CURRENT MISSION

Life

ABOUT ME

Greetings. My name is Caroline. I'd like to love you. I invite everyone I meet to show me how loveable you are. I invite you to show me what it means to be the fullest person I can be at the given moment--open, peaceful, aware, resplendent.

On my business card it says I am a filmmaker, community organizer, activist, and bicycle mechanic. I've been active perpetually with anarchist organizations in Pittsburgh, especially Free Ride!

I'm always looking to network my skills. I love the rush of the new project, and I love meeting collaborators bursting with great ideas. I think conventional money is a farce, so if you'd like to "hire" me, compensation is always negotiable and should be holistic and appropriate to the situation.

I am unquenchably creative. I am constantly writing--songs, scripts, treatments, prose, poetry, graffiti. ;) In a crowd, I'm effervescent, and on a moment's whim, I might be in the next city. Despite this joyous energy, however, I love nothing more than the deep contemplation and exploration of ideas, especially when one comes into my life in the form of a person.

I have mentally, physically and spiritually labored, traversing many Carolines to be who I am today, and I am so pleased with the progress I've made. I may not be the person you knew five years ago, but I'll probably be more light-hearted and more enjoyable to spend time with!

I think of myself as possessing an apt and critical mind, yet I enjoy simple hands-on activities like cooking, gardening, playing music. The only thing complex about me is my belief system.

I am typically friendly, optimistic, thoughtful, and giving. If I look like I keep to myself a lot, that's because I indeed love my alone time, but please don't think that it indicates I'm disinterested in anyone's company.

My politics? For shorthand, I'll often call myself an anarchist. However, I understand how that term can cause confusion, because there are many types of anarchists (that's kind of the point of the philosophy) and anarchism can manifest in a variety of ways. Thus, this statement, albeit verbose, most accurately reflects my political beliefs:

I am a person who believes all political positions manifest on along a given spectrum, because all reflect the subscriber's fears and desire to survive. Therefore, all are valid. I personally feel that the best course for survival (and optimal living) is...

- striving to recognize that all human beings share a common history and evolutionary path, which means that we can find common ground on any number of topics through identifying our core motivations.
- ...do the above while encouraging the constant stimulation and development of our individual diversity and creativity, acknowledging how these improve society.
- ...do the above while using sociological, psychological and behavioral science to assist us in developing a more equal and just model for society (for instance, allowing communications science to explain to us why consensus doesn't always work that well, etc.)
- crafting a society--from the grassroots up--which is face-to-face community-based, yet freely and globally-informed (via the Internet), intimately inter-reliant and interconnected, humanistic, sustainability-focused, and politically unified by faith in public discourse and science (thenceforth our requisite wars would be fought not with violence but on the sports field and through fervent scientific debate) is my vision of utopia. And toward this kind of society I am hoping to contribute.

PHILOSOPHY

Do what you feel is right, until you no longer feel that it is right.

This is my personal philosophy about everything. Relationships, job, associations, hobbies. I eschew labels because they often obscure the reality of the situation at any given moment. I strive to live in the present and enjoy myself as much as possible. I strive to do what I feel is optimal until new conditions arise that encourage me to rethink my situation.

Assess patiently, honestly, openly, and daily. This tact has so far has brought me considerable joy.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have surfed a handful of times and hosted as many. At the moment, I am traveling cross country thanks to help of this awesome network!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Whether I was surfing for pleasure while traveling or surfing out of need (due to my housing situation falling through in Pittsburgh), I have felt so cared for and connected to all the people I met on CouchSurfing. For the past year, I sought to return the kindness they lent to me by providing my own couch for Couch Surfers.

I have made lifelong friends through CouchSurfing. After four years of college, I turned up essentially nil in terms of loving, lasting friendships. Then I spend a few months CSing, and I know my life will never be the same (Kelly, Bill, Jason, Adam, I'm talking about yinz guys...)

There is simply something ABOUT CouchSurfing... people who are motivated to offer their couches to (or usually, to surf with) strangers all share something... what is it? A love of people? Trust in the goodness of humanity? Whatever it is, we share this general, unnameable quality that makes us, in my opinion, some of the naturally best people you have ever or will ever meet in your life!

Interests

I love:
- bicycling, especially as a means of transportation
- building community
- social justice
- interacting and working with people as equals, using our disparate skills to work toward a common goal
- learning about science
- animals (and people!)
- deep, considered consumption and production of art
- expanding my perspective

I am passionate about anarchism and authentic environmental sustainability. I am politically and socially active.

• animals
• arts
• writing
• poetry
• film making
• beauty
• dancing
• cooking
• cocktails
• modeling
• clubbing
• gardening
• politics
• traveling
• survival
• music
• blues
• cycling
• surfing
• sports
• rock climbing
• business
• communications
• history
• science
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

Darren Aronofsky receives my #1 amount of passionate analysis and adoration. #2, Jim Jarmusch. #3, David Lynch. Other directors hardly even register with me, though I'll like another film here and there. Favorite movie of all time is Hedwig & the Angry Inch.

The Coup, Anti-Flag, old RHCP, The Be Good Tanyas, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins, Massive Attack, Coldplay, Beck, The Smiths, The Cure, Violent Femmes, and stuff I haven't heard yet

I am a big fan of the Beat Poets, particularly Gary Snyder, Allen Ginsburg, Gregory Corso.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Halloween night in New Orleans, after a blurry sparkly cocktail of many hours of barhopping, hooting and sashaying, I stumbled alone into a club, allured by the music and the attractive transvestite taking dollars at the door. For a few minutes I panicked that it was 3 AM and I was alone and blitzed and might forget how to get back, only soothed by the viscous gypsy blues music dripping from the 11-piece band on the dance floor/stage. Then my attention was drawn to a tall, sleek man dancing confidently, classically by himself on the dance floor. That night I took home the best dancer in the club... and it was one of the most fortuitous decisions of my entire life.

Two days later I marched in the Day of the Dead parade with hundreds of others, skeleton-faced, jesters, twirlers, makeshift music-makers, puppeteers, crazy-bike-contraption pilots, and ritual float bearers. In a few moments of ancient ecstasy, I recognized the deficiency in my life of sacred and mysterious ritual.

I watched the sun set over over 200 bike punks and community bike program organizers in the parking lot of Free Ride! and I realized our world's tremendous capacity for beauty.

I kneeled in awe of sensory perfection on the cool, gentle beach sand of Isla de la Piedra in Mazatlan, Mexico.

I hiked the 5.5 mile, mountain-climbing Grinnell Glacier Trail in Glacier National Park, fueled only by the extraordinary views and the promise of greater majesty at the top. The final lick of the trail is pure stair-climbing. When I was physically spent and ready to give up, I climbed the last stretch of stairs. And I saw a glacier. Nothing compares.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd be happy to teach anything I know, especially about bike mechanics, filmmaking stuffs, and crafting a sustainable lifestyle.

I'd like to learn... EVERYTHING! I only wish there was enough time to do so! :)

Countries I’ve Visited

Germany, Mexico, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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