Mj Pettengill

Recently, my years of research and family history collided.

...they were stripped of their names and either given a fresh new name or were issued a number—a new moral identity.

The original blog was replaced with a simple poem. Here's why...

Paupers were punished for being poor, the elders for aging, and the sick for failing. Where did we go from there? Where do we go from here?

Once I was on my way to proper identification, comprehension, and acknowledgment, the wall of pain slowly and steadily vanished.

There was a great deal of heartache and compassion for these unfortunate souls, but few answers. I ask now, have we found solutions?

They weren’t long letters, just brief newsy accounts from the home front. It was about that lifeline, that classic archetype of mother...

After all, we did not have a playbook so, we made up the rules as we went along.