firechaplain

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Why the surprise? There have always been women who dare to be true to their best self!

Yes, That Viking Warrior Buried with Weapons Really Was a Woman

The ancient warrior was given a prestigious Viking burial, complete with deadly Viking weapons, a bag of gaming pieces (possibly to represent military command) and two horses, one bridled for riding. This mighty warrior — long thought to be be a man — made headlines in 2017 when researchers in Sweden announced that the individual was, in fact, a woman.

The intense scrutiny that followed caught the researchers by surprise.

The barrage of questions from the public and other scientists was unrelenting: Were the researchers sure they had analyzed the right bones? Was there more than one body in the burial, of which one was surely a man? And if the warrior’s sex was indeed female, is it possible they were a transgender man?

Now, in a new study published online yesterday (Feb. 19) in the journal Antiquity, the researchers of the original study have reaffirmed their conclusion that this mighty individual was a woman. The new study addresses all the questions people raised, and more. Read more.

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Thank you Fred!

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping’. To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster’, I remember my mother’s words and I am comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers - so many caring people in this world. - Mr. Rogers.”

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🦋🦋🦋

I needed this today 🌻

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Snow Day! ❄️ ⛄️ ❄️

(via (48) Pinterest)

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Pleasantly Overwhelmed

Our annual NYSAFC conference this year was held on Long Island at the Plainview Fire Department. Usually a three day event, my husband and I along with several dear friends, went early to attend Shabbat with the incoming Chief Chaplain. Their service was amazing. We were there over four hours participating in prayers, worship, a bat mitzvah, and a delicious lunch.

Rabbi Rank honored our new chief, then introduced the row full of gentile supporters: including a Baptist, a Methodist and an Anglican Canon. Being such a special occasion, all of Bill and Melanie Mayo’s children and grandchildren were present.

Our conference theme was ‘Tolerance’ and all our seminars reflected the theme and challenged our own prejudices. We even toured the Nassau County Tolerance Center and Holocaust Museum. No one who attended will ever be the same again.

Concluding our time together was guest presenter Ann Kansfield, FDNY Chaplain. She held our attention and broke down barriers for many people. I was delightful to watch her keen sense of self, humor and honesty soften the hearts of everyone there.

I feel as if I have watched a modern day miracle as our group was transformed into a united body of human beings, ready and equipped to serve every human being we might encounter with dignity, understanding, respect and most importantly - to serve them with love.

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[firechaplain]

I really like this quote. ☺️

[firechaplain]

Excellent advice for anyone and everyone! ❤️

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From the Front Lines to the Fire Lines

The BLM has eight wildland fire crews across the country employed almost entirely of military veterans. These men and women make up first-rate hand crews and travel where they are needed during fire season. Through the BLM fire crews, veterans can transition from their military careers into civil service, have crew camaraderie and travel to new places.

The crews’ mantra is to engage, transition and connect veterans with meaningful training and employment experiences in wildland fire suppression, fuels and natural resources management. Join a BLM wildland fire crew in Nevada, Oregon, Wyoming, Montana, California, South Dakota or Arizona today! If you are interested in applying visit the link to learn more bit.ly/2qGsp1G

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Tucked away in Seneca Falls, NY, Women’s Rights National Historical Park tells the story of women who changed the future of America.

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Butterflies in action: Citizen Scientists monitor monarchs

From July 28 to August 5, 2018, citizens from Canada, the United States and Mexico were invited to participate in the second International Monarch Monitoring Blitz to help identify the monarch butterfly’s breeding sites and migration trends. As the only food source for monarch caterpillars, milkweed is essential to monarchs.

Several BLM offices and volunteers are planning monitoring events to determine monarch and milkweed presence and abundance on our lands. The data will be submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service Monarch Conservation Database.

In the United States, monitoring the northern range of the eastern monarch population (east of the Rocky Mountains) will paint a picture of milkweed and monarch abundance during breeding of the migratory generation. Reports from the southern range of the eastern monarch population will document whether breeding and early migration are occurring. Information from the western range (west of the Rocky Mountains) will help give insight to the butterflies’ preferred nectar sources, migrating routes and where they go searching for food and milkweed to deposit their eggs.

This video was taken on August 5 by a BLM wildlife biologist at Lake Artemisia in College Park, Maryland.

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Sometimes, when you walk with lions, it is time to sit down and chat a bit. 😉

(via (1858) Pinterest)

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This sums my life up nicely. 🌼🌼🌼

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Josephine Holloway (d.  December 7, 1988)

Art by Yvan Subbotin (tumblr)

In 1933, Josephine Holloway attempted to create a new Girl Scout troop in Nashville.  The local council declined her request, citing the high cost of maintaining separate facilities in the Jim Crow South. Undeterred, Josephine  organized an unofficial troop for her daughter and encouraged other black women to do the same. 

Northern troops had long included black scouts.  Black girls were part of the third official troop founded in 1913 in New Bedford, MA.  Exclusively black troops were part of the national organization as early as 1917.  But black women in the South were not welcomed into Girl Scouting.  Maggie L. Walker founded the first official black troop in the South in 1932.

In 1942, the Nashville Girl Scout Council recognized the black troops.   By 1944, black girls accounted for 15 percent of Nashville’s Girl Scouts.  That same year, the Nashville Council hired Josephine as a field adviser.  In 1952, Josephine organized a campground for black Girl Scouts on her family’s land.  In the early 1960s, Nashville Girls Scout integrated, negating the need for two separate camp facilities.  

Josephine retired from her paid position in 1963 and died in 1988 at the age of 90.  Camp Holloway remains open to Girl Scouts of all races in Middle Tennessee.  

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