Robert (Otis) Otieno

Pizza at 4,630 meters, the Kissing Wall, and one very long summit night. Previously: a lost bag, four rowdy lads from Leeds, and two cold nights on the Machame Route. Now the mountain gets serious. Day 3 The Mountain, a Naughty Babe Altitude gain: 120m A thing about living in Southern California is the sheer amount of Spanish you absorb. Before Caltech, my Spanish was confined to movie references. Those references might raise eyebrows over stereotypes, but for a kid in Sub-Saharan

A budget adventurer, four rowdy lads from Leeds, and one relentless case of gas on the Machame Route There is something out there, and something in here. More often than not, I go looking for what’s out there to forget what’s happening in here. Sometimes it’s simpler than that. Just a burning curiosity about what lies beyond in me: the landscapes, the people, the perspectives, the challenges. This summer, I got the chance to visit the Roof of Africa. The trip was mostly born of a need to do

Cover art for Blood Ivory: The Massacre of the African Elephant by Robin Brown (with John Hanks). (Photo: The History Press) In my three years at Caltech, I have learned one undeniable truth: winter terms are the hardest. If you aren’t grinding through core requirements, you’re battling the occasional rains and winds. If not the weather, then some burning bush (literal and met

“I’m going on an adventure,” shouts Bilbo Baggins in the first moments of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, after accepting Gandalf’s request to join the dwarves. A huge Hobbit fan, I’d never given the line much thought. It was simply part of the script. It couldn’t rival Smaug’s chilling soliloquy on the mountain of gold, or Bilbo’s emotional farewell after the Battle of the Five Armies. It couldn’t have been the most essential line … until it was. I stepped into a chilly Auckland from a pr

If This is to End in Fire… Otis Otieno | Culture Left to right: Tyler, Ahaan, Ai-Dan, Nat, Sophie, Maverick, Neev, Danela. On this day, they carved out the former president’s door and brought it to Hell as a prank. I am a big believer in destiny, that commander of events that places people where they need to be exactly when they need to. It is that destiny that p