Born in New Orleans, I’ve taught literature at three universities; published children’s and scholarly books, novels and poetry; bartended in 3 states; hitchhiked through 35 states and 16 countries; run two marathons; and once, due to a series of misadventures, spent six months as the chef at a French restaurant.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Quit my corporate job 5 years ago to return to hippie ways. Since then, I've hitchhiked 14 countries, taught at universities in Germany and Mexico, and published 3 novels and a book of poems. I hosted many travelers before couchsurfing existed, and now, after a pandemic hiatus in central Mexico, I'm hitchhiking the world again, with the same old backpack from the 1970s.

Interests

Reading and writing, theater, arts, cultural and political history, long walks around any city or small town or forest.

• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• poetry
• theater
• running
• flying
• reading
• backpacking
• engineering
• history

Music, Movies, and Books

Books are endless: Shakespeare, Plato, Gandhi, Virginia Woolf, Dickens, Toni Morrison, Richard Brautigan...
Movies: Golden Age Cary Grant/Hitchcock stuff or more modern European stuff (like the French "Betty Blue" or the Italian "The Great Beauty." Also, anything quirky (Napoleon Dynamite, Sideways, The Big Lebowski, Andy Warhol's Dracula).
Music: Mostly classic rock (1965-1977), but also much from the 1990s and 2000s (Kurt Vile, Alt-J, Iron and Wine). Classical as well. For going out, I'm mostly up for folk rock or 3 or 4-piece classical strings or piano, or anything with a sax.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I guess that would be hitchhiked 50,000 miles through 35 state and 16 countries.

What I Can Share with Hosts

My published writings include children's books, novels, poetry, a 360-page book on Henry Fielding's novels, various journal articles, reviews, etc. Mostly I can share these interests, my background as a traveler of many countries and a teacher of literature and of English as a second language, and a general good humor to get out and about.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Netherlands, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Germany, Japan, Mexico, United States