Relationships and Going Places

The US Forest Service has created this helpful tool for locating state and national forests, parks, and wildlife refuges across the country. On the homepage, visitors simply enter ZIP codes to find local sites of interest. For anyone interested in learning (or relearning) how to play the piano, this website provides a series of free video lessons. Ice and Sky earned a 2016 Webby nomination as an outstanding educational website. Horsethief is a digital magazine from Horsethief Books, a publisher of poetry books "from a diverse group of both emerging and established voices." Exotic and dramatic, Maria Merian's artwork was a valuable tool of discovery for Europeans at the time. more »

Jo Freeman writes from Inauguration Day's protests: Protesting the inauguration of a President has become a tradition. While those who shouted "not my President" and other things as Donald Trump ascended to the highest office in the land clearly did not like him, most of them would have demonstrated had it been Hillary Clinton who took the oath. The inauguration is a soapbox because it attracts press looking for stories. This gives protesters an opportunity for a national voice for their issues that they usually don't have. more »

"We laid out plans to preserve and pass on the digital legacy of the Obama administration and have been working to ensure this unprecedented digital transition meets three key goals. First, we are preserving the material we’ve created with the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Second, we are working to ensure these materials continue to be accessible on the platforms where they were created, allowing for continued access to the content posted over the past eight years. Finally, we are working to ensure that the next White House and future administrations can continue to use and develop the digital channels we have created to connect directly with the people they serve."   more »

Employees Entering Government: Individuals who join the executive branch may be required to take actions, either before becoming an employee or shortly thereafter, in order to comply with ethics laws and regulations concerning conflicting financial interests and impartiality. Hearings to examine the nomination of Jeff Sessions, of Alabama, to be Attorney General, Department of Justice will begin on Tuesday this week. more »