<ong>Nancy Braker is named new Director of Cowling Arboretum
Nancy Braker has been named the Director of Cowling Arboretum at Carleton College. Her responsibilities will include increasing the role of the arboretum in conservation, educaton, and sustainability. Braker will manage and develop natural and educational resources in the arboretum, as well as maintain and extend the restoration of native species and communities. She will also develop outreach programs for faculty, staff, students, and the public to ensure that the arboretum’s natural and educational resources are used effectively and sustainably.
Braker graduated from Carleton in 1981 and earned a master’s of science degree in entomology from the University of Minnesota in 1986. She worked for The Nature Conservancy since 1985, and since 2004 she served as director of conservation in the Baraboo Hills and western upland district in Wisconsin. Braker is also a founding member of the Friends of Rowan Creek, and has served as a liaison to public agencies on land management issues.
Carleton College’s Cowling Arboretum, affectionately known as “The Arb,” is a state game refuge, consisting of approximately 800 acres of land adjacent to the College. Created during the 1920s, the arboretum primarily serves the community in the areas of education, conservation, and recreation.
Diwali celebration at Carleton
The South Asian community at Carleton College invites the members of the College and Northfield residents to celebrate Diwali, the Hindu “Festival of Lights.”
To Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains, late fall is the season of Diwali, a holdiday devoted to prayer, lamps, sweets, and gift-giving. Diwali celebrations are so widespread that the holdiay is commonly commemorated for varying reasons in different regions. Among other explanations, the holiday marks the coronation of Kin Rama, commemorates the defeat of the demon Narakaasura, and honors Lakshmi, the goddess of weath. Diwali is generally about the domination of good over evil and light over darkness. The word “diwali” literally refers to a row of lights. The holiday is associated with the brightness from earthenware lamps used to decorate homes and businesses, and is today expressed with electric lights or fireworks.
The Diwali celebration at Carleton will include a worship service, student song and dance performances, and the opportunity to learn about South Asian culture. For Carleton students, the celebration will also include a dinner catered by Curry Kabab in Northfield. Complimentary tickets to the dinner are currently available to students in the Campus Activities office.
Carleton’s Diwali Celebration will be on Saturday, November 10 at 5:00 p.m. It will be held in Severence Great Hall on the Carleton campus.
Clinton’s long lost cousins: Angelina Jolie and Madonna
Family gatherings in Chappaqua may be a bit more glamorous than usual this holiday season, as Hillary Rodham Clinton has discovered she is related – albeit distantly – to Angelina Jolie and Madonna.
Washington genealogist William Addams Reitwiesner uncovered the ties, reports The Washington Post’s Reliable Source column.
It turns out the Democratic presidential candidate, 60, and the Material Girl, 49, are 10th cousins. They share the same great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents – 17th-century French ancestors who moved to Quebec and then came south.
The former First Lady can also count Jolie, 32, as a ninth cousin, twice removed.
If Clinton plans on inviting all her newly discovered cousins to Thanksgiving, she may need a bigger dinner table. According to Reitwiesner, Clinton is also distantly related to Camilla Parker-Bowles, Celine Dion and Alanis Morissette.
Courtesy of Tim Nudd, People Magazine