CURRENT MISSION

help revive industrial capitalism and defeat the oligarchs.

ABOUT ME

I'm retired (semi- anyway). I live on the northwest coast of the U.S. in Humboldt County (google 'arcata humboldt' for more info on these). I worked for seven years in and after college as a carpenter, then as a computer programmer for twenty-five years, doing mostly business systems and -- for the last two years of that period -- water quality monitoring applications for the U.S. Forest Service. I retired, sort of, in 2003. I didn't like retirement at first, but after a couple of years came to like it very much. I was a member of the Brothers of the Christian Schools from 1956 to 1963. I was married from 1982 until 2001. I've done a lot of political work.

PHILOSOPHY

It is relationship which is irreducible, not its partakers.

The self evident gives itself only to those who stake everything on its mere possibility.

Happiness is a barometer, not the purpose.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

so far, mostly reading about other couchsurfing folks. i've also been able to contact some very helpful people in Mexico.

see above.

Interests

reading and writing fiction, research and writing about political economy, political campaigningracket sports and sailing/windsurfingcomputer software technology: test driven development, OO development, perl, java, python, cellphone programming, building web sites, UNIX! teaching: English (especially reading skills to adults), racquetball, sailing, windsurfing, computer programming stand-up comedy

https://sites.google.com/site/tomspagesthirdmillennium/

• writing
• coach
• technology
• reading
• windsurfing
• sailing
• sports
• racquetball
• business
• science
• software

Music, Movies, and Books

Willie Nelson, Mozart, Janis Joplin, Mozart, Dave Rovics, Mozart, Jimi Hendrix, Mozart, Woody Guthrie, Mozart, Mozart, Mozart!
fiction: Great Expectations, Youth! (Joseph Conrad), Heart of Darkness, Tennessee Williams' short stories, Billy Budd, The Bear, Daniel Deronda
non-fiction: Manchester's biography of Churchill, Federalist Papers (esp' Hamilton's pieces), The Crisis (Tom Paine), Harmony of Interests (Henry Carey), Critique of the Gotha Programme (Marx), My Life (Trotsky), Diez Anos Despues (Castro), The Man Who Loved Only Numbers
films: Death of a Salesman (version with Dustin Hoffman), September, No Country for Old Men, Scenes from a Mall, Sleepers (well, the scene where he wakes up; the rest of it is kind of lame imho), Funny People, A Painted Veil

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In 1970 I worked in Cuba for two months cutting sugar cane, and while there visited a citrus plantation operated mostly by Cuban youth. Basically, the place was a school which covered the elementary grades and into college, with special attention given to agricultural science. The energy and creativity of the place was enormous.

I had a similar experience not long afterwards when I joined the carpenters' union in Washington, DC. (I had haphazardly apprenticed on 'scab' jobs to pay my way through college.) At the time, the city was building a subway. The work was federally funded and thus had to be given to union contractors, but the number of carpenters needed was far more than the union could supply, so it opened its doors to blacks (a first for a southern U.S. City). Black youth swarmed out of some really nasty ghettos and grabbed the opportunities for interesting work at good pay, became most of them very competent craftsmen, and used their wages to build decent lives for themselves and their families. I got to see much of this first hand, for I too was working on that subway project. This experience and the one in Cuba were life-changing lessons for me, in what people can accomplish if given the right support and freedom.

Teach, Learn, Share

I admire very much the energy now at work in Latin America.I like to coach people in English (especially reading skills to adults who don't have them), racquetball, sailing, windsurfing, and computer programming. I enjoy discussions on political economy.

Countries I’ve Visited

China, Cuba, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico, United States

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