Rice

Last week, I briefly visited my alma mater – Rice University! I didn’t have too much time to take photos (and of course, it was very humid, so my available picture-taking time was rapidly diminished), but I did have a short jaunt to a couple of my favorite places on campus. At least, on the north side of campus.

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It’s a special day for me to talk about Rice, as the memorial service for one of the students at my residential college there (Brown) is taking place today in Dallas. This student, who unexpectedly and tragically passed on Monday, was one of the few people I knew of at Rice who could bridge gaps and truly make friends with anyone he met. He was an enthusiastic photographer, and I often caught up on Rice or Brown events by looking through his photos. I only knew him as an acquaintance, so my heart goes out to his family and friends who had grown to know and love him deeply. Continue reading

L’Avenir

L’avenir: it’s one of the French words that means “in the future,” not as in the future tense of a verb, but rather in terms of past, present, and the future. It doesn’t necessarily describe a specific amount of time in the future, or exactly when it will be, but it describes the future in a way that seems far removed from where one resides figuratively at the present moment. L’avenir represents a time in days or years yet to come, when one will be in a certain place, doing a certain thing. “I will be in medical school, à l’avenir. I will hopefully work in international medicine, à l’avenir.” It’s a state of mind, a state of being in your life that so quickly comes and goes, just as easily as the present turns into the past, like a passing breath in cold, winter air. That’s the sort of sense that this word evokes for me, at least whenever I use it. I used it a lot while in Paris, and it means so much now more than ever, as I look forward to future plans and life beyond Rice.  Continue reading