Marra does sports.

Photos for the Whitman Pioneer. Check out the article here!

Broken arm.... not so fun. Trying to do life is just hard.

Roses

“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” 

That is one of my favorite quotes from Barry López. I've been doing a lot of thinking lately. Maybe this level of thinking is only a result of my sleep deprivation and that I spend, on average, 7.5 hours in the Science Building every day. Maybe my thinking has to do with the fact that, since becoming more involved in the Pioneer, I have been paying a lot more attention to the news and everything that is going on around me. It's possible that my thinking is caused by being in an atmosphere full of incredibly active, interesting students...

...or, maybe I have been thinking a lot because I need to come up with some deep attention getters for my weekly papers for Methods of Environmental Analysis. 

Who knows. 

10 Things that I do Know:

1. The more science I study, the more curious I become. 

2. I like being curious. 

3. Emailing has become my main form of communication, and I have not resolved my feeling on this. 

4. Vivir en La Casa era una decisión increíble. 

5. Physics is not my calling, but I get giddy every time I go to Organic Chemistry. 

6. Having a bike on campus is one of the best things possible. 

7. I love zucchini fries. 

9. Sometimes it is faster to go to the bathroom in Maxey than to wait for someone to leave the shower. 

10. I am very happy with where I am in my life right now, and I plan to keep things going this way. 

NOW LOOK! NORMAL! PHOTOS! Check out the roses near Maxey West. 

We tried.

When anything related to science happens near campus, chaos ensues. A chance to see the northern lights? Half of Whitman treks out to the surrounding fields to spend hours sitting in the cold hoping for a dull, green horizon.
Alas, aurora borealis did not make an appearance within viewing distance of the Wallas yesterday. But- had a ton of fun driving out to the middle of nowhere, hiking up an absurdly large hill (check out a photo of the Palouse Hills landscape HERE!), then watching the stars with an awesome group of girls.

Also, experimenting with no-flash, no-tripod photos is fun.

Butterflies at the MN Zoo!

I've alway been a fan of butterfly gardens. They are always awesome because I have a chance to take really cool photos of the creatures, but I mainly love them because I like to laugh when they land on people's faces. It always results in screaming. So, here's some photos from the MN Zoo before I came  back out to school!

Sometime in my life, I may be able to identify these different species. But, not today. So instead I will compensate with a picture of the grass between the Zoo and the parking lot. Art is all around us, right?