Both my mom and dad were raised as Catholics. They met in a Catholic Charismatic church group, so when I was born I was promptly baptized into the Church and taken along to Mass. Eventually my parents became fed up with the disapproving glances cast their way by fellow parishioners, because apparently babies were expected to be kept in the quieting room so that their cries would not disturb the Mass at this particular church. So they... [Read More]

Over the past two months I had the opportunity to show my friend Lea, an intern from Germany working in my department at Rice, around my hometown, Houston, Texas. The best part about taking her around town was getting to see my home through the eyes of someone with literally no preconceptions about it. I’ve lived in Houston for all of my life other than my three years at Texas A&M. I love my hometown like nowhere... [Read More]

I’m going to discuss why I read. I recently listened to a conversation between Russ Roberts and Andy Matuschak on EconTalk, where they discuss one of Alex’s recent blogposts about why books are not a great way for people to gain knowledge. The conversation got me thinking about why I read in the first place as it’s my main hobby. I’m a Ph.D. student right now. After I get back from work, I’ll eat dinner and then... [Read More]

I was captivated by history from a young age, and I think a lot of that is due to the influence of my grandmother. A lot of times I would just sit around her apartment and ask her questions about what Cuba was like, and what it was like for her to leave her home country after the 1959 Cuban Revolution and come to a completely different country, the United States. I learned about my great grandmother... [Read More]

Anarchism is a political philosophy that gets a bad rap. When most people hear the word “anarchism”, the first thing that comes to mind is a bomb exploding in a crowded square, or a bullet in the chest of a US president. Revolutionary anarchism was and is a thing, but I think the portrayal of anarchist thought as being centered around destruction and chaos is naive. Anarchism at its core shifts political discussion from being anchored on... [Read More]

Last week I had the opportunity to attend the American Geophysical Union’s 2017 Fall Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana to present research I have been conducting under Dr. Denise Kulhanek of Texas A&M University/The International Ocean Discovery Program. I want to share some of my thoughts about the meeting, as it was my first scientific conference and it gave me a lot to think about. [Read More]

As a student of geology, one of the first lessons you learn about your field is that geologic time is very different from everyday time as you experience it. Geologic time is measured in units virtually impossible to comprehend. The history of the Earth is measured in thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions, hundreds of millions and billions of years. These numbers are so big that they can be hard to relate to. How can... [Read More]