I'm a magazine editor, a leftist, a coffee and tea enthusiast and an English PhD dropout. As one might expect, those interests inform my travel sensibilities -- I love exploring cities for their culture, their worker and revolutionary histories, and their literary cultures.

By some odd coincidence I have driven back and forth across the country eight times, lived in 3 countries and 8 states, and been to 41 states in the US. Each trip has been a different adventure and unique in its own way. I've had many great couchsurfing experiences though Upper Peninsula of Michigan (electricity-less cabin with a huge sauna) and Knoxville (Our host getting chased by an angry fundamentalist storeowner) were highlights.

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My top travel destinations in the US:

1. Graceland Too, Holly Springs, Mississippi
Kind of like Graceland (One), but, well... weirder. Get led around a pink mansion covered floor-to-ceiling with Elvis memorabilia while a septugenarian yarn-spinner makes outlandish claims to his fame. ("Bill Clinton offered me one million dollars, IN CASH, for the whole place, and I didn't take it. The Bush twins came in here drunk as skunks and offered me three million, IN CASH, for the place.") The tour is almost more about the insane guy than about Elvis. Open 24 hours a day, with only one employee, the kind-hearted and slightly lecherous Paul Macleod, who named his child Elvis Presley MacLeod and who (probably) has undiagnosed mania. Only $5, in cash, and if you go thrice you become a lifetime member. We went at 3 AM on a Sunday.

2. Carhenge, Alliance, Nebraska.
It's basically a bunch of vintage cars painted silver and arranged in precisely the same orientation as the rocks at Stonehenge. Yet surprisingly austere. The cars are very monolithic close-up (Imagine the opening sequence of 2001, redone by General Motors). Other car-art projects abound.

3. Myopic Books, Chicago, Illinois
Probably the best bookstore in the country. There is something mythical about this place. Cats wander around the wooden floors of the split-level. There are three or four levels of books depending on how you count it, and you're always guaranteed to find something delightful you didn't even know existed.

4. Pirate Supply Store, 826 Valencia, San Francisco
For obvious reasons, this is one of the most creative "stores" ever to exist. It's technically a children's writing center built under the guise of a pirate supply shop, and in addition to things like old locks and odd Victorian implements it also carries the McSweeney's library.

5. Jack's Joke Shop, Boston, Massachusetts (RIP)
I think this was the last joke shop in the United States. When you would walk in, the owner would pull one of many tricks on you usually--squirt (fake) mustard, activate a remote farter, the ol' can-o-snakes trick. I walked in with an open mind, and walked out with a pair of dice that always come up 7 or 11, a lighter that squirts water, and a stack of fake parking tickets.

PHILOSOPHY

"Everyone is an intellectual." - Antonio Gramsci

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I used to read a lot of novels from the 18th and 19th century, and I'm always impressed at how characters in those books can just knock on doors of strangers and the strangers are obliged to take them in, feed and bed them. Even my grandfather tells me homeless people used to knock on his father's door and ask for a meal, and often they'd let them join them for dinner. I think that kind of world would be really fantastic to live in and so I hope to contribute to that.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have had only good experiences on couchsurfing--hosting friends in San Francisco and surfing at a date farm on the Salton Sea, in an unelectrified house in the Upper Peninsula, and in Chicago, Mississippi, Rapid City and Knoxville. I used couchsurfing to great success when traveling the U.P. (Michigan) last summer. I have hosted folks from Quebec, Germany, USA and the Netherlands.

Interests

I work at a left-liberal political magazine, so I think about that a lot. I also write fiction, cultural criticism, and have a degree in astronomy, and still love science even if it's not my day job.

I am thrilled to use Couchsurfing to aid artists, writers and radicals worldwide, especially impoverished ones. I've been there, and I think it is really important for us to look out for each other and help each other out in work and in life. Please reach out to me if you're in my area and in need of a helping hand to get back on your feet.

• cats
• arts
• writing
• books
• literature
• theater
• performing arts
• running
• sauna
• shopping
• politics
• traveling
• cars
• socializing
• juggling
• music
• surfing
• astronomy
• freelancing
• languages
• science

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I think just going on long bicycle trips around the US and Netherlands have ranked among the most amazing experiences in my life so far. A lot of my most treasured adventures have been intellectual and artistic ones.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, France, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Netherlands, Palestine, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

Mexico, Netherlands, United States