I’m a curious cat! about others' perspectives and ways of being.

I work for a public university doing research as part of an effort to divert people with mental and behavioral illnesses from the carceral system and improve access to harm reduction services.

I love running, dancing, hiking, skipping stones, singing, drawing faces and bodies, a good dunk in the water.

7 on the enneagram

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I'm not particularly extraverted, but I do see value in sharing space, materials, and in person engagement with "strangers," rather than defaulting to the impersonal, transactional "market." A long time ago I read something, whose author I now forget, which said something like "friendship happens in the time between gifts," which I took to mean that friendship is not something proven by reciprocity in itself, but is rather something experienced when we've come to trust that it is okay to be left for some time "owed by" or "owing" the other.
I believe we can learn to recognize our interdependence as a source of strength and abundance, rather than as something to fear, when we practice relying on each other, showing up for each other, and receiving in kind.

Interests

At the moment I'm trying to learn about participatory action research as a research/philosophy praxis.
I'm also very endeared to the practical philosophy of Elizabeth Anderson.

I'm trying a low mileage running plan in an attempt to compromise between my desire to run the fastest marathon I can and the desire of my Achilles tendons for me to stop running all together.

• dancing
• running
• drawing
• backpacking
• social science
• cello
• political philosophy
• philosophy of science

Music, Movies, and Books

I'm reading To the Lighthouse, just finished Russell’s The History of Western Philosophy (a slow, often interrupted, three year journey), Seeing Like a State, and Le Carré’s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
I play cello, working on Brahm's Cello Sonata No.1 in E minor.
I got a lot out of Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, Tarkovsky's Stalker, Carne's Children of Paradise, would recommend those to anyone. I think I'm a sucker for the pacing and the sad, intense longing.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I helped run a temporary shelter (a Catholic Worker house of hospitality), lived there for about 2 years providing hospitality.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could teach you how to knit, play cello, speak some German, create a map on mapping software, create a marathon training plan

What I Can Share with Hosts

House work, conversation, meals, poems

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Colombia, England, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States