CURRENT MISSION

be where ever I am, doing what needs to be done

ABOUT ME

I learn and teach. I hate desks and love being outside. My passion lies in helping people to discover an appreciation for themselves and a better understanding of the world around them. My primary employment is in a special education classroom for elementary students with profound impairment, mostly non-verbal students with Autism. On the side I coach a middle school ultimate team and teach outdoor environmental science classes.

In my professional adult life I have guided backpacking, sea kayaking, and climbing expeditions; directed logistics for a multi-element wilderness trips program; taught experiential outdoor science at ten residential schools around the United States; managed a school's food service program; cared for animals of the sea, land, and air; directed statewide nonpartisan political campaigns, and worked in the kitchen of a dine-in movie theater.

When I'm not outside, and even sometimes when I am, I love to bake bread and cook. I have kept a sourdough starter since before I can remember. The culinary arts are my creative outlet.

My boss described me as "the most helpful person I know," and I believe it is true, though sometimes to a fault. I was nicknamed Filing Cabinet by my college ultimate frisbee team for my ability to absorb information and helpfully provide it when someone says, "I wonder..." (I've picked up tidbits of info from dabbling in many different fields, having formally taught music, swimming, ultimate frisbee, Scrabble®, outdoor recreation from sea to summit, social and environmental history, all manner of environmental science topics, permaculture, conflict resolution, communication, and group facilitation.)

I play well with others and seek to help others do the same.

PHILOSOPHY

Be. Live. Inspire.
Help others do the same.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My living situations (mostly communal/employer owned) have limited my ability to host much beyond showing people around my city. I have attended CS meets in several cities and surfed around the southeastern U.S. on a roadtrip (see below).

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've both hosted and surfed. My best experience was surfing. A friend and I were traveling from Georgia to Pennsylvania by way of Texas, the scenic route since neither of us had really been in the South much. Our trip was in the late fall and included Thanksgiving. We had some reservations about trying to surf with someone over the holiday, not wanting to be an imposition. It ended up being quite the opposite, with us joining a wonderful family for a multi-day holiday. Cooking, dining, singing, childcaring, dancing, and music making with them was a highlight of our year.

Interests

swimming, backpacking, climbing (rocks, trees, mountains), politics, cycling, kayaking, ultimate frisbee, scrabble, learning, saxophone, talking, reading, cooking, baking, farming, teaching, being

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've done and seen way to many cool things to catalog here, but for me the most amazing is helping someone discover their potential and believe in themselves, e.g. in Fall 2009 I was working at an environmental education center when I child with cerebral palsy climbed up our 42 foot platform pole and then went down the zip line. The sheer joy in personal triumph he showed after I helped facilitate him up the tower and zipped him out brought the entire staff to tears.

I guess travel related highlights would include swimming in bio-luminescence, looking out from the top of a summit in the North Cascades, catching wild sea turtle eggs as they were laid and relocating them to a preserve as part of a Costa Rican conservation project, and observing an active archeological dig of Bronze Age sculpture in China.

Teach, Learn, Share

To teach:
-more than you knew there was to learn about Scrabble: history, theory, strategy, tactics
-bread baking with some sourdough starter that has been kept active continuously since it was brought west on the Oregon Trail
-vegan/vegetarian cooking
-anything involving frisbees and the sport of Ultimate
-permaculture design
-wilderness first aid
-etc. I have a broad knowledge of many esoteric topics cultivated through years of being aware and perceptive of the world around me, formalized through my Wikipedia adminstratorship, and acknowledged by my college nickname Filing Cabinet.

To learn:
Anything, really. I collect knowledge.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, China, Costa Rica, Mexico

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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