Holiday-ish: Day 22

Yesterday’s winter solstice marked the shortest day and longest night of the year, when the North Pole is tilted the farthest away from the sun.  From prehistoric times through the present, the solstice has been celebrated with festivals and rituals marking the beginning of winter. It also marks, according to …

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Maria Mitchell

A star in many fields, Maria (pronounced Mar-eye-ah) Mitchell, the first female astronomer in the United States, was also an educator, librarian, naturalist, suffragette and anti-slavery activist. Born in Nantucket, Massachusetts in 1818, Maria’s Quaker parents believed all their children should be educated – not a common idea back then. …

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