Reactions - 'I'm a genealogist'

How do people react when you say you're a genealogist?

Do they ask how many babies you've delivered - thinking you said gynecologist; what caves or oil fields you've discovered - confusing you with a geologist; or simply think you are strange for happily shlepping through cemeteries looking for dead people (which, you must admit, is a good place to find them)?

This posting is also a challenge to my gen-blogging colleagues to write an entry about the strangest, funniest or most confusing reactions to what you do. Readers are invited to share their experiences through comments below.

I was once introduced to a room full of women, members of a large Jewish organization's branch in Israel, as the "gynecology columnist for the Jerusalem Post." After the laughter quieted down, I mentioned that - if you think about it - the two fields are related. Without gynecology, there wouldn't be genealogy.

Texas: Sephardic scholar in residence

Sephardic history is part of my personal research, and Tracing the Tribe's readers note my affinity for all matters Sephardic, as I present interesting programs, books, author appearances, concerts and more with those who share these interests on a personal or cultural level.

Those in Houston, Texas, are in for a treat as this year's scholar-in-residence for the Horvitz program (in its 20th year) is Dr. Renée Levine Melammed; the theme is "Insights into Jewish History: Studying Women, Sephar­dim and Oriental Jewry."

A Jewish history professor who heads the Women's Gender Studies MA program at Jerusalem's Schechter Institute, Dr. Melammed has authored numerous articles dealing with women in Jewish history, Conversos of Spain and the Inquisition, and edits the gender and women’s studies journal, Nashim