So there I was, innocently watching Jon Stewart...

I really enjoy "The Daily Show" and "Colbert Report" but sometimes I don't watch the interviews.  Especially if it's a ditzy actress who is only on there to plug a generic soon-to-be-forgotten movie.   Generally, I like watching the interviews if it's someone interesting (I love it especially when the Daily Show has Bill O'Reilly on....)

So tonight, I'm watching the interview because it happens to be Madeleine Albright, and the last time I remember her being on was during the 2008 presidential primary and in the interview endorsed Hillary Clinton and blasted NCLB for its part in narrowing educational curriculum (although I've seen it more in music, PE, and arts, and she was specifically referring to civics and social studies being de-emphasized, it was gratifying to know that I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE SEEING THIS TREND!) Anyhoo...

She's on the show promoting her new book called "Prague Winter" specifically outlining Czechoslovakia from the Nazi invasion until a few years after the end of the war, 1937-1948.  And while I knew she was an immigrant turned naturalized citizen (thank you Alexandra Pelosi for that amazing documentary you made), I didn't know that she was from Czechoslovakia.

I'm an American mutt.  No doubt about it, with a Scottish/English name (the village of Fife has quite a few Beveridges....it's not as unusual as you think!) most of my family has been in the U.S. long enough that I can't quite claim any particular "ethnicity"---except one.

My great-grandmother was born in Czechoslovakia which makes me an eighth Czech---the largest percentage of my "mutt."  Or so I had been told my whole life.  What I learned tonight, and I'm not sure how I didn't find this out before, is that Czechoslovakia did not exist as a country until 1918, at the end of WWI.  Prior to that, it was a collection of small ethnic regions that were under the control of the Austro-Hungarian empire.   There were three primary regions in the area that became the country of Czechoslovakia: Bohemia, Moravia-Silisia, and Slovakia.  There was also a small region that was part of the country but annexed by the Soviet Union after WWII and now is part of Ukraine.

Here's the part that has blown my mind tonight: My great-grandmother was born in 1903.  Her father immigrated here, established work and a home, then went back for the family.  She came here when she was 11, which would make the year 1914, or the start of WWI.  Czechoslovakia wasn't even a country yet.  So now, without knowing which village they actually came from, I don't know which ethnic group they belonged to.  Where was she really from?  Which language did they speak? Hungarian? German? Czech? Slovak? Could I say that I am actually an eighth ethnically Bohemian (because how cool would THAT be as a musician, hahahaha)?

And really, does it matter?  It doesn't change the fact that they decided to come here---for what reason now, I don't know (my neighbor's family left Germany when the Nazis took over---did my great-great grandfather see the warning signs of WWI? Or was it just about work/opportunity like so many others in that era?). But writing this all down means I might be able to sleep tonight instead of letting my mind stew about it and keep me awake.