CURRENT MISSION

I own a used & antiquarian bookstore in our sweet little town, where I live in a giant 100 year old house converted into a commune-art-colony space where 8 people live. I aim to make my corner of the world a freer and more joyful place.

ABOUT ME

I'm a 34 year old full time bookseller. I graduated from college with a degree and philosophy and spent five years working with AmeriCorps (the domestic Peace Corps, if you haven't heard of it). After burning out on that I spent about 4 years bartending and selling books I picked up at yard & estate sales online and helping to transform a 100 year old house into an artist colony of sorts. 2.5 years ago I opened Underground Books ( www.undergroundbooks.net ) and that pretty much consumes my life nowadays.

PHILOSOPHY

The more I read, think, and contemplate, the less inclined I am to assume I really know or understand anything at all. "The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." -- Shakespeare

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I traveled a lot just after college, mostly camping and hosteling. It was before couchsurfing existed (as a website/tool anyway). I had many generous people make my travels easier by temporarily hosting me. I like to send that generosity back out into the world by hosting people myself now.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We've had a number of couchsurfers at our community-house (the "Truth & Beauty Laboratory") over the years and I always love it. I have yet to use it as a surfer myself yet, but I am recently engaged and my fiance and I have some travel plans emerging and we are considering doing some surfing ourselves soon.

Interests

I live in an artist-colony-commune type house with 7 others. There are large gardens in the back, and a marble paved courtyard where we produce and host live theatre free of charge to our community. I own a small used & antiquarian bookstore and that consumes a lot of my energy these days. Historically I've been involved in lots of nonprofit volunteerism and progressive politics.

• arts
• books
• beauty
• politics
• traveling
• camping
• surfing

Music, Movies, and Books

Don't even get me started on books, I own a whole bookshop I'm such a book nerd! We don't have a tv in our house, but my fiance has gotten me increasingly addicted to netflix "binge" shows on our laptops. I host regular documentary screenings at my bookstore on a range of topics.