CURRENT MISSION

To appreciate and describe the subtle beauty of the world

ABOUT ME

I am a writer. I just finished my first novel and am in the re-write/edit phase before submitting to agents/publishers. Following what I can only describe as an extremely wonderful quarter life crisis, I have been on the move, traveling to new and interesting places for nearly a decade now. The last few years have found me working seasonal jobs, everything from commercial fishing in Alaska to preparing taxes in San Jose to volunteering in East Africa....I enjoy a regular meditation practice, reading, getting to know new people and new places, and listening to ideas on how to make the world a better place.

PHILOSOPHY

"Always be a beginner"

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Couchsurfing has a wonderful philosophy of global hospitality that we desperately need these days. (It even helped inspire parts of my first novel.)

I couched surfed a good deal with my good friend Nicole in Germany. I loved my visit to Germany for many reasons, but connecting with local couchsurfers was probably the highlight of the trip.

I also couchsurfed in Memphis, TN, as well as the Northeast, particularly in Maine.

Home for me is the west coast, USA. I love Alaska, California, and the entirety of Pacific Northwest (Cascadia!).

Interests

Writing and Reading top the list. I also hike quite a bit and enjoy backpacking and camping in remote places. Good beer and bonfires. I'm very interested in the mind and spirituality, and I have a daily meditation practice (Vipassana, Joseph Goldstein, Goenka retreats). I follow current events fairly closely and have been very mentally active in thinking through and promoting alternatives to capitalism, ways that human beings can collaborate and share rather than compete and wage war.

• culture
• writing
• literature
• beauty
• beer
• running
• meditation
• politics
• news
• reading
• traveling
• jazz
• cycling
• fishing
• hiking
• backpacking
• swimming
• divinity
• psychology
• religion
• volunteering

Music, Movies, and Books

A Language Older than Words by Derrick Jensen was an inspiration for me, to give me a start with writing, though I ended up writing fiction rather than nonfiction. I like novels that straddle the border between "commercial" and "literary" fiction. I've recently been reading T. C. Boyle's Drop City. I appreciate the works of Donna Tart and Jonathan Franzen. Other important music/movies/books: The Bible. The Tao Te Ching. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Abhebe, Catch-22, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Derrida, The Grapes of Wrath, Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible, Truth and Method by Gadamer, Frankenstein, The Brothers Karamazov, The Scarlet Letter, The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Eye of the World, Dracula, The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Coltrane and Miles Davis (huge influences), Ethel Waters, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, Audioslave, Sting, John Mayer, Led Zeppelin, The Killers, The White Stripes, Arctic Monkeys, The Wire (TV, HBO), Mad Men, Rope, Fight Club, Gattaca, Godfather, The Lady Killers, Ocean's Eleven, The Talented Mr. Ripley, A.I., Catch Me If You Can, Psycho, Star Wars, The Bourne Identity, Memento, The Matrix, The Thirteenth Floor, Vanilla Sky, Office Space, Batman Begins, The Wizard of Oz, The Village, American Beauty, Lord of War.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I'm just coming off seven years (off and on) of working and living in Alaska, which provides a great deal of inspiration for my writing.

Teach, Learn, Share

I have a few thoughts that I blog on, here and there, at www.erdman31.com

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Canada, Dominican Republic, Germany, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Tanzania, United States

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