Churches Alaska

For the second time in a year, an American Indian has been elected an Episcopal bishop. The Rev. Steven Charleston, 41, an Oklahoma-born Choctaw, was elected bishop of Alaska. Another American Indian, Steven Plummer, was elected a year ago as bishop of Navajoland, a mission diocese based in Farmington, N.M., covering Navajo reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

For the second time in a year, an American Indian has been elected an Episcopal bishop. The Rev. Steven Charleston, 41, an Oklahoma-born Choctaw, was elected bishop of Alaska. Another American Indian, Steven Plummer, was elected a year ago as bishop of Navajoland, a mission diocese based in Farmington, N.M., covering Navajo reservations in Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

Long before Christ, it was a symbol of eternity fit only for the gods, an orb of fealty used to swear allegiance to Cleopatra, a farewell offering carved into Tutankhamen's tomb. Today, the onion is humble food consumed by billions. The pungent vegetable spices up our lives as a cheap, nutritious and tangy staple. Onions also are objects of modern medical research into everything from high blood pressure and cholesterol levels to why we cry tears and what those tears mean to our psyche.