May I Have Your Attention Please... It's iGene Awards Time!

Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention, please? I'd like to present the iGene Awards to the most deserving posts that appeared on the Creative Gene blog in 2009. All of these posts were a pleasure to write. They are a wonderful collection of pieces about my family and my heritage. Please enjoy these that I consider my best of 2009!

~:: Best Picture ::~

For the first time in the history of Creative Gene's iGene Awards there is a tie for Best Picture! These are companion pictures taken at the same time and place. I used the first in Remembering Annie and the second in  Remembering An Aunt with Many Names. The 6 lovely ladies in these two photos are my aunts, my dad's sisters. I don't know the date these pictures were taken but it was obviously at Christmas time and probably in the late 1950s or early 1960s. I'm not sure of the location either. I can rule out the houses of 2 of my aunts but it could have been at any of other 4 sister's homes. In the top picture, the 3 oldest sisters are in the top row (Annie, Ceily, Gee) and the younger 3 in the bottom row (Mary Jane, Eleanor, Florence). I love these pictures because of all the warm happy memories I have of my aunts. They are all deceased now except for Florence. I miss them so much!

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~:: Best Screen Play ::~

Inside the envelope for the Best Screen play we find: Oh What a Summer It Was! It was the summer of 1972... the Vietnam War was raging, the Watergate Scandal was happening, the Eagles released their debut album, Bob Seger was Smokin' OPs, hot pants and halter tops, tie dye and peace signs were all the rage, and I was 15 years old. It was a summer of many firsts for me. What a movie this blog post would make! Ooh-la-la ;-) I found some photos from that infamous summer and have added them to my blog post. Now you can see me with the guy who taught me about the game of baseball and how my hair looked after using Sun-In, LOL! Check it out!

Who would I cast to star in this movie of precocious little me? These are the lucky ones...
My best friend Valerie would be played by a young Goldie Hawn.
The "Bay City Boys" would be played by Antonio Sabato Jr. and Val Kilmer in their youth.
Kathy, my roommate at Alliance College, would be played by Valerie Bertinelli (back in her youth as well).
Rick, the baseball expert, would be played by a young Tom Cruise.
Josie, our counselor at Alliance College, would be played by Jennifer Garner.
The lifeguard at Mt Shadows would be played by a young Daniel Day Lewis.
And me, I'd be played by Peggy Lipton.

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~:: Best Documentary ::~

The Good Earth, Poland is the winner of Best Documentary. This post looks at the role farming plays in my family history... and that role is a primary one! Farming was and continues to be a primary occupation of Poland's agrarian society. The Poles have quite an extensive vocabulary when it comes to the farming profession. This post takes a look at them.

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~:: Best Biography ::~

The competition for Best Biography wasn't all that stiff in 2009. The biography of my cousin Chester, Honoring A Very Special Veteran,  stood out from the rest for many reasons. Chester was one of very few veterans in my family. He died tragically at a young age. And finding out the details of his life and death were challenging for me.

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~:: Best Comedy ::~

I know I made a lot of people smile with,  Who Owns the Missing Amber Room?  It made me smile too. I had a lot of fun with this one and it is definitely one of my all-time favorite posts. Check out my grandfather's meeting with Jozef Stalin and Winston Churchill!

So there you have it, the best of Creative Gene for 2009. Enjoy!