first of all, i'm NOT a tourist!!! my approach is, instead, to spend a full month** in residence at each place i visit (NOT in a hotel or on a resort) so that i get acclimated and get a feel for what it's like to live there. here is my developing credo with regard to visiting a new country:

*i WILL learn to use the public transportation system
*i WILL try local cuisine/specialties (i WON'T eat at mcdonald's, burger king, pizza hut, kfc, etc.)
*i WILL check out *a few* tourist sights, but seeing these things will never be the motivation for my visit (i'm more about the general FEEL of being in a country than i am about seeing its sights)
*i WILL try to meet and get to know people as much as possible
*and apparently, i WILL misjudge the climate and either not have enough sweaters or not have enough shorts :-(

**in 2023, i acquired a cat. one cannot leave a cat alone for a full month, so my lengthy trips are in abeyance for now.

PHILOSOPHY

all who wander are not lost. --unknown

the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. --saint augustine

not knowing where i'm going is galaxies better than not having any place to go. --prince rogers nelson

a ship in a harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for. --some guy

better to wear out than rust out. --my grandma

the brave may not live forever, but the cautious do not live at all. --unknown

it's never too late or too early to be whoever you want to be. there's no time limit; start whenever you want. you can change or stay the same; there are no rules to this thing. we can make the best or the worst of it. i hope you make the best of it. i hope you see things that startle you. i hope you feel things you never felt before. i hope you meet people with a different point of view. i hope you live a life you're proud of. if you find that you're not, i hope you have the strength to start all over again. --benjamin button

and, sadly:

"For where shall a man turn who has no money? Where can he go? Wide, wide world, but as narrow as the coins in your hand. Like a tethered goat, so far and no farther. Only money can make the rope stretch, only money." --from Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

because i am a member of the world community

Interests

writing, dancing, photography, baking, rollerskating

• writing
• books
• photography
• dancing
• baking
• traveling
• costumes
• rollerskating
• aerial silks

Music, Movies, and Books

movies: Everything Everywhere All at Once, City of God, Amelie, Requiem for a Dream, Punch Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Color Purple, Sixteen Candles, Spanglish, The Princess Bride...and, um, Predator (can't explain that last one, but yeah)

music: yes, please

books: The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy), Sula (Toni Morrison), Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe), Uncle Tom's Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe), The House on Mango Street (Sandra Cisneros)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

in 2017, i wrote and (self-)published a book called The Post-Racial Negro Green Book. i didn't know anything about marketing or publicity, but somehow, word got out. a couple of articles got written, the Smithsonian picked up my book for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture, i did a CNN interview, and the Washington Post solicited an op-ed from me. BOOM! :-o :-D

Teach, Learn, Share

i can teach you to play spades.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Cuba, France, Ghana, Honduras, India, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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