** Note: Our house is tiny and for sleeping space I can only offer space in the yard for you to pitch your tent and camp. You can use the kitchen, bathroom, and living room inside for everything else. In your message, please reference this issue to get a reply from me. Thanks! **

CURRENT MISSION

To build community, create public space that stimulates community, to live.

ABOUT ME

My passion is community-building. We need to rebuild our social ties, starting with taking back our streets. To do that, I started a block party support project that has led to 35+ block parties and founded a neighborhood street fair in 2010 that's now gone monthly. I've also launched a project to install benches in public spaces, organized neighborhood art walks, created parklets (converted parking into public spaces), and organized games nights, jazz and poetry events, and much more.

My birthplace is the island of Guernsey in the UK - and people think my style of sense of humor is because I'm British. Actually, it's just a dropped at birth thing!

PHILOSOPHY

Connection.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Because it's wonderful. Real traveling is delving beneath the surface of a place - meeting the people who live there, exchanging stories and experiences. It's great fun meeting hosts and being a host; seeing someone else's life, sharing yours, getting excited about traveling all over again.

I've been hosted in California, New York, Mass, British Columbia, Montana, France, Italy, Iceland, and have hosted in California and Texas. Every occasion has been special and much appreciated.

You'll find me a memorable and satisfying couchsurfer. I love to chat, bike, walk, explore; I can stay up late or get up early, if necessary; I've traveling stories a-plenty; and I love a good laugh.

Interests

Community, organizing street fairs and block parties, public space, painting, baking bread, making pies, bicycling touring.

My personal website/blog is www.plazaperspective.com, where I write about community and urban design.

• arts
• design
• baking
• running
• partying
• traveling
• socializing
• blogging
• painting

Music, Movies, and Books

Beloved books: American Nations, Don Quixote, The Breakdown of Nations, 4 Arguments for the Elimination of Television, Toilers of the Sea, Gulliver's Travels, A Pattern Language, Moby Dick, Sex At Dawn, The Discovery of France, Cities For People.

Music: Prince, Prince, Prince, Beck, Janelle Monae, Cat Stevens, Kate Bush, Goldfrapp, George Winston, Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I once went 2 1/2 years without stepping foot inside an automobile.

Teach, Learn, Share

Community-building, organizing, leadership, urban design, bread-baking.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can teach you how to organize a block party, bake bread (if we have time I could even bake you a loaf), give you a tour of your own neighborhood from an urban design perspective, and exchange travel and bicycle touring stories/advice.

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macedonia, Malaysia, Montenegro, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, United States, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

United Kingdom, United States

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