CURRENT MISSION

1. Nomadic adventures in wilderness areas and non-western countries. Bringing others into the wilderness, out of the states, and out of their comfort zone, for eco education and widening perspectives 2. Queer social change for LGBT, Leather & poly folks.

ABOUT ME

I'm a behavioral ecology grad student, trying to decide whether to pursue an academic life. I'm a wilderness enthusiast. I used to run outdoors programs - college freshman pre-orientation outdoors trips, college outdoors club, outdoorsy international travel, and, most recently, leadership training through challenging mountain biking expeditions. I keep thinking of starting my own program - mixing education, leadership, wilderness, and international travel. I lived in Costa Rica and try to get out of the country often, to remind myself that the US perspective isn't the only or best one.
I'm queer, genderqueer, Leather/ SM, and non-monogamous. I'm the Volunteer Coordinator for International Ms Leather (www.imsl.org), a board associate with Folsom (www.folsomstreetfair.org) and am curating an exhibit at the LGBT Historical Society about the 25 years of the Folsom Street Fair's history. I teach at a variety of Leather conferences, and some of my domestic travel is linked to that.
I'm an avid traveler. I love being on the road and exploring. I like going to places that aren't so westernized and expensive, and I do my best to disregard warnings about where it isn't safe for women to travel - I don't want to be unduly restricted by fear. I like to hike and to wander through cities. I like to stay in one place long enough to get to know it, but I also like bouncing from place to place every night or two.
I'm a good and well-practiced houseguest - I clean up after myself, leave it better than I found it, pitch in where I can.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Just getting started. Definitely up for coffee and touring around -or taking you hiking if that's more your style. I'm interested in offering a couch or even a guestroom. And I'm definitely looking for couches to crash on, especially internationally.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I graduated college in 2004 and spent about 4 months living by couchsurfing - bouncing between various friends' places. My "permanent" residence was in a van, but I never stayed there.
I've road tripped cross country 5 times, staying with friends where I could and camping or hostelling the rest. One of the best was staying with a friend's cousins - I happened to show up in their very small town on the town's 100th anniversary, so there were BBQs going on all over. I spent 2 days there, enjoying small town life - learning how one distant cousin made mini "teardrop" trailer-campers and being toured around his workshop and hearing the old folks' stories about how they used to fit a family of 12 in a 400 sq ft house when the town was young - they spread out mattresses on the floor at night and pulled them up in the morning, because they needed every inch of floor space to sleep that many people. When I left, they gave me an atlas to help me on my travels the rest of the way.
I go to LA 4-12 times a year and live on couches for a weekend or a week each time.
I couch-surfed in Brisbane, Australia for 6 weeks and for a few days in Sydney.

Interests

Reading - literature. Classics and recent releases. Quality writing, not mysteries or other junk. Especially anything related to travel or adventure outside the US.
Hiking. Rock climbing. Biking - road, commuter, and mountain. Anything else outdoors. Running.
Vegetarian restaurants and farmers markets. Outdoor concerts, preferably free.
Leather culture. Queer culture. Gender exploration and adventure.
Left-wing politics (I worked on a congressional campaign as the field coordinator - it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life.)
Rainforests. Frogs. Birds. Bugs. Swimming. Waterfalls. Places that are just crawling with life.
Museums - science museums, history museums, funky museums, a few select art museums, aquariums, zoos.
Neighborhoods - cities with personality.
Theatre - thought-provoking rather than showy. Indie movies.
Rock - latin rock, alternative, classic rock. Some folk music. And anything that I can dance to. Clubs, dancing, spinning flags.
Synchronized swimming.
Motorcycles. Road trips by car or motorcycle.
Epic journeys. Hiking the Appalachian trail. Bicycling cross country. Round-the-world trips.
NPR. Not watching TV.
Living simply.

• birds
• arts
• culture
• humanities
• writing
• literature
• concerts
• dancing
• education
• ethics
• coffee
• vegetarian
• running
• clubbing
• motorcycles
• politics
• movies
• reading
• tv
• traveling
• music
• folk music
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• rock climbing
• swimming
• biology
• ecology
• teaching
• entomology
• history
• languages
• medicine
• science
• volunteering
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

Books - Poisonwood bible. Last Child in the Woods. Tales of a Female Nomad. And many, many more.

Movies - Across the Universe. (TV - West Wing)

Theatre - Spring Awakening

Music - La Ley, Matchbox 20, Greenday, Tracy Chapman, Jill Sobule, Blues Traveler, Jason Webley, and so many more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Held a wild sloth that had just been plucked out of its tree. Kayaked in the amazon. Hiked in the cloud forest in Monteverde. Held a 10g wild bird. Researched poison dart frogs. Climbed (using a rope and ascenders) to the top of the rainforest canopy.

Teach, Learn, Share

I could teach/ talk about -
Leather culture, skills, and history. Non-monogamous lifestyles. Intergenerational relationships. Queer culture. Gender exploration and biology of gender variance.
Wilderness related skills - technical gear information, wilderness medicine, general how-to. Leave no trace ethics.
Info on places I've traveled.
Rainforest biology. Behavioral ecology. Entomology.

I could learn -
Lots of things.
Motorcycle repair and home repair skills. Languages. Info about countries I'd like to travel to. Cultures I'm not familiar with.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, France, Israel, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru

Countries I’ve Lived In

Australia, Costa Rica, United States