Posted by CSBA President's Message on 22 DEC 2014 13:51:22
Buon Natale! I've been procrastinating since August so I apologize for not
writing sooner. Here's an update on CSBA activities.
feast day celebration this past August was a great success. With Maria Compagno
out of the country (she fills at least a table with her family and friends),
I was expecting a smaller group but we easily met and surpassed last year's
attendance. And, as the website continues to mature, more focus now is on inter-relationships.
As I pointed out at the festa, the cousinator reports that were handed out to
all members and some guests, add a unique dimension to traditional genealogy
because the focus is now on the living and how we are all interconnected. We
know we are all cousins and it's great to be able to see it spelled out in detail.
In that vein, I've added a new feature to the UGH. The CSBA now welcomes everyone
to register themselves to be included in the family charts at the UGH. The
'register yourself' page (it's in the flag icons on the main UGH page) will
allow anyone to submit some basic family information which CSBA will review
and add to the charts. In return, CSBA will give registrants a one-time Ancestor
Chart and Cousinator Report, features formerly reserved exclusively for members.
Of course, we'd prefer all our visitors to be members but giving everyone an
opportunity to participate will only make the experience more meaningful for
both members and non-members. CSBA members still can run reports and charts
at any time and can expect their cousinator reports to grow with the addition
of registered 'guests'.
actually part of a greater effort to manage email communication within the website.
The goal is to improve interaction with the CSBA and its members and guests
with a special emphasis on safeguarding email addresses and other private information.
Allowing CSBA members to contact cousins listed in their cousinator reports
is next in the queue. More details on this and other upcoming features as they
are ready to deploy.
now set for Saturday, April 11th at our usual picnic grounds in Lafreniere Park.
That's the first weekend following Easter. Please mark the date. The picnics
have always been great fun and are well-attended. It's also our best venue
for attracting families that are just rediscovering their Ustican roots and
we will make a big effort to reach out to the community by mailing postcard
invites to prospective families in the area.
recently and I see some great potential if I can ever figure it all out. If
anyone else has used the DNA testing service, www.23andme.com, look me up and
we can compare genomes. I'm intrigued by mitochondrial (female) and Y chromosome
(male) lineage because they offer the opportunity to possibly catalog what early
human populations influenced the people of Ustica. It would be neat to say
if some families were descended from Etruscan, Phoenician, Arab or Greek ancestry
but, as with all science, answers only come form lots of test results and we
just don't have that yet.
member. Rob Eutsler (famiglia Manguno) will be adding his voice to the CSBA
board. We had the best intentions at the onset of the 2009 reincorporation
to maintain a structured organization with regular turnover but reality has
a way of thwarting best intentions. CSBA, however, continues to have a solid
core of board members and each contribute in their own way. My heartfelt thanks
go out to Ken Boe, Judy Myer, Larie Tedesco, Joeva Flettrich and Chris Bertucci.
They keep things running smoothly.
keep everyone posted if any events are scheduled before the picnic.
Chris Caravella