Official Notification of the End of the Recession!

Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle, gives you permission to Emigrate.  To exchange anxiety for action and fear for Family History.

Official Notification of The End of The Recession.
Maybe you’ve heard about the recession.  About “tough times.”

We have short memories.  Remember Gerald Ford’s “WIN” buttons?  Whip Inflation Now.  That’s when we had 12-15% inflation.  Or Jimmy Carter’s double-digit interest rates on home mortgages or capital equipment for business–which started at 11% and went all the way to 21% for some loans?  Or gas lines with cars lined up waiting for a pump over 2 hours at a time?

By sane comparison, today’s are not “tough times.”

Media-driven Recession

A decade or so ago, we had NBC, ABC, and CBS.  You watched the evening news and perhaps the late night news before the television turned off at midnight.  OFF.  Now we have CNN, HLN (formerly CNN NEWS), MSNBC, CNBC, FOX NETWORK with local and Live Desk programming, NBC Nightly News, NBC, ABC, CBS, and various “news magazines” like 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II, Dateline and Nightline, news for women in the daytime, and news for men at drive-time, and Disney news all day between shows for children and teens.  24/7

Hours and hours and hours of news programming that must be filled up with something around the clock:  Recessionitis.  Crisisitis.  BIG GIGANTIC crises 24/7.  A seemingly endless parade of pundits and talking heads who speculate and theorize and interview government personnel and each other–embellishing, expanding, grinding, hyping the “tough times.”

Don’t buy into this ridiculous media-hype that these are “tough times.”  None of this merry-go-round will get you a job nor pay your bills.  Let alone identify your ancestors.

So I’m writing to tell you, OFFICIALLY, that the so-called recession is over.  Opportunities to trace your family history abound. Emigrate from your fears and anxiety.  Put them behind you. And bring your pedigrees and family groups and your family traditions with you.

What does recessionitis have to do with your genealogy?

Your ancestors left the comfort of home and hearth to emigrate to a new land.  New opportunities.  New profits.  At all times during the history of our country, ancestors exchanged Recessionitis and Crisisitis for a new world.  And prepared the way for you to benefit from their risks as well–although they may not have had you precisely in their sights as they left.

Did you know…?

Did you know that genealogy activity at libraries and archives around the country is at a new low?  I spent a full day at the New York State Archives where I was one of only three patrons on the whole, newly (and beautifully) remodeled 7th Floor.  I had four staff librarians at my own disposal.  Gave me a tour of the new digs.The last time I spent a day there, I had to stand in line at the self-serve copiers for over 30 minutes to make a copy!

When I parked my rental car, I could take my pick of open stalls in the mall parking lot.  Before, I drove around and around to find someone leaving so I could take their space.

As I ate my sandwich at lunch time, I was the only one at the tables (although two families with children were ordering food).  Before, I stood near the window while I ate my lunch as all the seats were filled.

Just at the time when states have enlarged their capacity to handle genealogy crowds, those crowds have dwindled to a few daring souls.  Just as they have completed their new buildings and newly renovated floors, no one comes.  BIG MISTAKE.  Hungry government departments may appropriate this space that we all cried for.  Your ancestors will weep.

So I’m writing to tell you, OFFICIALLY, that the recession is over.  Emigrate, just as your ancestors did from intolerable conditions, to the new facilities and new tech equipment your tax dollars and mine have paid for!  All over this country, in small towns and big cities, are libraries and archives preserving your ancestral treasures and beckoning you to come.

I admit freely that I love not having to stand in line.  Not having to hunt for parking.  Not having to wait for lunch.  That enables me to collect data faster and more efficiently for my research clients–working on three or four projects rather than one or two in the same amount of time.

But, common on…what about all the ancestors that no one (yet) has paid me to find?

Let me remind you of genealogy’s hidden pay-off: When you give your children and grandchildren ancestors.  When your family members, especially the younger ones, have a genealogy sprinkled here and there with ancestors they can be proud of.  When they know they belong–your posterity will be less likely to cheat on school exams, experiment with sex before their time, find themselves arrested for petty crimes leading to serious trouble, and take drugs.

Did you know that all it takes is one child, genetic or adoptive–just one–to make you an ancestor.  Don’t forget your posterity!  Get back to work on your ancestors.  Your favorite genealogist, Arlene Eakle   http://arleneeakle.com

PS  And I invite you to follow me on Twitter and check in regularly on Facebook. Convenient Links are on my Home Page.There will be research tips there that no one else knows, but me, and YOU if you check.  My “What If…” series of tips will begin to appear 1 September 2009.  Stay tuned.

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