The Burke family with their matriarch Mildred Burke. Photo courtesy of SAMUEL BURKE
Editor s note: Samuel Burke is a three-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and the host of the new podcast “Suddenly Family.”
Confusion. Disbelief. Denial.
Those were the emotions cutting through me as I looked at my dad’s DNA results. We come from a small Jewish family, but this at-home test was showing a big discovery none of us could explain.
“Dad, it says you’re Mormon.” Words I never thought I’d utter. My father’s response shocked me even more.
“I know,” he said as my eyes widened. “I saw that when the results came in. But it’s so preposterous that I just ignored it.”
Judge Benjamin Hayes knew the eyes of Los Angeles were on him. In January 1856, the hard-living judge presided over a hearing that would rock Los Angeles, a dusty, dangerous pueblo of approximately 4,000 souls. Out of the hearing would emerge Biddy Mason, a formerly enslaved woman who would become one of the most important and one of the wealthiest landowners, midwives and philanthropists in early-American Los Angeles.
Mason was so beloved that people in need would line up in front of her house on First Street, eager for Aunt Biddy s assistance, which she always gave until she grew too old and infirm. She showed people what could happen when they were free and could set their own destiny, says Jackie Broxton, executive director of the Biddy Mason Charitable Foundation.
Written by Andrew-Rossi on December 23, 2020
When it comes to the national popularity and economic contribution of Wyoming’s National Park Service sites – we’re right in the middle.
The website Outdoorsy has released its analysis of The Best States for National Park Trips. Outdoorsy has been called “the Airbnb of RV Rentals” and allows people to rent motor homes and campers for extended adventures.
Unlike many rankings of “America’s best idea,” the Outdoorsy list takes a broader approach than just the parks themselves. In fact, their analysis of numbers and economics shows only 1/3 of all National Park Service visits are to one of the 62 national parks.