CURRENT MISSION

"To create a world based on love and freedom."

ABOUT ME

A former professor of linguistics at Gallaudet University, I left my tenured job to do the things I love full-time. These days, I organize workshops and events aimed toward creating a more peaceful and sustainable world; play music and sing with my friends; nurture Chrysalis, the small intentional community where I live; facilitate meetings and do planning and bookkeeping to help pay the rent. I've studied (almost) everything from aikido to zen, from neuroscience to knotwork, and love talking with people who love what they are doing.

PHILOSOPHY

My current koan: only when you let go of urgency can you be truly effective.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm just getting started in CS and I look forward to staying with and hosting people. This is right in line with my usual life -- my nesting partner and I are constantly hosting old friends and new from all over the world. Our small intentional community, Chrysalis, is intended to support progressive activists and healers who are in DC to make a difference in the world, and people stay with us for a few days or a few years depending on their needs and our mutual fit.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Haven't had any yet -- looking forward to it!

Interests

Human development - what makes us open up and grow
Nonviolent Communication
Group process and facilitation
Peer counseling and self-empowerment
Radical social change
Intentional community and intentional relationships
Middle Eastern music - I play percussion and dance
American and British Isle folk music - love those ballads, the longer the better!
Contra dancing
Ecstatic dance
Japanese martial arts - can't train since my back gave out, though.
Giving and received safe, respectful touch
How language and the mind/brain affect each other
Sign languages and deaf culture
Neuroplasticity, especially neurophysiological consequences of meditation
Learning about cultures that are really different from mine

• arts
• culture
• singing
• dancing
• meditation
• music
• folk music
• martial arts
• teaching
• languages
• neuroscience
• sign language

Music, Movies, and Books

These days I listen to American and British Isles traditional folk, plus more modern singer-songwriter folk. I love inspirational songs like those of Fred Small or Stan Rogers. I also enjoy the chanting of Deva Premal and Krishna Das.
I play a few instruments fairly well -- guitar, violin, recorder, dumbek (a goblet-shaped drum), Arabic tambourine, tar (a frame drum)-- and many others not too well -- dulcimer, banjo, mandolin, flute, etc. Mostly folk music, especially long traditional ballads.
I read fewer books these days (which isn't saying much because I used to read a book every couple of days). In fiction, I'll read anything by Dorothy Dunnett, Lois McMaster Bujold, or Ursula LeGuin I can get my hands on. In non-fiction, I'm mostly reading about personal development - favorites include Undefended Love by Jett Psaris and Marlena Lyons, A Path With Heart by Jack Kornfield, and Passionate Marriage by David Schnarch. Give me a good book about current science (especially neuroscience or physics), or race/class/gender/sexuality liberation, and I'll be happy.

Countries I’ve Visited

Guatemala

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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