Congratulations to Our Cousin!

Cousin WFS has been very busy completing his master's thesis - and baking in the Franco-American tradition with a new twist.

Cousin WFS years ago!

His master's thesis explores FranoAmerican themes in stories gathered during the Great Depression  and complied into the Writer's Project. You can read his thesis at Identity Discourse in Three Franco-American Life Histories in the US Federal Writer's Project.   It takes a while to read and turn over in your head and when you finish, you can enjoy the greater picture about what we call ethnic identity as well as have a deeper understanding of our cousin, his love of family and his own Franco-American identity which runs silently and strongly throughout his life.  I particularly like reading his paper to learn more about aspects of culture that I haven't given much thought because, everyday,  I am interacting with immigrants from Central and South America, Haiti, West Africa, Pakistan, Yemen, Viet Nam, Bangladesh and so many other places. Always, while I am seeing families from  these other countries and cultures, I am reminded that my own family and culture came from  over the border too - the northern border and my ancestors came for the same reasons today immigrants come i.e. jobs, security and a better life for children.  This is what cousin calls, on page 47 of his paper,  "the classic desire of all immigrants".  After you read our cousin's thesis, you might what to find the source of the three stories. That would be a book no longer in print ...but available from Alibris.

The First Franco-Americans

After he submitted his thesis, he relaxed a bit and created a vegan version of Albina Shepherd St Hilaire's Turkey Stuffing.  He gave me these comments and a picture of his vegan version:  "I made a vegan tourtiere, following the recipe from Annette, but substituting for the sausage and ground beef:  I used 1 pound each of "GimmeLean" brand Ground Sausage-style veggie protein and Ground Beef-style veggie protein.  Otherwise the recipe was the same except I browned the veggie protein in about 2 tbsp of oil because they're kind of dry.  I also added some homemade vegetable gravy to moisten it."

Thanks cousin for your creativity and sharing! 

You and your family are a big part of this little blog!