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Author: The Refresh

The Stories We Become: Tips for Tracing Your Genealogical Roots

The Stories We Become: Tips for Tracing Your Genealogical Roots

by Lauren Jonik Family—blood or chosen—helps us to orient in the world and find our place by understanding not only where we come from, but where we have the potential to go. My passion for genealogy was ignited on a rainy day in my 10th year. My grandmother and aunt had prepared a booklet listing all of the relatives and ancestors dating back to my great-grandparents. Suddenly, my Irish, German and Polish heritage took on a new dimension. I began…

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Charlottesville: a call to action for white women

Charlottesville: a call to action for white women

by Gretchen Hanson I didn’t plan to be heading south towards Charlottesville, Virginia after the alt-right demonstration this past August. But I didn’t try to change my plans either. I am possessed simultaneously with contradictory personal gifts. I am a profound chaos magnet, but also the recipient of amazing travel karma. This has been manifested throughout my life by allowing me to be smack dab in the midst of the most dramatic political upheavals on the planet without ever being…

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Bessie, Willa, and Janet: Unsung Heroines in Aviation History

Bessie, Willa, and Janet: Unsung Heroines in Aviation History

by Demress Stockman I have always been fascinated by explorers and pioneers in history. I think about their incredible courage and persistence to go where nobody else they knew had gone, their desire to know and accomplish things, and their visions for the future that must have driven them in the face of incredible obstacles. Black History Month and Women’s History Month make up a two-month period of time for me to reflect on the achievements of people who have not…

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Living Lahaina: Live like a local for a vacation you won’t soon forget

Living Lahaina: Live like a local for a vacation you won’t soon forget

by Taylor Bennett Hawaii is filled to the brim with posh resorts and luxurious beach clubs—there is world-class nightlife, five-star dining and enough stores selling Gucci that you might as well be in Beverly Hills. But there’s a different part of Maui. One that is refreshingly local and just as magical. It’s mere steps from the glitz and glamor of resort towns like Wailea and Ka’anapali, but it is worlds apart in charm and character. Lahaina. Once a bustling whaling…

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Spies, sculptors and aviators: exploring women’s hidden history

Spies, sculptors and aviators: exploring women’s hidden history

by Greer Macallister Women’s History Month is a great time to learn more about the amazing women of history whose stories were left out of our high school textbooks. We know Charles Lindbergh’s name and Amelia Earhart’s, but what about Beryl Markham, whose adventures in aviation were just as groundbreaking? Everyone has heard of John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated President Lincoln, but what about Kate Warne, who saved Lincoln from an assassination attempt en route to his inauguration? When I…

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