Evo Intro

 Hi Class,

My name is Dayton Raines, hence the cringe-producing play-on-words title of this blog. I hail from Shawnee, KS and I'd be quite happy ending up anywhere that has dense forests, fields of flowers, and stretches of water. Conservation of and communication of the importance of biodiversity is one of my most serious passions, as is the modern reconnection of humanity with its nature-based origins. I have been drawn to biology throughout my life because I am simply fascinated by life: physical matter that just happens to have a special something about it that lets it be just a bit more than just physical matter. Evolution is just the process by which life has variably expressed itself millions, maybe billions, of times throughout the millennia of its existence, which is, frankly, dope. I am an avid gardener and my family keeps quite a few pets so frequently I find myself thinking about the "But... why?" of various plant species I care for and our familiar canine, feline, and avian companions. Hopefully by the end of this semester this class will have deepened both my appreciative and empirical understanding of evolution, so I may continue to grow in my understanding of the natural world. Oh, I also hope to learn some good coding skills because I think my boss would really appreciate it. Thanks for reading :)