"No Moors."

When I was in my teens, my mother's paternal aunt Gladys researched the Conant family tree (my mother's maiden name is Conant) and discovered, among other things, that my mom's father's grandmother's maiden name was Marquez, and that she hailed from Anton Chico, New Mexico. Her family, Gladys assured us all, could trace its roots directly to Spain in the 1500s, with a land-grant from the King. She was, in other words, royalty. "She was from the Northern part of Spain," I often heard my grandmother (who married into the Conant family) say, following up with "they're blonde-headed up that way."

"Erasing the Mexicans," Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez.

This is almost exactly how my own grandmother describes my father's family, except that she's a bit more explicit. In describing Northern Spain to ojouchan in the same genealogical context, she said calrified it by adding, "No Moors."

Valdez-Rodriguez's story is about how the "Anglo" side of her New Mexico family erased the family's ties to Mexico. My own family has always been fiercely proud of its Mexicanity, but the same kind of erasing/omission goes on for our non-white ancestors. This article has made me more curious about looking over my own grandmother's work more closely to pry out more about the "very little intermarrying" that was going on.

---

A review of our shopping adventures has revealed that we've spent more than we hoped, so we're going to try to finish everything off today, as quickly as possible. Used-book store ahoy!

The Prize that Keeps on Prizing.

On Crosswords last year, I won a trip to the Wynn. It was a great time. While I was there I joined their player's club, even though I didn't really have a chance of getting any comps on my budget.

But now that the Wynn is opening a sister hotel/casino, Encore, they're offering complementary rooms to all the player's club members. So ojouchan and I will have another free two-night stay in January, celebrating my birthday and our anniversary. Also, they're giving us $150 credit for slots.

And then, the week after that, I'm traveling to Boston for the Mystery Hunt.

January looks like a good month for me.