Annual celebratory events such as Native American Heritage Month also help to promote awareness of Native American Culture. Native American Heritage Month is celebrated every November in the United States. Special public venues and events recognize Native Americans for their service in the nation’s armed forces and other contributions they have made to American society. These events showcase Native American culture, art, and food, and provide an opportunity to learn more about the tribes of different geographic areas. For more information, visit www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov.
Recognizing Native American cultures as a gateway to gaining further understanding of the environment around us, Jordan Perzik actively strives to learn more about how to preserve these cultures and use their traditional knowledge in present society. Jordan Perzik supports organizations such as the Living Desert, Friends of the Desert Mountains, and various cultural centers that promote recognition of the contributions Native Americans have made to the United States of America.
Annual celebratory events such as Native American Heritage Month also help to promote awareness of Native American Culture. Native American Heritage Month is celebrated every November in the United States. Special public venues and events recognize Native Americans for their service in the nation’s armed forces and other contributions they have made to American society. These events showcase Native American culture, art, and food, and provide an opportunity to learn more about the tribes of different geographic areas. For more information, visit www.nativeamericanheritagemonth.gov.
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Jordan Perzik, a psychology intern in California, spends much of his free time advocating for environmental preservation and awareness of local native cultures. Jordan Perzik works with the Agua Caliente Cultural Museum of the Cahillua Indians, the Malki Museum Press, and the cultural center of the Morongo Indian Reservation to promote understanding of these peoples and their history. To encourage increased knowledge of California's history and the contributions of its native peoples, governor Jerry Brown recently signed into law a bill that requires secondary schools to offer a course in Native American studies. The bill also mandates the development of a model curriculum, to be created with input from various tribes across the state. The author of the bill, California Assembly member Monique Limon, stresses the importance of Native peoples' contributions to the required curriculum. She notes that such a process will ensure a course of study that will give marginalized communities the chance to tell their stories and provide Native students with representation in public education. This is crucial in a state that has not only the largest percentage of Native American residents, but also the third-highest number of Native students in its public schools. A psychology intern working toward becoming a psychologist, Jordan Perzik also pursues a long-time interest in astronomy. Jordan Perzik has more than 100 hours on the Hale Telescope in Los Angeles, where he concentrated on the study of galaxies and other interstellar phenomena. In October of 2017, astronomers at the University of Hawaii spotted a fast-traveling interstellar object as it passed by the sun. Observers assessed the body as a comet but noted that it followed an unusual trajectory, as it was moving along an abnormal hyperbolic track in relation to the surrounding planets. This suggested that the body had come from outside of the solar system. Because science had not yet observed an interstellar comet, this potential discovery held a high level of interest. Researchers continued to observe the phenomena over the next week, during which time observer Karen Meech of the University of Hawaii noted that its shape was completely star-like and indicated its nature was that of an asteroid, not a comet. Now known as A/2017 U1, the asteroid nonetheless appears to be of interstellar origin. Researchers currently believe its origin to be in the direction of the constellation Lyra, near the star Vega. If it did in fact develop outside of the solar system, it is the first interstellar asteroid observed by astronomers on Earth. Jordan Perzik is a Southern California resident who is pursuing doctoral work in psychology at the Pacifica Graduate Institute. Among Jordan Perzik’s longstanding interests is astronomy and he enjoys attending lectures presented by the Los Angeles Astronomical Society. As reported in Nature, one of the most persistent puzzles of modern astronomy centers on fast radio bursts (FRBs), which were first detected in Australia in 2001 by the Parkes telescope. Brief radio bursts are regularly detected from rotating neutron stars called pulsars, which sweep the earth with radiation in the same way as a lighthouse’s beam does. What was detected in 2001 was a single burst that had an intensity far in excess than any known pulsar. Known as Lorimer bursts after their co-discoverer, these FRBs have become increasingly accepted by the astrophysics community as a common occurrence. Lasting a mere 5 milliseconds, the FRBs can only have a source that is compact and not more than a couple hundred miles across. At the same time, the energy emitted must be massive for it to be detected on Earth. This leaves a list of candidates that includes neutron stars, merging black holes, and magnetar flares. One enticing possibility is that FRBs travel “cosmological distances” and that their existence could be used to identify and research missing matter throughout the far reaches of the universe. |
AuthorA doctoral student in clinical psychology, Jordan Perzik has spent the last seven years furthering his counseling education while serving as a therapist in the Los Angeles area. Archives
November 2017
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