CURRENT MISSION

Plant more green manures and enjoy el campo

ABOUT ME

I think of myself as an open-minded, critically-thinking, kind-hearted person. I am moving through this world of so many meanings and interpretations, doing the best I can to appreciate the immense diversity therein, working to improve the lives of others and to help form social structures and elaborate ideas that give people the freedom and conditions to live meaningful, satisfying lives. In other words, I am motivated primarily by moral and existential concerns.

PHILOSOPHY

Inquire, live well, and work so that others may do the same. Cause no uncessary harm.

Interests

I love learning: history, politics, ecology, philosophy, ethics, and all forms of open, more fundamental inquiry. It is clear to me that submitting the findings of this inquiry to dialogue, discussion, and debate, where it can be refined, revised, and contested is of critical importance.

I've spent the last two years in rural Paraguay promoting sustainable agriculture and bio-intensive gardening as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I am vastly interested in organic, sustainable forms of cultivation and the ways of life that may accompany them.

I enjoy hiking and spending time in wilderness. I practice yoga and meditation with some regularity. I like Tolkein and sometimes losing myself in nerd-dom. I enjoy good, healthy (and sometimes less healthy) food, dark beer, red wine, and abundant yerba.

The staggering ecological, environmental destructions and the inhuman socio-politico-economic injustices that characterize our global society are focuses of my attention and mental energies. Combating this state of affairs both intellectually and practically while grounding myself in the wonders and trials of life as they generously unfold and manifest around and within me is what I strive to accomplish on an ongoing basis.

• ethics
• dining
• wine
• red wine
• beer
• yoga
• meditation
• walking
• gardening
• clothing
• politics
• hiking
• agriculture
• anthropology
• ecology
• economics
• history
• physics
• religion
• volunteering
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

JRR Tolkein, Ernest Hemingway, Annie Dillard, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Glen Greenwald, Wendell Berry, Michael Pollan, Peter Singer, Martin Buber, Jean-Paul Sartre, Karl Marx, John Rawls

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Walking upon a black-sands beach along a lake in southern Chile, some thirty meters ahead of my parents who had come down to visit me, it began to pour. The lake erupted into a million individual points of liquid impact, each encroaching upon and then canceling out its rippling neighbors before itself being consumed and forgotten. On the far shore to my right, the woods butting up against the water had become dark, purely silhouetted forms, despite it being several hours before dusk. The sky was grey and full of some vague feeling. I stopped pacing and watched the lake, the woods, the sky and was filled with a rare sense of utter bliss and lightness. The rain soaked through my clothes, wet my hair, and cleansed my face and hands. I was somehow very happy and needed no explanation for it.

Teach, Learn, Share

Intellectually, I know a bit about philosophy. I'm always trying to learn more about the complex and ever evolving state of our world and society. So I already know a bit about that too but would love to learn more. I am always very curious to know more about history, economics, politics, ethics, religion, ecology, physics, anthropology...

Perhaps more practically I now have some experience in international development, sustenance farming, and gardening. Again, I would love to learn more about these as well. Farming and/or gardenig will be a defining part of my future. Also I'm interested in learning to work with wood, stone, and wool, and more generally, about sustainable, simple living.

Countries I’ve Visited

Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Paraguay, United States