By Emilia Perez When you think of pyramids, does your mind go to Egypt and the Great Pyramids of Giza? Up until recently, I believed Egypt held the largest pyramids in the world! It was when I traveled to see my family in Mexico that I learned that the largest pyramid on the planet was in our state of Puebla, Mexico. I walked up to the pyramid site with my aunt Mirnis, the aunt I’m closest to on my dad’s side. She lives in Mexico with the rest of our extended family. As we walked around the site, she explained what the pyramid meant to her. “This was built by the Toltecas in the Puebla region, who are your ancestors too. It was dedicated to the Feathered Serpent. When the Spaniards arrived, they wanted to dominate the indigenous peoples, and so they covered the pyramid and built their church on the top, sort of to say ‘We’re here and this belongs to us.’ But none of that erases the fact that this is the largest in the world, and it’s still here.” She also told me stories of tunnel...
By Luke Taylor “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.” – C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves In my room there is a 12 by 8 foot wall. On this perimeter of my college homebase lives 222 photos – I count them to fall asleep. 47 are with other scholars in various states of candide and posed states of excitement. Crawfish boils, Derby celebrations, practicing with the local curling team, and snowball fights. Others encapsulate various trips, ceremonies, fraternity formals, a birthday here, another Cards victory there. But all of them showcase my proudest achievement: my friends. Growing up I had heard that family isn’t always blood, and for whatever reason, I took that to be so exclusionary. Loved ones should mean everyone you love,...