Ain't Nothin But Mammals

One day last summer, Este and I were happily making our way through a street fair in Astoria. We saw these huge cameras and lights set up and a banner for the National Geographic Channel, so we stopped to take a look.

They were conducting research for a study that claims that all humans descended from a group of African ancestors and about 60,000 years ago, started migrating out of Africa to different parts of the world. As they settled in different regions and climates, their characteristic features evolved to adapt to their environment, creating the Asian, European, and North American people, etc.

The Genographic Project is a five-year mission to better understand the migratory history of the human species. They took DNA samples from cheek cells from hundreds of thousands of participants around the world, including me and Este! Astoria is the most diverse community in the world, so they were hoping to get representatives from all parts.

It's weird to think that just by taking a cotton swab to your cheek, you can trace the origins of your family. We waited a few months for the results to come back, and sure enough, there was a little map with a clear red line from Africa to the Middle East for me. Apparently, my people were one of the laziest, because we traveled the least distance from Africa. No comment on the ones that didn't even bother to leave! Este's map had a line from Africa to China, which is interesting because he is an eighth Chinese. Now, if we had chosen to trace his mother's side, the line would most likely have led to Europe.

We were asked to meet in Astoria Park once again to share our reactions. They had all of us stand together in Africa and start walking to our respective origins. It was quite sad as I had to say goodbye to Este early and watch him walk all the way to "China." I was surrounded with all these Greeks and Italians and one Iraqi and about a quarter mile away, there stood Este with about 3 Asians, hopelessly waving a yellow flag at me. He was clearly not a part of the cool club, even in caveman days!

The special is called The Human Family Tree and it will air on the National Geographic Channel on August 30th at 9PM. Set your DVR, because Este and I were watching TV and he randomly started screaming, "That was me! That was me! Rewind it! Rewind it!" There is about .005 seconds where Este is in front of the camera waving a flag with 120 other people. Regretfully, I was behind a 4,000-pound gorilla and was blocked from the camera the entire time. I was pretty disappointed, but the next day we got an email from National Geographic, and lo and behold, Este and I are front and center, scrubbing our cheeks with cotton swabs. As usual, it's not the best picture of me, given the rabbit teeth and all. (Note to Self: Don't open your mouth too wide at the wedding.) But it's pretty flattering that they chose us to be the "face" of the promotional campaign. See for yourself! The pic looks photo-shopped, so I am going to give you a direct link to the site so you know it's real. We are the 3rd picture in the series. If you want, you can bring your Human Family Tree DVD to the wedding, and we will sign it for you- free of charge.
https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html