CURRENT MISSION

Life is for learning. Every person I meet is a wealth of insight and beauty. Every day I get to begin my education.

ABOUT ME

"The nation and the world are in dire need of creative extremists."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

“The voice of life in me cannot reach the ear of life in you; but let us talk that we may not feel lonely.”
-Khalil Gibran

"Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"
-Walt Whitman

"I live my life in widening circles
that reach out across the world.
I may not complete this last one
but I give myself to it.

I circle around God, around the primordial tower.
I've been circling for thousands of years
and I still don't know: am I a falcon,
a storm, or a great song?"
-Rainer Maria Rilke

PHILOSOPHY

I'm hungry for all of it. Who will teach me something new today?

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I open my home to people who need it, whenever they ask. The openness and trust necessary to participate in such a project aren't places everyone is comfortable going yet, but I think that participating in CS is a way to help create that world.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have met the most incredible people through CS. Every experience I have has been overwhelmingly positive. The nice thing about CS is that it's self-selecting.

I have been fortunate enough to travel in my life, and couch surfing hosts have made a lot of that travel possible. A couch surfer introduced me to spoken word poetry, which changed y whole life. A host helped convince me to move to a new state, and then welcomed me into his life, eventually becoming a best friend.

Interests

I love spoken word poetry, nature, animals (especially cats and snakes), literature of all kinds, live music, cooking, walking, coffee shops, and exploring potential. Also costume parties, potlucks, unnecessarily big fires, sing a longs, tiny children, and gluten free baking.

If you are reading this, my main interest is you, and the friendship that's hovering somewhere in the future, waiting to form between us.

• cats
• literature
• poetry
• beauty
• education
• cooking
• coffee
• running
• walking
• reading
• traveling
• music
• live music
• spoken word
• teaching
• history
• crafting
• gluten free

Music, Movies, and Books

Fairy tales and mythology, especially contemporary retellings of traditional stories

Feminist sci-fi futures

Edward Gorey-esque

"Why is that your favorite book?"
"Because it's the last one I read."

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I co-produced and co-directed a tarot themed circus with a brilliant guy named Nat Allister a few years ago. It's probably the hardest I've ever worked in my life. Nat wrote this incredible script and invited me to help with the project, largely I think because we would geek out about aesthetics together. We spent months and months running rehearsals, building hype in the city, and making giant puppets. When opening night came, I sat in the audience sobbing, so blown away by the magic on the stage and the love and labor we had poured into the effort.

I also make really good pie.

Teach, Learn, Share

I heard a story about a Zen master who went to Yosemite National Park in northern California. He arrived and saw a large cliff with a waterfall pouring off of it. The water was one stream until it fell, then it became millions of individual droplets. At the base of the cliff, the droplets all converged to reform the stream.

The Zen master then said that people are like this stream. The period where the water separates into individual droplets is the span of human life. The droplets worry about reuniting with the stream because they think they will lose something, but really all they can do is gain.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I will bake you pies and tell you stories! I can make you a custom graffiti stencil if you're into that kind of thing. I also really like listening to other people's stories, collecting them when I can. I'm particularly useful if you have an organization task that needs doing, or a hand in the garden.

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

Netherlands, United States