CURRENT MISSION

go everywhere and be there and then get it down.

ABOUT ME

I've always been a rather restless person. When I was younger this led me to read too many books and get myself lost in the woods behind my house. Later I got into long distance running, which scratched the itch alright, and in college I spent a lot of time night wandering, and studying, which is its own kind of night wandering. After graduating, I settled down into a nine to five for a little over a year.

The stagnancy of that was an adventure too, but now it's time to stretch out again, so I recently quit that nine to five and got a new job travel writing in Iceland. I hope to see as much of the country and meet as many people as I can while I'm there, and to wrestle all of it down on paper. I really can't wait to meet you and to hear your story!

PHILOSOPHY

Because of the restlessness issue I mentioned before, and a certain value I place on openmindedness, I often feel as though I'm constantly flickering between different points of view, and as such it's difficult to nail down a cogent personal philosophy.

I do think that empathy is very important, both as a moral imperative and an imaginative exercise. And I think the fact that - no matter how empathetic and predictive I try to be - I end up being surprised by 85-90% of things that happen is either evidence of the existence of grace in the universe OR proof that I'm just really bad at predicting things.

Sets of ideas that are powerful and make sense to me include the way that Jack White uses and interprets minimalism, the sustainability movement, and magical realism as a way of getting at emotional truth. But as I said, I'll let myself be convinced of basically anything for a day, so go for it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My couch in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts was itself taken in off the street, and has since served as a resting place for many friends and acquaintances who have found themselves in Boston, or who have come here on purpose. While I can't offer up my couch while I'm traveling, I hope to have it open for business as soon as I return. Meanwhile, I look forward to surfing during my travels, and meeting up with other surfers to hang out and swap fish stories.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am a relative newcomer to the couchsurfing community, but I do really enjoy sleeping on couches - when I was in school I'd range between dorms at night and sleep whenever and wherever I got tired, and sometimes I sleep on the couch in my own house, for variety and because the view of the moon is way better. Although I've not borrowed sleeping space from very many people during my international travels, I have accidentally found myself sharing quarters with some vervet monkeys, a couple of snakes, freaky insects of all hues and creeds, and one very memorable goat. I also once participated in mattress-sledding, couchsurfing's snowier and more reckless cousin.

Interests

reading. writing. music (especially live music). plants. animals. running (from things; towards things; for its own sake). puns, sadly. hats. sweeping ideas about biodiversity conservation. fictional depictions of the American Civil War. games that dogs normally like (e.g. tennis ball catch). night. intersections between art and science. tangible communicative objects (e.g. records, plaques, anything handwritten). other peoples' lives. the hood blimp.

• animals
• dogs
• fish
• insects
• arts
• writing
• books
• cooking
• vegetarian
• exercise
• running
• reading
• traveling
• minimalism
• music
• live music
• guitar
• fishing
• surfing
• wrestling
• tennis
• business
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

Music - always: The White Stripes, St. Vincent, Regina Spektor, The Fiery Furnaces, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Strokes. soft/resonant spot for 00s garage rock, especially from Detroit.

right now: The Replacements, Frank Ocean, Captain Beefheart, the new Fiona Apple, and "Ready to Die."

Movies: Mulholland Drive, Charlie Kaufman's stuff, Miranda July's stuff, SpyKids.

Books: Chris Adrian, Joan Didion, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Mitchell, David Foster Wallace, George Saunders, Aaron Cometbus. lately anything about writers living in foreign locales, e.g. Hemingway, who probably wouldn't have liked couchsurfing that much, and Bolano, who would have been all over it.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I got to see two cheetahs in Ngorongoro Crater in Tanzania. They were just going about their day, but it was an incredible experience, and emotionally dense in a way that is difficult to describe.

There was also a period of time a few years back where every day I got to steal a perfectly ripe apricot from a greenhouse, walk to a nearby river, and eat it while looking at the water. This felt like time travel.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could probably teach you your favorite song on guitar, unless you are a Hendrix-loving perfectionist. I can cook pretty well (vegetarian, though) and I'm even better at helping other people cook. I make excellent ice cream, and I tell good bedtime stories - generally for kids, but I'm flexible.

I have an amazingly terrible sense of direction, so I mostly am going to want to learn how to get places. Less pathetically, I also like learning weird local sayings.

Countries I’ve Visited

Kenya, Uganda

Countries I’ve Lived In

Kenya, Tanzania, United States