CURRENT MISSION

I'm a writer/scholar who thinks of himself as a traveler. I want to meet interesting characters who will people my fiction.

ABOUT ME

I spent 3 years traveling after grad school. Changed my life. Then, I returned to the United States. Got sucked up in the academic world and taught Creative Writing at an elite institution in Iowa. I like artists, intellectuals and visionaries. I'm a sometime blogger on the Huffington Post...

Here is my faculty profile: http://www.grinnell.edu/academic/english/faculty/ho

Here is my Huffington Post profile: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/khanh-ho

Here is something I wrote about me, travel and literature:
http://diacritics.org/2010/06/11/vietnamese-epic-the-budget-traveler/

PHILOSOPHY

I'm laid back. As long as I get my stuff done, I don't bother people. I like considerate people. I don't like pretentious people. Don't mess with me until I've had my coffee...grrrrrr....grrrrr....

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Currently, I'm in Seattle for a period during a sabattical, which is a fancy word for getting paid to sit in drawstring pants at a desk all day. I live in a big pad off Lake Washington at the Northern tip of the city and am glad to give people access to my spare bedroom.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've never been a formal member of couchsurfing...but literally after I filed my dissertation, I got hitched and "honeymooned" for three months on the major islands in Hawaii. It was tent camping, homeless-friend-having, beach park happiness. We hitchhiked and every time we got picked up within five minutes. Each time this happened, we felt we were the luckiest souls that ever inhabited human shells. Many kind people invited me and my wife to stay with them. They often would ask us to dinner.

Hawaiians have a generous aloha spirit. This blew my mind!!!!

Interests

I'm a big reader and writer. Flea markets are fun. I LOVE to cook.

• writing
• literature
• cooking
• coffee
• traveling
• camping
• science
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

I've read many of the classics. But I LOVE trash. I like diaries, letters. The tabloid nature of the memoir form both repulses and compells me. I'm the guy you catch reading over your shoulder.

Give me a box in a musty archive. I'll root through it. Found objects amuse me.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Way back when...in a teenage life as a surfer...I swam with dolphins!!!

I have also seen my silhouette in the clouds, surrounded by a rainbow halo. I was on top of a volcano during a sunrise. This phenomenon is called a "brockden spectre" and, even though it's entirely explicable by science, it's leaves you feeling like you've had a technicolor biblical visitation. Here's a short video of one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwyjlIETJi4

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm very good at making pie on demand.

I have pretty good skills with a cooking knife and can teach you how to chop and dice like an expert.

I know tons about classic and obscure literature.

I used to finance my travels with beadwork, so I know way too much about how to do things with beads...

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Ecuador, India, Laos, Mexico, Morocco, Nepal, Peru, South Korea, Uruguay, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States