From Business Daily Africa: Amazing work of women using social business to turn a profit AND help their communities in “Basket weavers redefine art of giving back to the society”

Now that’s a Go Girl! BBC News: World’s oldest yoga teacher Tao Porchon-Lynch at 93

Running late at the airport. Losing your luggage. Getting something stolen. Missing a meeting or having someone not show up to see you when they’re supposed to.

These are all issues that arise on a fairly regular basis anytime you embark on a great voyage. An inherent risk of traveling is coping with unexpected problems or changes to the agenda. Personally, I think this is part of what makes traveling so great. It enhances your sense of flexibility and teaches you how to adapt without feeling too frantic. That said, there are a number of things you can do to avoid unnecessary issues. Below is a list of things to avoid, based on my own personal experiences.

5) Drinking large amounts of fluids before a long drive or a fancy meeting

The latter did me in, since I usually have the sense to avoid chugging an entire bottle of water before hopping on a bus. It wasn’t actually a fancy meeting, but a formal field trip to a French regional government building. During my visit to France, I was staying at my host sister’s apartment for a few weeks while she went to classes. This wasn’t a big deal as I found plenty of ways to amuse myself and her classes didn’t take up that much of her day. I was, however, interested in learning more about the French university system, since I’d only been there for the high school experience. She told me one of her classes would be taking a field trip to the government building and hearing a presentation, and she was fairly sure the professor wouldn’t notice if I snuck in with everyone else. So I agreed and enjoyed looking at the ornate building and hearing about the government’s role in shaping Angers. Unfortunately, about thirty minutes into a presentation, I started having to pee. Badly. We’d had tea before coming, an entire pot, and I knew I couldn’t make it much longer. The presentation appeared to have no end in sight, and I was seated all the way at the back. My host sister recommended trying to hold it so as not to be rude, but I was not about to let my bladder explode for the sake of propriety. I finally went to the front of the room where one of the aids was sitting and told him I wasn’t feeling well and where was the bathroom? I must’ve looked fairly desperate because he jogged to the restroom. When I came back out later to rejoin the class the professor approached me and asked if I was feeling better, never realizing I wasn’t actually in her class.

4) Taking cabs

This is important for several reasons, depending on the country you’re in. First, it’s usually much more expensive than other forms of transportation (and not necessarily safer – people do occasionally get cab-napped in some countries). Second, sometimes cab drivers are the craziest drivers on the road. This was certainly true in Morocco and in the British Virgin Islands, where it’s even worse because most of the islands are mountainous and the drivers are on the left side. Third, it’s easier to meet people on buses, unless you’re in a country where more than one person takes the same cab (like Morocco), in which case you can have a nice personal chat!

3) Food of Dubious Quality (particularly meat)

I am all for being adventurous when it comes to trying new foods abroad. Cow kidneys, stomach, and sea snails are just a few of the things I’ve tried in different places. That said, you should always be careful with what you’re eating. Street foods can be a bit sketchy, as can improperly cooked meat. One of my friends in Morocco shared a meal of sting ray with her host family, and though she enjoyed it, everyone in her family got food poisoning from it – not the recipe for a good night when there’s only one bathroom. Food-borne illnesses send millions to hospitals every year (and this happens in “developed” countries like the US and Australia frequently as well), so be careful what you eat. The last thing you want on your adventure abroad is a trip to the doctor because of that tasty street kabob made with mystery meat.

An example of one of the things you might want to avoid in the market ... unless you're a skilled shark chef!

2) Illegal Activities

This should really be pretty obvious, but you’d be surprised by how many foreigners get in trouble for things that aren’t legal, be it something as little as a minor traffic violation or getting caught with drugs. Being abroad is certainly the opportunity for new experiences, but you don’t want jail time to be included in that experience. You think you can just run off to Amsterdam to access a bit of legal marijuana? Not anymore – tourists are now banned from those shops.

