CURRENT MISSION

To see la bella Italia again and to speak for the wild earth

ABOUT ME

I have a complicated past and no regrets. I love where I live, in a part of New York City that is still rough around the edges and people express themselves freely. I live with cats (too many to tell you about) and they have taught me their language. My soul has been in Italy many times and the language is almost natural to my tongue, but I was born Jewish and am proud of that. I ride a bicycle everywhere and I defend community gardens and this year the tomatoes and okra are doing well, but I would rather grow cantaloupes and honeysuckle. I have a degree in mathematics and am recovering from that and from being a computer programmer for too many years. I taught people to read and write, and now I am an advocate for people in adult homes.

PHILOSOPHY

Everything is alive and talking to us all the time. We are here, alive and seemingly bound by our bodies, to realize that we are eternal and unbound, and that all consciousness is one consciousness, and that together we are the creator and the creation. The stones are conscious, the stars are conscious, the universe is alive.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I would like to welcome people to this part of the city but for now my participation is cleaning up after the (never mind how many) cats and making my home a place where people can be happy to visit.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

None yet.

Interests

Helping the earth recover, protecting rainforests, working on slowing global warming. Jazz, blues, world music. Swimming in the ocean, working in the gardens at night, cosmology, writing, storytelling, animal communication, quantum physics, following the phases of the moon.

• animals
• cats
• writing
• dancing
• yoga
• clothing
• music
• jazz
• drums
• blues
• world music
• swimming
• mathematics
• physics
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

The films of Fellini; Ratcatcher; David Lynch; Kindergarten by Sakharov
Music: Cole Porter, BB King, Noche Flamenco, djembe
Books: The Women's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets; The Alexandria Quartet; Stellaluna; Dostoevsky; Joseph Campbell

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Recently I was at a great circle of drummers, African and Caribbean and Middle Eastern, all very powerful. They had been drumming for many hours and they had reached a strong trance state. There were people in robes and turbans, dancing and then bowing to the drummers, who were in ceremonial clothing as well, and had decorated their drums with beads and ropes and intricate designs. A white dove flew over the circle and landed in a tree; she spread her wings wide and draped them over two branches, leaned over and looked down over the musicians and the dancers. She stayed that way for a long time - many minutes. There were a few hundred of us listening to the music, but I was the only one who saw her. Suddenly I thought "maybe she's stuck;" I got up to see if she were alright and immediately she took flight. She made a long, slow "S" over the drum circle and disappeared.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know mathematics; I can teach people to be better storytellers and writers; I can share yoga and permaculture.