CURRENT MISSION

PHD in history and plenty of distractions along the way

ABOUT ME

I'm a liberal arts student and a rambler. I am working on a PHD in history, and I study American and European history. I enjoy travelling, hosting friends for dinner, and reading. I love Rome, Vermont, Albuquerque, and New Orleans. I like to connect literature with places and history records with historical sites.

PHILOSOPHY

I like small, old things. I'm interested in scale. I don't like homogenization because too many unique, little, fragile things are lost when economies and polities are centralized. I also like continuity with the past, and I like to connect things to history and literature and art to see a progression through time. I'm impractical and I love to have the time to enjoy distraction, for life seems most itself when one follows rabbit trails.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I have hosted a few friends and been hosted by several. I want to show folks around the places I love and make them feel at home in my city.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've hosted many friends on my spare mattress and my old couch. I've also stayed on couches at friend's houses. I put fresh sheets on my spare mattress or put a pillow and blanket on the couch. I set out a fresh towel and fetch my bag of hotel soaps and shampoos. All I expect when I visit others is a cushion to sleep on and a morning shower.

Interests

I love literature, history of all sorts, battlefields, old churches, wine, and friendly banter about politics.

• arts
• books
• literature
• poetry
• wine
• walking
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• hiking
• geography
• history
• historic sites

Music, Movies, and Books

I enjoy Pynchon's Crying of Lot 49, Warren's All the King's Men, Dostoevsky's novels, Walker Percy, Bob Dylan, T. S. Eliot, and Beethoven.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I won a scholarship to study early Christian history in Rome, and I went on a week long walking tour of the old city with Virgil, Horace, Tactitus, and St. Augustine.

Teach, Learn, Share

I know something about Virginia, American history, wine, geography, general literature, T. S. Eliot poetry, and lots of random cities and regions across the country. I know where to buy a book in Montpelier, Vermont, and I know where to go on a great hike in Moab, Utah.

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