CURRENT MISSION

Saw this on a fellow surfer's page, but I'm gonna take it anyway. I'm currently 'trying to get comfortable outside of my comfort zone.' Just trying to enjoy my hometown after not actually living here for about five years. Trying to become comfortable in my own skin, whatever other cliches you can think of, etc. etc. The next few months will be about getting prepared for my future life (hopefully!) working in the conservation corps in Northern California. Tying up loose ends, becoming more mentally and emotionally stable, saving up some money, working on my family home and all the repairs it needs, rectify and revamp some old friendships, and to just become an overall happier person are all on my list.

ABOUT ME

All about me? Quickly and simply, I love food, music, good beer, sports (basketball, football, biking, hiking, frisbee/frisbee golf, made-up imaginative games in general, etc.), and having those simple, yet stimulating conversations that so often go unappreciated.

PHILOSOPHY

What goes around comes around.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

After completing a nine week hitchhiking/bussing/ridesharing, and of course couchsurfing, tour of this beautiful country, I'm ready to start hosting people in the city I grew up in!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I previously hosted a few guests at my former home in Knoxville when I was attending UT and I had a blast being able to house people--and all of them turned out to be in a bind so it meant that much more.

Then I went on a backpacking trip across the country for 9 weeks and stayed with CS hosts in Minneapolis, Bismarck, Bozeman, Portland, and Phoenix. Every single host I stayed with was indescribably generous and warm. I was honestly caught off guard by how much everyone wanted to help and share and be so nice. This was an unforgettable experience and my goal is to now replicate the kindness, open-mindedness, and generosity. It's pretty damn amazing how much people are willing to sacrifice to make your experience tangibly (and intangibly) better. I'm on Couchsurfing for that very reason as well as to do more exploration, growing, and learning in this life. I'm so grateful and I owe so much to this great endeavor and the people that really care about and for other people in the world.

Interests

Seems kind of redundant.

• dancing
• dining
• beer
• gardening
• politics
• reading
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• sports
• basketball
• soccer
• swimming
• sociology
• hitchhiking
• social justice
• good food
• funk
• feminism
• rap
• frisbee
• socialism
• soul music
• bourbon
• tequila
• direct action

Music, Movies, and Books

I apologize for the lengthiness of this, I got kind of carried away.

Movies/shows- Scorsese, Tarantino, Coppola, Wes Anderson, Cohen brothers and Oliver Stone, Spike Lee, and Stanley Kubrick get honorable mentions. Some of my favorites include Godfather Parts I and II, Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Shawshank Redemption, Midnight Cowboy, Trainspotting, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale, Goodwill Hunting, and Gran Torino.

I'm really a fan of comedies however. Whatever makes me laugh I'm a big fan of, so some movies and shows that really showcase the sense of humor that I adore are Superbad, 40 Year Old Virgin, This Is The End, Little Miss Sunshine, Sideways, Moonrise Kingdom and for comedic shows I gotta go with Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld, Parks and Rec, The Office, SNL, South Park, Arrested Development, Colbert, and Trailer Park Boys.

As far as best (non-comedic) shows of all time, The Wire, The Sopranos, Mad Men, House of Cards, and Breaking Bad top the list.

Music- I live for funk and soul music but I dig some folk, singer/songwriter, heavy blues rock, punk, and of course some rap and hip hop. I think the best era for music, all genres included, is the decade from 1965 to 1975. My favorite bands/musicians include Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Funkadelic, Otis Redding, Charles Wright, James Brown, Sharon Jones, Charles Bradley, Lee Fields, The Meters, Marvin Gaye and a slew of other funk/soul/R&B acts. In other types of music I really enjoy the Stones, Leonard Cohen, Kristofferson, Prine, Lou Reed, Wilco, White Stripes, Dylan, The Band, Junior Kimbrough, Natural Child, Jeff The Brotherhood, Those Darlins, Johnny Hobo, Ramshackle Glory, Mischief Brew, Andrew Jackson Jihad, Gillian Welch, Steve Earle,

For rap/hip-hop (which is certainly worthy of its own section) I like just about everything. Beastie Boys, Biggie, Big L, Wu Tang, old Jay, Dilla, The Coup, Outkast, Wayne, T.I., Immortal Technique, Hot Spitta, Killer Mike, Kendrick, Dom, Drake, Jeezy, ASAP crew, Gates, Schoolboy, I could go on and on.

Books- I'm into both fiction and non-fiction (political economy, the environment, social movements, labor organizing, etc.). My favorite writers and polemicists include (as far as fiction/historical fiction go) Orwell, Vonnegut, Twain, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Sandberg, Kesey, Gabriel Garcia Marques. On the non-fiction side (and here's where I'm gonna antagonize some possible hosts but oh well, screw it), I can really get into Hegel, Feuerbach, Marx/Engels/Lenin, Bakunin, Orwell again, Hunter S. Thompson, Zinn, Chomsky, David Graeber, Chris Hedges, and David Harvey.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Getting through high school, and college for that matter (albeit two very different experiences), was pretty wild. Buuuut, nothing like the cross-country trip that I just took.

Backpacked from Nashville to the Midwest to Yellowstone up to Seattle down the coast to L.A. to Tucson to New Orleans back home! That's unequivocally the most amazing thing I've ever done. Nearly 7,000 miles by way of bus, Craigslist rideshare, hitchhiking, and one amazing ride from Eugene, OR to the Bay Area and a whole lot of Couchsurfing, is the single most crazy, amazing, eye-opening thing I've ever done.

Teach, Learn, Share

Just wanna learn about other people and their experiences so far in this world!

Countries I’ve Visited

United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States