Part of the reason that I published The Shenandoah Chronicles a year ago was to illustrate how life is a tapestry in which threads weave in and out of our lives. Sometimes those threads seem trivial at the time, then years later have great importance in our lives.
One of the most memorable moments in my life was on December 15, 1990, when Vivi the French Courtesan and I were sampling the French ambassador’s expensive wine and my goat cheese in the corner of a living room at a Christmas Party given by acquaintances (at that time) who would turn out to be the REAL X-files couple.
Vivi took a sip of wine and suddenly kissed me for the first time. She giggled and exclaimed, “You have big lips like me!” and kissed me longer the second time. We ended up making a spectacle of ourselves to the point that our X-files hostess suggested that we might like to retire to the guest quarters.
I learned later that evening that Vivi’s grandmother was an American Indian from Southern Mexico. I told her that my mother’s family were part Creek Indian, but at the time did know anything about genetics. The science was at its infancy. Fifteen years later a DNA report would tell me that ALL of my Native American DNA was from southern Mexico. Ten years later, I would be told that both my mother and my real father passed on to me a mixture of Native American DNA from southern Mexico and a similar people in eastern Peru.
Geneticists have discovered that the indigenous mound-building peoples of Southern Mexico, the mound-building Muskogeans of the Southeastern United States and the advanced civilizations of northwestern South America are especially inclined to carry the Denisovan genes, which determine facial shape and create thick lips.
The Denisovan genes are surprisingly “strong” and are passed on to a high percentage of Latin Americans and mixed-blood Muskogeans . . . hence the reason that it is not uncommon to see mixed-blood Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek women in the Southeast with light skin pigmentation, but Native American facial features. Oklahoma Creek singer, Carrie Underwood, is a good example.
For more information, go to: Denisovan Lips
Live is indeed, a box of chocolate kisses.
The Americas Revealed 
I am not a fan of everything technology has done but genetics and DNA testing have been a real tool for many. Not always are families candid about their ancestry. Many families speak openly about it but there are others that only remember those they perceive as an something to be proud of. Others are forgotten and their roots and backgrounds are sometimes gone with their passing. DNA testing helped me open a mystery box in my family. When I mentioned that all five DNA testing companies were pointing in the same direction then my mom, one aunt and one grandmother began talking more about their grandparents, great grandparents etc. then I was fortunate enough to see pictures and that was BIG. I understood that my family ancestry was more than what I grew up thinking. It was very complex. They only passed down the story of an “ European “ ancestor but not the Indigenous or African ancestors. Although looking at most of them you can tell they are a mix. They don’t all have the light eyes or light complexion yet that’s what they held on to. So I made it my point to learn more about those “ forgotten “ buried” ancestors/ ancestry and embrace my African and Indigenous roots. When I was old enough to understand what happened in the Caribbean as in America I was no longer proud of having the Spanish and Portuguese genes in me. It’s been hard to accept and deal with knowing that they were responsible for massacres, rapes and destruction but I guess it’s something I have to learn to deal with, forgive and learn from those things. Genetics got my family talking. It opened up things they had unknowingly put aside and buried. My father for one hasn’t realized or embraced the fact that yes his green eyes are from his European father but his jet black thick straight as a board hair is from the same people the Cuban government were saying for many years were wiped out and now aren’t thanks to DNA testing. He grew up believing that like many but never questioned why his grandfather was different, a Nopal as they say in Mexico ( Indian as could be). His sister on the other hand ( my aunt) said to me She thought I knew that about our family. She was more aware and open to accept the fact that our family was not just “ European “ but a beautiful tapestry of different origins, ethnicities woven together. My mom on the other hand had no idea her maternal great grandparents originated in Mexico and sure enough she did her DNA testing and it came back to Yucatán peninsula and more precisely from her MTDNA the Zapotecs who are known to be the few people carrying her/ my MtDNA. She showed me her uncle, aunt and grandparents and I was speechless because they look more like Mexicans than anything else. My uncle was even wearing a sombrero 😂 Thank goodness for the advances made in genetics and genealogy!
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Very interesting Lucy. It is good for people on The Americas Revealed to tell their personal story. Two generations of people in the United States have been cut off from normal relations with Cuba and so we rarely hear about life there. You are absolutely correct. Many, many Mestizos in Latin America try to deny their indigenous heritage, when clearly they do not look like the people in Spain. You probably also have some North African (Moorish) and Semite. Thousands upon thousands of Conversos settled in southern Cuba during the 1500s and 1600s, because it was remote from the eyes of the Inquisition. In fact, that region was so Sephardic that they openly gave shelter to and traded with English ships. The same was true of the remote coasts of Puerto Rico.
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Is that they weren’t allowed to have it? From my most recent finding it is that gold had to be hidden from those that control Ed the Mississippian complex. Recently I have cow in contact with a Mississippian pipe that was by all means an elbow pipe, other than the fact that it had been rubbed on the bottom side by pure GOLD. Much of it has been worn by time and by use. The fact remains that it exists as a Mississippian pipe. The gold is hidden on the bottom of the artifact. It is almost as if it was hidden. Was it that all gold MUST be removed to the greater empire? This artifact must be evidence that they were hiding the resource. It was rubbed on the bottom of the pipe and there were feet on it so as not to expose the gold that was on the bottom side. It is NOT brass or copper. I have only one test to prove it is absolutely gold. What if these empires and outposts along the Appalachian gold belt were not allowed to own or control gold? They were instead farming gold for empires much further detached. The pipe in my possession shows proof that the presence of gold must have been hidden. Otherwise this gold would have been tribute to the Mayan or Central American empire. That must be stated when one looks to Etowah and it’s confluence to Delonaga Georgia. The gold was known the ( precolumbian) mines were all there. But not one drop of gold can be found. It was ALL being sent back to an empire that allowed NO variations in their religion or the importance every speck of gold played in it. Think on this… On Thu, Jan 13, 2022 at 10:09 AM The Americas Revealed wrote:
> alekmountain posted: ” Part of the reason that I published The Shenandoah > Chronicles a year ago was to illustrate how life is a tapestry in which > threads weave in and out of our lives. Sometimes those threads seem trivial > at the time, then years later have great importance in ” >
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