I) Getting Kidnapped, Assaulted, Robbed, Raped, or Murdered

Unless your dad is Liam Neeson or some other government-trained killing machine who can rescue you. In which case things will probably get pretty terrifying, but you’ll pull through. I know I’m taking a light tone here, but seriously, we ladies have to be careful when we’re abroad. Sex trafficking is a very serious, very real thing that’s more prevalent than many people realize. While I’m not saying your chances of being killed on vacation are very high, it’s always important to be aware of your surroundings and try to avoid doing stupid things. Most people are really great people, and meeting them is one of my favorite things about traveling, but if your creep radar goes off, trust it. Trust your instincts. And always travel with a friend late at night and have someone you can call in an emergency. I have no personal experiences with this because I try to be always alert and aware of my surroundings. To quote J.K. Rowling’s memorable character, Mad-Eye Moody: “CONSTANT VIGILANCE!” (You probably don’t have to get that obsessive about safety, though – it’s not like Voldemort is on the loose in your foreign country of choice).

In Colombia, a popular saying goes— “The only risk in visiting Colombia is wanting to stay!” Supposedly this saying originates just miles from my Barranquillan home, from the colonial city of Cartagena, Colombia. So, a few weeks after marking our sixth month anniversary in Colombia, some fellow Peace Corps volunteers and I decided to take advantage of school vacation during Semana Santa—Holy Week— and judge for ourselves.

Cartagena lies on Colombia’s Caribbean coast and was originally a Spanish colony—one of South America’s first ports and ,in the 1800’s, the main entry point of Colombia’s slave trade. Now, its European architecture, old stone wall and fort, and infamous coastal nightlife make it one of South America’s biggest tourist destinations.

A view of the walled city from the surrounding wall

The bus ride from Barranquilla to Cartagena down the coastal highway takes less than two hours. Industrial Barranquilla fades to shantytowns and scrubby vegetation and then, suddenly, the ridiculously teal Caribbean ocean appears just yards from the road.
Although “real” Cartagena is sprawling and urban, the historical walled city is a maze of narrow, cobbled streets. We strolled shoulder to shoulder with backpackers and luxury tourists alike, grazing on street vendors’ candied coconut patties, cheesy fried pastries, and little plastic shot glasses of tinto—the local way of serving coffee.

I could have spent the week relaxing in the forested squares under the shade of flowered trellises, but Cartagena is more than a pretty locale—it’s a jumping-off point for adventure. We trusted our hostel’s offerings since Colombia’s budding tourist industry has little to no internet utility–tours and planning are best done in person. Our first destination: Las Islas de Rosario.

The islands, about a 45 minute speedboat ride from shore, are known throughout the country for being “magical.” Our guides assured us we’d find a huge variety of beaches, sea life, and welcoming locals. Turns out, most of the islands are small and privately owned; with the exception of Playa Blanca, Cartagena’s most famous beach, many island-beaches are just large enough to accommodate a single house! We snorkeled on the surrounding reef among fish striped in incredible electric greens, yellows, and indigos, but the coral itself was gray and broken—not quite a picture of the hoped-for magic.

But a different sort of magic awaited us the next day in El Volcán de Totumo—Cartagena’s “mud volcano.” Legend has it a priest’s blessing turned this volcano’s lava to mud. In shape it resembles a giant anthill, and tourists climb up one side to get to the mud-filled top. Entering the mud, along with about fifteen other tourists is almost like descending into an anti-gravity chamber; the mud’s strange density makes it impossible to sink, even if one tries!

We climbed backwards into the mud pit and were received by local attendants, who laid us on our backs. “Float” isn’t quite the word, for what this was—the mud envelopes, but cushions, like liquid memory-foam. The attendants sloshed mud over us in free, if overly-intimate massages, then set us loose. I bobbed and turned, thrashing and clutching to complete strangers before I finally gained the unique sort of balance. My friends enjoyed this all immensely, but for me the weirdness won out slightly over the fun—who knows what lay beneath…

Cartagena's clock tower at night

Back in Cartagena proper, we nursed sunburns and splurged on restaurant food. The international variety was almost overwhelming. Pumpkin ravioli, Indian food, Mexican offerings, gelato, falafel wraps—all within a few block radius! After everything, for me this was somehow the strongest reminder that in Cartagena I was seen as, if not completely feeling like, just another North American tourist. Although it was incredibly freeing, in some ways, it was also strange to enter that role, after all the effort I’ve put into integration.

I worried I’d encounter culture shock yet again when I returned to my Barranquilla community, where gringos are oddities and entertainment revolves around family reunions. Barranquilla, with its gray streets, industrial focus, and land-locked location is no Cartagena. But I realized, greeting my open-armed host family, that Colombia’s charm lies not in Cartagena’s showcased magic. Instead, this country’s allure fills every city—because it is the Colombian people and their welcome to tourists and volunteers alike that makes Colombia home for any who wish it to be.

