On freedom

I think I've mentioned before that I do Czech genealogy. Last night I was looking at the seigniorial records of the estate of Lnare, on which estate my family were serfs. Serfdom in England may have been a medieval thing, but In the Austrian empire, it didn't end until 1848. That feels very recent to me, especially as I have a great-grandfather who was born before that time. Yes, my family shows up in those seigniorial records. They lived in the country (my grandfather was christened in the church above), they didn't travel, and the isolation of their position is reflected in their names. You could be Jan or Waczlaw, or you could be Katerzina or Anna. But always, in every birth record, is the phrase "oba poddanych"--both serfs.

The other half of my Czechs (my grandparents met in NY but came from different parts of Bohemia) came from a village on the way to Prague. You could tell they were more cosmopolitan, more international, more aware of the world around them from their names. Yes, Waczlaw and Katerzina are there. But so are Martha Klara, Ignatius, Sebastian, and Appolonia. (Seriously hot name in German lands in the 1700s, that Appolonia!) What makes the distinction all the clearer, however, is the prevalence of this surname: SVOBODA. It means freedom. Over and over in the records, my grandmother's people are specifically listed "libertin." Freemen (and women). Freedom is not something to be forgotten or taken lightly.

A few years ago, my family visited Vienna, the capital of the Austrian empire. I had been to my grandfather's village and seen the fields his family worked in and the ponds they fished in. But I didn't really get the crushing reality of power until in Vienna. Because I could feel it then--"We are the Empire," it said. "We used to own your soul. We still remember." I had to remind myself that I, Rose Green, am free. Nobody owns my soul. And I could walk out of there any time I wanted to.

I wonder if that's how modern Americans feel who visit plantations where their family were once slaves?

Whether our families are serfs/slaves or not, we all inherit a mix of free and not-free circumstances. Poverty, ignorance, racism, dysfunctional relationships--those are forms of bondage. But we also carry the seeds of freedom in us. We can change. Generations of my family were serfs. But I am not. The Empire is large. It is powerful. But no matter how small it looks in comparison, freedom--SVOBODA--is stronger.

Where I find my mind

I seriously have to go into nature every so often or I will lose my mind. In the winter, every time the road isn't iced over, I drive to the highest hill (where I can see Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana). When it's not winter, I try to get out of the volcano wastelands and/or town and go to the real mountains. Then I can breathe again. Well, the past couple days we've had sick kids and have been just SITTING in the house all day long. This afternoon I could. not. handle. it. ANYMORE--so once the kids got home from school, we took off for the nearest mountain/nature area, Mesa Falls. Okay, so it took a bit to get there. And we had to pay a fee to park. But it was still beautiful, and it SMELLED SO GOOD.



The falls are lovely--but I wanted to shout at the college students who had climbed outside the barrier and were walking along the cliff to get a better view. PEOPLE! Don't you know that this is how you make national park/national forest headlines?! There is no cell phone coverage there, either. Who do you think is going to rescue you?

We also made it in time to see the inside of the visitors' center. For some reason we always go there only after it's closed for the season. It was interesting inside--a combination gift shop and museum. They had all these animal pelts laid out so you could touch them and see what different animal fur is like. A wolf's fur is really thick!! And a fox is very soft. A mule deer is kind of bristly, which I didn't expect. They had porcupine and a black bear and a buffalo skin (very warm and thick--I see why the Ingalls family had one on the wagon when they were out driving in -40 weather!) and also some long, skinny, furry animals that I couldn't identify. There was a badger as well. We saw a pair of ravens (live)  on the way out.



Since snakes live around here as well as mountain lions, and since we live near a school where you have to drive very far up north to get to, I'm convinced we must live in Hogsmeade. :)

A few more pictures from the upper and lower falls: