Vol. 18: Standing Against Hate

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

While there are infinite reasons to celebrate women all year long, we decided to focus on a few case studies to highlight the extraordinary leadership and skills of these women who have overcome tremendous adversity to get where they are today and who are making history as we speak. Meet Diana Trujillo (pictured on the left), flight director for the recent successful NASA Preservernce mission to Mars. With only 300 dollars and no fluency in English, Diana first came to the United States from humble beginnings. Now, as one of the few women (especially women of color) working in the aerospace sciences field, Diana knows the impact that she is making for future generations of both women and Latinas: "The more hers there are, the more engineers and scientists that are Latin are out there, the more chances we have for those kids to have la chispa, where they say, 'I want to be that.'" Meet Deb Haaland (pictured on the right), Congresswoman for New Mexico and current nominee for the Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of the Interior. A 35th generation New Mexican woman from the Pueblo of Laguna, Deb Haaland is testifying to become the first ever Native American in history to serve in a presidential cabinet! She said it best, "I am a living testament of the failure of that horrific ideology... I also stand on the shoulders of my ancestors and all the people who sacrificed so that I can be here." Meet Chloe Zhao, making history as the first Asian woman to win Best Director at the Golden Globes for her film, Nomadland. And in the 78 year history of the Golden Globes, only one other woman has ever won the award for best director: Barabara Streisand in 1983 for her film, Yentl. In Zhao's words, "’Compassion is a breakdown of all barriers between us, a heart-to-heart bonding. Your pain is my pain. It's mingled and shared between us.' This is why I fell in love with making movies and telling stories, because it gives us a chance to laugh and cry together, and a chance to learn from each other and have more compassion for each other." We bet, it's been years since you read Pi somewhere, let alone remember the history behind it. Well, we decided to take some time and explore some of the sweet tales behind the special number. First off, what is pi (π), anyway? As explained by Exploratorium: Divide any circle’s circumference by its diameter; the answer (whether for a pie plate or a planet) is always approximately 3.14, a number we represent with the Greek letter π. Keep calculating π’s digits with more and more accuracy—as mathematicians have been doing for 4,000 years—and you’ll discover they go on literally forever, with no pattern. Pretty cool right? Known as an irrational number, π cannot be expressed as a simple fraction, but rather in the never-ending decimal form, 3.14159... A brief history.... Pi (π) was first calculated by the ancient Babylonians on a stone tablet and by ancient Egyptians, and then it was calculated more precisely by the Greek mathematician, Archimedes, in the 200's BC, as well as the Chinese mathematician and astronomer, Zu Chongzhi, in the 5th Century. Then in the 1700's, mathematicians began using the Greek symbol π, setting into motion its future connection with the pastry pie. So how did pi (π) capture the hearts of people enough to be given its own holiday celebration? Well, during a brainstorming retreat, physicist Larry Shaw (affectionately known as the Prince of π) noticed the link between March 14 and 3.14. He decided to create an event at the San Francisco Exploratorium starting on 3/14 at 1:59 pm to kick off an annual celebration. As it turns out, Albert Einstein's birthday happens to fall on March 14, so Pi (π) Day naturally celebrated his life as well. The day has evolved to become a much larger celebration, loved by math educators and everyday people alike, and the festivities include everything from π-themed activities and games to π history to, of course, pie itself! Our team at GreatCo collectively voiced our anger and pain a month ago discussing the heart-wrenching ongoing racism and hate crimes against the AAPI community. At the time, we wanted to bring the issue to light, so we provided some resources for education and we hoped to encourage our community to chat with their elders so they can be aware of the climate.  More Info #StandWithAsians It's ok if you're just having this conversation for the first time, it's ok if you haven't been able to put words together out of anger or fear, and it's ok if it feels uncomfortable. Please have this conversation with the people around you and start taking action in any way that you are comfortable. This has been happening (even if not on the front page) for the past year, and it remains a consistent and prevalent issue. There's power in unity, and we look to allies for support, but collectively there's more power in all of us addressing the real root of racism and discrimination. We need to be loud, and we need to fight.  This year, on March 26th, we took a day off with intention. We rolled up our sleeves to focus on creating a full day initiative with 20+ hours to support this cause. We called on AAPI and their allies to rally for a virtual walkout from the corporations we power. Together, we held a peaceful protest against racism and indifference as we continue to rise up, and made our power felt by demanding meaningful action. The Naturalization Act of 1790 — the first uniform rules that granted United States citizenship by naturalization was signed into law on March 26, 1790. The law limited naturalization to “free white person[s] … of good character”, excluding Native Americans, indentured servants, slaves, free blacks and later Asians. The racial restriction against Asians was the last to be eliminated. We want people to know that discrimination against any minority group is harmful to our nation's collective progress and well-being. Enjoying our newsletters? Check out our website updates for all past monthly issues! #InGreatCo