CURRENT MISSION

My current mission is to bike across the country, go to grad school at some awesome inspiring business program (I don't think it's a complete oxymoron), then return to Buffalo to start an alternative high school.

ABOUT ME

Right now I am sitting up in bed listening to Vladimir Horowitz play the piano while I type. I just returned home from watching a horrible movie (The Mist) with my mom and two sisters on Buffalo's west side. Last night I went out to a local hip hop show and danced until 2:30am. This week I worked at the coffee shop down the street, where musicians, writers, travelers, drug addicts, activists, and others hang out. I am curious about most people, but am inspired by urban activists, community gardens, tasteful graffiti art, live music, rhythm, beautiful spaces, earth in her raw form, cooperatives, intentional communities, and people who pay attention.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm not sure if I have one personal philosophy, but I do try to be kind to others, and I definitely believe in giving back to those places that sustain me.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am new to the CouchSurfing network, but I suppose I am best working to build the community by creating a peaceful space in my own home where travelers may at sometime come visit.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've enjoyed being part of the couchsurfing community and hope to continue giving and receiving to the worldwide community of travelers.

Interests

I enjoy having a good time. To me a good time is watching people, smiling, and seeing the many different ways the world appears.

• arts
• writing
• poetry
• coffee
• shopping
• traveling
• music
• live music
• piano
• cycling
• business
• teaching
• sociology
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Spirited Away, Monsters Ball, something something something about a Spotless Mind, nothing specifics coming to me now, but I like to watch movies.

Music: Chopin, Erik Satie, the Roots, Sarah Mclachlan, Django Reinhart, Peter Gabriel, the Triplettes of Belleville soundtrack, Brother Ali, the Cure, and more

Books: Ahab's Wife by ?, Black White and Jewish by Rebecca Walker, Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler, Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac, Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, East West (short stories) by Salman Rushdie

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Stood on top of the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming and realized how small and large I was all at once. How insignificant I am, but also that I am huge inside myself.

Teach, Learn, Share

I will teach, learn and share best in my direct one-on-one interactions with others.

I've done many amazing things and will be happy to share my story with others... Some of my life experiences include birthing my son, biking many miles, living in the Czech Republic (in the 80's), traveling on psychadelic journeys, studying piano, writing poetry and prose, studying communes and intentional communities, being arrested for protesting for labor rights, feeling anger, visiting Buddhist monestaries, growing up in a spiritual community of artisans, pondering race, class and gender as a multi-racial, college-educated, single-mother off and on social services who was raised by two University professors (my step-father was a Sociology professor and my father is a mathematician). I most recently give a lot of mental energy thinking about and supporting my older sister who's been diagnosed with mental disabilities, which encourages me to think about the additional privilege of having a somewhat "sane" mind (a mind mostly unhindered by chemical imbalances).

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Germany, Poland, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Czech Republic, United States

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