view of paramecium with enhanced micro imaging and with a dye strain

Ciliates come in many forms – here the cilia are concentrated around the ‘mouth’ of the cell

Note the cilia around the mouth opening can draw a stream of water with food into the gullet.

Some microorganism have animal like qualities and must catch and eat food

My absolute favorites! Vorticellas... they not only have cilia around their 'mouth' - then when they catch food their 'stalk' has a spring like quality that can pulls them down

...others are plant like - and can capture sunlight and make all their own food

Photosynthetic one celled protozoa

And some are not equipped for photosynthesis - they are predators 

 Some Microorganisms are multicellular – but still incredibly small. 

Volvox - is like a hollow soccer  ball made up of many photosynthetic cells - the cells all have flagella on the outside which allows the volvox to move into the light

What is going on here!?

I turn on my computer first thing in the morning and read messages that come to me from different parts of the world, I read the news (with instantaneous updates), check up on my Facebook “friends”,  make new links with “Linked-in”associates.  What enables me to do all this? – I am using a device that I absolutely do not understand at all.  I know it is all about transistors, The Cloud, modems, cables and networks...  I joke that the Google search-engine has become an extension of my own brain.  I know it works – I know how to make it function  –  I even know how to correct certain problems... But I have no hint of a foggy what the thing is doing.  Does it strike you as strange that we live an increasing part of our life in a virtual world of instant connections?  I like it, I depend  on it, I use it for meaningful work, communication, and entertainment....But I feel that my computer and I have a strange relationship. What is going on here!? 

Early technology - prop driven DC-6

Then I started thinking about all the other technology in my life – Mind you I love it all – I love the comfort and convenience that it brings to me.  We have two cars (one isn’t enough) to whisk us where we want to go – and all I have to do is to keep my car happy is to provide it with gasoline, periodic checkups, and air in the tires.  I happily go down the road without a thought of how the chemical potential energy of the gasoline is converted into the kinetic energy that takes me where I want to go.  It is however strange that I have such little idea of how catalytic converters, piston compression ratios, and differential gear systems operate and how they interrelate...and also strange that I accept my car without thinking of the these things.   I just go on in blind ignorance listening to my music and news as I drive down the road.

Cars in BayArea Traffic...

When television replaced radio as the leading home entertainment that was big – Imagine being able to see something like a movie come into your own home!  Then color was added to the image, then you could watch movies on tape, then on disc, then cable TV brought us more dependable signals and a greater range in programming to be seen on their large wall mounted flat screen TVs.  Some people selected satellite “dishes” to receive their programming... Now program selection has  expanded to specialty programs like TIVO. And is this to watch high value education learning opportunities? – No a surprising number of people use this high technology to watch innocuous situation comedies – with canned laugh tracks!  Do I understand even 1/1000 of this vast system that brings me such clarity and such choices... No not in the least

Some of the highest technology we had on our farm

I could go on and on...

Our vast urban infrastruce of gas, electricity, and water... its there when we need it – that’s enough.

Simple things like digital telephone systems, digital cameras, electronic copy machines, Global Positioning units have replaced maps and they even talk to me...

Dont even get me started on the medical, pharmacological network that keeps us healthy!

... and I'm scared to even mention the world financial system -

Off in the distance, from our farm,  we could see the Union Pacific trains go by - 

I grew up in a much simpler world – our farm in NE Kansas was in tune with the slow predictable cycle of the seasons.  Each season has its own beauty and challenges.  Tasks that needed to be done were tangable... the planting, harvesting, care of animals, milking, eggs to gather, maintenance of equipment and the farm buildings.  
On the other hand - Medical care was provided by a country doctor with no antibiotics and limited resources.  Seaonally there were storms, mud, snow drifts, mosquitos, vast amounts of seasonal work...
But there was time for quiet talking with friends and neighbors. Time to offer support or to share a funny story...
Still the smells of the earth, the birds of the air, the towering Kansas clouds were omnipresent.

The earth and its beauty

    

Am I reminiscing to return to a past that no longer exists.  No,  I like my technological world but I am immensely pleased that I had the living experiences of knowing another world too.  This may be a reason why I enjoy trips into nature – to my mountains and quiet seashore – a time and place to remind me that another world still exists. I feel it when we visit  in the rural areas of the developing world - places not as  technologically dependent as the Bay Area.

