CURRENT MISSION

Asking questions about how particular species, especially the human, are equipped to encounter social and political worlds, so as to foster new ways of doing political organization and social activism.

ABOUT ME

Returning to academia after over a decade outside the Ivory Tower. I'm pursuing an anthropology program at New School for Social Research, with a long term focus on applied evolutionary phenomenology: essentially, a civically-directed, spandrelist approach to an evolutionary psychology of experience.

Uncaffinated, non-smoking teetotaler. I quickly become the favorite back and tummy scratcher of every household dog or cat that happens to make my acquaintance. When visiting with friends, I can often be found doing the dishes, despite attempts to shoo me away from the sink. Weird, huh? I revel in political and social tetrapyloctomy--carrying an invisible soapbox with me wherever I may tread.

PHILOSOPHY

"Meandering leads to perfection." -- Lao Tzu

"To keep our faces toward change, and behave like free spirits \ in the presence of fate, is strength undefeatable." --Helen Keller

"The place to improve the world is first in one's own heart and head and hands, and then work outward from there." --Robert Pirsig

Eschaton and Genesis are likewise moot in the midst of Immanence:
So many Narrative collapsings of the Wave Function of creation.

And, shamelessly stolen from http://www.couchsurfing.org/people/bethfromtexas/ ...

-Well, it tastes like a pear. You don't know what a pear tastes like?
-I don't know what a pear tastes like to you.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Surfing, and volunteering where and how my knowledge, skills, and abilities may be of value.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Have stayed with friends from time to time; have provided a place to stay from time to time (when I had the means).

Interests

philosophy, psychology, anthropology, science, religion, civic engagement, immanence, nonviolent communication (NVC), doing other people's dishes

http://twitter.com/beadsland

• cats
• dogs
• working out
• walking
• politics
• podcasts
• surfing
• anthropology
• psychology
• religion
• science
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Stand and Deliver, Spirited Away, The American President, The Neverending Story

Music: Lisa Hannigan, Loreena McKennitt, Perla Batalla, Jerry Jeff Walker, Stereo De Luxe, Joseph Lo Duca, Murray Gold, Broadway, 10fm, Toxic Audio

http://www.last.fm/user/beadsland

Books: His Dark Materials, The Three Pigs (David Wiesner), Ursula K. LeGuin, Robert J. Sawyer, Harry Turtledove, Evolution (Stephen Baxter), The Years of Rice and Salt, The Alien Years, Mythago Wood, For Want of a Nail, Calvin & Hobbes, 1632/Ring of Fire, Riverworld, Tom Stoppard. I especially enjoy multi-perspectival, trans-genre fiction that doesn't try too hard. Non-fiction fare includes: They Cage the Animals at Night, A Thousand Years of Nonlinear History, The Implications of Immanence, and The Death and Life of Great American Cities.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Living without a car in suburbia. Walking thirty miles in one day just to do so. These things don't amaze me, but apparently others find them jaw-agape astounding.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can wax on endlessly about a philosophy of immanence, or a politics of enmeshment, or the logical fallacies that hold up much of modern secular discourse, or civic engagement as human heritage. I listen to far too many podcasts from UC Berkeley, Princeton, NYU, etc.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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