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Medium AlternateDHughes2016-12-10T00:40:36-05:00

1911, 2012

Is Petraeus the exception or the rule–and what’s the rule?

By DHughes|2016-12-10T00:41:08-05:00November 19th, 2012|Categories: politics, social|Tags: affairs, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Clinton, Broadwell, Freud, Gary Hart, JFK, Petraeus, sex, Tiger Woods|0 Comments

David Petraeus and Paula Broadwell: Holding hands in public is quite common, even between secret lovers, and deserves nothing more than a "So what?" (reuters) Why did his Read more...

2910, 2012

Oh Canada, oh no! Is Harper selling out to China?

By DHughes|2016-12-10T00:41:08-05:00October 29th, 2012|Categories: business, politics, social|Tags: China, Clayton Ruby, democracy, foreign trade, forest ethcis, Mitt Romney, Prime Minister Harper|0 Comments

Prime Minister Harper toasts the selling out to China. All part of the race to beat Americans to the big China pie. (photo: forestethics.com) Sign this petition BEFORE Read more...

409, 2012

Luxury to die for – and in!

By DHughes|2016-12-10T00:41:11-05:00September 4th, 2012|Categories: business, social|Tags: Apple, Audi, BMW, Insurance Institute for Safety, luxury brands, Mercedes, Volvo|0 Comments

Just when you thought it was safe to slip back into that ego-soothing leather MercedesCclass - all that money, so little safety. See that 3 pointed star, you may Read more...

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My personal history is the stuff they write books about. And that's what I am doing. The working title, "Chains of My Father: Marry White."

"The ghostly image of the tragic mulatto trapped between two worlds." - Barack Obama

This perspicacious line from the Prologue of Barack Obama's "Dream from My Father" wrenched my aspiration into action. I started writing, furiously. Unlike Obama's perspective, my pain had been for the opposite reason: I was not seen by whites as a "tragic mulatto," rather I lived every day of my childhood hoping whites were not "searching my eyes for some telltale sign" that I WAS mulatto. This is my story.

It's historical fiction because I cannot find enough records to substantiate all facets of the story. I've combed the genealogy, traveled to my father and grandmothers' birthplace, walked the graveyards, searched the churches and ... well, all the facts aren't there. I have written three books based on the genealogy of other families but my ancestors emerged from a journey that left too few records – slavery.

My paternal, great grandmother was a "freed slave." My grandmother, Amelia, was born to a mixed race slave named Mary (we do not know her last name) and a white, French plantation owner, the Count de Poullain, in Grenada, West Indies. Amelia was raised in the "Big House" and in adulthood, in an attempt to escape her black heritage disowned her mother, telling her, "Get out and never come back." Amelia, as a mother of twelve children, enshrined into the family commandments, "Marry white." Many did, including my father. My mother was a lovely, white, Anglo-Saxon protestant born in England. They met in Canada where my dad studied and became a doctor.

It has taken five generations for the descendants of Mary to free themselves from the stigma of their black heritage but today my children embrace it. Unfortunately, the past 250 years have been a wasteland of bigotry, racism and bullying. But, on closer look, we see not only the brutality, fear, violence, and murder but also the self-respect, dignity, love, kindness, perseverance and indomitable spirit.

As of the spring of 2025, the depth of historic perspective and the sweeping inspiration of oppressed people has created a two-volume duology of which I have only arrived at the middle of the 19th century. 1840 is the year my great grandfather was born, the beginning of Volume II, and he's pushing me to make sure our story is published by the summer of 2026.

Is Petraeus the exception or the rule–and what’s the rule?

Oh Canada, oh no! Is Harper selling out to China?

“Oh Mother of Mary” … did Jesus really have a wife?

Luxury to die for – and in!

Marathon and serial liars – a.k.a. politicians

Eat your way to more and better sex