CURRENT MISSION

Pay attention and tell the truth.

ABOUT ME

I have a distaste for mediated realities. I try to live as directly as I can. No air conditioning, no fast foods, no sunglasses. Whatever is, I'd rather deal with it than be dulled from it.

PHILOSOPHY

Pay attention and tell the truth. (And try never to repeat yourself.)

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm a communitarian. (That's different than a vegetarian. I don't eat communities.) I don't believe individuals on their own ever accomplish good. It's always a group effort. I'm involved in all sorts of civic ventures, I don't believe that "time is money," and I share everything I can.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None yet. Just starting out. Remove the capital letters and the brand name, and I have plenty of experience sharing couches with friends, and often with people I have never met, who then become friends. A friend of a friend came to visit once. He invited me to share a couple weeks with his family in Egypt. It was transmogrifying!

Interests

community, pizza, comedy, creativity, iconoclasm, conversation, walking, architecture, urban planning, deep thinking, simple solutions to complicated problems

• fast food
• walking

Music, Movies, and Books

Zen & the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, A Confederacy of Dunces, Annie Hall, A Thousand Clowns

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I write for a daily newspaper and one day I got a call from a man who thought the column reminded him of something his best friend in high school could have written. That best friend of his was my father, who passed away when I was in high school. Since then, Bill and I have become fast friends and I've learned details about my father I never would have known!

Teach, Learn, Share

Good listeners. Questioners of conventional wisdom. ("Conventional wisdom is seldom both.")

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Ireland, Isle of Man, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Russian Federation, Sweden, United Kingdom