CURRENT MISSION

I want to help governments be more responsive to the needs of the people in developing countries, and achieve better outcomes with development initiatives. I also want to travel the world, and use our increasing interconnectedness to exchange ideas.

ABOUT ME

I work for a small NGO that does democracy and human rights work.

Traveling, if the opportunity is available, is one of the most enlightening and enthralling experiences to be had.

I love comedy, and write and perform stand up comedy whenever I can. but I can't guarantee that my jokes will be funny!

I love making connections with interesting people, and my couchsurfing experiences have been great, so I'm looking forward to staying engaged in the community.

PHILOSOPHY

Its simple, really. I try to live as fulfilling a life as possible while doing my small part to make things better in the world, or at least not making things worse.

There's no magic key to happiness or solution to the world's problems. But every individual who is conscious to the plight of others and plays his or her role to improve our society and work towards a solution to our complex problems is doing tremendous good.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'd love to meet a local and stay on a couch while traveling.

I'd also be happy to host at my apartment. I live in a studio, so there's not a lot of privacy, but I have a pull out couch and an air mattress.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I was hiking through the mountains of northeast Togo with some friends, and we had nowhere to stay for the night.

We encountered a large group of houses about halfway up the mountain, and asked a Jesuit priest who was tending his garden if he knew of a place where we could stay. He said that there's plenty of room in the monastery, and asked for no money. Of course, we each contributed some of our cash (how could we not?).

We slept in a simple but comfortable dormitory room that was immaculately clean with a mosquito net over each bed. We awoke in the morning to the smell of coffee and ate breakfast with the priests, sampling a delicious homemade berry jam that we ate with baguette. It was a surreal and wonderful experience.

Interests

Traveling (Duh)
Movies
Books
Fishing (My other passion)
Politics
Cheese (From Cheddar to Gorgonzola, I love them all)

• books
• performing arts
• human rights
• breakfast
• cheese
• coffee
• gardening
• politics
• movies
• traveling
• magic
• fishing
• hiking
• economics
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Children of Men, Sideways, Dr. Strangelove, Taxi Driver, The Last Detail, There Will Be Blood, The Best of Youth, Annie Hall (and most stuff by Woody Allen)

Books: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Theory of Justice, American Pastoral, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, All Quiet on the Western Front, Breakfast of Champions, Native Son, Another Country

Music: The Band, Wilco, The Rolling Stones, Bela Fleck, The Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Outkast, Prince, etc etc

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Went to Dogon Country in a remote corner of Eastern Mali. We hiked through mud hut villages in the morning and late afternoon (we had to rest in the shade at about noon when the temperature approached 120 degrees). We slept on the rooftops and woke up at dawn to the sounds of roosters calling and women chatting as they fetched water from the well.

It was quite the experience.

Teach, Learn, Share

Organizing (Conveying a compelling message, motivating people, delegating responsibility)

International Affairs (Economics and African politics more specifically)

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Canada, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Mali, Netherlands, Nicaragua, Togo, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ghana, United States

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