CURRENT MISSION

I want to write and photograph and love and travel and really live.

ABOUT ME

I'm a reader and writer, a teacher, a sometimes-photographer, a "Master of Fine Arts." I love music, the English language, sexuality studies, feminism, religion, French culture and language, food (mostly vegetarian), and traveling.

I'm sometimes a nerd, nearly always earnest.

PHILOSOPHY

Life is hard, from the moment we struggle to be conceived until we die. But the struggle is also kind of beautiful. I like the idea of earning my happiness.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I like:
meeting people
traveling
and being generous
so...probably hosting, when not traveling.

Though, to be honest, I've never hosted before because I've never lived in an area where anyone would want to stay. (Really.)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've stayed on many couches--plaid ones, striped ones, and even ones that really, are only a bed--but never on someone's couch who I just met. Yet.

I do have friends who've couchsurfed all over Europe, though.

Interests

See the "all about me"/"personal" section.

• arts
• culture
• humanities
• writing
• literature
• poetry
• singing
• womens rights
• dining
• vegetarian
• running
• traveling
• socializing
• blogging
• music
• teaching
• religion
• study abroad

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: I like cheesy ones, for the most part. Except I rewatch LOTR (the extended editions) every year. And I love Pride and Prejudice (the 2005 edition) and Waitress and Love Actually.

Music: I could go on for days. My favorites are Sufjan Stevens, William Fitzsimmons, Adele, Drake, The Weeknd, The National, Jenny Owen Youngs, Ellie Goulding, Alicia Keys, Birdy, Joni Mitchell, Ray LaMontagne, and Lissie. I think I left some out. I like a lot of music.

Books: Ah! The classics are great, Charles Dickens in particular: Bleak House and Our Mutual Friend and A Tale of Two Cities. Also Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion and To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye and Anna Karenina. Etc. But also poetry! (Have you read Catie Rosemurgy's The Stranger Manual??) And young adult lit. (I'm talking about Lauren Oliver and Jandy Nelson.) Creative nonfiction (See: David Foster Wallace and Vivian Gornick and Joan Didion and George Orwell and Virginia Woolf and Cheryl Strayed--and I could go on for days). And William Shakespeare. And all kinds of drama.

The point is that I really like to read.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I've lived in three states so far (Kentucky, Missouri, and Georgia) and one country besides my own (France, for eight months). I've done a study abroad in England (2006) and Greece (2011). I've been a photographer, a writer, and a student for most of my life.

I love my life and all the things I've done, but I bet there are some other amazing lives out there, too.

Teach, Learn, Share

Okay. Okay. I could teach you all I know about literature. (I run a poetry blog with my friend--at http://structureandstyle.tumblr.com. We write sort of mini essays/paeans to great poems.) I could try to teach you writing. Or how to take good photos. My french is just south of rusty, so if you try to speak it to me, I might make a face (out of my own dislike of embarrassing myself by speaking it).

Or really, just ask me. Malcolm Gladwell lists three main people who are important for change (in The Tipping Point). One of them is the maven, a person who just wants to share whatever she knows and help people. I'm her.

I'm up for learning anything you can teach. Although, I feel I should put a disclaimer: I might long to play that instrument you play, but I cannot keep time and I have no natural rhythm (at least, musically). I also cannot sing. Just prepare yourself if these subjects come up. I love, love, love music but I am not in the least bit musically gifted.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Greece, Italy, Romania, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United Kingdom, United States