Hey! My name is Aaron and welcome to my blog – Mote. After 5 years of military service, another decade trying to make ends meet in higher education, and a trip to the ER – I decided to try something creative for myself.

Living in a rural U.S. area but trying to exist in academia has meant 2-3 hours commuting in the car every day (often making less than $15 an hour) while supporting a college system that doesn’t care about their staff or faculty. Why do this? Because I truly cared about the mission. The promise of an education (for myself or others) kept me going when training was difficult, deployment was unbearable, and the economic realities of a crumbling college education infrastructure hit their zenith.

The amazing work I’ve seen others achieve in college is in spite of, not due to university facilities. Learning happens both in and out of the classroom, something I successfully integrated into my approach to research. Learning takes time coupled with patience – so helping others research is in essence also teaching them how to not give up on themselves.

The intent of Mote is to showcase all of the wonderful plant life I grew up with as a constant companion, explore interests I am trying to turn in to an actual way of earning a living, while ideally putting some of my research skills working in a library to use. A long term goal is to one day make enough money to finally afford startup costs to run my own greenhouse. Through the military & college I’ve learned that anyone can learn anything if they care enough – so I want to learn so much more and bring you along for the journey.

Mote is still settling in to a final shape (just like a plant seeking sun!) so stay tuned for more to come.