CURRENT MISSION

To strengthen the Kenyan math community!

ABOUT ME

I'm just another bearded mathematician with a ukulele in search of some slight sliver of understanding.

PHILOSOPHY

Alan Moore once said:
"It furthermore occurred to me that, basically, anarchy is in fact the only political position that is actually possible. I believe that all other political states are in fact variations or outgrowths of a basic state of anarchy; after all, when you mention the idea of anarchy to most people they will tell you what a bad idea it is because the biggest gang would just take over. Which is pretty much how I see contemporary society. We live in a badly developed anarchist situation in which the biggest gang has taken over and have declared that it is not an anarchist situation—that it is a capitalist or a communist situation. But I tend to think that anarchy is the most natural form of politics for a human being to actually practice. All it means, the word, is no leaders. An-archon. No leaders."

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've hosted a number of couchsurfers in the cooperatives I've lived at, in Oregon, California and Toronto. I'm happy to land on a couch abroad from time to time, as well.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Favorite: A 'tool-share' called Hammertime in Fort Collins, Colorado. I came home to free-school classes, poetry readings, music making, and general shenanigans for the three nights I stayed there!

Interests

I do too many things. Among them:

+ I play two varieties of ukulele, a guitar, and recently came across a kalimba. I write songs, which I occasionally perform for people. I've been described as 'like the Mountain Goats without the Autotune.'

+ I currently live in an intentional community called the Domes, in Davis, CA. We decide with consensus, cook collectively, and generally run amuck. I can talk about the Domes for hours.

+ Lately I've been learning to juggle five balls. It's an effort, but I'm making progress.

+ I love to go on long bike rides, when I find the time.

+ I'm a fundamentalist agnostic. As a practice, I meditate daily (in the Soto Zen style), and generally work on being mindful.

+ I like to teach. I specialize in Socratic methods, and do my damndest to engineer situations in which I get to write my own curriculum from scratch.

+ In case you're really interested, I work in a subfield of mathematics called algebraic combinatorics. The idea is roughly to take hard algebra problems and find nice, computer science-y pictures to solve them with.

• poetry
• performing arts
• cooking
• running
• meditation
• politics
• juggling
• music
• guitar
• cycling
• computer science
• engineering
• mathematics
• science

Music, Movies, and Books

I listen to a wide variety of music. The post-punks of the late-70's early-80's is probably my favorite movement in music, for its experimentalism, variety, political engagement, and general bad-assedness. (Example bands include Wire, Crass, Gang of Four, Joy Division, the Raincoats, and the Talking Heads.)

For books, I've been reading science fiction basically since birth. I also really enjoy immersing myself from time to time in history books centered on a particular place or event; lately, this has been medieval Iceland. Previous engagements have included the Cambodian genocide, Iranian revolution, and US Civil Rights movement. I also like good math books.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

* Biking down the west coast of the USA, Eugene to San Francisco - cliffs on one side, ocean on the other, anarchistic cows blocking the roadway.

* Waking up shivering on a blank mountainside in the Grecian back-country.

* Blasting around the back roads of Maine on my bike; really just a beautiful place!

Countries I’ve Visited

Chile, Greece, Kenya

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, France, Hungary, Kenya, United States