Is your beautiful body leading you to a love affair, or are you ready to dump your ugly reflection?

‘Beautiful’ and ‘ugly’ are strong words that can conjure up a lot of emotion, but let’s face it, when we’re talking about the human body, those are exactly the kind of emotive words many of us will use.

Whether we love or loathe our bodies, this is inextricably linked to self-esteem and self-confidence. How can we possibly love ourselves as individuals if we can’t love the bodies that carry our very own beating hearts and protect our amazing brains? Yet as recent surveys have disturbingly shown, many young females are most certainly not having a love affair with their bodies.

Love your body, or loathe it? Vote on Facebook! Photo from www.dosomething.org

It was while leafing through a glossy magazine recently that I began to think about our body images as women, and how I can see exactly why some young girls might lack confidence in their female forms. Certainly the magazine I was ‘reading’ appeared to outwardly support celebrities not resembling supermodels, as indeed many of us do not, but it was also alarmingly quick to deride them should they happen to have gained weight, or be jubilant in their success should they have shed a kilo or two.

While nobody is arguing that being fit and healthy is something we all shouldn’t aspire to, why can’t we simply focus on that, rather than how others might think we look, as when our time on this planet is up, it will not be our bodies that we are remembered for, but the type of person that we were and the life that we led.

So do you love your body and are confident enough to say that it hasn’t held you back in life, or have you fallen completely out of love with your body and feel let down by your physical form and lack of self confidence?

Take a few seconds to vote in our body poll on Facebook!

Love it I wear my body with pride and let nothing get in my way!

Loathe it My body is definitely not my temple and I do not worship it every day!

On a good day my body’s my friend, on a bad day it’s my worst enemy!

NY Times: Saving the Lives of Moms, by Nicholas Kristof, co-author of Half the Sky.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/opinion/sunday/kristof-saving-the-lives-of-moms.html?_r=1

Travelling goes hand in hand with making discoveries and learning something new but this time I may have hit the jackpot – I have learnt how to become totally relaxed.

The location for the source of this new found skill is Gili Trawangan, a tiny paradise island in Indonesia and a short hop skip and jump from popular Bali.

Let me set the scene – calm, clear water lapping at the shores of white beaches, no cars, just bikes or horse and cart for transport, friendly locals living on island time, beach bars, beachside massage parlours, diving, snorkelling and a whole lot of relaxing. Honestly, I could barely pluck up the motivation to write this article – I’m too relaxed.

Perfect spot for the Gili T sunset

I arrived in Bali three weeks ago after spending six weeks in Darwin, Australia, possibly one of the hottest places I have ever lived, and after escaping crazy Denpassar and Kuta via taxi, made it to the west coast and a beautiful resort in Medewi. One week of lounging by the pool, drinking Balinese Bintang beer and sampling the local cuisine was followed by a few days in the heart of the madness in Kuta. It was fun, it was hectic, but the beach was dirty and the local traders are constantly selling. Walking down a street can be an annoying experience if you are not in the right mood but there are bargains to be had if you have the patience for bartering. A new dress for $5? Yes please.

But now back to the relaxing part – Gili T, as it is known here. Gili T is one of three atolls that make up the Gili Islands and I am currently on what is known as the party island so if you would like to reach even further heights of relaxation then get yourself to either Gili Meno or Gili Air – equally as beautiful but quieter. The islands have only been inhabited for thirty years with Gili T being the first to be transformed into a hippie party haven for backpackers where anything goes, but there is also so much more to offer than the typical backpacker entertainment with chilled out restaurants, treehouse bars and bean bag seating on the beach to watch the stunning sunset.

Another gem is the night markets where you can pick up delicious chicken satay, rice and vegetables for $2.50 or fresh fish and seafood for a fraction of the price it would cost at home. The atmosphere is buzzing with locals and tourists mingling, smoke wafting over the crowd from the barbecues, pretty lights twinkling and lots of satisfied customers. The barbecued prawns in particular are amazing and it’s a great way to start the evening before heading off to a reggae bar for some live music.

