The Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society meets on the on the last Wednesday of the month at 1 PM in Emmanuel United Church of Christ Meeting Room (91st Avenue and Woodhaven Blvd.) This is a wonderful organization if you're interested in local history -- for example, they are responsible for the historical markers you see about town. And their meetings are very educational -- more than just information about our local history. They arrange to have various speakers come in, covering a wide range of interesting topics. For example, a few months ago, they listened to a presentation about spiritualism (click here for a report). The group has attracted a nice following and interest from others (click here for a feature report from one of the local papers). They also get together and take various day trips to interesting locations.
At the May meeting, author and journalist James MacKillop gave an interesting lecture on Strong Celtic Women. Here he is below signing some books, and (at right) with WCHS President Leonora Lavan.
The author, as he was fond of admitting, was prone to extemporizing -- and that led to some interesting side discussions. Here was one that folks were talking about afterwards -- I'll try to do it justice. You are the product of your parents -- 1 mother, 1 father. Thus you are the product of the DNA of 2 people.
However, they were the product of their own parents -- so, by going back one generation, you are actually the product of the DNA of 4 people.
And if you take that a few steps further, your great-grandparents . . . great-great-grandparents . . . great-great-great-grandparents . . . you are the product of the DNA of 32 people.
Where it starts to get real interesting is if you take it back just a few extra generations beyond that -- from 32 we jump to 64 people... to 128... to 256... to 512... 1,024... 2,048... 4,096... 8,192... 16,384... etc. And by the time you go 19 generations (6 or 7 hundred years) you are the product of the DNA of over a million different people.
Pretty neat, huh? So if you're walking around thinking that you're one specific certain nationality, don't be so sure! Anyway, moving along to this month -- there was no speaker at the June meeting, instead they had a Chinese Auction. We'll show you how it works -- it's a pretty cool idea. Again, the meeting is held at the Emmanuel United Church of Christ Meeting Room - 91st Avenue and Woodhaven Blvd. Here it is below:
It's an interesting old building -- and while inside, I spied a few old memorial plaques that were interesting to read: That's nice to be remembered that way -- over a hundred years later -- for service you did to your community. So, here's how a Chinese Auction works -- everyone brings in items to auction off. They don't have to be fancy items, expensive items -- they can be nick-nacks. The items are laid out on tables, each with a plastic cup or a paper bag in front of it. Then, you purchase a strip of tickets -- $5 for 30 tickets. And you walk around, dropping one or more tickets in the cup or bag for the items you want to bid on. If you see an item you really want, you can drop 5 or 10 tickets into the bag, giving yourself a better chance of winning it. So, you see, there's a little strategy involved. I learned this strategy too late. I was angling for the stack of Alfred Hitchcock magazines, and dropped a ticket in the cup. In fact, you can see my losing ticket up above, all alone in the plastic cup. But, after I moved along, someone must have dropped a few tickets in and they ended up walking away with them. Next time, I'll know better! It's a fun event and everyone chats as they browse the items -- then they sit and have coffee and cake and chat while the winning tickets are pulled and the winners are announced. And it doubles as a fund-raiser for the WCHS. Here's some video of the drawings. While video of the drawing might not sound interesting -- many of Project Woodhaven's readers are folks who live far away from home whose parents or friends or other relatives are still here. So this might give them the chance to spot them out and about, having fun :-)
The WCHS does not meet in July or August -- so their next meeting is on September 30th, when certified appraiser Eddie Costello will come and discuss "Trash & Treasure." We have an old item we'll be bringing along -- hoping to find out that we've got some treasure on our hands! The meeting after that is October 28h, and Project Woodhaven has been asked to speak at that event -- we're looking forward to that! It's a fun group -- an interesting group -- and one that is very warm and welcoming to new members. WCHS President Leonora Lavan and Rose Kavanaugh, Secretary 
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