Search

Cosmic Curiosities

“The desire to reach for the stars is ambitious. The desire to reach hearts is wise.”
- Maya Angelou, American Author & Poet

Diving Into Deep Space

Cosmic Curiosities

“It’s like winning a lottery. Although the odds are astronomical, most weeks, someone hits the jackpot.”
- Stephen Hawking, British Physicist

The Great 2020 Conjunction

Early Ancestors

Originally, the Native people who made up the Brothertown Tribe and the Stockbridge-Munsee Tribe came from the greater New England area. In the 1770s, the first Brothertown settlement in western New York drew members from the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island; the Pequot, Mohegan, and Niantic tribes in southeastern Connecticut; the Tunxis and Wangunk tribes in north-central Connecticut; and the Montauk tribe on Long Island.

Cosmic Curiosities

“Nobody is bored when he is trying to make something
that is beautiful, or to discover something that is true.”
~ William Ralph Inge, American Author

A Grand Finale at Saturn

Who doesn’t love a cool image of Saturn and its rings?

Cosmic Curiosities

"How can I hope to be friends
with the hard, white stars
whose flaring and hissing are not speech
 but a pure radiance?”
 - Mary Oliver, American Poet

Cosmic Curiosities

“Every book is its own black hole. Don’t fight the pull; find out where it takes you.”
- Richelle E. Goodrich, American Writer

Shedding Light on the Black Hole

Ho-Chunk Culture

The Ho-Chunk -- formerly called the Winnebago -- are members of a Siouan-speaking tribe who were established in Wisconsin at the time of French contact in the 1630s. The oral traditions of the tribe, particularly the Thunderbird clan, state that the Ho-Chunk originated at the Red Banks on Green Bay.

The Role of Oral Tradition

Oral tradition is important in all societies, despite the reliance of some cultures on written records and accounts. These traditions account for the ways things are and often the way they should be, and assist people in educating the young and teaching important lessons about the past and about life. Because many oral traditions are highly structured and are told faithfully without alteration, they can be as reliable as other non-oral ways of recording and passing on experiences.

The beings that make up Kwakiutl mythology are remarkably diverse. Accounts of their interactions with humans and each other are passed along through stories that not only form the basis of traditional Kwakiutl spiritual and ceremonial life and lore, but also connect Kwakiutl families to their ancestral pasts. Many contemporary Kwakiutl identify themselves as Christians but incorporate traditional mythology into their faith, freely blending elements of Christian and indigenous religion.