As idyllic as it sounds, living on island time can’t last forever. After another five days in paradise I will be heading back to Bali to spend a week in Ubud, known as the cultural and spiritual centre of the island, where I will leave the Gili T indulgences behind to be replaced by visits to a monkey forest, a sunrise volcano trek and yoga. Then it’s off to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands for a week of some more island living in the Pacific before flying back to Sydney, work and reality. Yes, all good things must come to an end – especially holidays.

Fortunately, I left my old job in Sydney on good terms so I have a job to go back to which makes travelling so much easier and less stressful. However, my Australian visa expires in September so I have some serious thinking ahead about what to do next. Home? Another country? Visa extension? The more I think about it, the more options there are, confusing my relaxed mind. A tropical paradise island is no place for such serious thoughts — which is why they will be put on hold until I am back in the real world. There are better things to think about right now, like tonight’s full moon party. Reality can wait.

Bonny Scotland: Home to men in kilts playing bagpipes, men in kilts tossing cabers around like twigs, and more men in kilts washing platefuls of haggis down with whiskey, for breakfast! Should you find yourself in Scotland at some point in your travels, you may indeed spot a kilted man, or even a bevy of kilted men, (and should a sudden gust of wind blow, you might discover what they really do wear beneath their tartan skirts!), and you will undoubtedly be able to sample the delights of such traditional Scottish fare as haggis and whiskey, but the country has fast become a popular tourist destination for many more reasons than this, and each year visitors flock to the capital city of Edinburgh to take in its unique sights and sounds.

Photo from www.freefoto.com

Scotland may not be famed for its tropical climate, but Edinburgh’s weather conditions are, in fact, far more favourable. What Scotland lacks in exotic weather conditions, Edinburgh more than makes up for in atmosphere. There’s fun and frivolity at festival time, seriously spooky goings-on when the sun goes down and a history so rich you can almost feel it as you walk the city’s cobbled streets. Not only that, but the stunning natural heritage of Scotland’s capital city is now recognised as a World Heritage Site.

There are, in fact, a whole host of reasons why you should be saying ‘och aye’ to Edinburgh as a great holiday destination (which translates as ‘oh yes’ for those of you not familiar with Scotticisms!), but for the many thousands of people who visit the city each year, The Edinburgh Festival is the main attraction, and it isn’t hard to see why. Throughout the summer months the city’s streets, art house venues and even the historic Royal Mile are home to performers and artists from every walk of life, all trying to entertain, amuse and delight their audiences. From household names to street performers, there is something to satisfy every type of festival-goer,with theatre performances, children’s shows, exhibitions, music and comedy.

The Edinburgh Festival is actually a collective term for several arts and cultural festivals that take place in the city each summer, and although each festival is unique and staged by a different organisation, they’re regarded by many as being part of the same event; the Festival Fringe being one of the most well known. Put all of these festivals together and you have the world’s largest cultural festival. Pretty impressive, huh?

Not only has the festival helped to launch the careers of many stars (Billy Connelly, Eddie Izzard, Jude Law and Stephen Fry are but a few), every year sees a whole host of fresh and new talent on display, too. Who knows whose rise to fame you might bear witness to, or what celebrity you might find yourself rubbing shoulders with?

There is even an excellent spinoff festival that wont cost you a penny. Last year there were 607 purse-friendly shows on offer.

But if festivals aren’t quite your bag, and if perhaps, like me, you’re a lover of all things spooky and supernatural and enjoy nothing more than a jolly good fright when you can get one, then you need look no further than Edinburgh. It proudly holds claim to being one of the most haunted cities in the world and during its 1,000 year history Edinburgh has played host to the plague and bore witness to more than its share of other horrors, with witch-burning, body-snatching and torture being among the favoured pastimes of some of its historic inhabitants. There are numerous guided tours of some of the cities hottest spine-chilling spook spots, from the aptly named Terror Tour to the Underground City of the Dead; these macabre tours and others like them are not for the faint of heart, but if you want to bring Edinburghs gruesome history to life, then there is simply no better way of doing it.

Photo from www.freefoto.com

Of course we all need a break from sightseeing and history lessons when we’re on holiday, and what better way to relax and unwind than with a spot of light retail therapy (or heavy, depending on the size of your wallet and the extent of your therapy!). Edinburgh has shops to suit every need and every purse, but all that shopping can be hard work, as hardcore shoppers among you will know, and it’s crucial to stop at regular intervals to refuel. Whether it be a pub, a café, or a fine dining experience that you’re looking for, Edinburgh has enough different eateries to refuel even the fussiest shopper.