Village Blacksmith in Tanzania -early technology

I happily accept each computer update that comes my way - and am lured into buying ever new and better technology as it is developed... But part of me asks - what is this doing to me as a person?  Am I becoming more human or less?

Zoltan Kodaly, the Hungarian composer,  said in 1966: "Our age of mechanization leads along a road ending with man himself as a machine. Only the spirit of singing can save us from this fate."  What can I do, what can we do to affirm our humanity?   Will Homo Sapiens reconnect with our basic humanity or will we become more like the machines we love? 

A small part of our vast interrelated global transport system : Oakland CA

The marvelous, the curious, and the mundane

The Marvelous

My own blood related relative live in the Midwest – so I only stay in touch by phone and email, and an occasional visit.  When I am with them, I feel connected with my roots.

The Laverne Zlatnik branch of the Zlatnik family - NE Kansas

But I am fortunate to be grafted into my wife’s extended family– many of whom live in the Bay Area… It is a wonderful family – diverse ethnically, racially, and beliefs… despite our differences we like each other a lot!  This last weekend was one of those glorious times to come together for the marriage of a niece… It was a time of sharing, a lot of laughter and hugs. Our joy was a tempered a bit by the memory of one brave family member who died recently. Maybe that just intensified our sense of connection together.

A few of the Flory family and friends ( bride and groom to back left)

In addition the marriage party was made up of relatives of the groom that had come from the East Coast, Bay Area professional friends of our niece, long time Bay Area friends, and a great many family, some who had travelled great distances.  The ceremony was heartfelt, we shared gourmet food and drink, and many danced late into the night.  My best good wishes to Tracy and Christopher!  I know I left the wedding with a warm glow.

4 of the 5 Flory "kids"

The curious 

My friends the crows are so smart! This is the season when black walnuts are ripe and falling from the trees.  We live at the end of a cul de sac, and there is a telephone line that crosses high above the road.

Crow in a Liquid Amber tree

Crows perch on the line and drop walnuts to the street below… then they repeat the process… Sometimes the nut hits just right and breaks but usually not.  Dropping them in the street causes many of them to be crushed by cars that come and go.  Crows are smart – but I doubt they “see” this as a method for getting the walnut meat… but they come in numbers and do this everyday during the walnut season.

Crow on a fence post

The mundane

Few things in this world are more sectarian than how people prepare their oatmeal.  I know people who would not consider anything but instant oatmeal… preferably with artificial fruit flavoring added. (Yuck!)

Instant Oatmeal

 Even old-fashioned oatmeal is controversial.  My formula is cup of water brought to boil, add a cup of oatmeal, boil hard until no visible water remains, and the key to perfect oatmeal is to scratch the bottom the of pan, and when the bottom layer looks toasted, take it off the heat and put a lid on to steam for a couple of minutes so that it will not stick to the pan. A few additives are nice too.

Good oatmeal should be flaky like well cooked rice - add milk, sweetener, fruit, and nuts!

 My wife prefers it more creamy, my sister prefers to add oatmeal to boiling water and immediately take it off the heat and let it sit.

Really good flavor - texture more like whole grain than flakes - but takes a lot of time!

Then there are the real oatmeal fans that only go for Scottish style Oatmeal that requires an hour of cooking –((The oats are broken pieces not crushed flakes).   I think this is a case when tolerance and mutual respect for our differences is called for…

The frustration

Adventures come in all flavors – and this week I had a computer adventure.  I am a confirmed Mac user… One reason I love my Mac is the frequent surprise upgrades that appear on my desktop… It’s like a present each time!  This week saw that I had a major new operating system available and only a click away…  My iMac is now a few years old and no longer under warranty – but I still receive the free upgrades… However in this case it removed my old operating system and got hung up before the new one could be installed… I was in limbo…

This is about the way I was feeling when I found that my computer was inoperative

With Mac – no problem – there is a friendly 1-800 number to call for on line support.  After a 2-minute wait I was connected with an amazing guy – who listened well to my problem and could visualize what I needed to do to fix it.  He told me to download a much earlier operating system that I had on a disc – then progress through all the on line upgrades through to the most current…  Then he directed me into the 4 hour-long download of information on my back up memory drive.

The Mac guy walked me through the "surgery" step by step - and it worked!

 Finally I was told to reinstall all my application files. He advised me not to transfer from the memory drive for fear of reintroducing any mischief files.  So now after many hours of challenging work I feel that I have a brand new computer – its leaner and faster – and I’m delighted!

