I'm more of a searcher than a "plain old" traveler. While I've lived and worked in most regions of the USA and have spent a number of months in African countries, I'm not somebody who just moves around for the sake of moving. Instead, I'm a curious person, a questioner, a ponderer.

My undergrad studies took me to South Africa and Mozambique where I wrestled with how to be involved in efforts to improve the social situation of folks who are less off than many Americans. I learned a great deal from the South Africans (much more than I contributed), and I decided it's best for me to invest my life's efforts primarily in the USA, since I am, after all, American.

But as an anthropologist at heart, I'm convinced of the value of not just learning how other people live and think but what these understandings mean for the kind of society and community I'd like to build in my home in the USA.

This is why I'll be exploring India (Bangalore & Delhi mostly) and Vietnam (only for few weeks).

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Conversations about values, life lessons, meaning, and connection and how those big, fancy ideas differ between people and places is much more interesting to me than just seeing as many "interesting" places as I can from Lonely Planet guides.

Enter Couchsurfing. I had the spectacular opportunity to host at least a dozen or so folks in New Haven as they passed through to visit Yale or explore the East Coast. Conversations were rich, connections plentiful, and laughter frequent. I met a number of folks I would certainly have become friends if we lived nearby.

Now that I'm the traveler, I'm looking forward to meeting folks in their own places of familiarity, sharing stories, meals, and connection.

Interests

Social change and the history of economics and political power are my "brainy" interests. I'm also changing careers from high school teaching into computer sciency stuff, and I find a lot of technical problems stimulating.

I'm a sucker for the history of western capitalism and labor movements in the USA post-1860 through about 1970--this was a fascinating era! I also read a lot of neuroscience, philosophy, and "science studies" (which is a strange field about how we relate to finding knowledge).

When I'm not sitting in a chair reading a screen of some kind, I'm in the mountains or canyons, hopefully with a rope or ice axe in my hand, perhaps with some friends within shouting distance (and not in a crevasse...) See photos!

• reading
• investing
• anthropology
• economics
• history
• neuroscience
• science
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Books: The Short Stories of Amy Hempel changed the way I think about the world. When all hope is lost, Tolstoy resonates most profoundly. David Foster Wallace's rotting soul and I share the same frequency--he is unparalleled in his brilliance (and the length of his damn sentences!). I also worship The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker (I would have had a love affair with that man, I'm sure, were he still kicking); Baudrillard, Foucault; Pathologies of Power by Paul Farmer; God is Not Great by Hitchens (God rest his soul); Peggy McIntosh. I liked Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad; Lahiri's shorts are very crisp; Palahniuk will always be a nice break from the heavies; I do also
enjoy Krakauer's outdoorsy stuff. Lolita is classically satisfying. Picture of Dorian Gray was a quick goodie.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I built a wooden sailboat from scratch in my garage when I was a junior in high school. It was a fantastically absurd project.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mexico, Mozambique, Rwanda, South Africa

Countries I’ve Lived In

South Africa, United States