So you see, brawny men in skirts and traditional Scottish delicacies are perfectly valid reasons for paying a visit to Edinburgh this year, but it will be the iconic castles, stunning scenery and historic city streets that provide you with the real inspiration to make bonny Edinburgh your next holiday destination.

The same-sex marriage/civil union/domestic partnership kerfluffle that’s been rocking the U.S. lately has been dredging up the good, the bad, and the ugly in a lot of social discourse. President Obama finally came out (har!) in support of same-sex marriage, right around the same time that Mitt Romney reaffirmed his dislike of the same; North Carolina voters overwhelmingly voted against the human rights of LGBQ members of their population; Colorado’s legislature is (at the time of this writing) in an emergency session to resolve its own civil union dispute. The straight population is divided about the issue, but so are LGBTIQ communities across the country — “Do we even want to participate in this antiquated, money-sucking, heterocentrist ritual?” And the question that has come up to me repeatedly this week: who gets to decide? After all, we didn’t vote on your marriage, right (Actually, if you want to get technical…who gets to marry whom has never been an easy topic. Just ask the Commonwealth of Virginia)?

U.S. President Obama supports gay marriage. Photo courtesy of bossip.com

Something that’s been communicated from a lot of sources around the Internet has been the idea that straight people should have no say in same-sex marriage rights. It’s not their marriage or relationship that’s at stake. Those of us with rings on our fingers are unaffected by these policies and our civil rights aren’t being called into question.

To this, I’m going to give a big ol’ “fuck you”.

Let me give you one reason why: like many Americans, I’m bisexual/queer (depending on your definition) but married in the old-fashioned sense. My partner- my husband- is a straight, cisgendered guy, and unless you take the time to ask, you’re probably going to assume that I’m straight too. My current relationship, one that I plan to be in for the rest of our lives, is unaffected by what happens with LGBQ marital legislation. But what if it ends? Or what if, instead of falling for Nick, I fell for a Nicole? Or what if Nick decides to become Nicole? Or the unthinkable happens, and as a widow I find solace and new love with a same-sex or trans partner? My right to a committed, legal partnership with someone I love would be taken away from me. I’m not interested in quibbling about whether it’s worse to have that right revoked, or never have it at all- the point is that the absence of that right is simply wrong. And it’s something I walk around with everyday, whether I will ever have to confront it in my own relationship(s) or not.

When I lived in Canada, I was part of a wonderfully vital community of LGBTIQ folk who wanted nothing more than a world in which adults can consensually love one another without restriction. There was often a lot of talk about who “gets” to speak and emote on a given topic, and while I understood the root of their concerns — when a group outsider speaks, are they silencing the insiders and appropriating their right to self-advocacy? — I also worried about how this intersected with alliances. As much as The System has hurt a lot of us, we need the support of its benefactors to make lasting change, right (Apologies for my ignorance, Ms. Lorde, but I’ve always struggled with this)? There’s a strong undercurrent of biphobia in some lesbian and gay circles because we’re “faking it” or, if we’re in the sort of relationship I’m in, we’re “traitors,” and this leads to accusations that we don’t really understand what it means to be discriminated against because we “can” always retreat to the safety of our straight-looking lives. As the same-sex marriage debacle rages on in the States, I’m hearing these sorts of things more and more. Camps of Us and Them are being drawn, and bi/queer folk are increasingly being grouped in the latter.

I repeat myself: fuck you. Ignorance of the flexibility and depth of human sexualities aside, this whole concept that They can’t possibly understand or empathize has got to stop. The idea that a shared set of experiences means that any two people completely understand each other is reductionistic and categorizes people according to arbitrary rules. “Oh wait, you’re also a cis woman and have sex with cis women? Great! We totally get each other and are basically the same person!” My relationship may not be on the line right now, but my overall rights are- just like yours. The implication of biphobia for people like me in these debates is that, because we “look” straight, we can’t ever experience discrimination. That’s a load of crap.

