January 2024 Edition

Culture & News

The Journey of Man

My travels have encouraged the exploration of both other cultures and my own. I am a great pizza lover and while exploring the local attractions, native cuisine, and museums–I always find pizza. Its a mandatory travel requirement! In France and Spain, you can find European versions of pizza with a light weight square crust and fresh vegetable toppings. They also have popular pizza chain places, such as Pizza Hut and Domino’s, that incorporate American and local taste influences. Our friendly neighbor Canada, has many similarities to American pizza. The pizza in Sicily was great, with its rich flavorful tomato sauce. Ghana offers a vegetarian pizza with corn as a topping. Even New York style and Chicago deep dish pizza versions have migrated from the north to the American South generations ago.

But overall the best pizza in my travels thus far was in…are you all ready to hear…Iceland! Off the southern coast, on the island of Heimaey (Vestmannaeyjar Islands, Iceland), I enjoyed the most exquisite pizza ever. The sauce, the lava of yummy cheese, the savory meat, the crispy crust. You get the point, it was awesome. I enjoyed this delicious creation with hostel friends at a local tavern where the pizza was delivered to us. To my great shame, I have forgotten the name of that pizza restaurant, but the honor of that memory lives on.

So, pizza can take on the characteristics of its locale and incorporate native ingredients to accommodate the population’s taste. Or import popular versions of pizza from abroad. It can take form as a combination of both native and foreign influences to get the type of pizza desired by a population. At the end of the day, it remains pizza.    

A bit like people, we all have our own culture, phenotype, and genotype but at the end of the day, we remain people–Homo sapiens sapiens to be specific. The diversity of our physical and cultural characteristics are the result of ancient migrations, geography, and evolutionary interactions.

                         

Dr. Spencer Wells is a graduate of Harvard University who specializes in the study of population genetics and evolution. I read his book some years ago and found the research quite interesting. The book: The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey (2002) by Dr. Spencer Wells, explores the ancient genetic migration from Africa, our ancestral Eden, to throughout the world. He is able to provide scientific evidence in a manner that encourages understanding of the material. There is also the PBS documentary film Journey of Man, which features Dr. Wells retracing our earliest ancestors migration patterns. The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey PBS Documentary (running time 1 hour 53 minutes, 2003) is available to watch free online at Top Documentary Films.com or purchase the DVD at Amazon. I was unable to find the documentary available for streaming. I enjoyed both the book and film.

I was previously aware that archaeology places our roots in Africa, but to get the genetic analysis was very insightful. Our genetics is linked to a male ancestor who lived 60,000 years ago in Africa. The following is an excerpt from the book. Dr. Spencer Wells writes (p.75):                

“So, both the Y-chromosome and the mtDNA paint a clear picture of a coastal leap from Africa to southeast Asia, and onward to Australia. Taking the genetic dates as a guide, modern humans could have made this journey around the same time as the earliest archaeological evidence pointing to human occupation in Australia.” ¹     

 

 This book excerpt highlights genetic evidence that traces our ancestral migration from Africa, to southeast Asia, to Australia and beyond. Along the way some of our ancestors stayed put and developed in that specific area, while others continued onward to even further locations across the globe. Its an amazing migration and tribute to the determination of Homo sapiens sapiens. I recommend this book to acquire a better understanding of genetic evolution and ancient ancestral migrations. Now, all that traveling has made me hungry, pizza anyone?    

  

Bibliography

(1) Wells, Spencer. The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey. (New York: Random House, 2002), p. 75.

Art/Film/Literature News

Baking Christmas

Patty is the owner of Patty Cakes, the local bakery that has been a family business for two generations. Her adult children Jennifer, Angie, and Anthony have fond memories of the bakery, but have different aspirations for their own futures. Could a little Christmas magic sway the new generation to stay in the baking business? This cute and wholesome movie: Baking Christmas (2019) starring Aloma Wright has likeable characters and a sweet storyline. A must watch!

Business/Non-Profit/Inspirational News

Book Clubs

Book clubs are a good way to share thoughts, opinions, and spark intellectual curiosity. I enjoy watching YouTubers: Livin Fearless (Alicia) and Karla Espinosa, who both participate in book clubs and offer lifestyle tips. Alicia’s book club had a fun to watch Christmas Party with lots of ideas to recreate with your own book club or at a holiday gathering. Karla hosts a virtual book club and shares her favorite books of 2023. See their videos below. Happy reading!

Book Review

Winter Street

The Quinns are a blended family that has adult children in various trials of life. In the book: Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand (256 pages, 2014, hardcover) there are issues of unrequited love in various forms, character flaws, and stress due to a family member’s military deployment to Afghanistan. All just in time for Christmas, so cue the “family circus” drama!

This book has good writing and each chapter features a different character’s POV. The ending is satisfying and a cliffhanger for the next book. My first time read of this author, but it will not be the last. A very good read!


Book Quotes:

“The only people in America who don’t take Margaret Quinn’s calls are her own family.”

“Love is always a gamble, honey.”

“They are, after all, a family of Irish heritage…, so whiskey is acceptable in any emergency.”

“Defending our country, our freedom, so people like you can go out and make millions of dollars each day.” 

News Videos (6)