Spectrum: Organic Food the Natural way

Spectrum: Organic Food the Natural way

The case of the missing family

When I was a child the mystery of our missing family often came up in family gatherings.  My grandparents, both born and raised in Central Bohemia (today part of the Czech Republic), took advantage of free land offered in the Volyn valley of what today is the W. Ukraine. (then it was part of the Austro Hungarian empire).

2 photos - which is which? One is NE Kansas the other is in the western Ukraine - same landscape - same climate 

So many Czech farmers were immigrating to the US that there was a strong needs to induce them to remain in the empire – so the mostly empty eastern lands were offered as free land.  Several of my grandmother’s brothers and sisters also moved to the new farmland, where a sizable Czech enclave had formed.  Still, the life there was difficult and the lure of America was so great that my Grandparents sold their land and bought steamship passage to the New World.

Village in Ukraine - You have to look twice to see that it isn't Delia!

They settled in Delia Kansas, in a community with other Bohemians, Slovaks, and Moravians that spoke the same Czech language and had similar cultural ways.  Here too life was difficult but they persevered and developed a good life.  (This is where my sister and I grew up too.)

The new world!

Modern farming practices were more efficient than traditional methods

Many letters traveled across the sea from the Boratin Ukraine village and Delia...and the letters serve as a great record of key events in the lives of the European family... that family also appeared to become relatively prosperous, they travelled widely, and some engaged in other businesses besides farming.  The family survived the First World War and the fall of the Austro Hungarian Empire with little change in their life style.

Two rammed - earth houses - one in the W. Ukraine and one in Delia..

Houses were built in the same style that was know in Europe - Thick rammed earth walls were effective in cold winters,

Their village had been part of Poland under the Austro-Hungarians but now with them gone, it was included in the Ukraine.  More Russians moved into their area, bringing different social dynamics and different tensions.  The Zlatnik/Sadek*  families were active in the Reformed Church – a minority Protestant denomination, which made them even more of a minority in a region divided by Roman Catholics and Russian Orthodox communities.

*Sadek: My grandmothers family name.

The founder of the Czech reformed tradition, Jan Hus predated Martin Luther to his opposition to the excesses of the church in his day

The last letter that we have from my Grandmother’s sister carries the message – “Hitler’s army is moving toward our village and we are not sure when we can write again.” Then since the early days of the Second World War nothing – no word from any of the European family – either my grandmother’s or grandfather's families (both extensive).

Village refugees attempting to escape the fighting in Western Ukraine - WW II

When there is a Zlatnik family gathering there are conjectures and questions raised – but nothing.

Now thanks to the miracle of the computer and English, and used 'Google Translate' to translate it into Czech (Google translations are far from perfect – and sometimes hard to make out).  This I sent to a number of European Zlatniks and Sadeks  that I found on Facebook... Indirectly we have made contact with a woman living in the same region of Bohemia that my family is from – she knows the history of all the same people we know, and actually has photos of some of the same people.   She is the granddaughter of my grandmother’s sister...which would make us some kind of cousins... (If you know genealogy please tell me the name for our relationship).  It is so exciting to have made this contact!  She is the first verified family contact since the early 1940’s!  Plus she tells me that there is another relative living in Chicago... I am attempting to contact him...

Still there are mysteries to resolve:

1... What happened to the Boratin (Ukraine) Czech community?  Did they fall victim to Hitler’s invasion?... Did they survive the forced starvations under Stalin? ...Were they able to immigrate out of the Ukraine either into Russia or into the Czech regions?    I even found that when the Russians recaptured the area from the Germans that  approximately 7,000 of the regions inhabitants were deported in cattle trucks to Kazakhstan and 1,550 were arrested by the NKVD.  So many questions – so little information...

2.  And what about the Zlatnik side of the family – there are no records.  They were hard working wheat farmers and they left very little paper trail.  I have my grandparent’s marriage license, their birth certificates, passports, and a copy of a document showing that they entered the US through Ellis Island.   I have even searched for them on the genealogical website Ancestry.com... but nothing there. 

So you may be asking.”So what!?”   ...  “Why are you even concerned about something that is so difficult to know?”...  Good questions...

I can only say it is a question that haunts us elder Zlatniks –It’s like a puzzle that will not leave us alone...  It is part of my growing up...part of me.

It is my hope that one fine day I will be able to visit my Czech family in Bohemia and sit down with them to Coffee (or maybe "Pivo") and Kolache.  We will tell each other funny stories and laugh together!