Same-sex marriages are everyone’s business, whether we’re interested in one or not, because human rights are everyone’s business. Not everyone is as comfortably “out” as I am, and you never know who will come out when you thought you had them pegged, so the breadth and depth the impact of discriminatory legislation will have is incredibly challenging to predict. To me, the right of consenting adults to love each other and legally support each other should never have been a debate at all. But since it is, it’s about time we stopped using appearances to determine who gets a say in what. Since you aren’t in my head or in my life, you have no idea what I have experienced.

You don’t get to tell me how I feel.

When I first began this column, one of the topics at the forefront of my mind was persecution. It’s a sensitive topic, one that’s tricky to discuss. But as Mitt Romney continues to face criticism that is aimed directly at his faith, the topic feels increasingly relevant to my experience as a religious feminist in the USA. The evidence that many Americans distrust Romney’s faith is everywhere. It’s in discussions about Romney’s ancestral connections to polygamists (how many of us are grateful we’re not held responsible for everything our grandparents and great-grandparents did?), and it’s in articles that portray his faith as a “multi-national corporation.” It shows up in this article about an early-20th-century Mormon congressman who barely made it into congress as a result of his faith. And it shows up in comedy, as demonstrated by this recent clip from The Daily Show:

Trust me, American Mormons are well aware of these discussions. In fact, to understand today’s Mormons, you really need to understand the history of brutal persecution that generations of Mormons once faced at the hands of the American government and their fellow American people. The history is recent enough that it still directly impacts the way we conceive of ourselves. For American Mormons, it also impacts how we view our place in the US, and it’s not unusual to walk into a Sunday School lesson or Sacrament Meeting (our name for a service or Mass) where members share stories about facing and overcoming persecution.

Which is not to say that the threat of persecution manifests itself in fear or paranoia. To the contrary, every time the topic comes up in a lesson, the discussion usually closes with individuals sharing faith-affirming stories about times when those outside the faith supported them, perhaps even preventing persecution. And for most of us who experience religious persecution these days, it doesn’t come with a drunken mob tarring and feathering us or burning down our homes. It comes in the form of teachers, classmates, employers and co-workers mocking us. It comes in the form of awkward job interviews where potential employers illegally ask us about our faith. It’s subtle enough that most of us are never sure if we’re even experiencing persecution or just plain rudeness.

But distrust of our faith is so common in national discourse that most of us are a little cautious. For instance, I currently live in an area that is heavily populated by other LDS people. And even in this Mormon-friendly location, over the past year I have had many conversations with other Mormons who have echoed my own nervousness: as Mitt Romney rises in politics, we wonder, what backlash will we face? And then, the more essential question: how do we respond?

Ultimately, most Mormons want to preserve positive relationships with their neighbors and communities, but we face such a wide and contradictory set of criticisms that there’s no formula on how to diffuse tension while still affirming our faith. Other feminists frequently argue that I belong to “A Male-dominated World”, and many in the Gay Rights Movement find themselves frustrated with the LDS Church’s involvement in Prop 8, as well as the Church’s ongoing stance on homosexuality: not a sin to feel attracted to the same sex, but wrong to act on those feelings. Responding to these critiques is difficult, in large part because the issues at hand are still ongoing in the LDS Church, and you’ll find mixed feelings from individual Mormons. The recent “It Gets Better at Brigham Young University” video illustrates the contradiction and confusion that so many Latter-day Saints share where the Gay Rights Movement is concerned.

But when it comes to responding to issues from the past, it can be even trickier, as BYU professor Randy Bott discovered when he attempted to justify a racist Mormon policy that Church leadership has long since put to rest. When it comes to historical arguments against Mormonism, it sometimes seems that atheists are more forgiving than those of other faiths. When The Book of Mormon Musical came out, the creators repeatedly gave interviews where they explained that they saw Mormonism as no more ridiculous than any other religion – though their audience may miss that nuance. When contrasted with this recent article from a Catholic writer at Patheos.com, “I Am Not a Mormon,” the South Park creators seem downright Mormon-positive.

Despite years of considering how to respond to criticisms on my faith, I have no magical formula, but I have learned that getting angry about a verbal attack on my faith does not change anyone’s mind. I have also learned the importance of remembering that a faith is more than the sum of its parts. Everyone in the world is associated with groups or ancestors who have done horrible things. But in the same way that The Spanish Inquisition doesn’t invalidate Catholicism, polygamists like Romney’s ancestors don’t invalidate Mormonism.