Ok, I don't normally use this blog, but I'm cross-posting this from LJ with some of the more personal stuff removed, b/c it's really cool but too long to go into it on the Forum.

Short version: my sister and I just learned that we are cousins, a few generations removed, to the great Czech composer Antonín Dvorák (!).

Detailed version for my fellow geeks: My mom's family is Czech--although it was still called Bohemia when they emigrated from Prague, and we have always joked about being Bohemians. My maternal grandmother was the first generation to be born here. They came over to Chicago and lived in the area known as Little Prague, as well as other parts of Illinois. My mom's cousin still lives in Chicago, and recently she went to the Bohemian Cemetary there and took pics of our ancestors' gravestones (some are really cool!) and sent them to us along with an extensive family tree she's been working on for some time--an unusual Xmas gift. Well, my Gram's grandmother, Marie Dvorák, was apparently one of several of the composer's cousins who settled in Illinois. He spent a bunch of time there, too; I think that may have been around when he wrote his New World Symphony. I think it's completely badass, and my sister (the fledgling opera singer) is beside herself with glee and planning to do his "Song to the Moon" for her senior concert this spring. I LOVE that piece--the Italian translation, "La Luna", was recorded by Sarah Brightman, whom I just simply worship. My sister wants to do it in the original Czech. I've also told her that if I should ever re-marry (someday...), I want her to sing it, as a tribute to our roots. Extra cool part: that aria is from his opera Rusalka, which is a version of The Little Mermaid. My Pisces heart rejoices. My boyfriend and I have talked about our future-theoretical-pagan-wedding being on a boat in the waters around Seattle, by moonlight. So for my sister to sing an aria that is a mermaid's song to the moon...that was written by an ancestor...I mean, holy SHIT, people. How freaking cool is that???