CURRENT MISSION

Silence will fall when the question is asked.

ABOUT ME

I travel so that I can fling myself into the world and see what happens. I do it to be surprised and a little uncomfortable--to sharpen my senses. And, of course, to meet and hang out with and learn from people whose lives are different from mine.

Hmm, what else about me? I'm a high school teacher. It's the perfect job for me, because it means I get to spend my day playing with ideas (and making super corny jokes to a captive audience); and also because I adore the breathtaking authenticity--and hilarity and snarkiness--of teenagers. Having summers off for traveling is pretty sweet, too.

I think a lot and laugh easily. I like doing things that scare me, and I break rules I don't believe in. (I guess that makes me a bit like the teenagers I teach. I guess I'm pretty much okay with that. Heh.) I try, with varying degrees of success, to practice feminism and antiracism. Oh, and I like to cook, do the dishes, and leave places better than I found them.

PHILOSOPHY

The golden rule, and leaving things better than I found them. Those two pretty much seem to cover it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

A few years ago, I wandered around Europe for 3 months, just me and my backpack and whatever friends I met along the way. Is it too dramatic to say that it saved my life? Maybe, but whatever: it did, I think.

I spent a lot of the time in hostels, but my favorite bits happened while staying on couches/extra beds/backyard tents -- where I got to know people the best, had the most interesting conversations, and had the most fun.

Interests

Things I like to do: teaching, hiking, reading, conversing, swing dancing, cooking, playing piano, meeting people who are different from me, wandering.

Things I like to think about: sustainability, real democracy, education, art of all kinds, philosophical problems in everyday life.

• arts
• dancing
• swing dancing
• education
• womens rights
• cooking
• wine
• drinking
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• piano
• hiking
• backpacking
• soccer
• teaching
• mathematics
• hitchhiking

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:
The Road, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, The Giver, Much Ado About Nothing, You Shall Know Our Velocity, Ender's Game, Prodigal Summer, Still Life With Woodpecker, Harry Potter (1-7), Experience and Education, A Sand County Almanac, Everything is Illuminated

Movies:
The Royal Tennenbaums, Harold and Maude, Les Triplets De Belleville, The Last Supper, Leon the Professional, Requiem For a Dream, The Wicker Man (original, once-censored, 70's version), School of Rock, Lost in Translation, Sneakers, everything Tim Burton.

Also recently became obsessed with Doctor Who.

Music:
rock, blues, hip hop, jazz, bluegrass, folk, funk, reggae, classical. The Avett Brothers, ani difranco, Girl Talk, the Decemberists, Arcade Fire, Mountain Goats, Chopin, Doc Watson, Gillian Welch, Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, Miles, Monk, Coltrane, Lauryn Hill, Arrested Development, Rolling Stones, Outkast, DJ Shadow, RJD2, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, The Doors, Pearl Jam, Elvis, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Jasmine Roe, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Led Zeppelin, Sublime, Tool, The Reservoir Dogs Soundtrack, Otis Redding, Professor Longhair, Dr. John, Ella Fitzgerald

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Drinking wine and playing music in a deserted square in Barcelona with a dozen strangers, most of whom didn't speak a common language.
Hitchhiking across Europe to return a diary to someone I had a fairly gigantic crush on, never succumbing to the temptation to peek inside.
Putting a message in a bottle and tossing it into the sea at Cinque Terre... and then getting a response a year later from someone who found it in France.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you to make fire by friction, to make a perfect over easy egg, and to program a computer. Also math.

I want to learn to cook new foods, to play football (soccer), and to speak better French. And also everything else :-).

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Greece, India, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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